This piece was published a week back, but Jack Shenker at the Guardian groks Palestine's flotilla activism bigtime. From quoting stalwart flotilla activists congregating at a Corfu beach, to the relevance of Palestine to the Arab Spring, to "the wider status quo of power relations in western democracies" Shenker cinches it:
[Ewa Jasiewicz says] "What the flotilla does is actually bring civil society into a space where states have to deal with us. Our actions are exposing the lack of adherence to international law among nation states supporting the siege, and through that we can show that it's only grassroots movements and people power from below that has an impact on changing policy. We're exposing the inertia and complicity of governments and really undermining the idea that we're living in democracies and that's especially clear in Greece."In the midst of the Arab spring, Jasiewicz's argument – that direct actions like the flotilla serve to delegitimise not only Israel's occupation of Palestine but also the wider status quo of power relations in western democracies – is an explosive one, particularly in a country like Greece where the elected government is facing a powerful crisis of legitimacy from below.
Many of those involved in the flotilla believe that this year's revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, as well as the ongoing battles being waged against autocratic rulers elsewhere in the Arab world, have fundamentally changed the dynamics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well. "People have had their stereotypes of Arabs smashed over the past six months, particularly when you see protesters in Sana'a wearing brightly coloured wigs and children resisting armed police in Cairo you can't call these people terrorists," argues Jasiewicz.
"And in TV pictures of these scenes, the Palestinian flag is everywhere. You can't cut the Palestinian freedom struggle out from the Arab Spring it's becoming recognised as a pro-democracy movement, and hence more widely accepted."
The real intention of the flotilla has always been less about physically transporting humanitarian aid and geared more towards political subversion of the Israeli blockade. At this level the challenge was not so much to set sail although one small French craft has reached international waters, the only boat in the flotilla to do so but rather to win the media battle and create an opening for Palestinian voices to be heard.
Don't miss this great article, read the whole thing.
(Hat tip Ann Wright)
i hope everyone reads this article. it really sums up the impact of the flotilla.
please please please!
I did annie. I also found these two letters from the same date:
link to guardian.co.uk
The first is just nasty about Sheikh Raed Saleh, by someone styling himself a ‘Middle East analyst’, the second quotes from the Campbell diaries wrt Blair, who “thought in 2000 that giving back East Jerusalem to the Palestinians would be “like giving Westminster to Germany.”"
And that’s our prat in the Quartet. What chance peace…
bumblebye, the author of that first letter, Jonathan Sacerdoti , is a zionist operative (on youtube, the ZionistFederation page no less), he’s tbeir spokesperson. we can’t get rid of those people, they’re trained professionals.
the other letter sounded to be like he was not very happy w/the status quo.
yes, we have a long way to go. but don’t get worried about those operatives, they are not regular people.
Read all Annie. Still going still inspiring. And many many hat tips to retired Colonel Ann Wright. A true patriot. She has set the bar high
Annie do not want to distract but would really like your opinion as well as others on Steve Clemons piece up at his site
“Israel Kicks Down its own Democratic Hill?
link to digg.com
Kicks Down its own Democratic Hill?&topic=political_opinion” target=”_blank”>Digg
knesset.jpgPart of the annual foreign policy ritual in Washington is that the US President, Vice President, and leading Members of Congress make major campaign and fundraising speeches, sign on to resolutions, and pledge unconditional support to Israel, often referring to it as “the only genuine democracy in the Middle East.”
But will it remain so? The Israel Knesset just passed 47-38 a bill outlawing its citizens from supporting any anti-Israel boycotts.
I have been to Israel and am always impressed by how wide the margins of debate are there — far wider than inside the DC Beltway where thought control harassment and political intimidation have become art forms when it comes to discussing Middle East dynamics.
But in Israel, in the Knesset, there has been real debate for decades. I’ve spent quality time discussing issues in a completely civil manner with Orthodox rabbis, with members of the Shas Party, with members even of Avigdor Lieberman’s party. I’ve talked with chairs of the various settlers’ associations — and have worked hard to develop relations across Labor, Kadima and Likud. Israeli politicians play hardball with each other – and the country, in the end, is better for the level of civil society debate demanded by citizens.
Israel has an impressive rough and tumble democracy, or had.
There is just no doubt that Israel has been King of the Hill in democracy terms and now seems to be kicking down its own democratic hill with the passage of this law. For the record, I don’t support a boycott of Israel just like I don’t support anyone burning the American flag.
But free societies show themselves to be better and more stable than their totalitarian cousins because they allow free debate and governments allow themselves to be challenged by their own people.
If South Africans, inside South Africa, had not supported the various boycotts of their country during the battle over Apartheid, then Mandela may have remained imprisoned and the despicable ethnic divide might have endured.
Israel has just hoisted on itself the equivalence of a McCarthy-like witch hunt for those it feels might be traitors to the Greater Israel cause. These kinds of loyalty oath stunts and such government brittleness undermine democracy and narrow national debate during times when its smarter to keep the gates of ideas as widely open as possible.
Despite today’s vote, I don’t think that Israel will careen off its more deeply embedded democratic foundation so quickly, but what passed should stand as a huge red flag for Israelis and those of us concerned for its future (and yes, I am).
One of my close mentors, the late and well known Japanese politics expert Hans Baerwald, told me that one really never knows the norms and real truth of a political system until observed under stress.
Real democracies need to cling to their basic code — not take the shortest, most expeditious, extra-legal route in times of perceived national crisis and undermine the rights of citizens. That violates basic trust — and eventually plants the seeds of real rather than imagined rebellion.”
First he says he is not for boycotting Israel and then goes onto say that if South Africans and others had not boycotted apartheid there nothing would have changed. Some really serious contradictions I know he walks a fine line when you are climbing a corporate ladder but such clear contradictions. Although I do celebrate when Clemons sticks his neck out on this issue. Which he does periodically.
This is a powerful statement by Clemons “Israel has just hoisted on itself the equivalence of a McCarthy-like witch hunt for those it feels might be traitors to the Greater Israel cause. These kinds of loyalty oath stunts and such government brittleness undermine democracy and narrow national debate during times when its smarter to keep the gates of ideas as widely open as possible.”
oops tried to edit the garbage off of it. Did not work
thanks kathleen, i go read it at the link and then come back.
there’s lots of garbage in it kathleen, had you gotten rid of it all there might have been nothing left. the premise he starts out with , that israel has been a vibrant democracy is massively flawed. it is a democracy for jewish citizens. the fact there are minorities represented at the knesset means nothing if they pass discriminatory racist laws. anyway, i don’t have to go on about that, but he starts w/that premise. the fact he discusses all kinds of subjects and spends “quality time discussing issues in a completely civil manner with Orthodox rabbis, with members of the Shas Party, with members even of Avigdor Lieberman’s party” doesn’t make it a democracy. big duh. same for Labor, Kadima and Likud. notice he doesn’t mention Balad ? gee, wonder why? because they don’t matter politically and he knows it.
iow, he considers it a jewish state and therefore only recognizes the ‘vibrancy’ of the debates within the jewish parties. and heck yeah, if it was only jews then they could legitimately call it a democracy of jews. but it isn’t. only israelis are nationals so they are all who matter. even his schpeel worries about jews who are lefties or support boycott. oh gee, they won’t have freedom of speech. what about the thousands of israelis who live in unrecognized villages ? of course they are only israeli citizens, not nationals. they don’t have the same access, rights or privileges.
but other than that i must say nothing screamed at me in the article (probably because i was used to it) as much as this:
I don’t support a boycott of Israel just like I don’t support anyone burning the American flag.
just like? so he approves of boycotts in general (“If South Africans, inside South Africa, had not supported the various boycotts of their country during the battle over Apartheid, then Mandela may have remained imprisoned and the despicable ethnic divide might have endured.”) he just doesn’t support boycotting israel. hmm, that might sound reasonable if he didn’t support it for some other reason. but americans who do not support burning the flag generally do it for patriotic reasons. and i can understand that. i can understand supporting freedom of expression and speech but not wanting to see the flag burned. but what does that mean, that he doesn’t support the boycott just like he doesn’t support burning the american flag. wtf? does israel have a place in his heart like his own country?
i want to vomit everytime i hear an american express their loyalty to israel like this. it disgusts me. shit or get off the pot already. maybe i wouldn’t feel the same way about it if it was his birthplace, but is it?
sorry to get hung up on that sentence but i do not like this concept of the us and israel being one and the same reinforced. i. do. not. like. it. it feels disloyal to me. i can understand people having dual loyalties but he says it so off the cuff. he’s writing for a publication as a political analysis and are we supposed to incorporate this info as if it’s just de jure, normal and a part of the american way of life for like…anyone?
moving right along…
There is just no doubt that Israel has been King of the Hill in democracy terms
just barf me when it’s over. so ok, he wrote a piece about israel crossing the red line, but overwhelmingly (i’m not going to count sentences, i’m guessing) the piece lavished love on israel, just like that sentence up their in italics, over and over and over and ok…….you get the picture.
it was ‘balanced’ which means declare your love for 99.9 percent and then you have bonafides to criticize israel. cowardly, that’s what it was. if i want to read a zionist i’d rather read bradley burston who at least has the balls to rant about israel without qualifying it with reams of compliments to soften the blow.
grow up clemons. take off your kid gloves or stfu. oh an one more thing:
Israel has just hoisted on itself the equivalence of a McCarthy-like witch hunt for those it feels might be traitors to the Greater Israel cause.
iow, he’s concerned w/jews. obviously the bds movement is a palestinian movement. palestinians israelis exist (he might want to check that out, they really do exist). news flash, they do not believe in the greater israel, never did never will, so how can you be a traitor to that? he’s only worried about liberal bds supporting jews. he should wake up.
I got hung up on the same sentence, annie. What’s up with the equation wrt burning the American flag (as a protest against American policy one thinks is unAmerican or not humane)? Is he talking about burning the Israeli flag as a protest against selective Israeli policies? Any flag is only a symbol, but it symbolizes certain values. Is he making a “don’t throw the baby out with the bath water” argument? How about just burning a small portion of the flag?
His argument does not make sense–he says apartheid S Africa was
demolished most essentially because a sufficient number of white S Africans publically supported BDS
against their own government. Yet he goes along with preventing free speech in Israel regarding BDS.
Is he making a “don’t throw the baby out with the bath water” argument?
who’s baby? his own or israels? big dif. if he were making a don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater argument he would be saying he rejected boycotts in general as an effective means. he’s as much as said he agrees w/boycotts on principle, just not this one against israel. if he were saying he was against flag burning in general he could have said that, but he didn’t. he said ‘the american flag’. he doesn’t tell us why he is against burning flag burning either but one will reasonable assume (viscerally) why. he’s relying on a visceral instinct talking to an american audience and then he does a switcheroo and replaces the instinctual sentiment, he supplants the sentiment of the american flag onto israel with the ‘just like’ comment. i not accusing him of doing it on purpose, but this kind of subliminal messaging is rampant thru out our media. it is something noura erakat wrote about, about israel being ‘in’ the ‘american nationality’ branding even more than or own minorities.
thanks …wanted to hear other perspectives. I have a tendency to think about what it is like to have made it into the world that Clemons and others reside in. How difficult it is to say, write or report about this critical issue without having your career and access cut off. Part of me says great that Clemons steps out periodically even though cautiously.
The only heavy hitter that I saw step out in the MSM with gusto was one time Glenn Greenwald and Dylan Ratigan mopped up the floor with Cliff Mays lies about US support for Israel, the I lobby, lies about Iran etc
link to salon.com
link to lobelog.com
kudos for you kathleen for keeping tabs on these guys. somebodies got to do ti.
Annie “(Hat tip Ann Wright)”
Bet SofS Clinton has still not gotten back to retired Colonel Ann Wrights inquiry into
Published on Thursday, August 5, 2010 by CommonDreams.org
Secretary of State Clinton: Now That the Wedding Is Over, Could You Respond to Requests From American Citizens on the Gaza Flotilla?
by Ann Wright
link to commondreams.org
Dear Secretary of State Clinton,
I am a retired US Army Reserve Colonel with 29 years in the US Army and Army Reserves and a former US diplomat who resigned after 16 years in the US State Department in opposition to the war on Iraq.
I was one of fourteen American citizens on the Gaza flotilla.
On June 14, 2010 I delivered to the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Office of American Citizen Services a letter to you requesting investigation of the Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla in which one unarmed American citizen was killed by Israeli commandos and fourteen other American citizens were kidnapped from international waters and taken to Israel against their will, imprisoned and their personal possessions stolen by Israeli commandos.
Despite numerous inquiries to the State Department about the status of the response to my letter, after seven weeks I have not received a response to the letter nor to the 80 questions that I requested that the United States government pose to the Israeli government concerning their attack on the Gaza flotilla.
words cannot properly describe my admiration for Ann Wright. the woman has more dignity and grace than i could evee dream of having. i traveled to gaza with her and then on to israel and the WB. she’s stella. her disposition is as steady, thoughtful and clear as humanly possible. and wow can she get around. she’s very effective. i was so lucky to be traveling with her. the movement is greatly enhanced by her. did you read this?
that is so Ann. she’s a rock.
annie, I’ve been following her for quite a while off and on. I agree. Ann Wright is way up there at the top of the Maslow triangle.
Here’s a rap from some Gaza guys for the flotilla folks:
link to electronicintifada.net
It’s a good’un!
awesome