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IFJ Condemns Hamas Interfering with Gaza Journalists (via Eric Lee)

Peter sez:

Here is Eric's presentation of an IFJ position. He uses it to show Israel as Virtuous, Gaza as Vicious.

This is not, of course, in the original IFJ document, to which he provides a clickable link. To be even relatively balanced, Eric could have contrasted 'Pro-Iranian Hamas', with 'Pro-American Israel', or 'Zionist and US-Dependent Israel'.

The point is that with respect to trade unionism, as to everything else, one should not operate with binary opposites, explicit or implicit, especially those suggesting Virtue v. Vice.

There can be no doubt that the hegemony of state and/or capital operates differently in Israel than in Gaza. But one needs to also take account of the 1) the foundational Zionism of Histadrut, and 2) to ask whether it is not this fundament that has been at least co-responsible for the dramatic decline of Histadrut political and economic influence in Israel since 1948.

Finally, one needs to develop a theory and ethic that is independent of competing nationalisms/fundamentalisms, and that can simultaneously suggest strategies for the development of union autonomy in both states - as well as the world more generally.

Now read on...

 

International Federation of Journalists condemns Hamas meddling in Gaza journalists affairs

By ericlee

International Federation of Journalists.The contrast could not be clearer: in Israel, independent trade unions that sometimes cooperate with, sometimes confront the government. In areas controlled by the pro-Iranian Hamas, unions under the thumb of an authoritarian regime.

This week the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) strongly condemned the actions of the Hamas regime in Gaza. In a statement published on their website six days ago, the IFJ “accused Hamas security forces of harassing elected officials of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS) in Gaza. In a letter to Ismael Haniyeh, Prime Minister in the Hamas government, the IFJ President said that journalists’ leaders in Gaza have been subjected to a campaign of intimidation and threats designed to force them to stop their union work. Some of them are now facing charges of illegal activities and a travel ban after they refused to give in to pressure.”

The IFJ is a global union federation that represents more than 600.000 journalists in 134 countries.

The full text of the IFJ press release is here.

Tags: Hamas, IFJ, journalists, PJS

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2012 at 11:16 and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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