[Other] Protest outside Bett 2015 - Asking HP Vice-President of Education - What of the children you're helping kill in Palestine?
inminds 27 January 2015
On Thursday 22nd January Hewlett Packard's Vice-President for Worldwide Education, Gus Schmedien, was invited to talk at BETT 2015, at the ExCel centre in London. BETT (British Education and Training Technology) is the world's leading education learning technology event which attracts over 35,000 people working in the education sector. He was greeted by a protest outside asking him what of the children in Palestine that HP is helping kill? Your technology and services are killing Palestinian children. How does that fit your claim of inspiring children to learn through technology? This was part of the ongoing campaign by Inminds against Hewlett-Packard complicity in Israeli war crimes.
HP being one of the top 20 arms companies in the US with arms sales worth $3 billion in 2011, activists asked BETT why a leading arms dealer had been invited to speak at a schools / education show?.
HP provides and manages the IT infrastructure of the entire Israeli military which killed over 500 children last summer and has been found guilty of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity by the United Nations Human Rights Council. One Palestinian child is murdered by Israel every 60 hours for the past 14 years. Between the start of BETT on Wednesday to the end of BETT on Saturday more than one Palestinian child will have been killed. Hewlett Packard with its $6 billion investment in Israel, provides and manages the IT backbone of Israel's entire killing machine - from the army, to the navy, to the Ministry of Defense - that makes such slaughter possible.
Last year Israel abducted 1266 Palestinian children - that's one child taken from their parents every 7 hours! 40% of the 600 that were taken from Jerusalem alone were sexually abused by Israeli soldiers during arrest or interrogation. During interrogation 75% of Palestinian children detained by Israel are physically tortured. Hewlett Packard keeps those torture dens and dungeons where Palestinian children are caged and abused, operational by the IT infrastructure it provides to the Israeli Prison Service. Activists asked if HP's Vice President for Education, Gus Schmedlen, felt any shame in coming to speak at a childrens education event, whilst his company is at the same time facilitating the torture of children in Palestine?
Activists also had a strong message to those attending the education show: "Many of us attending this education show will be parents and teachers. We all have a responsibility and choices to make. The clearest message we can send Hewlett Packard that we dont approve of their complicity in the murder and torture of children in Palestine is by boycotting their products and letting them know why. As you go in please visit the HP stand and tell them you do not support the killing and torture of children, including Palestinian children, and will be boycotting their products until they stop their complicity with Israel's war crimes. Thank you."
The protest was very well received by those attending, most of whom working with children, were very sympathetic with the plight of children in Palestine. They were shocked at Hewlett-Packard's role in killing and torture of children, most didn't even realise HP was a major arms dealer. Many asked how they could help, if they could sign a petition. Well over a thousand leaflets were taken, some teachers asking for several leaflets to share with their colleagues. One teacher left the event to join the protest and tightly held a placard showing the funeral shroud of one year old baby Noha Mesleh who was killed along with 15 others in an Israeli targeted strike on a UN school in Beit Hanun in Gaza on 24th July 2014.
We did come across one deranged zionist who insisted Israel never killed any children, apparently it was the Palestinians who were killing their own children and blaming Israel for it..
Being on private land, we did initially encounter slight problems with the private security who were insisting we stay in a pen they had created for us - we stood our ground and refused to even enter the pen and used it instead to just to hang our banners so to free our hands for leafleting.
Well over 1000 leaflets were given out
During the two hours we regularly twitted live photos from the protest - about 40 in total, with information about HP, in to the twitter feed being used by delegates to the show (using hash tag #Bett2015). This was highly successful with our tweets and facebook entries ranking high in the feed (for example for tweets with tags #Bett2015 @hp our photos took 34 of the top 40 spots on the feed).
Examples of some of the tweet messages accompanying the photos..
#live protest #Bett2015 @HP IT infrastructure keeps Israels torture dens and dungeons open
#live protest #Bett2015 12yr children tortured and caged in 1m x 3m hole in the ground courtesy @HP
#live protest #Bett2015 Israel kills 1 Palestinian child every 60h @HP makes it possible
#live protest #Bett2015 75% child prisoners r physically tortured by Israel courtesy @HP
#live protest #Bett2015 40% Pal child prisoners r sexually abused by Israel courtesy @HP
#live protest #Bett2015 teachers have responsibility & choice. Say no to torture of children, boycott @HP
#live protest #Bett2015 Israel abducted 1266 children last year @HP makes it possible
#live protest #Bett2015 1 Palestinian child is abducted by Israel every 7h courtesy @HP
#live protest #Bett2015 12yr children tortured and caged in 1m x 3m hole in the ground courtesy @HP
#live protest @HP whist you're at #Bett2015 another Palestinian child is killed. 1 every 60h
#live protest #Bett2015 @HP complicit in Israels slaughter of 521 Palestinian children last summer
#live protest #Bett2015 about education, why 20th largest arms dealer @HP invited?
#live protest #Bett2015 @HP manages IT backbone for entire Israeli military guilty warcrimes
#live protest #Bett2015 Q for @HP VP: What about the children in Palestine that #HP helps kill?
#live protest #Bett2015 Israel abducted 1266 children last year @HP makes it possible
#live protest #Bett2015 @HP complicit in Israel attacking 118 Gaza schools last summer
SPEECH - WHAT OF THE CHILDREN IN PALESTINE?
Speech - What of the children in Palestine?
We are here today outside the ExCel Centre in London where Bett 2015 Education event is being held to protest Hewlett Packards inclusion in this event and the invitation of its Vice President for Worldwide Education, Gus Schmedien, to speak at the event.
Most people think of HP as an innocent office supplies and printer company, but the reality is far darker. HP is one of the top 20 arms companies in the US with arms sales worth $3 billion in 2011. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has done the research and when they say arms sales they define that as goods & services designed specifically for military purpose and doesn't include general purpose equipment like office computers. They also state that the figure may be an underestimate as it doesn't include classified contracts that HP might be involved in.
Bett 2015 is meant to be an education / schools show, why has a leading arms dealer been invited to speak here?
In HP's own words "Israel is one of the few countries where HP has a massive presence.. In the past decade, HP has invested over $6 billion in the acquisition of Israeli companies, including the establishment of production plants.. HP is the second largest investor in Israeli IT."
HP implements and manages the server farm for the entire Israeli army and Ministry of Defense - Israel's largest server tender worth $140 million . Those HP servers form the IT backbone of the entire Israeli war machine which has been found guilty of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity by the UN Human Rights Council.
Last summer Israeli missles targeted 118 schools in Gaza including 65 United Nations schools, resulting in the slaughter of 521 children. And this is not a new phenomena, for the past 14 years every 60 hours Israel kills one Palestinian child!
HP makes such slaughter possible with its strategic support of Israel's killing machine.
We want to ask HP Vice President for Education, Gus Schmedlen, what of the children in Palestine? Your technology and services are killing Palestinian children. How does that fit your claim of inspiring children to learn through technology. Every 60 hours you help kill one more child, imagine from the moment the doors opened for Bett 2015 to when they close on Saturday, more than one more Palestinian child will have been killed!
Shame on you HP! Shame on you HP!
HP has been equipping the Israeli military since 2006 when it was contracted to provide the IT infrastructure for the Israeli navy in a pilot for implementing across the entire army, helping the navy execute its illegal blockade of Gaza which also began in 2006. In 2009 HP was contracted to supply all computer equipment to the entire Israeli military.
Shame on you HP! Shame on you HP!
Last year Israel abducted 1266 Palestinian children - that's one child taken from their parents every 7 hours! 40% of the 600 that were taken from Jerusalem alone, were sexually abused by Israeli soldiers during arrest or interrogation. During interrogation 75% of Palestinian children detained by Israel are physically tortured.
Hewlett Packard keeps those torture dens and dungeons where Palestinian children are caged and abused, operational by the IT infrastructure it provides to the Israeli Prison Service. HP also provides Israeli prisons and interrogation centres the systems and servers needed to keep them operational. These dungeons and torture dens are where Palestinian children as young as 12 years old are brutally tortured and caged in 1m x 3m dark holes in the grounds for months without charge or trial!
We want to ask HP Vice President for Education, Gus Schmedlen, do you feel any shame in coming to speak at a childrens education event whilst at the same time your company is facilitating the torture of children in Palestine?
Shame on you HP! Shame on you HP!
Today there are over 6000 Palestinian political prisoners, including women and children, many caged without a charge or trial. 72 Palestinians have been tortured to death in Israeli prisons since 1967. The latest being father of 5 young children, Raed Abdul-Salam Al-Jabari, who died following interrogation at Eshel prison on 9th Sept 2014. He had been arrested over a simple car accident involving an illegal Israeli settler. The Israeli prison service said he had committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell but the autopsy revealed he had been savagely tortured with repeated blows to the head and face causing brain haemorrhage. His neck showed no signs of hanging. HP keeps these hell holes operational with its IT infrastructure, services and servers.
Shame on you HP! Shame on you HP!
HP has also developed Israel's prisoners management system and intelligence sub systems which helps the occupation keeps illegal records on Palestinians it has abducted and their families. Female family members have been threatened with rape in order to coerce confessions from children accused of stone throwing. HP is complicit in all these crimes.
Shame on you HP! Shame on you HP!
HP also developed and maintained the Basel System - a biometric access control system used by Israel at illegal checkpoints deep inside occupied territory to restrict and control Palestinian freedom of movement in their own land. If forms part of the separation wall apparatus declared illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004.
Shame on you HP! Shame on you HP!
Many of us attending this education show will be parents and teachers. We all have a responsibility and choices to make. The clearest message we can send Hewlett Packard that we dont approve of their complicity in the murder and torture of children in Palestine is by boycotting their products and letting them know why. As you go in please visit the HP stand and tell them you do not support the killing and torture of children, including Palestinian children, and will be boycotting their products until they stop their complicity with Israel's war crimes. Thank you.
Boycott Israel! Boycott HP! Free Palestine!
Protest outside BETT 2015
BACKGROUND - HEWLETT-PACKARD
HP is more than an office supplies and printers company, they are one of the top 20 defense contractors in the US with arms* sales worth $3 billion in 2011. They specialize in developing the IT infrastructure that is essential for the military to function.
Whilst Hewlett-Packard(HP) operates in 178 countries around the world in HP's own words "Israel is one of the few countries where HP has a massive presence.. In the past decade, HP has invested over $6 billion in the acquisition of Israeli companies, including the establishment of production plants.. HP is the second largest investor in Israeli IT."
HP provides IT backbone to Israeli Military
In 2011 HP won Israel's largest ever servers tender, worth an estimated $140 million. Under the tender HP implements and manages the entire server farm of the Ministry of Defense and the Israeli army for 5 years (contract ends in 2016). Those HP servers form the IT backbone of the entire Israeli war machine making HP complicit in Israel's war crimes.
HP has been equipping the Israeli military since 2006 when it was first contracted to provided the IT infrastructure for the Israeli navy, a virtualization project which was used by the Israeli military as a pilot for implementing the same system to the entire army. HP is thereby assisting the illegal naval blockade of Gaza which also began in 2006. In 2009 HP won the contract to supply all computer equipment to the Israeli military. In another contract HP supply configuration management database system for the Israeli Army's secret IT unit. Currently HP is implementing and assimilating an enterprise resource planning and management system for the Israeli Army (2011-2015).
HP helping Israels dungeons and torture dens to operate
Hewlett Packard is also providing essential IT services and infrastructural that enable the Israeli Prison Service (IPS)** to function.
Last year Israel abducted 1266 Palestinian children as young - that's one child as 12 years old taken from their parents every 7 hours! 40% of the 600 that were taken from Jerusalem alone were sexually abused by Israeli soldiers during arrest or interrogation. During interrogation 75% of Palestinian children detained by Israel are physically tortured***. Human rights groups have documented the brutal torture of children as standard practice during interrogations in order to coerce confessions, usually to stone throwing which carries a sentence of up to 20 years imprisonment. Today there are over 6000 Palestinian political prisoners, including women and children, imprisoned by the Israeli Prison Service - many locked up without even a charge let alone a trial. 72 Palestinian prisoners have been tortured to death in Israeli prisons since 1967. The latest being father of five young children, Raed Abdul-Salam al-Jabari, who was died following interrogation at Eshel prison on 9th Sep 2014. he had been arrested over a simple car accident involving an illegal Israeli settler. The IPS claimed he had comitted suicide by hanging himself in his cell but the autopsy revealed he had been savagely tortured with repeated blows to the head and face causing brain hemorrhage. His neck showed no signs of hanging.
In an ongoing contract (until 2016), worth millions of dollars, HP provides the Israeli prison service the systems and servers needed to keep it operational. In 2012 HP provided the central servers for the operational system of the IPS ("Tzohar") and its ongoing maintenance. In a contract worth $35 million, HP developed the Kidma information system for the IPS which includes the prisoners management system and intelligence subs systems, helping the occupation keep illegal records on Palestinians it has abducted and their families. HP has also executed a project for e-mail storage and archive for the IPS.
HP helping the occupation implement apartheid
HP has developed and maintained the Basel System - a biometric access control system with hand and facial recognition, which is used by Israel at illegal checkpoints deep inside occupied territory to restrict and control Palestinian freedom of movement in their own land. It forms part of the separation wall apparatus declared illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004.
HP also provided services to the illegal settlements, in particular Modi'in Illit and Ariel. This includes a data storage system for the municipality of Ariel as part of the "Smart City" project.
*Arms sales defined as goods & services designed specifically for military purpose and doesn't include general purpose equipment like office computers. Figure may be underestimate as it doesn't include classified contracts. Src: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
**We would especially like to thank WhoProfits.org for the research they have conducted on HP, in particular their freedom of information requests that have revealed the extent on HP's complicity with the Israeli Prison Service.
***Source - Euro-Mid Observers For Human Rights, Jan 2010 - Jun 2014
More Information on camapign against Hewlett Packard 's complicity in Israel's war crimes, dungeons and torture dens:
http://www.inminds.com/article.php?id=10628
Photos published 'live' on twitter and facebook from the protest:
Source: www.inminds.com
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