The most inspiring moment at J Street this year came when a young Israeli activist heckled a member of the Knesset about ethnic cleansing and racism. His name was Amitai Ben-Abba.
Well the arc of moral justice is long but it bends towards people like Amitai. Here he is describing a beating delivered by Israeli forces during an action in the South Hebron Hills. A couple excerpts:
Taayush means living together, living the revolution, living it good, living the change, living the way we want to see society. We live the end of the occupation as we go, in direct action and the presentation of alternatives. We make the end of the occupation as we go, without politicians, rich people that sit on spinning chairs made of dead cows’ skin, that mix potions to create divided, butchered societies. Getting beaten up is a byproduct. We put ourselves in dangerous situations for the pearls of experience, for the pure notion of taayush. Gems like sitting that day yesterday 10-07-12 at Bir al-Id with the three beaten worn out powerful fathers of the village and looking at the beautiful view of the hills of Jinba and the Arad Valley and Masada in the distance…
In the morning we went to make sure that the military escort near Havat Maon outpost arrived and did its job. Our Italian friends from Operation Dove have been suffering increasing attacks from the most violent outpost in Judea, so we went to help them out with the task they’ve been fulfilling on a daily basis. A-Twani is the largest village in the South Hebron Hills. Kids from neighbouring villages and khirbes go there for school and summer camp. Settlers from Havat Maon have made the way to Twani torturously longer and have thrown stones at kids on their way to school. After a long struggle, the military has committed to give daily escort to the Palestinian kids to enable them to get to school. Since the army is often late for the escort, monitoring their behavior is essential. For ten years now, activists have been there with them, often functioning as human shields for the children….
I shall return. So much shit is happening on a daily basis. We’re exposed to a fraction of the massive machine of oppression. But the little we do matters. It matters for our Palestinian comrades and it sets an example. We get beaten and come back for more. There is joy in our activism, in the pearls of experience. I will come back this Saturday for the characters, for human interaction, what I live for, our Palestinian, international and Israeli partners, my friends and heroes, the people who inspire me who enable me to feel that I live the revolution for change and elevation in the form of protestation of the situation of segregation.
Here’s to you Amitai ..
‘Tis, finally, the Man, who, lifted high,
Conspicuous object in a Nation’s eye,
Or left unthought-of in obscurity,–
Who, with a toward or untoward lot,
Prosperous or adverse, to his wish or not–
Plays, in the many games of life, that one
Where what he most doth value must be won:
Whom neither shape of danger can dismay,
Nor thought of tender happiness betray;
Who, not content that former worth stand fast,
Looks forward, persevering to the last,
From well to better, daily self-surpast:
Who, whether praise of him must walk the earth
For ever, and to noble deeds give birth,
Or he must fall, to sleep without his fame,
And leave a dead unprofitable name–
Finds comfort in himself and in his cause;
And, while the mortal mist is gathering, draws
His breath in confidence of Heaven’s applause:
This is the happy Warrior; this is He
That every Man in arms should wish to be.’
The Happy Warrior
1806.
RE: ‘The beating and why I come back for more’
MY COMMENT: Conscious pariahs unite! – https://mondoweiss.mystagingwebsite.com/2008/11/my-wife-and-i-went-to-a-family-gathering-in-the-neighborhood-she-grew-up-in-chestnut-hill-the-oklahoma-game-was-on-and-the.html
FROM CHRIS HEDGES:
SOURCE – http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/07/09-8
P.S. ANOTHER LOOSELY RELATED FACEBOOK GROUP
Name – Hannah Arendt: Integrity Personified
Category – Common Interest, Beliefs & Causes
Description – A group for individuals who greatly respect the legendary Hannah Arendt, and who admire the immense integrity her life epitomized. Oh, come, all ye “conscious pariahs”, Joyful and triumphant! Oh, come ye, oh, come ye…
Open – All content is public.
LINK – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=152832719154
P.P.S. ANOTHER LOOSELY RELATED (BUT IN A VERY DIFFERENT WAY) FACEBOOK GROUP
George W. Bush Virtual, Alternative Presidential Library – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=324239910435
Thank you so much for sharing. The piece was originally published in Amitai’s blog where you can find other stream-of-consciousness accounts of his leftist debaucheries: http://radicalmonkeyclown.wordpress.com/