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Our old, wise friend Qumseyeh…<br class="">
<div><br class="">
<blockquote type="cite" class="">
<div class="">Begin forwarded message:</div>
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<span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">From:
</b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Mazin Qumsiyeh <<a href="mailto:mazin@qumsiyeh.org" class="">mazin@qumsiyeh.org</a>><br class="">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">Subject:
</b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">[HumanRights] Will humanity fail or rise to the challenge?</b><br class="">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">Date:
</b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">March 12, 2020 at 8:12:21 AM CDT<br class="">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">To:
</b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="mailto:brussel@uiuc.edu" class="">brussel@uiuc.edu</a><br class="">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">Cc:
</b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Human Rights Newsletter <<a href="mailto:humanrights@lists.qumsiyeh.org" class="">humanrights@lists.qumsiyeh.org</a>><br class="">
</span></div>
<br class="">
<div class="">
<div class=""> Link at<br class="">
<a href="http://popular-resistance.blogspot.com/2020/03/will-humanity-fail.html" class="">http://popular-resistance.blogspot.com/2020/03/will-humanity-fail.html</a><br class="">
Will humanity fail or rise to the challenge?<br class="">
<br class="">
Obviously human beings are being tested: pandemics spreading around the<br class="">
world (and after coronavirus, there will be others much more deadly), the<br class="">
collapse of oil prices that led to financial market collapses, the climate<br class="">
change (we have really 7 or 8 years left to make drastic changes in<br class="">
lifestyle to avoid the irreversible damage), the technology gone rampant<br class="">
and killings and nature (5G, chemical and biological weapons), the<br class="">
accelerating risk of nuclear war, and much more. How we deal with this as<br class="">
individuals and communities is really existential. There are bad signs and<br class="">
good signs. Let us give some examples of both and then of areas where we<br class="">
could go either way). Please post other good and bad news in the comments<br class="">
on this blog at<br class="">
http://popular-resistance.blogspot.com/2020/03/will-humanity-fail.html<br class="">
<br class="">
Example bad news first<br class="">
<br class="">
1) Regarding Coronavirus, it has become officially a pandemic and the<br class="">
failure of many governments to take it seriously will have catastrophic<br class="">
consequences in those areas (like Italy and the US). Some governments are<br class="">
using the pandemic as an excuse to increase repression and discrimination<br class="">
instead of using it to bring peace with justice. The genocidal sanctions on<br class="">
Iran for example has been tightened causing needless deaths of many. And<br class="">
even though Israeli cases are far more than Palestinian cases, restrictions<br class="">
and blockade tightened in our ghettos/bantustans (our own apartheid regime)<br class="">
and settlers are free to travel anywhere. Bethlehem is blockaded only for<br class="">
its Palestinian residents not for the illegal Israeli colonial settlers<br class="">
living here. Iran released tens of thousands of prisoners to protect them;<br class="">
Israel brought in a sick doctor and cut services and stopped family visits<br class="">
to the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners. The catastrophic<br class="">
economic situation around the world impacts the most vulnerable<br class="">
communities. Poverty will skyrocket and the billionaires will stay<br class="">
billionaires! “Israel” with all its money and resources (fleeced from us<br class="">
and others) is focused on being anti-Palestinian instead of working to<br class="">
better the lives of all its citizens including Palestinians. Greece and<br class="">
Turkey play football with Syrian refugees and the genocide in Yemen is<br class="">
ongoing and I shudder to think what would happen as the virus spreads in<br class="">
such devasted countries like Syria, Yemen, and Libya.<br class="">
<br class="">
2) The climate change catastrophic situation is not dealt with and the<br class="">
political structures look like will not be changed. Because of cheating and<br class="">
rigging to prevent Bernie Sanders from getting the democratic nomination<br class="">
(driven mostly by Zionists), the choice in November will be to vote for one<br class="">
xenophobic puppet and another (Trump vs Biden) or sit it out. Trump will<br class="">
win (the power of incumbency and more money from Zionist billionaires) and<br class="">
we will be run for four more years by a fumbling megalomaniac. In either<br class="">
case the US will continue to topple governments that serve their people and<br class="">
install puppets similar to the one they put in charge of Brazil who will<br class="">
finish off the Amazon rainforest.<br class="">
<br class="">
Good news:<br class="">
<br class="">
1) In many locations, people quickly responded aggressively to the virus<br class="">
and seem to have contained the situation including at the source of the<br class="">
virus (Wuhan province in China) where new cases continue to decline.<br class="">
Medical personnel around the world have been nothing less than heroes.<br class="">
Among Palestinians we were pleasantly surprised by how serious it was taken<br class="">
and every one of the 31 cases reported in the past few days has known<br class="">
source and well controlled with hundreds observing the self-quarantine<br class="">
(only two people did not and they are now forced to do so and maybe<br class="">
penalized!). So many people are helping other people. Other good news on<br class="">
this front is the scientific development of simplified cheap tests and<br class="">
quick progress on anti-viral cures.<br class="">
<br class="">
2) Young people around the world are aware like never before. Part of it is<br class="">
they understand increasingly how the system is rigged, that 99.9% of<br class="">
politicians lie to them, and that their future cannot be left to<br class="">
politicians. They take things into their own hands, mobilize, help fellow<br class="">
human beings and are increasingly realizing that their future is at stake.<br class="">
Extinction Rebellion is the fastest growing movement on our planet.<br class="">
<br class="">
Now there are things that we cannot predict where they go yet. Will<br class="">
decision makers do the right thing and learning from the past realize that<br class="">
“business as usual” cannot go on and that they need to think of the<br class="">
collective human interest? Will we learn that the horrors of World War I<br class="">
and WWII were indeed repeated including actions of ethnic cleansing and<br class="">
slow genocide even by some people claiming to be heirs to the victims of<br class="">
similar atrocities? Will some countries use Israeli made drones to oppress<br class="">
people & shut down borders to refugees or will they really work for peace<br class="">
and justice instead of supporting repressive regimes like “Saudi Arabia”<br class="">
and “Israel” who cause these problems? Will those who attended the large<br class="">
AIPAC conference including congress people realize there is so much more<br class="">
hard from that besides getting Coronavirus (four were infected and<br class="">
mingling)? Will politicians put their personal financial and political<br class="">
interests ahead of our (and their’s) children future? Will the world<br class="">
(including our Arab countries and Palestine) remain run by mediocre people<br class="">
focusing on their own narrow self-interest? Will Israeli society and global<br class="">
Zionists continue to drift farther to the rights (racism, fascism etc)?<br class="">
<br class="">
We did not learn from our history. As WWII was ending and Germany and Japan<br class="">
were already defeated, the US fired the first two shots of the next war<br class="">
with the Soviet Union (that is the Hiroshima and Nagazaki terror bombing).<br class="">
Then we had Korea, Vietnam, Palestine and many many more atrocities against<br class="">
peole to serve colonial and imperial powers. In the past they got away with<br class="">
it. Today, this is existential to all humanity and as was said by a<br class="">
prophetic voice: we either live together as fellow human beings or we<br class="">
perish together as fools. When I said this to an audience in a recent talk<br class="">
in Europe, they asked about probabilities: I said 20% and 80% but the<br class="">
probability of 20% to survive as a species is getting smaller – the window<br class="">
of opportunity is closing. We must all reach deeper in our hearts and minds<br class="">
(and soul if you believe) and summon our best to fight. It is the epic<br class="">
struggle for our existence.<br class="">
<br class="">
Gazan Girl Fighting Cancer Died After Israel Denied Her Parents’ Visit. She<br class="">
Won’t Be the Last<br class="">
https://israelpalestinenews.org/gazan-girl-fighting-cancer-died-after-israel-denied-her-parents-visit/<br class="">
<br class="">
Five things to know/do http://news.un.org/en/story/2020/03/1059261<br class="">
<br class="">
Stay Human and come visit us in Palestine (at least after this is made<br class="">
possible again)<br class="">
and do stay safe<br class="">
<br class="">
Mazin Qumsiyeh<br class="">
A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home<br class="">
Professor, Founder, and (volunteer) Director<br class="">
Palestine Museum of Natural History<br class="">
Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability<br class="">
Bethlehem University<br class="">
Occupied Palestine<br class="">
http://qumsiyeh.org<br class="">
http://palestinenature.org<br class="">
facebook pages<br class="">
Personal https://www.facebook.com/mazin.qumsiyeh.9<br class="">
Museum<br class="">
https://www.facebook.com/Palestine-Museum-of-Natural-History-1454309858180882/<br class="">
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