Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 17:51:47 -0800 From: CyberBrook <•••@••.•••> Subject: power of you! >"Never be discouraged from being an activist because people tell you that >you'll not succeed. You have already succeeded if you're out there >representing truth or justice or compassion or fairness or love. You already >have your victory because you have changed the world; you have >changed the status quo by you; you have changed the chemistry of things and >changes will spread from you, will be easier to happen again in >others because of you." >---Doris "Granny D" Haddock >(http://grannyd.com/pecos.htm) From: "Bruna Nota" <•••@••.•••> Subject: Fw: A Thousand Coffins at the United Nations Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2002 15:18:43 -0500 <snip> Ci-bas: un temoignage emouvant et humain! [Below: a moving & human testimony!] Bruna If you want peace, live peace, prepare for peace and work for justice -----Original Message----- From: portsidemod <•••@••.•••> Date: March 20, 2002 9:59 AM Subject: A Thousand Coffins at the United Nations >A Thousand Coffins at the United Nations > >David McReynolds <•••@••.•••> > >Mar 19, 2002 > >Let's see if I can pull the words out at this hour, and >write this in one flow. > >Today, shortly after 1 p.m., I got to Dag Hamaskold >Plaza near the United Nations, to look at the "Coffin >Display" arranged by Israeli and Palestinian Bereaved >Families for Peace. (Two groups cooperated in this >project, the Parents' Circle of 200 families in Israel >and National Movement for Change in the Palestinian >Authority). > >There, in the space where on other occasions thousands >have rallied for various causes, were over a thousand >coffins. 800 coffins draped with Palestinian flags, >250 with Israeli flags. I am a hardened radical but as >soon as I saw the neat rows of coffins my eyes filled >with tears. I walked down the rows, looked at the >banners posted on all four sides of the square - >"Better Have Pains of Peace Than Agonies of War". I met >some friends from the Fellowship of Reconciliation. I >spoke briefly to a young Israeli woman who had lost her >son to a suicide bomber. I thanked her for the action. >She apologized for making me cry. I spoke briefly to >the Palestinian mother, a relative of hers (perhaps her >husband) holding up a photo of their child lost to >Israeli fire. And then I walked away from the small >crowd, found a concrete bench and broke down. > >I thought about why I was weeping, what had "broken >through" my political shell. It was both the simplicity >of the action, but also because it had "called me back" >from my anger against Israel, and that I must explain, >both for those of you who are younger and so easily >throw around terms like "Zionism", and those of you who >are older and may have chosen one side of the other too >firmly. > >At UCLA I was the co-chair of a Christians and Jews for >Israel Committee (l948, probably). In those days all of >us in the socialist movement danced the hora, sang >Zionist songs, had friends who were going to or had >been in a Kibbutz. Israel, essentially a democratic >socialist experiment to repair the horror of Hitlerism, >was alone in a reactionary Arab Middle East dominated >by oil, by feudal regimes, by Arabs who had sided with >Hitler. > >Time passed and reality set in. Israel was weak, one >country alone. The American Jewish community was large >and strong. It helped shaped US policy toward Israel >(ask anyone in Washington DC about AIPAC). The Anti- >Defamation League changed its old policies and began to >treat anyone who sympathized with the Palestinians as >anti-Semitic. I watched my old friend Irwin Suall, who >worked for them, change and harden and drift away from >us. > >Israel opposed the liberation of Algeria - it meant one >more Arab state that would be hostile. But it also >meant siding with French Colonialism. (Might Algerian >policy have been different if Israel sided with the >FLN? But the problem was the French were supplying >Israel with weapons - a short range imperative). When >Nasser, part of the proud new Arab nationalism that was >breaking with the old regimes, took over the Suez >Canal, Great Britain and France and Israel joined in >invading Egypt. It was October, 1956. In Hungary >workers had risen against the Communist Party. Soviet >tanks were moving through the streets. In a way I could >forgive Israel - she felt it a matter of life and death >- but France and Great Britain chose the exact moment >when the attention of the world should have been on >Hungary to deflect it with this invasion. (The invasion >failed, and like Israel's backing of France in Algeria, >it helped leave a permanent hostility to Israel among >moderate and secular Arabs). > >More years passed, and Israel made its alliance with >South Africa under its old regime, and welcomed the >leader of that country - a man who had been sympathetic >to Hitler - to Israel. > >The refugees sweltered, used as political pawns by the >Arab states (if you think the Palestinian refugees are >fans of the Arab states you haven't had private talks >with them), and ignored - simply ignored - by Israel, >as if many of them had not been driven out of their >homes by terror. (Does one still have to document >this?). I remember Norman Thomas speaking of the >problem of the refugees and some in the New York >Zionist movement saying he had always been anti- >Semitic. > >Time passed and the settlements began in the Occupied >Territory. A very deliberate and careful policy - one >for which Sharon bears special responsibility, but >Labor also - to make any independent Palestinian State >impossible. > >Time passed and Israel said (I have the clippings from >the Times somewhere in my dusty collection) "let us >sell the arms to the Central American dictators - it >looks bad if you do it, and we can use the money". > >Time passed and often on key votes in the United >Nations the only dissent would be the US and Israel. >Never did they disagree. > >Israel, under Sharon, invaded Lebanon, was responsible >for mass killings by the Christian milita at the >Palestinian refugee camps. > >It had become clear to us that Israel was now an >apartheid state. In some ways worse than South Africa >had been. The oppression of the Palestinians was >largely ignored by Israelis. The Israelis were doing >well. And, lets, face it, lets not play games, there is >a deep thread of racism in Israeli society - not only >against the Palestinians but also against the North >African Jews - who formed the backbone of Likkud. > >And how was this different from my own country? A >nation much of which was built by slaves. How many >Americans cared that the Vietnamese lost over two >million people? How many Americans have paused to >wonder if the Vietnamese might not also grieve for >their Missing in Action? How can we ignore that we, as >a people, elected Richard Nixon twice. And Reagan >twice. And now Bush. (Except, of course, he wasn't >elected - he was anointed by the Supreme Court). How >many Americans care about the children dying in Iraq? >It only takes a government spokesperson to say it is >really Saddam's fault and our minds are at rest. A half >million die and we are not concerned. Iraq is an evil >country - probably its children and elderly and weak >are evil as well. > >I have no faith in the majority of Israelis (nor of >Americans) to make right choices when the only facts >they have are filtered through the mass media. > >All of this anger, all of this bitterness, dissolved in >tears at what parents had done in front of my eyes. >Parents - Jews and Arabs, Palestinian and Israeli - >sharing only a common terrible grief of children, or >sisters, brothers, parents, gone. Gone by Israeli jet >attacks. Gone by a suicide bomber. But gone. And I look >out at a display of life size (if one can say of an >coffin that it is "life size") coffins, 1,050 of them. >There in the plaza near the United Nations. On a day >not yet quite spring. > >How dare I give up hope of change within the human >heart when here in front of me were these long and >terrible rows of flag draped coffins to remind us all >of what stubborn political logic had bought. There is >no military way out for Israel. It must negotiate. And >we must want those negotiations to succeed. > >Oh yes, I think every Jewish settlement in the Occupied >Territories should be yanked out by the roots. Oh yes, >I think every inch of the Occupied Terroritories must >be returned to the Palestinians, and a sovereign >Palestinian State emerge there (even though I don't >believe in states, I see no other choice now). > >This dreadful collection of death had been made visible >here by the work of both Palestinian and Jewish >contacts in this country. Shortly before I arrived an >orthodox Rabbi had gone over to the Palestinian woman >and asked if she wanted to talk to her relatives in >Palestine, pulled out his cell phone and dialed - a >human contact between an Orthodox Rabbi and a >Palestinian grieving over her loss. > >Many Palestinians are weary of Arafat but Sharon cannot >choose the leader of the Palestinians, nor can I choose >the leader of Israel, weary as I know many Israelis are >with that man, and wicked as I believe his policies to >be. > >What we can do is speak with respect of the saving >remnant on both sides who continue to work together, to >suffer together, to reach out to one another. How dare >I not do the same? How dare any of us on the Left, in >the Peace movement, not support these elements of life >which exist there? Our politics can be clear, but let >our language be touched by the compassion of what both >sides are living through. > >The coffins spoke to me. If I broke down after seeing >them, it was because sometimes my anger is so great I >forget that the seeds of life are what radicals must >nurture - in this case seeds of life glimpsed in a sea >of flag draped coffins. > >Fraternally, > >Peace, > >David McReynolds >(on the staff of War Resisters League, Socialist Party >candidate for President, 2000) > >portside (the left side in nautical parlance) is a >news, discussion and debate service of the Committees >of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. It >aims to provide varied material of interest to people >on the left. > >Post : mail to '•••@••.•••' >Subscribe : mail to '•••@••.•••' >Unsubscribe : mail to '•••@••.•••' >List owner : •••@••.••• >Web address : <http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/portside> >Digest mode : visit Web site > > >Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > >
