Nobel prize winning "Elders" President Carter, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu condemn Israeli attack

[Better Believe It]

Nobel-winning Elders deplore Gaza flotilla attack
Johannesburg, South Africa
May 31, 2010

The Elders group of past and present world leaders, including former South African president Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, on Monday condemned as “completely inexcusable” the deadly Israeli attack on a flotilla carrying aid for Gaza.

“The Elders have condemned the reported killing by Israeli forces of more than a dozen people who were attempting to deliver relief supplies to the Gaza Strip by sea,” the 12—member group said in a statement issued in Johannesburg, where it met over the weekend.

The group, which was launched by Mr. Mandela on his birthday in 2007 to try to solve some of the world’s most intractable conflicts, called for a “full investigation” of the incident and urged the UN Security Council “to debate the situation with a view to mandating action to end the closure of the Gaza Strip.” “This tragic incident should draw the world’s attention to the terrible suffering of Gaza’s 1.5 million people, half of whom are children under the age of 18,” the group said.

Israel’s three—year blockade of Gaza was not only “one of the world’s greatest human rights violations” and “illegal” under international law, it was also “counterproductive” because it empowered extremists in the Palestinian territory, they said.

The Elders includes six Nobel peace prize winners — former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, former US president Jimmy Carter, detained Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Mr. Mandela and Tutu.

Norway’s first female Prime Minister Gro Brundtland; former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso; former Irish president and ex—UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson; Mozambican social activist Graca Machel; Indian women’s rights activist Ela Bhatt; and Algerian veteran UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi are the other members.



In this photo taken on Saturday, former South Africa president Nelson Mandela is reunited with The Elders, three years after he launched the group, in Johannesburg.

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/international/article442925.ece

[eleny]

1. thanks for the article

now i have to go and digest the idea of elders of the world. i like that!

[Better Believe It]

2. Grown-ups! :)

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[tabatha]

4. Love 'em all

But especially the man to his right, and the man himself.

[malaise]

22. +1,000

This is great news.

[JI7]

5. great pic , to bad we don't hear more from these people in our whore media

instead we got shit like Glen Beck, Palin and Rush .

[lunatica]

6. The world could use a lot more exposure to them

You're right. That's so sad

[IsItJustMe]

7. We do have a very sad media.

[Echo In Light]

8. All by design to control the Public Mind

[NM_hemilover]

9. I don't really hear much about

Beck, Palin and Limbaugh...except on DU. Yes I'm aware of their involvement in Republican politics, but I rarely hear anything about them except here. I wonder how many people have secretly started to listen to Limbaugh, only because of the exposure he has gotten here on DU ?

I'll be willing to bet that for every 100 posters on this site there are 300 people who just read it but never join, nobody WANTS to see a dead body, but half of the drivers on the road will slow down to look for "debris" in the wreckage of a crash. Just food for thought in a thread highlighting social leadership, not political commentary.

[Better Believe It]

10. Sorry. I just don't understand your post.

Not critical of it, just don't get what points you're trying to make and what it has to do with the subject matter.

[NM_hemilover]

13. No worries, I don't understand myself a lot of the time,

The poster I responded to, mentioned Beck, Palin and Limbaugh, in a thread featuring nobel winners. Of all the threads to NOT mention Republican political commentary I thought this would qualify. As I read thu a lot of the threads there is a fairly steady flow of Palin, Limbaugh and Beck/Reilly threads on most days, especially Palin.

I commented that I hear a lot more about Palin, Limbaugh etc. here on DU, than I do in real life. Didn't know if it would start a conversation that I could ask why the fascination with them or not.

I also think that there are easily 3 or 4 times as many people that read DU as post here, and I wonder how many people have become more curious about P,L,B simply because of the exposure given to them on DU.

Most people will say they don't want to see anybody hurt in an auto accident, but why is it MOST cars will scan/stare at an accident site, ...morbid curiosity. If I cry out that Glen Beck is douche fluid, Limbaugh is the bag ang Palin is the douche nozzle constantly, there will be a fairly constant number of people that will become curious about them, multiply the douche example by 2 threads a day by 3 or 4 days a week and the exposure (positive or negative) is going to attract an ever increasing number of lookie loos. And if DU really has the hundreds of thousands of members I am told it has, then there could be several hundred thousand "DU lurkers". By mentioning B,P,L especially in the most negative of context increases the number of potential curious "lurkers".

I am not however suggesting that DU is causing hundreds of thousands of "lurkers" to listen to Palin etc. just food for thought, not mentioning them might serve better that highlighting them so often, the more outrageous the story, the more likely it will attract more lookie loos.

[Better Believe It]

14. OK Thanks for the clarification.

I rarely listen to any of the right-wing talking heads. I just get really angry if I tune them in.

[NM_hemilover]

15. Not much time for TV, it's summer. Can't be angry ALL the time.nt

[pleah]

11. K&R

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. “one of the world’s greatest human rights violations” - Yet defended even here on DU.

[Ignis]

16. Disgusting, isn't it?

What sort of lefty/liberal/progressive/Democrat defends soldiers opening fire on civilians?

:puke:

[readmoreoften]

18. What right-wing imperialist atrocity ISN'T championed at DU?

Sorry state of the "so-called" American center.

[Moochy]

25. Ethics Free Zone of the Center

[Raineyb]

17. K&R because more people should see this. n/t

[Uncle Joe]

19. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Better Believe It.

[indepat]

20. It's amazing how quickly Sen. LIEberman jumped in to condemn the flotilla

group: it's also just amazing how much smarter LIEberman is, how much keener a world-view LIEberman has than the Elders, either individually or collectively. :mad:

[Raineyb]

21. LIEberman is a piece of shit. Always has been. I have no idea what Gore was

thinking when he chose that useless turd as his running mate.

[indepat]

23. That monstrous faux pas might have been sufficient to peek Tipper

big-time for a long time. :shrug:

[scarletwoman]

26. I never thought Gore actually "picked" Lieberman, I've always believed the DLC foisted that turd

on Gore.

[waiting for hope]

24. Awesome picture.

Love Jimmy .. he exudes warmth and generosity to me.

[Douglas Carpenter]

27. kick and recommend!!

[shirleym]

28. A more noble group cannot be found. (Is this a pun?) nt

[Ramulux]

29. You know there has gotta be....

all sorts of conspiracy theories about this group. There is no way a group of people like this could get together without someone claiming they are corrupt and rule the world.

[depakid]

30. Whereas the current recipient is supportive of it

:crazy: