We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Colonial Experiments in Gaza

Click here to access article by Samera Esmeir from Jadaliyya.

Although the article frames Israeli government actions toward Palestinians as colonial experiments--and it is useful to some extent--it doesn't really capture the fundamental crimes being committed against Palestinians. It doesn't capture the horrific racist nature of Zionist ideology which informs Israeli policies and actions. (See this, this, and this.) Judging by the way they treat Ethiopian Jews, one also has to be light skinned to be accepted as an equal in Israel.  
Once again Israel, still the occupying power of Gaza, has unleashed its war machinery on occupied Palestinians. Since the start of the second intifada in 2000, this ritual has become compulsive and repetitive. Israel initiated its new round of bloody violence by targeting Palestinian resistance fighters who, Minister of Transportation Yisrael Katz explained, Israel will “hunt like beasts.”