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Total number of comments: 4 (since 2011-10-18 15:29:43)

Meehow

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  • What’s queer about the anti-occupation movement?
    • Meehow March 6, 2012 at 11:35 am with 1 replies

      Queerness as a political framework tends to be based in part on a recognition of the need to historicize and contextualize "humanity" and other supposedly ahistorical concepts (including "queerness"). Has "humanity" always meant the same thing? Does it currently mean the same thing everywhere? Is it possible that even our own current understanding of "humanity" presupposes too much and thereby imposes unnecessarily repressive limitations on us? How are we involved in the construction of the current meaning of "humanity"? People often dismiss this line of inquiry as incoherent theoretical babble, but the asking of such questions is an important political act. Simply talking about humanity as though the meaning of this term is simple, obvious, static, etc. covers over these questions. Queerness, insofar as queerness is understood as critical and autocritical, draws them out.

      That being said, Moore doesn't shy away from using humanistic language to denounce the Israeli occupation. He says being defined or limited by others is oppressive and dehumanizing.

  • Occupy Wall Street and the struggle over Israel/Palestine
    • Meehow November 9, 2011 at 6:02 pm

      Actually, it's the other way around: 75% goes to American arms manufacturers, and 25% can go to Israeli arms manufacturers.
      It's still special treatment, though: no other country is allowed to spend FMF grants to subsidize its own weapons industries.
      See: link to fas.org

    • Meehow November 9, 2011 at 10:23 am

      The annual $3 billion comes in the form of FMF *grants* not loans. Unlike every other country, Israel receives all of its grant money up front:

      "Congress has mandated that Israel receive its FMF aid in a lump sum during the first month of the fiscal year. Once disbursed, Israel’s military aid is transferred to an interest bearing account with the Federal Reserve Bank. Israel has used interest collected on its military aid to pay down its debt (non-guaranteed) to the United States"
      link to fas.org

      Israel also receives about $333 million in loan guarantees from the US.

  • What next after the latest frustrated flotilla?
    • Meehow November 9, 2011 at 11:09 am with 1 replies

      Nimer Sultany offers a concise and incisive analysis of the "Palestinian Gandhi" trope in the latest issue of Jadal:

      "Nevertheless, many feel obliged to search for a Gandhi to verify the existence of Palestinian non-violence. But this search, while perhaps helpful in challenging stereotypes, falls into the ugly trap of basing the legitimacy of Palestinian demands on the choice of means. Furthermore, by distancing oneself from the stereotype one implicitly concedes certain validity to it. Instead of regarding the stereotype as a misrepresentation of the reality of the oppressed, it becomes the yardstick by which the oppressed has to measure himself through negating it. The oppressed is requested to mold his or her mode of resistance into an identifiable and acceptable form. But no matter how frequently the oppressed declares he is 'nonviolent,' he will still need to demonstrate, time and again, that his hands are clean leading to a never-ending game. The suspicion will always lurk that the oppressed will fall back into his 'violent nature.'"
      link to jadal.mada-research.org

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