Prableen Kaur Leder i Grorud AUF
(With rush translation from Norwegian into English)

Jeg har våknet. Jeg klarer ikke å sove mer. Jeg sitter i stuen. Føler sorg, sinne, lykke, Gud jeg vet ikke hva. Det er for mange følelser. Det er for mange tanker. Jeg er redd. Jeg reagerer på hver minste lyd. Jeg vil nå skrive om hva som skjedde på Utøya. Hva mine øyne så, hva jeg følte, hva jeg gjorde. Ordene kommer rett fra levra, men jeg vil samtidig anonymisere mange navn i respekt for mine venner.

Vi hadde hatt krisemøte i hovedbygget etter eksplosjonene i Oslo. Etter det var det et eget møte for medlemmene fra Akershus og Oslo. Etter møtene befant mange, mange seg rundt og i hovedbygget. Vi trøstet oss med at vi var trygge på en øy. Ingen hadde visst at helvete ville bryte ut hos oss også.

Jeg sto i hovedgangen da panikken brøt ut. Jeg hørte skudd. Jeg så ham skyte. Alle begynte å løpe. Det første tanken var: ”Hvorfor skyter politiet på oss? Hva faen?!” Jeg løp inn i lillesalen. Folk løp. Skrek. Jeg var redd. Jeg klarte å komme meg inn på et av rommene bakerst i bygget. Vi var mange der inne. Vi lå på gulvet alle sammen. Vi hørte flere skudd. Ble mer redde. Jeg gråt. Jeg skjønte ingenting. Jeg så bestevennen min gjennom vinduet og lurte på om jeg skulle gå ut for hente ham inn til meg. Jeg rakk det ikke. Jeg så frykten i øynene hans.

Vi ble liggende på gulvet inne i rommet i noen minutter. Vi ble enige om ikke å slippe flere inn i tilfelle morderen kom. Vi hørte flere skudd og bestemte oss for å hoppe ut av vinduet. Panikken brøt ut blant oss.

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Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the decision taken by the Israeli Prisons Administration on Wednesday, 20 July 2011, to stop the higher education program provided to the Palestinian prisoners. PCHR calls on the international community to exert pressure on Israel and compel it to respect international law and put an end to the systematic and continued inhumane and degrading treatment of more than 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and detention centres.

The gravity of this decision is that it forms part of a series of measures taken by Israeli occupation authorities against Palestinian prisoners following actual orders given to the Israeli Prisons Administration by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the end of last month to reduce what he termed as "advantages granted" to Palestinian prisoners. Other measures taken against prisoners include intensifying searching prisoners after forcing them to take off their clothes and placing Palestinian leaders, in Israeli jails, in solitary confinement. Palestinian prisoners have responded by declaring a set of actions in protest of such escalations. Prisoners went on a hunger strike for 10 sporadic days over the past two months.

This decision by the Israeli Prisons Administration is part of a general policy adopted by Israeli occupation authorities against Palestinian prisoners who are subjected to cruel living conditions as well as inhumane and degrading treatment, including torture, deteriorating health conditions and medical negligence towards prisoners - including those suffering from serious illnesses. This has, in some cases, led to death. This decision is extremely serious because it is based on instructions given from the top of the Israeli political establishment.

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Chris Marsden & Julie Hyland

For the last few days, the British public has been told that parliament has reasserted authority over Rupert Murdoch’s media empire and finally called the multibillionaire to order. Some have gone so far as to exclaim that Murdoch’s appearance before a parliamentary select committee Tuesday, alongside his son James, represents a “British Spring”.

This implicit reference to the so-called “Arab Spring”— revolutionary working-class struggles that forced Western-backed dictators in Tunisia and Egypt to resign this winter—is absurd and false. The spectacle of bought-and-paid-for parliamentarians respectfully questioning Murdoch aims to confuse the population and forestall a political accounting with the corporate oligarchy.

Far from demonstrating the vitality of the British political system, the sycophancy of Murdoch’s questioners revealed its rottenness and corruption. Prime Minister David Cameron—despite ample evidence of his compromising relations with top personnel from Murdoch’s UK media group, News International—did not even face a motion of no-confidence during Wednesday’s emergency parliamentary sitting. If there were any commitment to democracy left in the British establishment, this would not be possible.

It is a matter of record that representatives of News International were involved in hacking the phones of over 12,000 people, bribing police officers and using ties to the criminal underworld to blackmail and intimidate leading public figures. Moreover, the disturbing and unexplained death on Monday of the chief whistle-blower, Sean Hoare, was immediately declared “not suspicious”.

Every major institution and leading politician is implicated in the Murdoch scandal. Besides their own nefarious relations with Murdoch’s media group, top officials of the Metropolitan Police, the Crown Prosecution Service and successive governments have blocked investigations into criminal behaviour at News International for at least six years.

The ruling establishment’s claims of shock and outrage now are rank hypocrisy. Everyone in the political class knew full well the basic character of Murdoch’s operations, and either acquiesced or played an active part in them. For three decades Murdoch was a kingmaker, not only in Britain but also in the US, Australia, and beyond. Politicians, whether nominally “conservative” or “labour”, pledged fealty to him. That is why not a single individual has been prosecuted, much less held to political account, in the News International scandal so far.

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