Small world

Entry #623
Sunday, March 16, 2003

I was once in a play -- I believe it was Pirates of Penzance -- with Rachel Corrie, a peace activist killed today by an Israeli army bulldozer.

Comment on this entry

Wow...wild. I've had a lot of strange (although not nearly so sad) coincidences like that happen to me recently. :

Interesting take on this from

http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110003210 at the end of the article.

"The bulldozers were part of an IDF tunnel- and mine-clearing operation. The Rafah refugee camp borders Egypt, from which Palestinian terrorists smuggle in weapons and explosives. And according to interim peace accords, Israel has the right to operate in and secure the area."

Why was Ms. Corrie protesting in an area that was being used to smuggle weapons, illegally? Did she want to keep the tunnel open? Did she want to protect the path by which explosives used to blow-up innocent civilians in public places take in getting to Israel?

Who can say now? But it seems a futile way to die. And in this case, Ms. Corrie didn't even have an friend named Ford Prefect to haul her off to the pub for pints and peanuts. Where were her friends that should have helped her have better sense?

I think she was opposed to Israeli tanks destroying homes, often without notice and often killing inhabitants inside. I think that seemed like terrorism to her. I find that pretty unsavory myself.

It does seem a futile way to die, but perhaps not. Rachel's death increased attention given to this issue. Ari Fleischer reiterated that the President thinks the home demolitions and renewed settlement building in the so-called occupied territories "don't help" the situation. Amnesty International condemned her death and renewed it's call for the US to stop selling military bulldozers to Israel.

It kinda comes down to the value placed on life. Was Rachel's death more futile than thousands of other deaths since the situation flared up a few years back?

I remember watching a flick about Gandhi and thinking how damned crazy those Indians were to keep walking into a line of club-toting fellows who would eagerly whack them to the ground, only to get back up and do it again. Seemed pretty crazy, but their methods of non-violence worked. They drew attention to the injustice by sacrificing themselves.

I believe Rachel knew what she was getting into. She knew people are killed every week in the region. She saw injustice and felt that doing nothing was not an option.

So sad.

. . .

If she was truly protesting for peace, surely there were better ways. This seems akin to protesting use of landmines by walking through a minefield or trying to stop a precision bomb by living in it's path. At least the human shield contingent has mostly if not all left Iraq. Maybe they heard about Rachel?

Surely there are "better" ways to do everything. Again, look at the Indians, protesting British violence by getting beat down. Indeed it is akin to walking through minefields to protest the use of landmines. Not my method, not your method, but I wouldn't say it's completely futile.

I first read about this in a brief article on Yahoo news. My boyfriend and I were thinking the bulldozer probably ran over her on purpose, even though the article stated it as an accident from the Israeli army. Now, after reading the link ben's provided, I am sickened to learn the truth of what happened. Those fucking bastards! how could they place the blame on her and the other activists, portraying them as careless when the driver of the bulldozer ran over her on purpose. I am both sickened and enraged.

OK, let's look at the Indians and their Civil Disobedience. Gandhi's CD approach to change was carried out on behalf of his own people in his own country. Many opportunities for applying CD throughout the world of Gandhi's time were possible. He was probably very familiar with injustice against Africans in South Africa. Did he go there to passively resist the British born government to end Apartheid? No. He labored for the rights of Indians in South Africa and in fact supported the British Government there. So, the situation with Ms. Corrie and others is quite different. They are not passively resisting injustice against their own people. They are interfering in the business of other people. And in so doing, they are actively antagonizing people trained to kill. However, young people do things, me included, that are later regretted. We think as we approach ... hmmm... pass through middle age, if only we has more sense back then. It's then that you realize how blessed you are that other people were looking out for you.

Ms. Corrie, I'm afraid, is more a victim of liberal activism on American College campuses than of youthful carelessness. It's easy to enlist empressionable young people to work on one's causes. It's a shame that Ms. Corrie was influenced by an extremely pro-Palestinian element at Evergreen.

There are plenty of injustices in this country to protest. Such causes would have been much more in line with Gandhi's civil disobedience.

She may have been "interfering in the business of other people," or she may have viewed all the world's people as "her people."

And another note about Gandhi. In the middle 1940's he also tried to get Muslims and Hindus to live in peace together. This angered people of both religions in in the end, Gandhi was killed by a Hindu fanatic, one of his own.

And now the very peoples that Gandhi tried to bring together, have nuclear missiles targeting each other, have gone to war with each other several times, and at least from the Indians view, have muslim terrorists at work in their country.

It's a rotten postscript to Gandhi's life. Violence sucks no matter who commits it.

It astonishes me to no end that people from this country go to other countries to protest against agressors, when the very people they think they're helping are some of the most violent people on Earth, i.e., Hamas, Hezbolla, Saddam Hussien, Osama Bin Laden and that Taliban Omar guy. Some even go to fight with them.

As a partial product of Olympia myself, I say to the students at Evergreen on whose contruction site I walked thinking of attending it in it's first year, before you go off to protest in another country, look around yourselves and ask: Is my own house in order? What can I do there in Olympia or Western Washington to make things better? And maybe most importantly, what do the people I love and that truly love me think of what I'm doing?

I am not always in agreement with my nephew Ben's politics. Nevertheless, I am proud of him and his attempts to contribute to the area and get involved locally. Keep it up, Ben.

Some people aren't keen on nationalism, instead holding a more "global" view that encompasses all people regardless of current political boundaries.

Throughout my short life I've heard numerous people say there are "better causes" than this, or more important things than that. Oblivion (the youth rights organization that runs this server) occasionally receives reader mail saying we should focus on "real problems" -- like space junk or police brutality or pick your cause. Such contentions aren't the absolute truths their messengers would have us believe -- they are but personal opinions.

Ok, heres a question, and its not meant to be smartass at all... What causes would you support militarily? I mean, what could occur that would have you say to yourself "Fuck, I'm gonna join the army." ? Invasion? Genocide? Another Halocaust?

Personally, I don't think I'd ever join the military unless a foreign power was on our doorstep trying to invade, but I've never really given it much thought.

I'd say about the same as you Matthew... you know me ;-)

Not a chance in hell unless there was actally battle going on here in the 48. Even then I'd probably choose some militia over govt run military.

We could start our own... man, this is sounding familiar :-)

whether what happened to corrie was murder or the consequece of stupidity on both sides, it is something that i condemn completely.

but i wonder... is <a href="http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/275879.html">this</a> or <a href="http://fr.news.yahoo.com/030312/5/33csk.html">this</a> equally condemned by all of you?

is there as much hatred for the rising anti-semitism in europe and for the actions of others?

are only the actions of israelis considered worthy of such strong emotions?

are they the only ones to be called "those fucking bastards"?

as for the other stuff brought up, ill just stay to myself for now and see where things go.

damn i was hoping i could actually use html here

here are the links:

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/275879.html

http://fr.news.yahoo.com/030312/5/33csk.html

Nah... I think Ben is smarter than to allow a cross site scripting attack on his site.