I just read Norman Solomon's article Cracking the Media Walls. 

I agree totally that the progressive world needs to make press work more of a priority.  I think we need to be really clear that  we need to learn the public relations skills that will increase the chances of generating news coverage.

In the community I live in in upstate, NY for the first time I can remember in 30 years a media training workshop was offered by a local peace group. It was cancelled due to lack of  advance registration. There was little interest in learning the skills necessary to do professional press work.   Writing a good press release with the news peg up front does make a difference in your chances for coverage. 

If we want to get our message before the public we need to invest  time, money, resources etc. It does make a difference.

Pete Wirth

   

 Norman Solomon: Cracking the Media Walls

The major news outlets are like walls with cracks. The confining structures
of big media loom large every day -- yet progressives have countless
opportunities to find, utilize and widen the cracks in the corporate
media's barriers to democratic communication. . .
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles9/Solomon_Cracking-Media-Walls.htm

 

 

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Vajpayee and Advani and the Haj pilgrimage rules and regulation

Vajpayee and Advani are playing a political game, by deliberately tinkering with the Haj pilgrimage rules and regulation at this late hour, when the Muslims are in the month of Ramadan and are on the verge of planning for Haj within next two months.

 

The arbitrary changes in the rules, without any rhyme and reason and without taking into confidence, the representative of 150 million Muslims of India, in the matter of one of their most important religious duties, has all the signs of a deliberate plan of mischief and provocation.

 

If the government had something up its sleeves in reforming the whole process with the sole objective of facilitating the travel of Haj pilgrims, a democratic government would have gone through a transparent attempt to reach an agreement with the cross-section of its Muslim citizens, without playing communal politics.

 

While the whole nation and its economy is on a privatizing spree, why Muslim pilgrims should be subjected to such harsh and arbitrary obstacle course laid out to harass the community, sure to rouse their mass anger and reaction. Why bureaucracy is being let loose on peaceful citizens.

 

Is it to use the whole exercise as a substitute for going easy on Babri Masjid / Ram Mandir imbroglio, to win communal votes in the coming Assembly elections.

 

Muslims should alert Chief Election Commissioner with the possibility of distortions being introduced by the Central Government to the otherwise smooth process of coming State Assembly elections in the 5 states, thankfully without any overt communal overtones this time around.

Ghulam Muhammed, India

 

 

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Hanan Ashrawi and Australian Zionists

Palestinian activist Hanan Ashrawi waded into the row over the award to her of Australia's main peace prize when she backed the two-state solution to peace in the Middle East.

Speaking at a lecture to mark the controversial award of the 50,000 Australian dollar (34,500 US dollar) Sydney Peace Prize, Ashrawi took a sideswipe at her critics and countered vigorous complaints by Jewish groups over the honour.

They claim that Ashrawi's statements were inconsistent with a two-state solution.

"The two-state solution is still possible," she said on Wednesday.

The award ceremony has been boycotted by Sydney mayor Lucy Turnbull even though the city is the prize's largest sponsor.

But Ashwari praised New South Wales state Premier Bob Carr, who refused to bow to pressure and will present the prize to her on Thursday.

"You have refused to be deflected, intimidated or silenced, exercising a tenacity and determination that are the rare attributes of moral leadership and genuine service," she said.

Mayor Turnbull has been accused of playing politics with the issue as her husband, Malcolm Turnbull, a leading light of Prime Minister John Howard's Liberal party, is seeking selection as a candidate in a safe parliamentary seat with a large Jewish population.

Ashrawi served as spokeswoman of the Palestinian negotiating delegation between 1991 and 1993.

After Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority was created, she served as minister of higher education from 1996 through 1998.

She founded the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH) in 1998.

The Sydney Peace Foundation is a non-profit organization attached to the University of Sydney.

Other recipients of its prize have included Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson.

 

Sent by Tariq Al-Maeena

 

 

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Earth, a planet hungry for peace

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).