P10K Palestine

Even if you take some offence to some of what he says it is obviously from the heart and with great conviction.

A great initiative that has potential to make a real diference.

So how much do you want to make a difference?



>From: "Ian Hodgson"
>Reply-To:  oxford@lists.riseup.net
>To:  osan@lists.riseup.net
>CC:  oxford@lists.riseup.net
>Subject: [oxford] P10K - Palestine 10,000
>Date: Mon, 24 May 2004 11:23:37 +0000
>
>Hello all serious activists in Oxford
>
>I really recommend that everyone takes a look at www.P10K.net
>
>Our best endorsement so far:
>
>"This (P10K) is a very imaginative, creative, and courageous
>initiative. If it receives the support it merits it could have a
>major impact on moves towards reconciliation, peace, and hopes for
>justice and freedom in this tortured corner of the world." - Noam
>Chomsky
>
>
>I'm currently in Ramallah, and have been for the last 5 weeks. The
>P10K plan is this - to bring at least 10,000 wetsern citizens
>(internationals) to the Occupied Palestinian Territories by
>September 11th this year. If we manage to do this, it's almost
>guaranteed that the Palestinian militant resistance will end their
>offensive attacks in Israel, for as long as this number stays here.
>So immediately we save Israeli lives, and our presence saves
>Palestinian lives as it becomes much more difficult for the IOF to
>continue business as normal - ie what they've been doing in Rafah
>this week. Ultimately, the mission is to stay until the end of the
>occupation.
>
>This plan is very real, and see the endorsements page to find out
>what sort of support we already have. The plan is in the hands of
>the militants, and we're expecting an answer any day soon. All
>people we've met with think that they won't disagree with it, but
>may be reluctant to go public at this sensitive time. So for the
>launch press conference here in Ramallah in about a week / week and
>a half, we may have pubic confirmation from at least some of the
>groups, or private assurances.
>
>Obviously this is only a quick idea of P10K - have a look at the
>website for all the details.
>
>What I ask from as many of you as possible is that you register for
>P10K in the next week, so that at the press conference we can
>announce that we already have 50-100 or so people registered. At
>the moment it's about 25.
>
>I know many of you are busy with other things - I've been reading
>the emails about OCSET and G8 stuff etc to keep track of what's
>going on. In all fairness though, P10K has much greater potential
>than any of these - G8 will be just another protest where we bang
>our heads against the riot shields. P10K allows us to protest at
>the heart of the problem - right here in Palestine.
>
>I have already mentioned this to several people by email and sent it
>out on takecation, and to be honest, the response has been
>completely underwhelming. Maybe I didn't really stress that this
>isn't just some project about Palestine. This is about taking
>action where it counts, in Palestine, instead of just watching more
>videos and protesting futilely outside embassies or whatever.
>
>I know many of you probably don't know exactly who I am, because I'm
>on the fringes of the 'Oxford activist scene' - maybe because of my
>involvement with Stop the War Coalition you don't completely respect
>or trust my opinion.
>
>Well this is my position. I think Stop the War was important in
>widening the issue of Iraq and educating more and more people about
>other related issues. Not eveyone is ready to jump straight into
>direct actions. I certainly would not have done the DSEI one and
>the one at Albright's talk had I not been eased into activism. So
>on a sort of sliding scale, I think most people get involved in the
>light stuff first, then move into more serious stuff.
>
>I completely believe in direct action, but Iraq showed that in the
>UK at least, when it really came down to it, not enough people were
>up for it. All thatcrap about when the war starts the country stops
>(mainly uttered by SWP I think), and calls for sitting down to block
>roads which just pisses off people we're trying to bring around to
>our ideas, gets loads of token arrests, but doesn't really achieve
>very much.
>
>DSEI was an excellent, well planned action, but we still didn't stop
>the arms fair. I'm not saying P10K will end the occupation, but for
>me it's a more intelligent way of trying to make a big difference in
>the world. Before you get too excited though, P10K is not about
>direct action ISM style. The direct action is getting here in
>enough numbers to shine a spotlight on the region and report the
>truth oursleves, and hopefully force the corporate media to report
>it (at least a bit more) truthfully. There's a whole media strategy
>in place.
>
>Kate Holcombe and her friend Prajna have just become seriously
>involved in the last week, and anyone else who can help out is more
>than welcome. Email me at  ian@P10K.net.
>
>IT suport would be particularly useful at the moment.
>
>Anyhow, no intention to offend anyone, but I've been working on this
>since December and have put a lot of time, effort, energy and money
>into it, and would find it strange that everyone who's getting this
>email doesn't at least spend 20 mins taking a serious look at the
>website. If you can't do that then you either have absolutely no
>respect for me, or aren't really serious. Even if you're working on
>something unrelated, P10K has the potential to create a seismic
>shift in people's minds, which will benefit all other activist
>issues far more than any current campaigns.
>
>P10K will be huge, and the earlier people get involved and the more
>effort that's put into it, the bigger and more effective it'll be.
>
>Please take a look and register, and take care, Ian
>
>PS -  ian@P10K.net
>