LALIT holds Palestine evening Against The Wall: The Caged Bird's Song

19.11.2005

LALIT held an "open evening" around the film THE CAGED BIRD's SONG and featuring eye-witness accounts of life under occupation, by members, Alain Ah-Vee and Ragini Kistnasamy, Thursday 17 November at 6.00 pm. The evening was chaired by Ram Seegobin who led the discussion after the film.

The world-wide week of activities against the apartheid wall being constructed by the Israeli State, was initiated by grassroots groups in Palestine and supported by actions in over 30 countries. In Mauritius it began with a "temwayaz" at the University of Mauritius by Alain Ah-Vee and Ragini Kistnasamy, organized by staff and students at the University.

After the Thursday night film, there was lively discussion, centred around all the political issues involved. In particular, debate was around two subjects. Firstly, how the massive support for the Palestinian people that there was in the 1970's had been eroded while the mainstream parties became more and more pro-US in practice, to the point that the MMM and MSM could call their alliance "a-la-Israelienne" and think they could get away with pretending it was a neutral description. Secondly, how this harsh military occupation, which verges on genocide, will evolve. Participants pointed to the varied dynamics, ranging from the new Israeli Labour Party leader just voted in to the disarray of the Western forces that are the real backers of Israel's militarism (Bush's being cornered over the Iraqi war, Blair losing 40 of his back-benchers to voting against his politics, and the Australian government having to face 500,000 workers on strike and in the streets).