Last night I joined a three-hour cruise on New York harbor that served as a fundraiser to send a U.S. boat to Gaza in October. This morning I have three strong impressions of the event: 1, the great widening that is taking place on the issue on the American left-- the issue has found a political home; 2, Chris Hedges's spiritual speech on the issue; 3, the strong presence of Palestinian-Americans on the boat, and indeed their increasing role in the intellectual/political leadership on the issue.
1. The excitement. You had 400 people jamming a boat on a Thursday night, many of them putting off their weekend trips to country houses, and when the pails came out, they coughed up thousands more dollars. One man called out a $5000 donation, a woman quickly followed with $2500. The artist Emily Henochowicz, who lost her left eye to Israel militarism, was in the crowd and gave two pieces of art to be auctioned. $3000, $2000, they went for. But I am no materialist. I had the good feeling that the issue has passed out of the leftwing cadre that I associate it with and has gained broader political footing in the wake of the flotilla outrage, amid other signs of widening, from Robert Mackey's fresh blog to the recent stories about Henochowicz to Roger Cohen's outspokenness to Andrew Sullivan's journalistic crusade to Paul Krugman and Peter Beinart's weariness with the ancien Israel lobby. There were young hipsters with tattoos in the crowd. I listened to a Fox News reporter interviewing Ann Wright (retired Army colonel and diplomat) and badgering her to tell him what Israel should do to deter rocket attacks from Gaza. His shrill manner seemed to me desperate. He knows that Americans are getting sick of the Israeli endless-security justification for aggression (which of course the Washington Post purveys this morning, they have not gotten the news). My favorite sign on the boat was a a black placard that said simply, This Is News.
2. I've never seen Hedges in action, he spoke like a churchman; I believe he is the closest thing to a blue-eyed transcendentalist in the Emerson Melville Thoreauvian tradition that you will find anywhere these days. It is amazing to think that this guy was recently a New York Times reporter, amazing to consider what he may have been suppressing to perform that role. For instance, he quoted "my friend" Rev. Jeremiah Wright (the chickens coming home to roost 9/11 sermon) and Edward Said and Rachel Corrie lovingly. The Said quote was savage/knowing: It was about intellectual courage, it was about recognizing those moments when one wants to turn away from the truth because describing it will endanger prestige, invitations, honorary degrees, access. And no truth is more dangerous to professional progress, Said said, than the great injustice of Palestine, which has left many people "hobbled, blinkered and muzzled." Talismanic words.
But Hedges' own incantatory rhetoric deserves quotation. He began by saying that he had no doubt, based on an encounter he had with a hasbara informant when he was in Jerusalem for the Times, that a paid informant for Israel/the lobby was in our company and so he wanted to pass the other side a message.
"I would like to remind them that it is they who hide in the darkness, we are in the light." And now their moment is coming to an end. "The arc of the moral universe is long... You may have commandos who descend on ropes... we have only our hands, our hearts, our voices... But note this, note this well: it is you who are afraid of us, not us who are afraid of you... When there is freedom in Gaza, we will forgive you..."
He spoke of war crimes and Palestinian ghettoes, he said that targeted assassinations are "extrajudicial murders," and "the peace process means the cynical one-way route to crushing the Palestinian people." Wowie zowie. Time to look at the Hedges archive at the Times!
"To be a Christian," he said, means to "speak in the voice of Jeremiah Wright, Edward Said, and Rachel Corrie." Then he invoked many Jewish prophets, from Hannah Arendt to Noam Chomsky to Norman Finkelstein, and ended with the pronouncement that we must know the Israeli militants for what they are, terrorists.
3. The Palestinian-American presence.
A number of Palestinians spoke, Joel Bitar, Remi Kanazi the poet, playwright Ismail Khalidi, and Lamis Deek of al-Awda.They are all very attractive young people, with strong American components or roots; Kanazi, for instance, was raised in a small Massachusetts town and had very little Arab/Palestinian consciousness till after 9/11.
The discovery by these young people (and let me leave Deek out, she was politicized long ago) of their people's suffering is moving. Khalidi spoke of the recognition that Palestinians have of other Palestinians on streets from Amsterdam to New York: "we survive and exist in some dark exile... healing from catastrophe to catastrophe, we sing and dance."
Kanazi was more emphatically political, and disturbing. His declamatory line about Iraqi deaths: "If I had a dollar for every Iraqi who had died since 2003, I'd be a millionaire..." His denunciation of Obama on Gaza: do not pretend that "his 22 days of silence was golden." And on Palestine/Israel: "You can stay here with us, but only as equals... it's not that you're Israelis, it's that you're wrong."
As the Statue of Liberty loomed green and perfect high above us, Khalidi quoted June Jordan saying, We are the ones we have been waiting for; and there was about the Palestinian presence last night a sense of American liberation. I felt that these people were excited to be recognized in an American venue, without judgment, and that this long-withheld recognition had allowed them to let out deep griefs and angers that, say, professors Edward Said and Rashid Khalidi were required to restrain when they addressed the same matters. There was talk of the dispossession that began 63 years ago; and I am sure that several of these Palestinians do not accept the existence of Israel. Myself, I am conflicted about these questions (and indeed a friend said later that the anger at times made her uncomfortable), but I find my own intellectual/political struggle less interesting/important than the presence of young Palestinian-Americans. My struggle is a Jewish one; and the important thing about last night is that smart Jews are willing to yield center stage on this matter after many years of monopolizing it. We want to be there, we were there in good number, Amy Goodman, Jane Hirschmann, Max Ajl, etc. But consider that Emily Henochowicz, a Jewish hero, did not speak (I think she is a shy person), and Palestinian-Americans did. This is a spiritual reckoning and a moral one, but in the end it is essentially political. And while I am wary of any policy built on diasporic emotion, our country can make no progress until the Palestinians whom Palestinians choose to represent them are granted expertise and authority in the American discourse. It's that simple. (And it is also the answer to the Fox News guy's hectoring; any people will respond with violence to dispossession and occupation; these are in the end political questions).
Thanks Phil, for going and covering this. We wouldn’t hear about it without you.
X2
thank you phil, this brings tears to my eyes. all of it.
Yes, thanks Phil; for being there, and sharing with us.
Phil, I couldn’t agree more that it is essential that the leadership and energy come from the Palestinians, with active support from the rest of us.
What we need is a “Palestinian Emergency Committee” that calls attention to The Movement and includes viral videos on YouTube. The videos should include calls for action from Elvis Costello, Roger Waters, Paul McCartney . . . the equivalent of the “Sun City” video.
I’ve complained a lot on Mondo about the absence of Bono in protesting this human rights atrocity, especially given the comments from his spiritual Rev. Desmond Tutu about the I/P situation being “far worse” than South African apartheid. Shameful.
Palestinian Americans must no longer be silent. This is their moment. Phil, great reporting. . .
I’ve also said repeatedly that Phil and Adam miss a major opportunity to have a great summit on this topic in New York, inviting all the great contributors to Mondo, and providing a roadmap to peace. I hope they can envision this, and see it through.
How about Mondoweiss, the print edition? A monthly publication given for free to every member of Congress. . .
How about Mondoweiss the face to face conference?
I’d hope they chose a time when there are off-peak air fares. I’d certainly try to scrape the money together.
me too.
Phil, perhaps you are doing your job as a media person here. Giving speeches is not necessarily leading. What I perceive based on the various efforts I have been involved in (Viva Palestina 5 being the most current one), the biggest divide is secular versus religious. When I see an imam working with left-wing labor person and playing a leadership role (not just giving speeches), then time has truly come. Bridging this secular versus religious gap is the true challenge going forward, in my opinion.
“and the important thing about last night is that smart Jews are willing to yield center stage on this matter after many years of monopolizing it.”
I hope that event is a window to the future. Interesting report.
“smart Jews are willing to yield center stage on this matter after many years of monopolizing it.”
or running for cover.
or washing hands
or cya
The Jews you mentioned are long-time “converts”. Their repetition is NOT a groundswell. If that is your evidence, you fool yourself, and others.
The Hedges “incantation” (your word) is similarly repetitive and does not address the real issues of the situation.
The primary question is “What is the goal?”
It remains unanswered by you and by Palestinian solidarity.
“Then he invoked many Jewish prophets, from Hannah Arendt to Noam Chomsky to Norman Finkelstein”
The bar of prophecy has sunk if they are “Jewish prophets”. I assume they would agree.
It is good to see Palestinian Americans speaking up.
Most likely the affluent ones that you encountered would not advocate for violence against Israeli civilians, but instead seek a mutually decent life, assertively.
“would not advocate for violence”
Wrong. When “advocate” is a verb, it does not take “for”. That should be “would not advocate violence”.
As Mooser asks, “What has the English language done to you?”
Witty, if there is one thing you really, really don’t want to mention in connection with Zionism, it’s “Jewish Prophets”. But if you do, I suggest you start with Jeremiah. He seems to have a high prophesying accuracy rate.
What’s the goal? See Susie Kneedler’s comment below, Dick Witty. See any worthwhile goal?
Phil, Everyone: Is there any video available of Chris Hedges speaking at this event?
Almost as good, and desperately heart-breaking, as well as prophetic:
Chris Hedges, “A Gaza Diary,” Harper’s Magazine, August 2001, illustrated by Joe Sacco
link to harpers.org
Hedges described in ghastly detail how the IDF taunted Palestinian children, “your mother’s cunt!,” into danger expressly so that they could shoot them. Hedges compared such murderous military policy with the other wars he’d witnessed, announcing that this barbarism exceeded all:
“but I have never before watched soldiers entice children like mice into a trap and murder them for sport.”
Hedges, the former divinity student, always looks haunted, so oppressed by the horrors he’s seen that he dares to tell the truth.
****
And I agree: thanks, Phil, for your celebration of the Palestinian people, as well as their right to debate and choose.
Page not available to non-subscribers. :-(
Sorry, Bumblebye. How about this one?:
link to harpers.org
None of the pages permit copying.
Or this?link to harpers.org
No. They’re clearly not into sharing even their old stuff. ;-(
bumblebye, I was able to access the entire article through my library’s database.
maybe you can too.
Joe Sacco’s pictures are omitted.
Turns out that our friend, “Mondoweiss”contributor Pamela Olson, reprinted Hedges’s “A Gaza Diary” six months ago. Thanks, Pam!:
link to fasttimesinpalestine.wordpress.com
Pamela likewise had to leave out Joe Sacco’s sad, evocative art–and also somehow removed the epithet, “your mother’s c—!” cast at the children by the IDF soldiers.
And both Pam and I omitted the subtitle, but it tells much:
“Scenes from the Palestinian uprising.”
Congratulations to the event organizers and participants.
I suspect that Aipac and Congress have some plans of their own to squash things–perhaps an expansion of the list of terrorist organizations to include such as non-violent Gaza flotilla operations–and beyond, much as Israel has done and is doing with its NGO’s.
After all, it’s not California that’s the state that leads the US in future trends. It’s Israel.
Also, I wonder how many Mossad and FBI agents were among the crowd.
After all
The Saban-controlled State Dept has issued a travelers advisory against taking cruises to Gaza and visiting the WB repression demonstrations.
I’ve seen that advisory. It should be noted that–in a very oblique way–the advisory cautioned against demonstrations in the Westbank due to injuries caused by the IDF.
great news for a change. also
plans for a Canadian boat to gaza
It’ll be interesting to see how the government of Canada will handle this initiative. I would hope the vessel is registered in Canada, for the sake of the organizers and due to a possible confrontation with the Israeli Navy.
I saw Hedges at a Virginia book festival when he discussed his book, “War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning.”
Hedges is educated in divinity, and is a powerful speaker, the remnant of ‘WASP’ Christianity that got washed away as the LaHaye – Hagee – Robertson – Falwell pseudochristian sewer overflowed.
”
Wow, wow, and more wow. Powerful exciting stuff.
WHO’S “diasporic emotion” are you talking about, Phil, that “makes [you] wary?”
edit: WHOSE
The Palestinians must be the most misrepresented people on earth. Of course the torrent of demands that they show themselves to be ‘Gandhis’ before they are allowed to speak has created an effective censorship.
I was just musing about that yesterday as I lamented on the fact that the Palestinians have been isolated and on their own for decades. Only recently has international solidarity from the average world citizen helped the Palestinians make their pain known. It’s no wonder that when a boat of activists anchors in the Gaza port, its passengers are welcomed, showered with love and gratitude. The Palestinians hunger for human contact from the outside world, more so in Gaza.
Additionally, I strongly believe that we are at a crucial crossroads; seeings as the average Palestinian’s only contact with Jews in the occupied territories or in Gaza is either with brutal colonists or soldiers, this is the time and the place for diaspora Jews to act in solidarity, support and stand by their fellow humans, the Palestinians. Such action will play a significant role in the future, when the time comes for both Israelis and Palestinians to share the same land. And, Israel’s Jews might learn something new from their fellow American and European Jews, groups which were not subject to a high saturation of Israeli government propaganda.
Just for reference, if there is a sea change in the states, the presence and responsible dissent by Palestinian Americans will make a MUCH GREATER difference in the perception of Americans and the rest of the world, than all the ranting militants agreeing in their rage.
There was always a positive and responsible presence by Palestinian Americans. Alas, they have been marginalized and excluded by the ZOA and AIPAC. It’s not as though Palestinian Americans underwent a social or political transformation. Do you suppose you could come to grips with that fact instead of continuing to ignore the proverbial invisible hand of the lobby?
blah, blah “than all the ranting militants agreeing in their rage.”
Yup, all you Palestinians listen to Richard Witty. Now there’s a guy you can be sure has your best interests at heart.
And you can tell that by the way he spews out “ranting militants” without ever saying who that might be. But of course, he doesn’t have to, all he has to do is say “ranting militants agreeing in their rage” and everybody knows exactly who he means.
I mean, you know, it’s just a friendly warning from God, or at least His plenipotentiary
Ranting militants? Remind me again Witty, who shot and killed a 19-year-old Turkish American in international waters, and who said it was the right thing for said militant organization to do?
RE: “…Emily Henochowicz, a Jewish hero, did not speak (I think she is a shy person)…” – Weiss
MY COMMENT: Yes, that was my impression of her based upon the recent interview on Democracy Now! And she seems like a real sweetheart. I think I’m in love! (Please forgive me, Medea.)
The Way Out
That Jewish occupier and occupied Palestinian sit down together and work things out based on one equals one with liberty and justice for all.
yourtruly, that would be great, and I’m sure Israel would be glad to do that, if it wasn’t for “all the ranting militants agreeing in their rage”.
Meanwhile, perhaps we can all meet at Witty’s residence–I hear it’s not in a risky part of town, so no problem there. Of course you will have to drop all your rage and ranting before going down Witty’s street. He will leave a large Home Depot waste container up at the intersection for that purpose. You can’t use the one he has at home as it’s filled up with his own hot misgivings about the US military. BTW, US military recruiters are banned from his yard and door.
Thanks for that report. That phrase, “incantatory rhetoric” – I am so inspired by it. This is the last evening in what has been a long week, and I needed just this inspiration.
Hedges is a great man.
I could not agree more. After reading his “A Gaza Diary” in Harper Magazine, I try to read all the articles he publishes.
link to fasttimesinpalestine.wordpress.com
It was very upsetting and disheartening when he was booed off the stage and had his Microphone Cut Twice as he Delivered a Graduation Speech on War and Empire at Rockford College in Illinois.
link to democracynow.org
He has that wisdom which one rarely finds in a reporter.