The Israelis now admit that the shooting of the 12-year-old was a "mistake."
There is no basic link in our culture with Israel. This country was anti-Semitic
as hell until it was discovered that Israel was willing to serve as our anchored
aircraft carrier vs. the Soviet Union. I still have the issue of Collier's
imagining World War III, with Lowell Thomas describing his trip on an American
bomber out of Tel Aviv.
The U.S. propaganda machine went all-out to change the people's minds about
Jews, exactly as it did the opposite at the same time about Our Great Soviet
Ally.. Exactly as, when it was decided that the U.S. needed and could get Japan as
an ally against the USSR, the former references to "Japs"disappeared from the
mainstream press, radio, and TV. I think that the fact that you are resident in
Los Angeles distorts your view, as would be the case if you lived in New York.
When I said on Pacifica'a air in 1967 that Israel did not necessarily have all
justice on its side in that year's Six-Day War, KPFK and WBAI, which had carried
me without interruption from the day the former was founded and, in the latter
case, even before it was given to Pacifica, took me off the air. Listener protest
got me back on again (which is why I haven't given up this time, after five years
off KPFA).
For christ's sake, the issue is not the ownership of a hill, but of a country.
Hezbollah and Hamas are significant because two generations of young people have
grown up knowing nothing but occupation. And there is no worse political
provocateur on earth than Ariel Sharon, who is responsible for the massacres at
Sabra and Shatillah, and earlier ones, and went to that hill last week not as a
private citizen but with a bodyguard of cops who forcibly cleared people away.
William Mandel
John Johnson wrote:
> The main movements going on have been centered on anti-sweatshop campaigns,
> local labor issues, the environmental movement. They combined in the
> WTO/INF campaigns.
> Groups like Amnesty International have active chapters on many campuses.
> This is a big advance since the money driven days of the Eighties.
> Still no broader political movement.
>
> I think it will have hard to mount a campaign around Israel. There is a
> basic link our culture has with Israel. The Palestinian movement can be
> complicated to understand for many. Hezbola and similar groups seem
> centered on a very pro Muslim agenda, which doesn't resonate here.
>
> The current situation as reported is also a bit confusing. Both claim
> ownership of a hill, both with a long history. Its not even up to us to
> decide whos rights there.
> The actors in a sense seem to be equally liable. As the cameraman who took
> the video of the 12 year old being shot said, "both Palestinians and
> Israelis bare responsibility for that.
>
> It will take a longer more detailed campaign to clarify the issues.
>
> >I too find it disheartening to hear of so few persons demonstrating on the UC
> >campus. I am not sure the rally's being re Israel accounts for the lack of
> >response, especially, though. In spite of the--very, very
> >hopeful--activities the past year re WTO and re various ecological issues, in
> >fact other than an occasional expressions of "Oh those dot.coms!" or "Hey,
> >cool," very LITTLE political expression has come out of campuses, at least
> >from what I've heard, recently.
> > But I'm not in the academic world. What is the sense of you on this list
> >who are, on student political consciousness or activity now?
> > Paula
>
> John Johnson
> Change-Links Progressive Newspaper
> change@pacbell.net
> http://www.labridge.com/change-links/
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