In wanting Mumsnet to help Judi Dench and Joanna Lumley

[GiantBranch]

Last week, Israel banned 37 international aid organisations from operating in the strip, including Oxfam, Save the Children and Medicine Sans Frontieres (MSF). MSF delivers one in three of Gaza’s babies, and experts warn that immediate action must be taken to prevent a catastrophe.

It has prompted more than 100 leading members of the arts, including Dames Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton, Joanna Lumley, Sienna Miller, Suranne Jones and singer Paloma Faith, to sign a letter urging popular online platform Mumsnet to join them in demanding urgent government action ensuring maternity care is accessible in Gaza.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/gaza-israel-baby-birth-judi-dench-letter-b2896981.html

It doesn't occur to you that the threat of another swatting, by Palestine Action this time around, might be a tad threatening?

So they haven't?

And yet those companies would have a greater political and financial sway don't you think? Maybe you can message Judy Dench et al and suggest it (preferably by publishing an open letter).

No idea what Bds is.

Nasty post. Did you really have to sink to that level?

So what you're saying then is that there is not a clear enough majority view from Mumnet posters that it is important to try to get the healthcare needs of women and babies met in war zone situations?

(I mean, clearly, as evidenced by the feminism and women's rights posters on this threat)

And therefore Justine cannot promote this as it would not be representative?

What course of action could most Germans have taken that wouldn't have resulted in their murder or internment in a concentration camp?

What concrete course of action do you propose to lift the blockade?

And why should an action to benefit Gazans that is likely to have zero effect take priority of my time, effort, and money over an action that I can take to benefit someone else that is far more likely to work?

That are on the list of boycotted goods as they are owned now by Teva an Israeli company

BDS stands for boycott, divestment and sanction and related to the movement to boycott Israeli companies and products to push in a peaceful way for better treatment of Palestinians

pampers is also on the BDS list

No one is trying to force you to take part if you are not interested that is ok

Bingo - yes we're all Nazis for objecting to some luvvies attempt to emotionally blackmail Justine/Mumsnet into supporting their pet cause despite not checking first whether it is supported.

How would the authorities have imprisoned 40 million civilians in concentration camps if they had decided to stand together in unity against the regime?

Boycott Divest Sanction.

It was BDS supporters who were harassing me on the way to work because of the bank my then-employer chose decades ago. My then-employer's total failure to protect its staff is one of the reasons why it is my then-employer.

I think the “god grant me the grace quote is more about accepting the individual hand life deals you, never a fan of it and even less so if it is used to suggest inaction in the face of a abuse or suffering, nothing would ever change in the world if people didn’t try and persist

People don't stand in unity against a regime that many of them voted in. The ones who objected had to be very very careful, like the people who sheltered the Franks had to be, or seethe silently.

The ones who were loud or insufficiently cautious were imprisoned or executed.

You are extremely naive.

Well they should not have harassed you as an individual but not characteristic of a whole movement, many many people have been quietly boycotting Israel for years due to their treatment of Palestinians

You didn't answer any of my three questions.

You should read about the fall of the DDR, people and individuals can and do make a difference

And you don't learn your history lessons.

Oppressive regimes thrive on silence and complicity, and people thinking that they will stay safe if they keep quiet and are not in their immediate line of fire. And of course they're not safe, they will be next in line at some point.

Unfortunately, there's this annoying rent-a-mob in pretty much every city who latch onto a particular set of causes that FWR regulars know as the Omnicause. They are less interested in helping the causes they claim to support than they are in causing chaos whilst thinking of themselves as some sort of Katniss Everdean freedom fighter. If they understood the first thing about winning people over, they'd put down the red paint and the loudhailers.

Fair enough, thank you for explaining.

I haven't come across this list so how is it accessed and how well known is it? I don't think I've seen it on MN nevermind national newspapers. Perhaps that could be pushed a lot harder rather than trying to rope Justine in.

What has history of oppressive regimes got to do with the point of this thread?

If Justine were to support the letter writers, and decide for first time to endorse a campaign without first consulting the users on the website she owns and who's views she sometimes presents to UK politicians, how is that finally going to persuade Netanyahu to change his policies on aid agencies in Gaza?

i went on lots of pro choice marches when I was young and there were some young people who got a bit carried away, but then those marches were attacked by anti abortion protestors, but most pro choice protestors were peaceful and civil, and those marches ultimately worked

To the contrary, I learned my history lessons very well. That's how I know that people don't and won't stand up when faced with a secret police and other mechanisms of state oppression. Silence amongst those who oppose such a regime isn't complicity, it's a attempt to survive.

Goverments refusing to obey the law is one of the early signs of authoritarianism, which is why FWR regulars are so worried about the Scottish and Westminster govts failing to implement the FWS ruling. We recognise this because we know our history.

If you are interested the list is online if you Google though list is long, I just boycott what I can find alternatives to

The entire Soviet bloc was crumbling at that point. It was only because the regime was failing that German reunification became possible.

Well it diverged a bit for sure ... Someone made that trite quote about the serenity poem as an excuse for being apathetic about the catastrophic situation for women and babies and Gaza, and some of us pointed out that that's a cop out for doing nothing at all and was the sort of attitude that gives rise to successful oppressive regimes.

You make a good point though - what is Justine doing to consult mumsnet posters about how she should proceed on this issue? I guess if she wants to represent mumsnet posters then some attempts to gauge opinion should be made?

Has this been done or perhaps just want to pretend that this will all go away and it won't be noticed that most influential parenting forum in the UK won't speak up about getting medical support to women and babies in warzone situations?

Most of these oppressive regimes eventually fall how do you think that happens? By individuals resisting and movements building,