30: Apartheid

30 years ago today (April 27, 1994) Apartheid officially ended in South Africa (and South African-Controlled South West Africa or Namibia) with the first Multi-Racial Elections – which made Nelson Mandela President.

Apartheid (meaning “separateness” in Afrikaans)  was the Official Segregation of South Africa from 1948-1994 (46 years.)

 

There was Segregation in South Africa before Apartheid:

1809-1828 The British established Pass Laws for the local Black populations,

1907: The South Africa Act, ratified by the British Parliament stipulates that only persons of European Origin may be elected to the South African Parliament. It also created the British Colony of the Union of South Africa.

1913: - The Natives Land Act of 1913 is introduced, which prohibits private ownership of property by Black People to 8%.

1927: The Immorality Act, 1927: prohibited extramarital sex between Whites and Blacks.

1936: The Native Trust and Land Act, 1936 expanded this limit to encompass about 13% of the land area of South Africa.

 

The Official Segregation was brought to the forefront when the National Party (Afrikaans: Nasionale Party) came into power in 1948.

 

Major Apartheid Laws:

The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949: prohibited Marriage between Whites and Non—Whites (Coloureds, Asians and Blacks.)

The Suppression of Communism Act, 1950: formally banned the Communist Party of South Africa and proscribed any party or group subscribing to Communism, according to a uniquely broad definition of the term. It was also used as the basis to place individuals under banning orders, and its practical effect was to isolate and silence voices of dissent.

The Immorality Act, 1950: prohibited extramarital sex between Whites and Non-Whites (Coloureds, Asians and Blacks) as well as between Non-Whites and other Non-Whites of different Races.

The Population Registration Act, 1950: required that every South African be classified into one of a number of racial "Population Groups” (White, Coloured, Asian and Black.) This act provided the foundation upon which the whole edifice of Apartheid would be constructed.

The Group Areas Act, 1950:  divided urban areas into "Group Areas" in which ownership and residence was restricted to certain Population Groups (ie White People could only live and work in White Group Areas, etc.)

The Native Laws Amendment Act, 1952: limited the category of Blacks who had the right to permanent residence in urban areas.

The Black (Natives) Laws Amendment Act of 1952: stipulated that all Blacks (and later Coloureds and Asians)  over the age of 16 were required to carry Passes with them at all times. These Passbooks were Nation-Wide and stated where each Non-White was allowed to live and to work in the Country. Any White Person could ask any Non-White Person for their Passbook at any time. Failure to have a Passbook or to be in an area not allowed on your Passbook resulted in Jailtime.

The Riotous Assemblies Act, Act 1956: prohibited gatherings in open-air public places if the Minister of Justice considered they could endanger the public peace. Banishment was also included as a form of punishment.

The Reservation of Separate Amenities Act, 1953: allowed public premises, vehicles and services to be segregated by Race, even if equal facilities were not made available to all Races.

The Bantu Education Act 1953: separated Education from Primary School to University based on Race. The per capita Governmental spending on Non-White (Coloured, Asian and Black) Education was one-tenth of the spending as White Education.

The Promotion of Bantu Self-government Act, 1959: provided for the development of the territorial authorities into self-governing Bantustans (Black “Homelands.”)

The Unlawful Organizations Act 1960: allowed the Government to declare unlawful any organizations deemed to threaten public order or the safety of the public. This legislation was enacted within a few weeks of 1960's Sharpeville Massacre. The African National Congress (ANC) and Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) were immediately declared unlawful.

The General Law Amendment Act, 1963: commonly known as the 90-Day Detention Law, allowed a South African Police Officer to detain without warrant a Person suspected of a politically motivated crime for up to 90 days without access to a Lawyer. When used in practice, suspects were re-detained for another 90-day period immediately after release.

The Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act, 1970: made Black People Citizens of one of the Bantustans, with the intention that when the Bantustans became independent they would cease to be South African Citizens.

The Afrikaans Medium Decree of 1974 required the use of Afrikaans and English on an equal basis in High Schools throughout South Africa for all Races.

 

Major Events during Apartheid:

In 1960 The Union of South Africa (then a British Colony) became the Republic of South Africa after 52% of the White South African Population voted for Independence. It left the British Commonwealth because of Apartheid.

Elizabeth II, who had been the Queen of South Africa since 1952 lost her position when a President was created in 1961.

The Sharpeville Massacre of March 21, 1960 was a demonstration in Sharpeville’s  of 10,000 Blacks against the Passbooks. 69 were killed and 180 were injured.

In 1963 Nelson Mandela was sentenced to jail. He served 27 years and was released in 1990.

1966-1990 South African Border War with Angola and Zambia. 2,500 South African Soldiers killed.

On December 16, 1966, United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2202 A (XXI) identified Apartheid as a "Crime Against Humanity".

The Apartheid Convention, was adopted by the UN General Assembly on  November 30, 1973 with 91 member states voting in favor, four against (Portugal, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States) and 26 abstentions.

South Africa was suspended from the UN Organization on November 12, 1974.

Television was not introduced until 1976 because the Government viewed English programming as a threat to the Afrikaans Language and Apartheid.

Soweto Uprising of June 1976: 20,000 Blacks in Soweto protested against the forced use of Afrikaans in Schools. 176 Students were killed and 1,000 were injured.

1985 – After riots that broke out in September 1984 could not be brought under control, the First State of Emergency was declared in July 1985.

White South Africans vote on March 18, 1992 in a controversial Referendum with an overwhelming majority (68,6%) in favor of ongoing discussions to establish a fully-fledged Democracy in South Africa.

In 1993 South African President F. W. de Klerk (from 1989-1994) apologized for Apartheid.

In December 1993 both F. W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela received the Nobel Peace Prize.

April 27, 1994 First Non-Racial, Democratic Election held in South Africa.

 

Effects of Apartheid:

All Apartheid Era Laws have been Repealed.

3.4 Million Blacks were forcibly removed from Urban Areas many forced to live in the Bantustans (Black “Homelands.”)

At least 21,000 Deaths of Non-Whites (Blacks, Coloureds and Asians) were murdered for their Race.

800,000 White South Africans have left South Africa since 1994 causing a Brain Drain.

Nelson Mandela became the First Black President of South Africa (from 1994-1999.)

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Afrikaans: Die Waarheid-en-versoeningskommissie - WVK) worked from 1996-2000. The mandate of the Commission was to bear witness to, record, and in some cases grant amnesty to the perpetrators of crimes relating to human rights violations, as well as offering reparation and rehabilitation to the victims. A register of reconciliation was also established so that ordinary South Africans who wished to express regret for past failures could also express their remorse. 849 out of the 7,111 amnesty applications by Whites were approved.

Southwest Africa (Namibia) became Independent of South Africa in 1990.

Namibia joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 1990 and the UN in 1990.

South Africa rejoined the Commonwealth of Nations in 1994 and rejoined the UN in 1994.

Children known as the “Born-Free Generation” (those born after Apartheid) were allowed to vote for the first time in 2012.

Despite a growing gross domestic product, indices for poverty, unemployment, income inequality, life expectancy and land ownership, have declined.

The spatial segregation of Apartheid continues to affect educational opportunities. Black and low-income Students face geographic barriers to good schools, which are usually located in affluent neighborhoods.

While South Africans enter Higher Education in increasing numbers, there is still a stark difference in the racial distribution of these Students.

South Africa is the most economically unequal country in the world. The difference between the wealthy and the poor in South Africa has been increasing steadily since the end of Apartheid in 1994, and this inequality is closely linked to racial divisions in society.

Xenophobia in South Africa (especially between Blacks from different African Countries and South African Blacks) has skyrocketed since 1994 leading to many dead and lots of riots.

Corruption (especially within the Government) is widespread.

The Afrikaans Language (seen by British Whites and Blacks, Coloureds and Asians as being forced upon them) was replaced by English as the Lingua Franca of Post-Apartheid South Africa.

30: Pictures

 30 years ago (April 1994) Apartheid ended in South Africa.

(Apartheid Sign in Pretoria, South Africa)

(George VI, King of South Africa from 1936-1952.)

(Flag of South Africa, used between 1928 and 1994.)

(D. F. Malan, the first Apartheid Prime Minister from 1948–1954)

(Elizabeth II, Queen of South Africa from 1952-1961.)

(Ballot paper used in the referendum. Ballot reads on the upper row: IS U TEN GUNSTE VAN 'N REPUBLIEK VIR DIE UNIE? in Afrikaans and on the bottom row: ARE YOU IN FAVOUR OF A REPUBLIC FOR THE UNION? in English in 1960)

(Hector Pieterson being carried by Mbuyisa Makhubo after being shot by the South African police. His sister, Antoinette Sithole, runs beside them. Pieterson was rushed to a local clinic where he was declared dead on arrival. This photo by Sam Nzima became an icon of the Soweto Uprising.)

(Frederik Willem de Klerk, Last Apartheid President of South Africa 1989–1994)

(Race Classification Certificate issued in terms of the Population Registration Act from 1988)

(Paper Ballot of the first Democratic Election in 1994)

(Nelson Mandela, President of South Africa 1994-1999.)

(The new multicolored flag of South Africa adopted in 1994 to mark the end of Apartheid.)

Stamp Out Hunger

 

I got this from the US Post Office today.

Remember doing something similar when I was in the Boy Scouts and have regularly put bags of food out for the USPS to pick up.

Please help on Saturday May 11, 2024.

A Dog

 

Kyiv Rainbow

A double rainbow in Kyiv, Ukraine after a thunderstorm.

Beauty in a time of War.

81: Uprising

 

April 2024 is the 81st Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (not to be confused with the 1944 Warsaw Uprising.)

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is when 60,000 Jewish Men, Women and Children in German-Occupied Warsaw, Poland resisted against the German Liquidation of the Ghetto from April 19-May 16, 1942.

13,000 Jewish Men, Women and Children were killed inside the Ghetto and 43,000 were deported from the Ghetto to the Treblinka Death Camp.

These brave Men, Women and Children knew their fight had no chance of succeeding, but they wanted to “die with honor” and to avenge the deaths of the 265,000 Jewish Men, Women and Children -  from the Warsaw Ghetto -  murdered by the Germans during the Grossaktion Warsaw (Great-Action Warsaw) from July 23, 1942 to September 21, 1942.

I have seen many Movies about the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprisings – made in Communist Poland, Non-Communist Poland, the Soviet Union, Russia, East Germany, Germany, Israel, Canada and the United States – and like the NBC Version titled “Uprising” as one of the better and more historically accurate ones.

“Uprising” stars: Hank Azaria, Leelee Sobieski, David Schwimmer, Jon Voight, Donald Sutherland, Cary Elwes and Stephen Moyer.

For anyone who thinks that the Holocaust and Anti-Jewish Murder and Violence is a thing of 80 years ago just look at the Current World today where Anti-Jewish Attacks and Murder inside the United States is up 300% and Anti-Jewish Attacks and Murder across the World are up 350%.

Freedom's Love

From EuroMaiden’s Facebook:

Elderly married couple crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border, holding hands.

Anna is blind, while her husband Vladimir can barely walk.They endured a long and dangerous journey through Russia to leave the occupied part of Kherson Obkast.

To cross the 2km pedestrian zone at the Pokrovka border checkpoint (Ukraine), volunteers from the Red Cross Society of Sumy assisted them. They also captured this touching photo.

^ This is both touching and heartfelt. ^

Arye Ephrath

From Holocaust Museum’s Instagram:

Arye Ephrath was born in a basement as his mother hid during a roundup of Jews in Bardejov, Slovakia. While danger marked his earliest years, Arye chose to remember the strangers who rescued his family, rather than his tormentors. "Even though my story is told against the dark and tragic background of the Holocaust, I consider it to be one of inspiration."

A priest, a shepherd and his wife, and another family with barely enough food to feed themselves risked their lives to help Arye's family. To try to keep their son safe, Arye’s parents sent him to live with a couple with four daughters. They signed an agreement that Arye would legally become the son that Ján and Irena Mierni so desperately wanted if his parents did not survive. To blend in with the Mierni daughters, Arye dressed for a time as a girl and adopted the name Annicka. While the Miernis became the only family that young Arye knew, his mother could not bear to be away from him. She would sneak out of her hiding place at night, risking her safety to check on him.

After the war, Arye reunited with his parents and later built a new life in Israel. He immigrated to the United States and became a volunteer at our Museum.

He never forgot the Miernis or those who protected his parents. Even in the last weeks of his life, Arye honored them, supporting the renovation of a community center to be named for the families who saved him and his parents.

^ He died April 21, 2024 at the age of 82. ^

Automatic Refunds

From DOT’s Website:

“Biden-Harris Administration Announces Final Rule Requiring Automatic Refunds of Airline Tickets and Ancillary Service Fees”

The Biden-Harris Administration today announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has issued a final rule that requires airlines to promptly provide passengers with automatic cash refunds when owed. The new rule makes it easy for passengers to obtain refunds when airlines cancel or significantly change their flights, significantly delay their checked bags, or fail to provide the extra services they purchased. “Passengers deserve to get their money back when an airline owes them - without headaches or haggling,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “Our new rule sets a new standard to require airlines to promptly provide cash refunds to their passengers.”   The final rule creates certainty for consumers by defining the specific circumstances in which airlines must provide refunds. Prior to this rule, airlines were permitted to set their own standards for what kind of flight changes warranted a refund. As a result, refund policies differed from airline to airline, which made it difficult for passengers to know or assert their refund rights. DOT also received complaints of some airlines revising and applying less consumer-friendly refund policies during spikes in flight cancellations and changes.

Under the rule, passengers are entitled to a refund for:

Canceled or significantly changed flights: Passengers will be entitled to a refund if their flight is canceled or significantly changed, and they do not accept alternative transportation or travel credits offered. For the first time, the rule defines “significant change.” Significant changes to a flight include departure or arrival times that are more than 3 hours domestically and 6 hours internationally; departures or arrivals from a different airport; increases in the number of connections; instances where passengers are downgraded to a lower class of service; or connections at different airports or flights on different planes that are less accessible or accommodating to a person with a disability.

Significantly delayed baggage return: Passengers who file a mishandled baggage report will be entitled to a refund of their checked bag fee if it is not delivered within 12 hours of their domestic flight arriving at the gate, or 15-30 hours of their international flight arriving at the gate, depending on the length of the flight.

Extra services not provided: Passengers will be entitled to a refund for the fee they paid for an extra service — such as Wi-Fi, seat selection, or inflight entertainment — if an airline fails to provide this service.

DOT’s final rule also makes it simple and straightforward for passengers to receive the money they are owed. Without this rule, consumers have to navigate a patchwork of cumbersome processes to request and receive a refund — searching through airline websites to figure out how make the request, filling out extra “digital paperwork,” or at times waiting for hours on the phone. In addition, passengers would receive a travel credit or voucher by default from some airlines instead of getting their money back, so they could not use their refund to rebook on another airline when their flight was changed or cancelled without navigating a cumbersome request process. 

The final rule improves the passenger experience by requiring refunds to be:

Automatic: Airlines must automatically issue refunds without passengers having to explicitly request them or jump through hoops.

Prompt: Airlines and ticket agents must issue refunds within seven business days of refunds becoming due for credit card purchases and 20 calendar days for other payment methods.

Cash or original form of payment: Airlines and ticket agents must provide refunds in cash or whatever original payment method the individual used to make the purchase, such as credit card or airline miles. Airlines may not substitute vouchers, travel credits, or other forms of compensation unless the passenger affirmatively chooses to accept alternative compensation. 

Full amount: Airlines and ticket agents must provide full refunds of the ticket purchase price, minus the value of any portion of transportation already used. The refunds must include all government-imposed taxes and fees and airline-imposed fees, regardless of whether the taxes or fees are refundable to airlines.

The final rule also requires airlines to provide prompt notifications to consumers affected by a cancelled or significantly changed flight of their right to a refund of the ticket and extra service fees, as well as any related policies.

In addition, in instances where consumers are restricted by a government or advised by a medical professional not to travel to, from, or within the United States due to a serious communicable disease, the final rule requires that airlines must provide travel credits or vouchers. Consumers may be required to provide documentary evidence to support their request. Travel vouchers or credits provided by airlines must be transferrable and valid for at least five years from the date of issuance.

The Department received a significant number of complaints against airlines and ticket agents for refusing to provide a refund or for delaying processing of refunds during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. At the height of the pandemic in 2020, refund complaints peaked at 87 percent of all air travel service complaints received by DOT. Refund problems continue to make up a substantial share of the complaints that DOT receives.

DOT’s Historic Record of Consumer Protection Under the Biden-Harris Administration Under the Biden-Harris Administration and Secretary Buttigieg, DOT has advanced the largest expansion of airline passenger rights, issued the biggest fines against airlines for failing consumers, and returned more money to passengers in refunds and reimbursements than ever before in the Department’s history. Thanks to pressure from Secretary Buttigieg and DOT’s flightrights.gov dashboard, all 10 major U.S. airlines guarantee free rebooking and meals, and nine guarantee hotel accommodations when an airline issue causes a significant delay or cancellation. These are new commitments the airlines added to their customer service plans that DOT can legally ensure they adhere to and are displayed on flightrights.gov. Since President Biden took office, DOT has helped return more than $3 billion in refunds and reimbursements owed to airline passengers – including over $600 million to passengers affected by the Southwest Airlines holiday meltdown in 2022.  Under Secretary Buttigieg, DOT has issued over $164 million in penalties against airlines for consumer protection violations. Between 1996 and 2020, DOT collectively issued less than $71 million in penalties against airlines for consumer protection violations. DOT recently launched a new partnership with a bipartisan group of state attorneys general to fast-track the review of consumer complaints, hold airlines accountable, and protect the rights of the traveling public. In 2023, the flight cancellation rate in the U.S. was a record low at under 1.2% — the lowest rate of flight cancellations in over 10 years despite a record amount of air travel. DOT is undertaking its first ever industry-wide review of airline privacy practices and its first review of airline loyalty programs In addition to finalizing the rules to require automatic refunds and protect against surprise fees, DOT is also pursuing rulemakings that would:

Propose to ban family seating junk fees and guarantee that parents can sit with their children for no extra charge when they fly. Before President Biden and Secretary Buttigieg pressed airlines last year, no airline committed to guaranteeing fee-free family seating. Now, four airlines guarantee fee-free family seating, and the Department is working on its family seating junk fee ban proposal. Propose to make passenger compensation and amenities mandatory so that travelers are taken care of when airlines cause flight delays or cancellations.  Expand the rights for passengers who use wheelchairs and ensure that they can travel safely and with dignity. The comment period on this proposed rule closes on May 13, 2024. he final rule on refunds can be found at https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/latest-news and at regulations.gov, docket number DOT-OST-2022-0089. There are different implementation periods in this final rule ranging from six months for airlines to provide automatic refunds when owed to 12 months for airlines to provide transferable travel vouchers or credits when consumers are unable to travel for reasons related to a serious communicable disease.

Information about airline passenger rights, as well as DOT’s rules, guidance and orders, can be found at 

https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer

^ This is Decades over-due. ^

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/biden-harris-administration-announces-final-rule-requiring-automatic-refunds-airline

Uninformed Protesters

 

(Here is a picture I took in Jericho, The West Bank in October 2017. The Camouflage Building is a Terrorist Training Site that is surrounded on all sides by a Mosque, A Boy’s School and a Girl’s School.)

It is disturbing to see so many Pro-Palestinian/Pro-Hamas Terrorists protesting at College Campus across the United States.

These groups only seem to want to cause violence and harm (much like Hamas they are supporting.)

They are not only inciting violence against Jews, but also threating Jews and attacking Jews.

Violence and Attacks against Jews is up 300% in the US and 350% around the World - thanks to people like these Protesters.

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is rumored to be supporting and fueling these Protests. BDS sounds like a chronic illness that gives you constant diarrhea rather than an Anti-Jewish Hate Group.

The World hasn’t seen so many Anti-Jewish Hate and Attacks at Universities since the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s.

Most of these Protesters are “Poisers.” They aren’t Palestinian, they aren’t even Muslim. They just want to help cause violence and chaos.

Most of these Protesters have never been to Gaza or the West Bank.

I have been to the West Bank and seen first-hand how open the Palestinians are against their hatred towards the Jews and they support for Terrorism.

If these Protesters went to Gaza or the West Bank they would see what life is really like.

The Men would have to grow Beards.

The Women would have to cover their heads, know their “place” at home and be forced to marry Hamas Terrorists.

Homosexuals would be tortured and killed.

Any Protest (against Hamas or Palestinian Rule) would get you killed.

These Protesters have A LOT to learn about Hamas, Gaza and the West Bank.

Luckily, Universities will be closed next month for the Semester. Maybe that will give these Protesters time to come to their senses.

US Supports Ukraine

 

Ancestry's Internment

From Military.com:

“Ancestry Website to Catalogue Names of Japanese Americans Incarcerated During World War II”

The names of thousands of people held in Japanese American incarceration camps during World War II will be digitized and made available for free, genealogy company Ancestry announced Wednesday. The website, known as one of the largest global online resources of family history, is collaborating with the Irei Project, which has been working to memorialize more than 125,000 detainees. It's an ideal partnership as the project's researchers were already utilizing Ancestry. Some of the site's collections include nearly 350,000 records. People will be able to look at more than just names and tell “a bigger story of a person,” said Duncan Ryūken Williams, the Irei Project director. "Being able to research and contextualize a person who has a longer view of family history and community history, and ultimately, American history, that's what it's about — this collaboration,” Williams told told The Associated Press exclusively.

In response to the 1941 attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on Feb. 19, 1942, to allow for the incarceration of people of Japanese ancestry. The thousands of citizens — two-thirds of whom were Americans — were unjustly forced to leave their homes and relocate to camps with barracks and barbed wire. Some detainees went on to enlist in the U.S. military. Through Ancestry, people will be able to tap into scanned documents from that era such as military draft cards, photographs from WWII and 1940s and ’50s Census records. Most of them will be accessible outside of a paywall. Williams, a religion professor at the University of Southern California and a Buddhist priest, says Ancestry will have names that have been assiduously spell-checked. Irei Project researchers went to great efforts to verify names that were mangled on government camp rosters and other documents. “So, our project, we say it's a project of remembrance as well as a project of repair,” Williams said. “We try to correct the historical record.”

The Irei Project debuted a massive book at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles that contains a list of verified names the week of Feb. 19, which is a Day of Remembrance for the Japanese American Community. The book, called the Ireichō, will be on display until Dec. 1. The project also launched its own website with the names as well as light installations at old camp sites and the museum.

^ This sounds very interesting and I can’t wait to check it out. ^

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/04/24/ancestry-website-catalogue-names-of-japanese-americans-incarcerated-during-world-war-ii.html

Win-Win!

 

The $61 Billion US Dollars that the US is giving Ukraine to help them defeat Russia will first go to 117 Production Sites in 71 US Cities first.

So not only are we doing the moral thing in helping Ukraine, but we are also helping the Ordinary Americans who work at these Production Sites as well as other Businesses in those Towns.

It’s a Win-Win!

Map Key:

Dark Green  = BAE Systems

Dark Blue = Boeing

Orange = General Dynamics

Yellow = Lockheed Martin

Red = Honeywell

Purple  = RTX Corporation

Light Blue = L3Harris

Pink = Aeroinronment

Light Green  = Northrup Grumman

Nutritional Ice

 

Aid Signed!

Biden has signed the Aid Packages today!

Ukraine will get $61 Billion Dollars.

Israel will get $26 Billion Dollars.

University Protesters

From the DW:

“Pro-Palestinian protests spread at US universities”

Students at several US universities have staged large protests in response to Israel's military operations in Gaza. Student arrests have sparked outrage, but some demonstrators have also been accused of antisemitism. The great lawn in the center of Columbia University's Manhattan campus is normally where students meet up to study in the sun, or before heading to the Morningside Heights neighborhood for drinks. These days, it has become the central gathering point for protesters in a movement that has spread from the Middle East to New York and universities across the United States. On April 18, Columbia University's president, Nemat (Minouche) Shafik, called the New York City Police Department to campus, where officers in riot gear arrested more than 100 students who had set up tents on the campus green to protest Israel's military operations in Gaza. "I took this extraordinary step because these are extraordinary circumstances," Shafik wrote in a campus email Thursday afternoon, saying she had made the decision with "deep regret." Columbia also suspended the students who were arrested; nevertheless, tents have since started to pop back up.

Professors walk out in solidarity with students On Monday, hundreds of Columbia faculty members staged a walkout to demonstrate their solidarity with the student protesters and criticize university leadership. The university announced that classes would be held remotely on Monday, and later said they would be taught in a hybrid model for the remainder of the school year. The students are protesting the military strikes the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been carrying out in Gaza in response to the terror attack by militant-Islamist Hamas on October 7, 2023, which saw 1,200 people killed by Hamas and around 240 people taken hostage. More than 34,000 people have since died in Gaza according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory has been described by international organizations as catastrophic, with barely any food, water or medication available to the population. "We demand our voices be heard against the mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza," Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of pro-Palestinian Columbia student groups, wrote in a statement shared Monday on Instagram. "Our university is complicit in this violence and this is why we protest."

NYU, Yale and other universities also see protests In recent days, pro-Palestinian student protests have spilled over from Columbia to other universities. At New York University, a short subway ride away from Columbia, a student encampment swelled to hundreds of protesters on Monday. After university authorities asked people to leave and claimed the scene got disorderly, they, too, called police, who arrested several students. Harvard Yard, a central area at Harvard University outside of Boston, was closed to the public Monday, and structures, including tents and tables, were only allowed into the yard with prior permission. At Yale University in Connecticut, police officers arrested about 45 protesters and charged them with misdemeanor trespassing on Monday. All were released on promises to appear in court later, police said. Across university campuses, protesters have called for their schools to back a ceasefire in Gaza and divest from companies with ties to Israel.

Accusations of antisemitism There have also been accusations of antisemitism against the protests. NYU leadership said it had learned of "intimidating chants and several antisemitic incidents" at its student protest. Shafik said antisemitic harassment had recently taken place on the Columbia campus. "The decibel of our disagreements has only increased in recent days," the university president said. "These tensions have been exploited and amplified by individuals who are not affiliated with Columbia who have come to campus to pursue their own agendas." The student coalition organizing the protest at Columbia has rejected antisemitism accusations against the protest as a whole, saying it was a few individuals trying to co-opt their cause who behaved in an unacceptable manner. "We firmly reject any form of hate or bigotry and stand vigilant against non-students attempting to disrupt the solidarity being forged amount students — Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish, Black, and pro-Palestinian classmates and colleagues who represent the full diversity of our country," the group said in its Instagram statement.

US's Israel policy unpopular with young Americans The widespread protests make clear that many young Americans are unhappy with President Joe Biden's Israel policy. Historically, the US has always been a close ally of Israel, and Washington continues to be Israel's strongest backer in its current conflict with Hamas. When Israeli troops began military operations in Gaza, Biden emphasized the US's strong allegiance with Israel. But as more and more civilians in Gaza have been killed, many people on the liberal spectrum in the US — especially young voters — have voiced dismay about their tax dollars being used to fund Israel. They want the president to call for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and stop all aid to Israel. The US stance does have an effect on Israel's actions. After a series of Israeli airstrikes killed several aid workers this spring, Biden issued an ultimatum, saying the US would change its supportive policy if Israel didn't address civilian suffering in Gaza and the safety of aid workers. After the statement, Israel immediately announced steps aimed at increasing the flow of aid to Gaza.

^ These are not the same Student Protests that were against the Vietnam War in the 1960s-1970s.

These are groups of uninformed People (Students and sadly – Faculty) that are promoting Hamas Terrorism and the Murder, Rape and Kidnapping of Jews.

Everyone of these Pro-Palestinian Protesters should be sent to Gaza where they will see first-hand how the Hamas Terrorists treat their People (Homosexuals are tortured and murdered, Women are kept “in their place” at home and married to Hamas Fighters-  whether they want to or not.

Non-Muslims (including Christians) are forced to convert to Islam or killed.

Anyone protesting anything against Hamas are killed.

These Protesters are only helping to spread Hamas’ message of Terrorism and their call to attack and kill Jews everywhere.

I also question any Protesters who see a need to cover their faces making them look like the Hamas Terrorists. ^

https://www.dw.com/en/pro-palestinian-protests-spread-at-us-universities/a-68902360

Genocide

Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide was the systematic killing and deportation of Armenians by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire. In 1915, during World War I, leaders of the Turkish government set in motion a plan to expel and massacre Armenians. By the early 1920s, when the genocide finally ended, between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians were dead, with many more forcibly removed from the country. Today, most historians call this event a genocide: a premeditated and systematic campaign to exterminate an entire people. In 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden issued a declaration that the Ottoman Empire’s slaughter of Armenian civilians was genocide. However, the Turkish government still does not acknowledge the scope of these events.

Kingdom of Armenia The Armenian people have made their home in the Caucasus region of Eurasia for some 3,000 years. For some of that time, the kingdom of Armenia was an independent entity: At the beginning of the 4th century A.D., for instance, it became the first nation in the world to make Christianity its official religion. But for the most part, control of the region shifted from one empire to another. During the 15th century, Armenia was absorbed into the mighty Ottoman Empire.

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman rulers, like most of their subjects, were Muslim. They permitted religious minorities to maintain some autonomy, but they also subjected Armenians, whom they viewed as “infidels,” to unequal and unjust treatment. Christians paid higher taxes than Muslims, for example, and had very few political or legal rights. In spite of these obstacles, the Armenian community thrived under Ottoman rule. They tended to be better educated and wealthier than their Turkish neighbors, who in turn grew to resent their success. This resentment was compounded by suspicions that the Christian Armenians would be more loyal to Christian governments (that of the Russians, for example, who shared an unstable border with Turkey) than they were to the Ottoman caliphate. These suspicions grew more acute as the Ottoman Empire began to crumble: At the end of the 19th century, the despotic Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid II—obsessed with loyalty above all, and infuriated by the nascent Armenian campaign to win basic civil rights—declared that he would solve the “Armenian question” once and for all. “I will soon settle those Armenians,” he told a reporter in 1890. “I will give them a box on the ear which will make them…relinquish their revolutionary ambitions.”

First Armenian Massacre Between 1894 and 1896, this “box on the ear” took the form of a state-sanctioned pogrom. In response to large-scale protests by Armenians, Turkish military officials, soldiers and ordinary men sacked Armenian villages and cities and massacred their citizens. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians were murdered.

Young Turks In 1908, a new government came to power in Turkey. A group of reformers who called themselves the “Young Turks” overthrew Sultan Abdul Hamid and established a more modern constitutional government. At first, the Armenians were hopeful that they would have an equal place in this new state, but they soon learned that what the nationalistic Young Turks wanted most of all was to “Turkify” the empire. According to this way of thinking, non-Turks—and especially Christian non-Turks—were a grave threat to the new state.

World War I Begins In 1914, the Turks entered World War I on the side of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. (At the same time, Ottoman religious authorities declared a holy war against all Christians except their allies.) Military leaders began to argue that the Armenians were traitors: If they thought they could win independence if the Allies were victorious, this argument went, the Armenians would be eager to fight for the enemy. Indeed, as the war intensified, Armenians organized volunteer battalions to help the Russian army fight against the Turks in the Caucasus region. These events, and general Turkish suspicion of the Armenian people, led the Turkish government to push for the “removal” of the Armenians from the war zones along the Eastern Front.

Armenian Genocide Begins On April 24, 1915, the Armenian genocide began: That day, the Turkish government arrested and executed several hundred Armenian intellectuals. After that, ordinary Armenians were turned out of their homes and sent on death marches through the Mesopotamian desert without food or water. Frequently, the marchers were stripped naked and forced to walk under the scorching sun until they dropped dead. People who stopped to rest were shot. At the same time, the Young Turks created a “Special Organization,” which in turn organized “killing squads” or “butcher battalions” to carry out, as one officer put it, “the liquidation of the Christian elements.” These killing squads were often made up of murderers and other ex-convicts. They drowned people in rivers, threw them off cliffs, crucified them and burned them alive. In short order, the Turkish countryside was littered with Armenian corpses. Records show that during this “Turkification” campaign, government squads also kidnapped children, converted them to Islam and gave them to Turkish families. In some places, they raped women and forced them to join Turkish “harems” or serve as slaves. Muslim families moved into the homes of deported Armenians and seized their property. Though reports vary, most sources agree that there were about 2 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire at the time of the massacre. In 1922, when the genocide was over, there were just 388,000 Armenians remaining in the Ottoman Empire. Did you know? American news outlets have also been reluctant to use the word “genocide” to describe Turkey’s crimes. The phrase “Armenian genocide” did not appear in The New York Times until 2004.

Aftermath and Legacy After the Ottomans surrendered in 1918, the leaders of the Young Turks fled to Germany, which promised not to prosecute them for the genocide. (However, a group of Armenian nationalists devised a plan, known as Operation Nemesis, to track down and assassinate the leaders of the genocide.) Ever since then, the Turkish government has denied that a genocide took place. The Armenians were an enemy force, they argue, and their slaughter was a necessary war measure. Turkey is an important ally of the United States and other Western nations, and so their governments had been slow to condemn the long-ago killings. In March 2010, a U.S. Congressional panel voted to recognize the genocide. On October 29, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution that recognized the Armenian genocide. And on April 24, 2021, President Biden issued a statement, saying, "The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today.”

https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/armenian-genocide

Armenian Genocide

 

Diada de Sant Jordi

Diada de Sant Jordi (Saint George’s Day!)

In Catalonia today (April 23^rd) It is also The Day of Books and Roses when books and roses are given out.

St George's Day

 

Happy Saint George’s Day to my English Friends.

Saint George is the Patron Saint of England.

Passover During War

 

Like Israeli Jews Ukrainian Jews are celebrating this Passover in a War.

And American Jews, Canadian Jews, German Jews, British Jews, Polish Jews, Russian Jews, Spanish Jews, etc. are celebrating this Passover fearful of an Anti-Semitic Attack (violence against Jews has risen 350% Worldwide - 300% in the US - since October 2023.)

As a Gentile I wish all my Jewish Friends a Happy and Safe Passover!

199 Days: Passover

 

This Passover (for those that celebrate) or this Monday (for those who don't) please remember the 133 Men, Women and Children - including Americans - that are still being held Hostage in Gaza 199 days and counting.

Passover

 Passover

Passover, or Pesach in Hebrew, is one of the Jewish religion’s most sacred and widely observed holidays. In Judaism, Passover commemorates the story of the Israelites’ departure from ancient Egypt, which appears in the Hebrew Bible’s books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, among other texts. Jews observe the weeklong festival with a number of important rituals, including a traditional Passover meal known as a seder, the removal of leavened products from their home, the substitution of matzo for bread and the retelling of the exodus tale.

The Passover Story According to the Hebrew Bible, Jewish settlement in ancient Egypt first occurs when Joseph, a son of the patriarch Jacob and founder of one of the 12 tribes of Israel, moves his family there during a severe famine in their homeland of Canaan. For many years the Israelites live in harmony in the province of Goshen, but as their population grows the Egyptians begin to see them as a threat. After the death of Joseph and his brothers, the story goes, a particularly hostile pharaoh orders their enslavement and the systematic drowning of their firstborn sons in the Nile.

The Story of Moses One of these doomed infants is rescued by the pharaoh’s daughter, given the name Moses (meaning “one who is pulled out”) and adopted into the Egyptian royal family. When he reaches adulthood, Moses becomes aware of his true identity and the Egyptians’ brutal treatment of his fellow Hebrews. He kills an Egyptian slave master and escapes to the Sinai Peninsula, where he lives as a humble shepherd for 40 years. One day, however, Moses receives a command from God to return to Egypt and free his kin from bondage, according to the Hebrew Bible. Along with his brother Aaron, Moses approaches the reigning pharaoh (who is unnamed in the biblical version of the story) several times, explaining that the Hebrew God has requested a three-day leave for his people so that they may celebrate a feast in the wilderness.

10 Plagues When the pharaoh refuses, God unleashes 10 plagues on the Egyptians, including turning the Nile River red with blood, diseased livestock, boils, hailstorms and three days of darkness, culminating in the slaying of every firstborn son by an avenging angel. The Israelites, however, mark the door frames of their homes with lamb’s blood so that the angel of death will recognize and “pass over” each Jewish household. Terrified of further punishment, the Egyptians convince their ruler to release the Israelites, and Moses quickly leads them out of Egypt. The pharaoh changes his mind, however, and sends his soldiers to retrieve the former slaves. As the Egyptian army approaches the fleeing Jews at the edge of the Red Sea, a miracle occurs: God causes the sea to part, allowing Moses and his followers to cross safely, then closes the passage and drowns the Egyptians. According to the Hebrew Bible, the Jews—now numbering in the hundreds of thousands—then trek through the Sinai desert for 40 tumultuous years before finally reaching their ancestral home in Canaan, later known as the Land of Israel.

Questions of Historical Accuracy For centuries, scholars have been debating the details and historical merit of the events commemorated during the Passover holiday. Despite numerous attempts, historians and archaeologists have failed to corroborate the tale of the Jews’ enslavement in and mass exodus from Egypt. Although the ancient Egyptians kept thorough records, no mention is made of an Israelite community within their midst or any calamities resembling the 10 biblical plagues. There is also no evidence of large encampments in the Sinai Peninsula, the fabled site of the Jews’ wandering, or any sudden fluctuation in Israel’s archaeological record that would indicate the departure and return of a large population. A handful of scholars, including the first-century Jewish historian Josephus, have suggested a link between the Israelites and the Hyksos, a mysterious Semitic people—possibly from Canaan—who controlled lower Egypt for more than 100 years before their expulsion during the 16th century B.C. Most modern academics, however, have dismissed this theory due to chronological conflicts and a lack of similarity between the two cultures.

Passover Traditions One of the most important Passover rituals for observant Jews is removing all leavened food products (known as chametz) from their home before the holiday begins and abstaining from them throughout its duration. Instead of bread, religious Jews eat a type of flatbread called matzo. According to tradition, this is because the Hebrews fled Egypt in such haste that there was no time for their bread to rise, or perhaps because matzo was lighter and easier to carry through the desert than regular bread.

Did you know? Jewish vegetarians often substitute beets for the shankbone on the Passover seder plate.

Passover Seder Meaning On the first two nights of Passover, families and friends gather for a religious feast known as a seder for the Jewish holiday. During the meal, the story of the exodus from Egypt is read aloud from a special text called the Haggadah (Hebrew for “telling”), and rituals corresponding to various aspects of the narrative are performed. For example, vegetables are dipped into salt water representing the tears Jews shed during their time as slaves, and bitter herbs (usually horseradish) symbolizing the unpleasant years of their bondage are eaten. A seder plate at the center of the table contains Passover foods with particular significance to the exodus story, including matzo, bitter herbs, a lamb shankbone and a mixture of fruit, nuts and wine known as charoset, which represents the mortar Jews used while bonding bricks as slaves in Egypt. Other typical menu items include matzo kugel (a pudding made from matzo and apples), poached fish patties called gefilte fish and chicken soup with matzo balls. Children play an important role in the seder and are expected to take part in many of its customs. At one point during the meal, the youngest child present recites the four questions, which ask what distinguishes this special night from all other nights. In many households, young people also enjoy participating in the traditional hunt for the afikomen, a piece of matzo that is hidden early in the evening. The finder is rewarded with a prize or money.

https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/passover

Happy Passover

 

Nicholas Winton

Sir Nicolas Winton

(Nicky Winton with a Czech Refugee between 1938 and 1939 and Winton later in life.)

Sir Nicholas George Winton MBE –  Most Excellent Order of the British Empire Recipient – was born with the German Last Name of Wertheim on May 19, 1909 in London, England.

His Parents were German Jews who moved to England in 1907 (2 years before he was born.) They anglicized their Last Name to Winton and were Baptized into the Church of England.

Winton became a Stockbroker and worked in Banks in Hamburg and Berlin, Germany in the 1920s, in Paris, France in 1931 and then on the London Stock Exchange in England.

At School, he had become an outstanding Fencer, fencing both foil and épée, and was selected for the British Olympic Team in 1938, but the Olympics were cancelled because of World War II.

In December 1938 he went to Prague, Czechoslovakia to help the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia (BCRC) – which was run by British, Canadian and Czechoslovak Volunteers trying to help the Refugees (Jewish and Non-Jewish) fleeing Nazi Germany, Nazi Austria and the Nazi-Occupied Sudetenland Region of Czechoslovakia.

Seeing how the Men, Women and Children lived in squalor and dire conditions (including outside in the snow and cold) Winton went back to London in January 1939 to see about getting help from the British Government.

In November 1938, following Kristallnacht in Nazi Germany and Austria , the British  House of Commons approved a measure to allow the entry into Britain of Refugees younger than 17, provided they had a place to stay and a Warranty of £50 (equivalent to £3,397 British Pounds or $4,422 US Dollars in 2024 ) was deposited per Person for their eventual return to their own Country.

With the British Government allowing the Children in Winton had to figure out how to get the Netherlands to open their borders since they had to take a ferry from the Netherlands to the United Kingdon and the Netherlands had closed its Border to Jewish Refugees after Kristallnacht in November 1938.

Eventually, the Dutch allowed the Refugee Children to transit through Holland on their way to the UK.

Winton and his Mother worked hard from London to get all the necessary Sponsors, Money and Visas while other Members of the BCRC worked on the ground in Free Czechoslovakia and from March 1939 until September 1939 in Nazi-Occupied Czechoslovakia.

After the Nazis Occupied all of Czechoslovakia (including Prague) the Germans now required every Jew fleeing whether from Germany, Austria or Czechoslovakia and whether Children or Adults to pay The Reich Flight Tax (German: Reichsfluchtsteuer) in order to be given the Exit Permits needed to leave.

Winton placed the pictures of the Refugee Children in Newspapers across the UK so that Ordinary People could “pick” which one they wanted to Host and while most couldn’t afford the £50 per Person Warranty Winton found the money from others who could afford it.

Winton also wrote the US President Franklin Roosevelt to get his help in having Children go to the US, but FDR never replied back to him.

While Winton and the BCRC did get 669 Children out from Nazi Controlled Land the last Train of 250 Children that was scheduled to leave Prague on September 1, 1939 were stopped by the Nazis because the Germans had just invaded Poland and expected the UK to declare War on Germany – which they did on September 3, 1939.

Of the 250 Children that were taken off that train only 2 survived the Holocaust.

The vast majority of the 669 Children that did make it to the United Kingdom on the Kindertransport were forced to flee again after the Nazis started the Blitz and Bombing of British Cities. Most of the Children never saw their Parents or other Relatives ever again – they were murdered by the Germans in the Holocaust.

Once the Kindertransport Program ended Winton joined the British Red Cross until he joined the Royal Air Force in 1940 in its Administrative and Special Duties Branch.

He went from an Aircraftman to a Sergeant to an Acting Pilot Officer to a Pilot Officer to a Flying Officer in February 1945.  He left the Royal Air Force in 1954.

Also after the War Winton worked for the International Refugee Organization and then the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Paris, where he met Grete Gjelstrup, a Danish Secretary, whom he married in 1948.

They had 3 Children. The youngest of whom – Robin -  had Down’s Syndrome (but stayed in the Winton’s House instead of going to an Institution as was customary at the time.) Robin died of Meningitis the day before his 6^th Birthday.

Winton’s work on the Kindertransport went unnoticed decades until 1988 when his Wife found a detailed scrapbook in their attic, containing lists of the Children, including their Parents' names and the names and addresses of the Families that took them in.

He gave the scrapbook to Elisabeth Maxwell, a Holocaust Researcher and Wife of media magnate Robert Maxwell.

He then appeared on the British Show “That’s Life” where his scrapbook was shown as were some of the Children – now Adults – that he had saved.

In the 1983 Birthday Honours, Winton was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his work in establishing the Abbeyfield homes for the Elderly in Britain; and, in the 2003 New Year Honours, he was Knighted for services to humanity, in recognition of his work on the Czech Kindertransport.

Winton was awarded the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Fourth Class, by the Czech President Václav Havel in 1998.

His Wife, Grete, died in 1999.

In 2003, Winton received the Pride of Britain Award for Lifetime Achievement.

In 2008, he was honored by the Czech Government in several ways. An elementary school in Kunžak is named after him, and he was awarded the Cross of Merit of the Minister of Defence, Grade I.

The Czech Government nominated him for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize.

To celebrate his 100th Birthday in 2009 Winton flew over the White Waltham Airfield in a microlight piloted by Judy Leden, the Daughter of one of the Boys he saved.

 In 2010, Winton was named a British Hero of the Holocaust by the British Government.

Winton received the Wallenberg Medal in 2013.

In October 2014, Winton was awarded the Order of the White Lion (Class I) by Czech President Miloš Zeman.

Winton was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in February 2015.

Winton was not declared a Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in Israel due to the Yad Vashem Policy, which states that only Non-Jews who risked their lives in order to save Jews are to be declared Righteous Among the Nations.

Nicholas Winton died on July 1, 2015 at the age of 106.