On the outskirts of a desert town in the Moroccan-occupied territory
of Western Sahara, about a dozen young activists are gathered. They are
involved in their country's long struggle for freedom. A group of
foreigners-veterans of protracted resistance movements-is conducting a
training session in the optimal use of a "weapons system" that is
increasingly deployed in struggles for freedom around the world.
Since June 2007 the Israeli
government has imposed almost complete closure over the Gaza Strip.
The siege prevents nearly all movement of people or goods to and from
the coastal region with only minimal amounts of humanitarian provisions
inconsistently allowed in. With the exception of a small amount of carnations
allowed out earlier this year, there has been a virtual ban on all exports
from Gaza since 2007.
Our
emergency international delegation to Honduras, organized from the
United States by CODEPINK, Global Exchange and Non-Violence
International, began its fact-finding mission in the wake of the June
28 coup that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya.
In Isfahan, Iran, an 80 year
old woman stood defiantly in her doorway. Twenty baton-wielding Basij
men arrived on motorcycles and threatened to enter her house in pursuit
of a group of young demonstrators. Instead of running with fear or turning
her back on the demonstrators, this woman looked the pursuers straight
in the eye and said “You will not get past me.”
