How to Change American Public Opinion on Palestine

I was just looking at a DVD of a rally held by the US Campaign to End the Occupation in D.C. a few years ago.  The highlights of several speakers were shown intercut with scenes of the crowd which numbered in the (tens?) of thousands.  Each speaker was earnest, passionate, and compelling, no one more so than my old comrade and hero, Huwaida Arraf.  The had set up in front of the Capital Building, after arranging for all the permits and following all the government's rules.  They were speaking Truth to--not Power, but to (tens?) of thousands of like-minded people, and within hours, the grounds were cleared, the microphones, speaker systems, and stage were stored away, in preparation for the next fruitless demonstration by yet another group which wants to speak Truth to Power, but will end up just blowing smoke.

That's the way our democracy works these days--or doesn't work.  That's the quality of what we call "organizing."  I've wasted too much time at such exercises in earnest, passionate, and compelling rhetoric which do next to nothing to make any true change in our country, except to make the participants feel that they's "fought the good fight."

I've stopped going to demonstrations, or supporting them.

Does that mean I've given up?  Sadly, I admit, pretty much.

Does that mean I have no ideas on what would be successful, and bring change and success to important movements such as Free Palestine?  No.  I do, but it would require a radical re-imagining of the art and implementation of Organizing, and I am pessimistic as to whether our ditzy, distracted, and disturbed culture could handle it.

But perhaps you'll consider a couple of concrete ideas.

Organizing and those who wish to practice it need to get back to its roots and learn from past successes and failures.  The best templates for successful organizing are the Labor Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, 

This is a flier that I've used in the past and will hand out, inshAllah, on Saturday at our weekly Synagogue Vigil.  Every Saturday for going on 12 years, a small group of Jews and others have gone to a local synagogue with signs telling Jews that if they support The Jewish State, they must take responsibility for its atrocities.  I'm making a special sign for this week, inshAllah, showing a "scorecard" of the weaponry of Isra-hell and Palestinians, the death and wounded count, property damage, next to another sign saying, "It's only logical:  If the Jewish State commits atrocities, then all Jews are responsible."  I hope I get called an "anti-semite," so I can offer the following:

So, you say we are “anti-Semitic”

Well, that’s interesting.  We wonder what you mean by “anti-Semite” and “Semite.”

We’re here—as Jews and non-Jews who respect the high ethical calling of Judaism—because we urge American Jews to recognize Israel’s continued violations of human rights and international laws, and take action to stop them. 

You obviously do not agree that Israel is committing such offences, and/or that people should not act to stop them, and because we are, that we are “anti-Semitic.”

So, what does this reveal about your definition of “Semite” and “anti-Semite?”

Is it “Semitic” to violate the clear prohibitions of the Fourth Geneva Convention against collective punishment, seizure of lands, destruction of property, transfer of citizens to live in occupied lands, interfering with medical aid, and using heavy armaments against defenseless civilians?

                  If so, by that definition, yes, we are “anti-Semitic.”

Is it “Semitic” to continue an Occupation—or to support it—that dozens of United Nations Security Council resolutions have demanded Israel cease, and that dozens of others have demanded that Israel live up to its obligations as the “Occupying Power” under the Fourth Geneva Convention?

                  If so, by that definition, yes, we are “anti-Semitic.”

Is it “Semitic” to blame the victims of Israel’s occupation and senseless killings when a tiny minority of them use violence to express their despair and rage with suicide bombings?  Is it “Semitic” to marginalize and discount Palestinian suffering and act as though only Jewish lives count?  Is it “Semitic”

                  If so, by that definition, yes, we are “anti-Semitic.”

Is it “Semitic” to be comfortable with injustice and ignore the commands in the Torah and the Prophets to be just:

“You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

(Exodus 22:20)

“You shall have one standard for stranger and citizen alike:  for I the Lord am your God.”

(Leviticus 24:22)

“…I the Lord act with kindness,/Justice, and equity in the world;/for in these I delight—declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:23)

                  If so, by that definition, yes, we are “anti-Semitic.”

But, of course, all of the above is the opposite of “Semite,” which, in this context refers to being a Jew, a follower of Judaism, a religion which calls its adherents to high ethical standards and a commitment to the well-being of all peoples, not just themselves. 

And this makes us who vigil PRO-Semites, because our concern is for the integrity of Judaism, the safety of Jews everywhere, and, because Arabs are Semites, too, justice for Palestinians.

By the same token, it is the present Israeli government and, especially, the Occupation itself that are profoundly ANTI-SEMITIC.

Please stand with us.

Cheney the Psychopath

The Republicans are using the tragedy in Benghazi and the killing of our ambassador to Libya as the latest cudgel with which to beat up Obama.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney used it in an interview on Fox News on Monday.  He said:

"They lied,  They claimed it was because of a demonstration video so that they wouldn’t have to admit it was really all about their incompetence."

"I think it’s one of the worst incidents, frankly, that I can recall in my career," he insisted to the host, Sean Hannity.

Notice he didn't accuse them of not doing enough to beef up security for the diplomatic staff; the fault for that was Cheney's boss, W, and House Republicans in 2011—substantial cuts were made in the two accounts that pay for embassy security, over Democratic objections.

So Cheney concentrates on the Obama administration’s LIES.  These lies were “the worst incidents, frankly, that I can recall in my career.”

Let me add a “frankly” to this.  Frankly, I have seen in my lifetime the Republicans devolve from a party which (like all political entities) lied occasionally, to a party that fosters lying all the time. 

This has gone beyond pathological lying into the area of psychosis. 

Our example is Cheney’s condemning of Obama as liars, the worst he’s ever seen.  Considering the Bush administration’s carefully orchestrated pattern of lies told to Americans about Iraq and WMDs, and Cheney’s dominant role in the deceit, which caused at least a million deaths, can there be any doubt that Cheney is quite mad.  He lives in a world, inhabited by most top Republicans, that is not connected to the real world of flesh and blood and verifiable facts.

According to a study released by two nonprofit journalism groups, in  2008, President Bush and his top aides publicly made 935 false statements about the security risk posed by Iraq in the two years following September 11, 2001.

Cheney’s psychosis also keeps him from connecting with the reality that from 2001 to 2008, under the Bush Administration, there were 13 terrorist attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities (not including attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan) resulting in 98 deaths.

Muslims and other people of conscience must organize to take back this country from the psychopaths that are running it.

DECLARING WAR on Zionism & American Exceptionalism

One of my main concerns is for Palestine to be free--for Muslims, Jews, Christians, Druze, B'hais, etc. to be able to live as equal citizens in the whole of Palestine.  For that to happen, Israel has to be FORCED to dissolve as a "Jewish Supremacist" State.  HOW should this be done?  Since violence is the problem, it cannot be the solution; more positive & successful victories over tyranny have been won through Non-Violent Direct Action here and around the world than by the use of violence. 

The key word here is ACTION.  Action is essential for true change.  Americans, especially need to see that holding conferences, rallies, & educational programs is not true action.  However, this passive approach is currently our modus operandi. 

True ACTION would begin with commitment to the concept that we are at WAR.  Not with Israelis, or even the IDF, but with the twin ideologies that motivate Israeli repression and atrocities:  Zionism and American Exceptionalism.  It was the same in the Civil Rights Movement:  The enemies were not segregationists, but the concept of segregation and the mechanisms by which it was imposed.  The enemy was not racist, but racism.  And so on with the other enemies.  Dr. King identified the main three as "racism, extreme materialism, and militarism."  These are enemies we still face.

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Once we commit ourselves to waging War against these evil forces (or to put it another way, "waging Peace and Justice"), we can begin to IDENTIFY what we need to accomplish, ORGANIZE an army, STRATEGIZE what that army needs to do to WIN, and DEPLOY ourselves to carry out coordinated actions that will accomplish our objectives.

Here's an example:  Changing the average American's perception of Palestinians and of Israel is a key objective.  A strategy to meet that objective would be to create affinity groups across the country based upon occupations.  For instance, a team in Palestine could produce a video of firemen in Rafah talking about their work of, literally, putting out fires that the IDF starts, and another of farmers talking about the effects of the Wall.  Then activists in the US and elsewhere could set up meetings with local fire departments and farmers' organizations to show these videos to these groups and ask for their understanding, sympathy, and commitment to truly help their Palestinian counterparts by actively opposing the Occupation.  Arranging delegations of US firefighters and farmers to visit Palestine and report back to their organizations in the US would drive our message even more.  Such organizing would also generate media coverage, extending the message to even more people.  The final step could be forming on-going Palestine Solidarity groups within firefighter and farmer organizations.  Obviously, this tactic could be used among Americans from teachers to social workers to construction workers, etc.

BTW, we spend a LOT of money sending people to Palestine on "fact-finding" missions.  This is not an effective use of the scant resources our movement currently has.  We already have the facts, and the average Palestinian thanks us for visiting, but wishes Americans would actually DO something to stop our government from continuing its support of Israel.  Our money would be better spent organizing, organizing, and organizing to WIN!

What America Needs

Predictably, the Right Wing of this country is trying to politicize the theater massacre in Colorado, and to accuse others of doing the same.

It is true that a lot of people are asking, "Shouldn't we have laws that outlaw ownership of assault rifles and 100-round magazines" as a start of ending the serial mass murders afflicting us.  Some even call for some kind of ban on manufacturing any weapons in America that are designed to kill human beings.  Others question why our society does not spend more on mental health resources.

However, these are not "political" statements, in the sense of scoring points for a particular "side" of partisan politics or ideology; they are honest questions and rational thoughts addressing this terrible problem.

On the other hand, the Right Wing does, indeed, react to such ideas as an attack on their political ideology and agenda which must be aggressively defended, and are using their verbal and written counter-attacks as a way of "stirring up the base" of Right Wing supporters in their quest for political power.  When they attack their more rational opponents for "politicizing the tragedy," it is mere projection of their own prejudices on others.

The Right Wing is interested in protecting gun ownership.  Many of their spokespeople hold gun ownership and their interpretation of the Second Amendment as something sacred, something that the God of the universe intends--at least for Americans.  Many even, particularly lately, openly proclaim that it is a "Christian duty" to own guns and to become proficient in their use--in other words, their function as killing tools.  This near-deification of guns blinds and deafens them to any rational arguments against their belief system, or even honest questions that might expose the errors of their position.

"The best defense is a good offense" is a concept deeply rooting in the Right Wing mind.  What they mean by a "good offense" is always, in some form or another, involves violence, deception, and the use of logical fallacies, particularly ad hominem and ad ignorantiam arguments, and arguments from authority.(see http://www.theskepticsguide.org/resources/logicalfallacies.aspx)

The past few days have seen the Right Wing blame everything for the massacre except the one thing that most made it possible and so horrific--the assault rifle.  Right Wingers have blamed it on the fact that not every American is armed and trained to kill, or the theater, which did not allow guns inside.  Gun regulations in general were scapegoated.  One even blamed the fact that the shooter, James Holmes, was receiving unemployment benefits and had had a federal grant; the argument is that the Federal Government (i.e., Obama) facilitated Holmes.

But the part of their "blame game" that is most galling, comes from their deep self-righteousness.  What they assert is that because so many Americans are not Christian in the way that the Right Wing conceives it, implying that the massacre was God's punishment.

Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert said the attack was the result of an attack on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and that the killings might have been avoided if the country returned to the ways of God.   "You know what really gets me, as a Christian, is to see the ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and then some senseless crazy act of terror like this takes place," Gohmert said.

Mike Huckabee, the sanctimonious ex-Arkansaw governor, was even more explicit.  He was quoted as saying that  we don't have a gun problem or a crime problem, but a "sin problem" and blames--what else--a mythical encroaching secularization.

“Ultimately,” Huckabee concluded, “We don't have a crime problem or a gun problem – or even a violence problem. What we have is a sin problem. And since we ordered God out of our schools and communities, the military and public conversations, you know, we really shouldn't act so surprised when all hell breaks loose.”

Of course, the United States DOES have a problem with guns and violence, as described in the previous post.  And what an odd god it is that could be "ordered" out of our public life.  Muslims are supposed to know--as are true Christians--that Allah (SWT) is everywhere, throughout the Universe He created, and gives the orders to us, not the other way around.

Further, Huckabee and the others are correct when they talk about the sins in this country, but they have as inadequate understanding of sin as they have of the Creator and Lord of All."  They see sin only in terms of personal morality, everything from premarital sex to homosexuality to having Liberal ideas.

Allah knows that level of sin, surely, but there are other levels.  In Allah's (SWT) message to us in the Old and New Testament, and certainly the Quran and the Sunnah, of even more significance is placed on what the Right Wing sneeringly call "social justice."  Submitters to the Will of Allah (SWT) are expected to protect the poor by creating economic justice, helping the oppressed by defeating tyranny, and ending war and militarism.

Another Right Wing leader from Liberty University began an e-mail today with the words, "America needs God...now more than ever!"  Instead, what America--and the world--needs is for Muslims (and People of the Book) to ACT, to put into practice, to DO the things our Rabb commands.  The world has too much religiosity; what it needs is for people to allow Allah (SWT) to work through them to defeat social AND personal sins.

In other words, America needs Islam...now, more than ever!

Our Culture of "Normal" Violence and Death

The story about the tragic shooting of 70 people in a movie theatre continues in the news.  So does our mainstream American society's cultural denial about the kind of nation in which we live.

In the immediate aftermath, Colorado Governor Hickenlooper made a statement.  His voice quaking with disbelief and shock, he said, "Aurora is a safe city.  Colorado is a safe state.  We live in a safe nation."  How, he was in effect, can something like this massacre happen here."  He later called the shootings that took place during a screening of the newest Batman movie an "act that defies description."

He must live in an alternative dimension or universe, because if there is anything true about our nation, it is that in many ways we are NOT safe, and mass shootings such as the assault on movie-goers are so common as to be un-suprising, not an "act that defies description."

And normal.  Think about that.  When hurricanes or tornadoes kill, we may mourn, but they are normal events in nature which we accept.  In the aftermath of mass killings, many realize that since other nations have deterred gun violence, the U.S. ought to be able do, also,  We talk about gun control schemes, but powerful interests keep them from becoming law, so we are forced to accept our high murder rate as normal, unpredictable as the weather, and there's nothing we can do about it except gather together in the aftermath to help the victims.  And then we retreat into denial, until the next calamity.

To refresh the memory of Gov. Hickenlooper and others like him, here is a listing of only some of the mass murders, from a blog posting by Darcy Burner entitled, "An Adult Conversation About Guns":

On January 17, 1989, a gunman in Stockton, California walked onto a playground and opened fire, killing 5 children and injuring 30 more.

On July 1, 1993, a gunman in San Francisco walked into a law office and opened fire, killing 8 and injuring 6.

On April 20, 1999, two gunmen in Columbine, Colorado walked into their high school and opened fire, killing 13 people and injuring 21 others.

On January 16, 2002, a gunman in Virginia walked into a law school and opened fire, killing 3 and injuring 3.

On July 8, 2003, a gunman in Mississippi walked into a factory and opened fire, killing 6 and injuring 8.

On March 21, 2005, a gunman in Minnesota walked into a high school and opened fire, killing 7 and injuring 5.

On November 20, 2005, a gunman in Tacoma walked into the mall and opened fire, injuring 6.

On March 25, 2006, a gunman in Seattle walked into a party and opened fire, killing 6 and injuring 2.

On February 12, 2007, a gunman in Utah walked into a mall and opened fire, killing 5 and injuring 4.

On April 16, 2007, a gunman in Virginia walked onto the Virginia Tech campus and opened fire, killing 32 people and wounding 17 others.

On December 5, 2007, a gunman in Nebraska walked into a mall and opened fire, killing 8 and injuring 4.

On December 9, 2007, a gunman in Colorado Springs walked onto a church parking lot and opened fire, killing 2 and wounding 3.

On February 7, 2008, a gunman in Missouri walked into a city council meeting and opened fire, killing 5 and wounding 2.

On February 14, 2008, a gunman in Illinois walked onto a college campus and opened fire, killing 5 and injuring 17.

On June 25, 2008, a gunman in Kentucky walked into a factory and opened fire, killing 5 and injuring 1.

On January 24, 2009, a gunman in Portland walked up to a nightclub and opened fire, killing 2 and injuring 7.

On March 29, 2009, a gunman in North Carolina walked into a retirement home and opened fire, killing 8 and injuring 2.

On August 4, 2009, a gunman in a suburb of Pittsburgh walked into a fitness club and opened fire, killing 3 and injuring 9.

On November 5, 2009, a gunman at Fort Hood in Texas walked into a medical center and opened fire, killing 13 and injuring 29.

On November 29, 2009, a gunman in Lakewood, Washington walked into a coffee shop and killed 4 police officers.

On January 7, 2010, a gunman in St Louis walked into a power plant and opened fire, killing 3 and injuring 6.

On January 12, 2010, a gunman in Georgia walked into a truck rental place and opened fire, killing 3 and injuring 2.

On February 12, 2010, a gunwoman in Alabama stood up in a college faculty meeting and opened fire, killing 3 and injuring 3.

On August 3, 2010, a gunman in Connecticut walked into a warehouse and opened fire, killing 8 and injuring 2.

On August 7, 2011, a gunman in Ohio broke into his girlfriend’s house and opened fire, killing 7 and injuring 1.

On September 6, 2011, a gunman in Nevada walked into a pancake restaurant and opened fire, killing 4 and injuring 7.

On October 5, 2011, a gunman in Cupertino, California walked into a quarry where people were working and opened fire, killing 3 and injuring 7.

These tragedies make national news, especially the ones with the highest body counts.

What is missing from this list and Gov. Hickenlooper's mindset are the shootings of Black and Hispanic people--mostly young men and children--every day in our inner cities.  Most are killed by other Black and Hispanic young men, but police officers and security workers add to the death toll significantly.  Many of these killings, which greatly outnumber the number of whites murdered, are never reported for more than 30 seconds on local evening news, and some not at all.  Even when these shootings are of multiple people, almost none make national news.  But they and the families that loved them count as victims, too, except that 

Violence has become a major and ubiquitous part of the American popular culture, and has always been a factor in it.  Films portraying violence are as old as the film industry, especially in Westerns and crime movies, which are among the most viewed.  The "good guys" (and even some of the "bad guys") were glamorized in the movies, and war was portrayed as heroic.  

Before the late 1960's, when a character on the screen was shot, there was little or no blood from the "wound."  Many of my peers who fought in Korea and Vietnam went off to war with a subconscious belief that when someone got shot, he would get up when the director said "Cut," and go off to be in another movie.  Even if the hero was shot in the final reel, little blood was seen, and he would die almost peacefully, with his buddies around him.

That combination of glorifying war and hiding the reality of blood and suffering that comes with real war, conditioned millions of young men to look forward to fighting in a war.  They were conditioned by movies to be blinded to the gory, de-humanizing, and immoral realities of war.

In 1969, Director Sam Peckinpah directed a Western called "The Wild Bunch" with the goal of showing some of those realities, most pointedly of the blood and viscera that came from gunshots.  This he did, using realistic effects and a lot of slow motion.  From that point onward, Hollywood films and even television started using realistic depictions of shootings and death.

However, if people like Peckinpah expected Americans to be repulsed or disenchanted by these depictions, they were wrong.  Movie-goers now expect more and more gore and agony and death in our films, and expect television to show the same.  The more realistic, the better.

This "entertainment" has further conditioned most Americans-and those tainted by American culture--to be more jaded about killings, instead of being horrified by it.  That is why we are so accepting of deaths in the inner city.  That is why we feel nothing when "only" thousands die in a war, famine, or natural disaster; we only take suffering somewhat seriously when TENS of thousands or more die (although the darker the skin color of the people, the less we care, even if millions die, as in Somalia).  That is why we are accepting of the new policies of "rendition" and torture, and using an array of drones, piloted by people thousands of miles away

The "boot camps" of our armed services spend weeks molding civilians into soldiers.  Recruits are subjected to verbal and physical Pavlovian conditioning so they become proud "killing machines" which kill on command.  Another component of our violent culture--that affects pre-teens to young men--is the popularity of "games" based upon killing--sometimes monsters, but very often human beings.  Recognition as a high scorer and status among players are the rewards for becoming a deadly killer of images that become more life-like every season.  These games are played over and over for hours on end in the family home, which de-sensitizes our children to killing.  Although the majority have never used this conditioning our children and youth to shoot and hack and bomb people to death, but many of the rampages listed above were committed by teens or men who used what they had learned and practiced to actually kill.  For example, one expert observed that Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people at Virginia Tech,  performed like a trained professional,  an expert shot. "He had a 60% fatality rate with handguns," according to a professor of Criminology.

A final area of our violence-filled entertainment is the collecting of guns, both as hobbies and for shooting targets or hunting.  Millions of Americans own rifles and shotguns for hunting, and pistols for self-defence, but the guns most passionately defended by arms manufacturers and the rest of the "gun lobby" are military-quality assault rifles.  These are guns designed for no reason except to kill people.  The type of ammunition and magazines that can hold scores of bullets are of no use for hunting, except hunting men, women, and children, as happened at the Aurora theater July 20, 20012.

This madness must stop.  It will not be stopped by political leaders, because they are afraid of the consequences from the Gun Lobby.  It will not come from weapons manufacturers, because our corporation-run system is only interested in profits, not people.  It will not come from gun enthusiasts who practically deifies the gun as if it were a religious symbol rather than a lethal weapon.

Two things are needed for real, deep, and positive change,

First, people must rediscover the power of organized citizens to effect not just change, but transformation.  This is called "democracy"--"people rule."  The Occupy/99% Movement is a good start in this.

Second, the United States has clearly lost its moral compass, not just with this issue, but with nearly all of the culture.  Racism, economic un-equality, environmental destruction, immoral entertainment, too much power in the hands of too few, justice-for-sale, impure foodstuffs, religious bigotry, militarism--the list goes on an on.  The United States is in such deep trouble, that only Islam can change it.  Muslim Americans have the opportunity to organize, plan, strategize, and act as groups, as masjids, and in a national network, to be unified as an Ummah.  We need to agree on principles and solutions, and work with non-Muslims through "People Power" methods to change the heart of America, so that Allah (SWT) can heal us.