"During the last years, Hamas has been doing all they can to control our thoughts, behaviour and aspirations. Here in Gaza we are scared of being incarcerated, interrogated, hit, tortured, bombed, killed. We cannot move as we want, say what we want, do what we want."

But I thought Hamas were T*H*E G*O*O*D G*U*Y*S, the people every Imcista was supposed to cheer on for their N*O*B*L*E R*E*S*I*S*T*A*N*C*E. Are they really only fascist theocrats after all?

But I thought Hamas were T*H*E G*O*O*D G*U*Y*S, the people every Imcista was supposed to cheer on for their N*O*B*L*E R*E*S*I*S*T*A*N*C*E. Are they really only fascist theocrats after all?"

Did you post this story just so you could comment on it?

Such clumsiness isn't befitting of any genuine IMC'er. So you must be an EDL loser!

DON'T FEED THE TROLLS!

Hamas are a bunch of dodgy authoritarian *unts who justify their behaviour with reference to a monotheistic religion. Not much different to our previous Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

So what? We all knew that long ago.

stop the press. less than 10 students in the Gaza strip write a 'manifesto', publish it on facebook and get a few followers. fuck!!!
It talks of 'fuck hamas'. These people must be the most revolutionary Palestinians there are. And they fit into the white western idea of what is acceptable resistance. lets put them on a pedestal.
white westerners like to dictate to the rest of the world what us the 'right' way to resist, and what is the wrong way. you try and live i the biggest prison on this planet and carry on with your fluffly, middle class activist politics... nope. didn't think you could.
now, a statement from less than 10 people, is held up as the ultimate truth. a vindication of what we always said about Hamas. a justification to our *racist* dictation of what resistance should be. how nice of you to tell the 'natives' how to behave. get out of your empire mentality. until you can actually do something concrete to help the people of Palestine fight the horror of occupation, fuck off. don't see no anarchists going to Gaza to help out...

That must be the dumbest rant I've seen on Indymedia this year. Although the competition is still pretty mild.

Gaza is a prison built by the Israelis.
Hamas are the brutal, bullying firm that run the place.
Fatah is the family member that you used to write, but hasn't tried to get a letter through in a while.

"white westerners like to dictate to the rest of the world what us the 'right' way to resist, and what is the wrong way."
Right. Which you'd never do. It's not like you're, for example, criticising a statement written by Gazans or anything. When internationalists criticise Hamas, that's dictating the rest of the world, when you declare that Hamas are right and criticise Gazans who criticise them, that's something completely different.
"you try and live i the biggest prison on this planet and carry on with your fluffly, middle class activist politics... nope. didn't think you could."
The authors of this statement seem to have managed to do so. I'll move to Gaza and try to carry on with my internationalist politics when you move to an area run by Islamic reactionaries and try to carry on uncritically cheerleading for them. Deal?
"a justification to our *racist* dictation of what resistance should be."
Which one of these sounds more racist to you:
A) Assuming that Palestinians are people just like everyone else, capable of developing political positions just as complicated as our own, as this statement shows, or
B) Treating Palestinians like a race of children who can't possibly live up to our Western standards, so we can only talk about socialist or anarchist politics at home but as soon as we talk about Palestine, we have to simplify things by uncritically treating Hamas as the goodies (that is to say, the best the uncivilised Palestinians can be expected to come up with)?
"how nice of you to tell the 'natives' how to behave. get out of your empire mentality."
Again, saying you support Hamas and slagging off the Palestinians who wrote this statement is "telling the natives how to behave" every bit as much as what we're saying. When English people do something I think is worthwhile, or when they do something I think is stupid, I'm honest about my opinion, not because I think I have any right to tell other people what to do, but because I see them as equals. Do you have a problem with that? Now, when Palestinian people do something I think is worthwhile, or when they do something I think is stupid, I'm honest about my opinion, not because I think I have any right to tell other people what to do, but because I see them as equals. How is that racist?
"until you can actually do something concrete to help the people of Palestine fight the horror of occupation, fuck off. don't see no anarchists going to Gaza to help out..."
You haven't been looking very hard. Apart from all the anarchists who've gone over with the International Solidarity Movement (  http://palsolidarity.org/ ), and the anarchist who was recently jailed for resisting the Israeli state (  http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=201148 ) how about the AWL solidarity delegation who went over there (not anarchists, but also not fans of Hamas by any means:  http://ipsol.wordpress.com/ )? Now, since you're so keen on praticising what you preach, I'm sure you won't be hypocritical enough to post again until you've gone over to Palestine and blown yourself up to help your Hamas buddies out. Goodbye.

the criticism isn't at the statement. it is at the way the white liberal left have jumped on it. it received a full page spread in the guardian, and lauded as revolutionary all around - including here on indymedia. the group who produced the statement numbered 8 people. 8 people in Gaza's population of half a million; you work out what that is as a percentage. compare to the amount of Palestinians who supported and voted for Hamas. Maybe you are of the same opinion of the quarted (the US, EU, Russia and UN) who weren't happy with the way the election turned out - cos it don't fit in with your idea of how things should be! how about respecting what Gazans decided for themselves.

Hamas is a reality. Support for them is a reality. Your racist and Islamaphobic sentiments may see you at loggerheads with this alien culture you are unable to understand, but their presence is a fact. The statement made by the group is also a reality, but lets keep it in perspective. read the Guardian article on it: "their text has travelled around the world at an unexpected speed and has harvested thousands of supporters, many of them human rights activists, who say they are ready to help"
support from outside. from western activists. do a bit of critical thinking and take a look at the fucked up situation here. do you really think this facebook group is as the guardian puts it "be a turning point in the life of the Strip"! more like this is what these human rights activists are hoping - that these western talking, western friendly group will spread their secular epiphany throughout Gaza. really, its not likely.

as for your mention of anarchists fighting the occupation; you still didn't manage to show evidence of Gaza's thriving anarchist community! respect to the anarchists against the wall, and the brother on the bike, but, as i am sure they will agree - they are not challenging the daily realities of occupation in Gaza, and their contribution is nothing compared to the resistance.
learn from the brigades who went to fight fascism in 30's spain. seems british anarchists just aint made of what they used to be!
if it isn't exactly what your political analysis states is "right", seems you want to wash your hands of it. unfortunately the world isn't so clear cut. me personally, i'm up for linking whoever helps bring down the oppressor.

easy to be nitpicking with your white western privilige.

"Maybe you are of the same opinion of the quarted (the US, EU, Russia and UN) who weren't happy with the way the election turned out - cos it don't fit in with your idea of how things should be! how about respecting what Gazans decided for themselves."
You're right. I don't like the elected government of Palestine. I also don't like the elected government of Britain, Israel, or the US. Are you? Do you respect what Americans, British and Israelis have decided for themselves? Or are you a hypocrite? I don't think Hamas are less legitimate than any other government, but that doesn't mean I respect them either.
"Hamas is a reality. Support for them is a reality." The IDF is a reality. The Israeli state is a reality. I don't respect them either. And the support for Hamas coming from most Western lefties is just words, which is hardly a reality. If you want to go out there and martyr yourself for your beloved reactionaries, then go ahead, but until you do so, don't kid yourself that you're doing anything more to help Hamas than I am.
"Your racist and Islamaphobic sentiments may see you at loggerheads with this alien culture you are unable to understand, but their presence is a fact."
Fuck off. See, not being a racist, I don't think Palestinians are aliens. I think they're people, like we are. Yes, most Palestinians have views I don't agree with. So do most British people. That's not because British people, or even Palestinians, belong to an alien culture I can't understand, that's because revolutionary views are very marginal at this moment in time. That doesn't mean that people are unable to come up with a decent understanding of the world - like the small minority of the British population who have internationalist views, or the small minority of Gaza's population who wrote this statement. If, as you see it, Palestianians are all funny backwards aliens, then how do you explain the emergence of the PFLP or DFLP - not groups that I'd agree with, but groups driven by very secular aims that I as a Westerner can understand, not strange alien ones from their alien culture? Why did Hamas only emerge as a strong force after the secular Fatah had been discredited, almost as though the strength of religious reactionaries in Palestine is due to a specific historical situation, and not due to some alien culture that I can't understand?
"more like this is what these human rights activists are hoping - that these western talking, western friendly group will spread their secular epiphany throughout Gaza. really, its not likely." No, it isn't. Really, it's also not likely that Hamas are going to militarily defeat Israel, who have a much better army and are backed by the West, and it's not likely that we'll see anarchist revolution any time soon. If I only hoped for things that I thought were likely to happen in the near future, I'd be voting Tory, because them winning elections is "likely". Even if the kind of change I want to see is far off, I can still comment on whether I think something's a positive development or not.
"if it isn't exactly what your political analysis states is "right", seems you want to wash your hands of it."
Yeah. For instance, I'm sure you wouldn't support the EDL, because they're not exactly what your political analysis states is right, so you want to wash your hands of them. How dare you refuse to support reactionaries, just because you think they're wrong!
"unfortunately the world isn't so clear cut. me personally, i'm up for linking whoever helps bring down the oppressor."
You mentioned 30s Spain. You might want to learn a few lessons from that. Specifically, what happened when anarchists didn't fight their own corner and just linked up with whoever was up for helping bring down fascism. The Spanish working class ended up slaughtered by their own government, just like the Zimbabwean workers killed by the anti-imperialist hero Mugabe, or the Korean workers killed by the anti-imperialist hero Kim Il-Sung. But that doesn't matter, because they're not Western, so they can't be oppressors, right?

...as means of clarification:  http://gazaybo.wordpress.com/2011/01/04/dont-distort-our-speech/

Here we go again.

Israel is planning another murderous onslaught of its neighbours and as usual, it all starts with political subversion and the beginning of a political and media led campaign against Hamas.

In a year or so, the Israeli's will invade, kill countless thousands and this "little episode" will all be forgotten.

This group are anonymous which, in Palestine, can be taken as shorthand for Zionists. Palestinians are not tired of Hamas. Only Israeli's want the world to believe that!

Its just Israeli fuck-wits trying to crow-bar a little dissent in the ranks before they start with their latest "Holocaust re-enactment" (it really is about time we invaded Israel to save them from themselves at least for humanitarian reasons)

The people behind this are the usual mentally retarded meat headed corpulent bed-wetters as per usual.

Nothing to see here, move along.

I think we can count this is a bit of a miss then!

Still, top marks for trying!

Telling the truth is everywhere a dangerous thing to do. Good wishes and take care.