stunned by Israel
Just got back from a 5-day trip to the Indonesian province of Aceh, as part of a small tsunami relief project. I have so many thoughts on the trip, but will save them for another post or two. For now, i am still reeling from what is going on in the Middle East.
Sitting on the plane on Friday evening, starved for knowledge of the world's goings-on in the last week, i was visibly grateful to the NGO doctor from Bangalore sitting next to me for sharing his copy of the Jakarta Post with me. There, splashed across the front page, was the news that Israel had attacked Lebanon.
A few pages later, still stunned, i read this excellent piece by the guy who runs the StopTheWall website, including the following lines:
The global community pleads for the release of one Israeli taken from a tank, stationed outside the Gaza ghetto, whilst Palestinians are taken from their beds and killed in the streets and half of their government and 1/3 of the Palestinian Legislative Council are taken hostage. They beg for his return whilst ignoring the 9000 Palestinians rotting in Israeli jails, over 400 of whom are children.
Global agencies confine their operations to fact-finding missions on the “Palestinian situation” speculating endlessly on humanitarian issues as if Palestine were in the throws of some natural disaster. Reeling off further UN humanitarian reports are not asked for. Palestinians don’t need to be told by the World Bank about their own poverty and they don’t need the hollow rhetorical support of governments which fail to follow up words with deeds. The facts on the ground in Palestine are there for all to see. We need action. We need political pressure on the Occupation. We need freedom.
And then this afternoon, while plugging through my 123 unread emails from the last week, i came across one that exposes a clear connection between the multi-billion dollar corporation that is Starbucks and the Zionist apartheid state that is Israel. Although the letter is a parody, it seems to be based on factual evidence that Starbucks does, in fact, help fund Israeli apartheid.
Anyway, this is totally just a rant about things most people who read my (very unimpressive and lately, much neglected) blog probably already know about, but i can't help feeling so angry and helpless about the kind of world we live in, where those who hold the reins of power can rule with an iron fist when they feel like, can bomb peoples' homes, kill innocent bodies, destroy peoples' lives, reap the benefits of war, and then get away with it.
Sitting on the plane on Friday evening, starved for knowledge of the world's goings-on in the last week, i was visibly grateful to the NGO doctor from Bangalore sitting next to me for sharing his copy of the Jakarta Post with me. There, splashed across the front page, was the news that Israel had attacked Lebanon.
A few pages later, still stunned, i read this excellent piece by the guy who runs the StopTheWall website, including the following lines:
The global community pleads for the release of one Israeli taken from a tank, stationed outside the Gaza ghetto, whilst Palestinians are taken from their beds and killed in the streets and half of their government and 1/3 of the Palestinian Legislative Council are taken hostage. They beg for his return whilst ignoring the 9000 Palestinians rotting in Israeli jails, over 400 of whom are children.
Global agencies confine their operations to fact-finding missions on the “Palestinian situation” speculating endlessly on humanitarian issues as if Palestine were in the throws of some natural disaster. Reeling off further UN humanitarian reports are not asked for. Palestinians don’t need to be told by the World Bank about their own poverty and they don’t need the hollow rhetorical support of governments which fail to follow up words with deeds. The facts on the ground in Palestine are there for all to see. We need action. We need political pressure on the Occupation. We need freedom.
And then this afternoon, while plugging through my 123 unread emails from the last week, i came across one that exposes a clear connection between the multi-billion dollar corporation that is Starbucks and the Zionist apartheid state that is Israel. Although the letter is a parody, it seems to be based on factual evidence that Starbucks does, in fact, help fund Israeli apartheid.
Anyway, this is totally just a rant about things most people who read my (very unimpressive and lately, much neglected) blog probably already know about, but i can't help feeling so angry and helpless about the kind of world we live in, where those who hold the reins of power can rule with an iron fist when they feel like, can bomb peoples' homes, kill innocent bodies, destroy peoples' lives, reap the benefits of war, and then get away with it.
posted by burgers and durians at
10:59 PM
1 Comments:
In Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, the central character, Raskolnikov, propounds his vision of the world, a world in which an elite of “extraordinary” men will rule and govern the “ordinary” men. These “extraordinary” men will have no moral or social obligations and need not justify their actions to the “ordinary” men. In short, they will be above the law.
In the first half of the twentieth century, one Adolph Hitler and his cronies preached a similar philosophy, babbling about the “superman” and the “master race”. This led to one of the bloodiest wars that this planet has ever witnessed with more than fifty million people killed and countless others enduring unimaginable suffering and misery. And it culminated in two horrendous bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Today, a similar group, sometimes referred to as the “neo-cons” and most of whom are either of Jewish origin or have strong ties to Israel, has entrenched itself in the White House, with George W. Bush as their spokesman. Their goals are hidden but their strategy is plain for all to see. They rule by fear and intimidation and are working towards the “nazification” of this planet, where these “extraordinary” men, with technology as their main weapon, will be the lords and masters over us, the “ordinary” men.
When asked why he had not served in Vietnam, Dick Cheney replied; “I had other priorities.” George W. Bush was drafted but never showed up in Indo-china, pulling influential strings to avoid the Asian bloodbath. Today, these are the very people who are sending young Americans to Iraq and Afghanistan to rape and kill, or be killed; or to return home badly mauled, physically or mentally.
Now the elite in Israel, backed by the elite in America, has unleashed its loathsome arsenal against innocent Lebanese. And if Syria and Iran get goaded into the conflict, then the shit will hit the fan. It will be the Dark Ages all over again.
It has always been like this. The “extraordinary” men define the world as they see fit and then scheme to produce the fruits that their warped minds have created. And we the “ordinary” people make all the sacrifices.
In the movie Troy, Achilles sneers at Agamemnon; “Imagine a king who fights his own battles: wouldn’t that be a sight!”
Yes, it’s always been like this.
They make all the plans and we make all the sacrifices.
Why do we allow it?
They are few, we are many.
Why do we let them get away with it?
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