Lawrence of Cyberia, whom I've added today to my blogroll, has the cleverest About Me page I've ever read. Well he's a Brit. They're cleverer than us. But Lawrence has kicked around the Middle East and now is in Washington. Also here is Lawrence on why he and I are for the two-state solution not on justice grounds, but as a stopgap:
People like Nusseibeh advocate two states on the 1967 borders not
because they are closet Zionists, but because it is a practical way to
bring Israelis and Palestinians out of the unsustainable and
intrinsically violent master-slave relationship they are stuck in, and
to bring to the largest possible number of them the experience of
living as normal citizens in functioning nation states. (And some anti-Zionist Jews
support it for the same reason). It is the quickest and most practical
way to turn two peoples who currently relate to each other as occupiers
and occupied into full and equal citizens of independent countries who
relate to each other as neighbors. So advocates for two states
aren’t saying that 1948 doesn’t matter. They say that the underlying
Big Issues of 1948 – justice, equality, self-determination and
citizenship, etc. – matter as much to them as to anyone else, but that
the immediate practical concerns of everyday life matter too, and the
most pressing of these is to find some kind of formula under which
Israelis and Palestinians simply stay alive. If you can’t tackle that
immediate issue, then you’re not going to grapple with the rest.
because they are closet Zionists, but because it is a practical way to
bring Israelis and Palestinians out of the unsustainable and
intrinsically violent master-slave relationship they are stuck in, and
to bring to the largest possible number of them the experience of
living as normal citizens in functioning nation states. (And some anti-Zionist Jews
support it for the same reason). It is the quickest and most practical
way to turn two peoples who currently relate to each other as occupiers
and occupied into full and equal citizens of independent countries who
relate to each other as neighbors. So advocates for two states
aren’t saying that 1948 doesn’t matter. They say that the underlying
Big Issues of 1948 – justice, equality, self-determination and
citizenship, etc. – matter as much to them as to anyone else, but that
the immediate practical concerns of everyday life matter too, and the
most pressing of these is to find some kind of formula under which
Israelis and Palestinians simply stay alive. If you can’t tackle that
immediate issue, then you’re not going to grapple with the rest.
Lessons from the Stanford Prison Experiment (and elsewhere). You put ordinary people in positions of prisoners and guards, and they are transformed by their roles into cruel tormenters on the one hand, and craven supplicants on the other. If you institutionalize this relationship with classes, race-based slavery or subjugation, you have an unhealthy situation for all concerned. Yet America was able to unwind itself from its historic race-based slavery and subjugation. South Africa did it under inspired leadership. It can be violent, or it can be non-violent, or a combination. The non-violent way first takes mutually recognizing the other's humanity, finding common ground (when looking within the peoples' hearts, not minds, per Mandela), then building from there, finding things to draw people together. Perhaps the media need to be wrested away from those who control it and use it as propaganda to enforce the status quo and enable cruelty, or quietly implement de facto censorship of ideas and messages accomplishing the same thing. There is the heart of the matter.
Phil, perhaps you should orchestrate a letter writing campaign to the editorial boards of the nation's media. Enunciate certain principles that define US media's failings. Nail the list to their door via tens of thousands of letters to the editor.
Peers is best.
My fear is that the "two-state solution" will permanently institutionalise the master-slave relationship between jewish colonist and native arab.
Did the original Martin Luther think peers is best?
Cleverest About me page…
Absolutely: and especially since this was inflicted upon us,
Good addition!
But lately I don't like the full page format anymore, at least if it hasn't a column on both sides as in Saif's blog. Maybe my wide screen makes the lines even longer?