I have just unfriended my own mother from Facebook.
It started with unblocking, or unticking "show in news feed" once or twice, just so I didn't have to be subjected to the endless stream of emotional and reactionary quasi-political one-liners with pictures, and snippets and soundbites with no proper fact checking that propagate the facebookverse these days and make people angry over things they don't know enough about to really be angry at.
I've been guilty of that myself. These things are designed to infuriate and push buttons that will enrage you and compel you to forward them on to all your "friends" at once, lest anyone in the world miss out on the next total travesty going on that "[all you 'sheeple' out there] don't care about".
I have been deeply distressed, like most - well maybe not most, but many people, about the situation in Israel/Palestine. It's horrible. But it's horrible in the same way that it's horrible for Indigenous Australians or Americans, north or south. I might not agree with the original historical decision regarding the formation of Israel, but in 2013 that's a bit like disagreeing with the breakup of the Ottoman Empire really. The only thing that actually matters now is that it's there and that we need to find a way of reducing the suffering of the people that live there.
There is absolutely no way anyone can expect to do this by refusing to acknowledge the existence of Israel or denying its right to exist. It's here to stay, and everyone has to accept that fact. What this means in practical terms is that the focus now should be on finding ways to move forward.
So to the Facebook incident. Yesterday (22nd Feb 2013) my mother posted I think 3 or 4 things regarding George Galloway, the Angry Glaswegian [said mother is also an Angry Glaswegian] MP for Bradford who converted to Islam over 10 years ago. I used to actually respect him. I have seen one or two youtube videos of him grilling US senators and really giving them hell. He was very impressive. But the latest news involved him walking out on a debate when he found out his opponent was an Israeli national. I was absolutely amazed, and appalled at this. For a start, I just couldn't see how any rational person fighting for a cause could take the step of announcing that he would never debate with anyone from the opposing side. That just seems like an astonishing move to me. A bit like holding a debate on Christianity and refusing to debate with any Christians.
And I thought he was fighting for the human rights of the Palestinian people and trying to persuade the world that the occupation of Palestinian territories is wrong. But it seems I have misunderstood his goals after all.
It seems he is actually calling for the destruction of Israel, a totally unrealistic objective with no hope of actually being fulfilled, and thus he is effectively fighting to prolong the Palestinians' suffering as much as possible, and fan the flames of conflict. He might as well announce that he will no longer debate with Americans until the USA has been given back to the Native Americans. It will do the same amount of good for them. In fact it is insulting to the Palestinians because it is like saying "I totally support you, but only if there's no actual chance that what we are fighting for will actually happen".
And the fact that he is British makes the whole situation even more ludicrous. I won't even mention the Mandate of Palestine. But by his reasoning, if we are not talking to people because we object to the policies of their country then I'm sure there are millions worldwide who could totally justifiably refuse to talk to him because he is British. I'm sure anyone could come up with many travesties to back up that claim. But even forgetting past misdeeds, just here and now the morals of the British government are highly questionable.
And even more mental, he is actually even PART of the British government. He's an actual MP. So now we have a British MP who refuses to debate people of a particular nationality. It simply beggars belief really.
I can't help but draw a comparison to parties like the BNP. Everyone thinks of them as racist. But here we have an actual British MP who has publicly proclaimed he won't debate people of a certain nationality (lets not mince with words here: Jews). What's far worse about Galloway is that he actually purports to be being racist in the name of human rights. But then I guess that's not that crazy... I guess the BNP might argue they are racist in the name of human rights too. But they are doing it for the rights of ...some .. certain people with...erm.. actually what is the official racial configuration of a British person? I mean, considering the many myths of British ancestry, none of us are really who we think we are. We are a mongrel race, as are most Europeans. To be claiming anything at all on the basis of race is plainly stupid... I thought that was the point.
But I digress...
The point being, Galloway has taken things in a very different, and in my opinion very dark direction with this latest revelation. Refusing to debate people purely on their nationality is one thing, but he is specifically refusing to debate with Israelis because he doesn't recognise the state of Israel. This is also very dark, if not for the racist connotations, more for the actual practical implications for real Palestinian people who have to live with this every day of their lives. The view Galloway is taking cannot possibly help the Palestinians in any conceivable way. All it can do is galvanise the opposition, confirm the already paranoid Israeli view of "everyone already hates us so we might as well do what we like anyway", and ensure that they never de-escalate their hardline military policies or make any attempt whatsoever to accommodate the needs of the Palestinians and allow them to have their own state.
It reminds me of Jane Elliott talking about a woman in her racism workshop who tried to rise up against the oppression of the blue eyed people in her safe comfortable workshop, completely oblivious to the fact that she was actually being staggeringly offensive, and doing the struggle against racism more harm than good by completely belittling what the victims of racism have to endure on a daily basis in the real world.
It strikes me that there are many people supposedly fighting for the Palestinian cause who are well meaning, but ultimately ignorant comfortable westerners, inherently incapable of really understanding exactly what the reality of all this means to real people on the ground and thinking that the answer is to join the fight on the side of the oppressed. By doing so they are failing to realise that they aren't actually looking for a satisfying peaceful solution that will alleviate the suffering of real people on the ground, but instead they are just taking sides in a war. And on top of that they are not offering real material assistance to help win that war either, just a vague good will gesture that "we are behind you in your impossible task brother!"
It's like going up to an Aboriginal Australian and saying "I got your back brother, I support your goal of getting rid of those 21 million white people in your country!" A nice gesture that maybe makes the person saying it feel good for a brief moment, but ultimately more disempowering and disheartening in real practical terms, and more likely to wind up attracting a deserved punch in the face. I know, I've been punched in this manner before.
Since this George Galloway debacle I feel like I need to really overstate this point: Israel is not going anywhere. We really need to move past debating whether that is right or wrong. We really can't do anything about that now. The only way borders change dramatically it seems is via world ward, and since none of us desire, nor would likely survive another world war, the focus now needs to be on where to go from here.
The Israelis are very, very far from Angelic in this situation. But that is almost irrelevant. The Australians regarding their treatment of "Asylum Seekers" is as equally, if not further from Angelic. The only possible course of action from here on is to focus on what the map will look like on the future, completely forgetting what it looked like in 1966 or 1947.
I won't presume any more to try and solve a problem that ultimately has nothing to do with me. But after seeing yesterday the enormous amount of hollering and chest beating that supposed Palestinian supporters let out in favour of Galloways actions, I just felt like I needed to add to the chorus on the side of reason out here on behalf of supporters of justice for Palestinians who think what he did was a really, really stupid and counter productive thing to do.
And even more mental, he is actually even PART of the British government. He's an actual MP. So now we have a British MP who refuses to debate people of a particular nationality. It simply beggars belief really.
I can't help but draw a comparison to parties like the BNP. Everyone thinks of them as racist. But here we have an actual British MP who has publicly proclaimed he won't debate people of a certain nationality (lets not mince with words here: Jews). What's far worse about Galloway is that he actually purports to be being racist in the name of human rights. But then I guess that's not that crazy... I guess the BNP might argue they are racist in the name of human rights too. But they are doing it for the rights of ...some .. certain people with...erm.. actually what is the official racial configuration of a British person? I mean, considering the many myths of British ancestry, none of us are really who we think we are. We are a mongrel race, as are most Europeans. To be claiming anything at all on the basis of race is plainly stupid... I thought that was the point.
But I digress...
The point being, Galloway has taken things in a very different, and in my opinion very dark direction with this latest revelation. Refusing to debate people purely on their nationality is one thing, but he is specifically refusing to debate with Israelis because he doesn't recognise the state of Israel. This is also very dark, if not for the racist connotations, more for the actual practical implications for real Palestinian people who have to live with this every day of their lives. The view Galloway is taking cannot possibly help the Palestinians in any conceivable way. All it can do is galvanise the opposition, confirm the already paranoid Israeli view of "everyone already hates us so we might as well do what we like anyway", and ensure that they never de-escalate their hardline military policies or make any attempt whatsoever to accommodate the needs of the Palestinians and allow them to have their own state.
It reminds me of Jane Elliott talking about a woman in her racism workshop who tried to rise up against the oppression of the blue eyed people in her safe comfortable workshop, completely oblivious to the fact that she was actually being staggeringly offensive, and doing the struggle against racism more harm than good by completely belittling what the victims of racism have to endure on a daily basis in the real world.
It strikes me that there are many people supposedly fighting for the Palestinian cause who are well meaning, but ultimately ignorant comfortable westerners, inherently incapable of really understanding exactly what the reality of all this means to real people on the ground and thinking that the answer is to join the fight on the side of the oppressed. By doing so they are failing to realise that they aren't actually looking for a satisfying peaceful solution that will alleviate the suffering of real people on the ground, but instead they are just taking sides in a war. And on top of that they are not offering real material assistance to help win that war either, just a vague good will gesture that "we are behind you in your impossible task brother!"
It's like going up to an Aboriginal Australian and saying "I got your back brother, I support your goal of getting rid of those 21 million white people in your country!" A nice gesture that maybe makes the person saying it feel good for a brief moment, but ultimately more disempowering and disheartening in real practical terms, and more likely to wind up attracting a deserved punch in the face. I know, I've been punched in this manner before.
Since this George Galloway debacle I feel like I need to really overstate this point: Israel is not going anywhere. We really need to move past debating whether that is right or wrong. We really can't do anything about that now. The only way borders change dramatically it seems is via world ward, and since none of us desire, nor would likely survive another world war, the focus now needs to be on where to go from here.
The Israelis are very, very far from Angelic in this situation. But that is almost irrelevant. The Australians regarding their treatment of "Asylum Seekers" is as equally, if not further from Angelic. The only possible course of action from here on is to focus on what the map will look like on the future, completely forgetting what it looked like in 1966 or 1947.
I won't presume any more to try and solve a problem that ultimately has nothing to do with me. But after seeing yesterday the enormous amount of hollering and chest beating that supposed Palestinian supporters let out in favour of Galloways actions, I just felt like I needed to add to the chorus on the side of reason out here on behalf of supporters of justice for Palestinians who think what he did was a really, really stupid and counter productive thing to do.
Noam Chomsky explains the reasons well in this interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRu2mUcFXpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRu2mUcFXpg
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