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eumeliaYou know, generally speaking, I think it's a mistake to use the word Apartheid when speaking of Israel proper (the West Bank and Gaza are, of course, under Apartheid rule) possibly because my family is South African.
Most likely, because it is one of the reasons my family immigrated and sought out a better life. I mean, even if they were white, they were still Jews.
Zionism probably looked like a good deal. I wonder how it is living up to the dream.
I have no dreams of that kind. Of packing up and leaving for a better life in a land far away from the one I was born in. I am not an immigrant, despite living with a bunch of them and I wonder if that has made me take this country for granted.
Possibly. But so what? By virtue of being Jewish I have no fear of deportation, nor do I have any fear of imprisonment for anything to do with my ethnicity.
Unlike the 400 children of immigrant workers who are to be deported. Without their parents, because Netanyahu's government is heartless, cruel, near-sighted.
Consider, that this is how Netanyahu justifies the Cabinet's decision to deport these children:
Consider, that just this morning, 230 immigrants from North America - i.e. Americans and Canadians - arrived in Israel, 85 of them are going to enlist immediately into the IDF.
A "privilege" they are denying an Intersex Haredi man. This here, is intersectionality. I mean, a Haredi man, who wants to serve, is denied because his body doesn't match the criteria of manhood.
I wish we would stop pretending we're a democracy and just acknowledge that we're a liberal ethnocracy (as my friend Yael, aptly put), because see, we're not totalitarian in the classical sense. We have no actual dictator or figure head... we have a pervasive ideology, which we cow-tow to and destroy lives to live up to.
That act of Jewish immigration is, I'm sorry to say, Apartheid. Not the same kind that was committed in South Africa and indeed, perhaps it is the wrong word, it is often a word which doesn't mean what we think it means. So here's what it means to me; as a person who grew up hearing it, hearing about Nelson Mandela and growing up under the love and care of people who wanted me to be colour-blind:
Apartheid means that a Bedouin village is razed over night and is only reported in the Mainstream Media two days after the fact.
Apartheid means that rebuilding that village is automatically illegal. Bedouins, like the other Arab ethnicities in Israel, will not get permits to build and expand their villages, towns and settlements.
Apartheid means that passing as an ethnicity not your own will while cruising for sex will get you 18 months in prison for rape through coercion.
Apartheid means listening to stupid white feminists (and I am one!) argue about whether coming in a t-shirt instead of a tank top to a demo in East Jerusalem is oppressive, because of there has been a request for modest appearance by the Palestinians who are being evicted from their homes, while the actual women who live there are, you know, being evicted from their homes!
Apartheid is the fact that all of that is News, that we read every morning, noon and night, and think it is Normal.
The Occupation is not just in Palestine. Apartheid may have a very specific meaning, but language is a very flexible thing. And separateness (which is the translated meaning of the word) may not actually be what it means, but difference, prejudice and the assumption that this is done for the good of the nation, is appalling.
I was going to write some more about the fact that different Jewish groups are treated differently under the law, about pinkwashing, about the privilege of writing this and being (relatively) safe.
But that would just be procrastination.
Most likely, because it is one of the reasons my family immigrated and sought out a better life. I mean, even if they were white, they were still Jews.
Zionism probably looked like a good deal. I wonder how it is living up to the dream.
I have no dreams of that kind. Of packing up and leaving for a better life in a land far away from the one I was born in. I am not an immigrant, despite living with a bunch of them and I wonder if that has made me take this country for granted.
Possibly. But so what? By virtue of being Jewish I have no fear of deportation, nor do I have any fear of imprisonment for anything to do with my ethnicity.
Unlike the 400 children of immigrant workers who are to be deported. Without their parents, because Netanyahu's government is heartless, cruel, near-sighted.
Consider, that this is how Netanyahu justifies the Cabinet's decision to deport these children:
"This is a reasonable and balanced decision," Netanyahu said Sunday after deciding to deport hundreds of migrant workers' children. "It was influenced by two primary considerations - the humanitarian consideration and the Zionist consideration. We're looking for a way to absorb and adopt to our hearts children who were brought up and raised here as Israelis. On the other hand, we don't want to create an incentive that will lead to hundreds of thousands of illegal migrant workers flooding the country," he said.
Consider, that just this morning, 230 immigrants from North America - i.e. Americans and Canadians - arrived in Israel, 85 of them are going to enlist immediately into the IDF.
A "privilege" they are denying an Intersex Haredi man. This here, is intersectionality. I mean, a Haredi man, who wants to serve, is denied because his body doesn't match the criteria of manhood.
I wish we would stop pretending we're a democracy and just acknowledge that we're a liberal ethnocracy (as my friend Yael, aptly put), because see, we're not totalitarian in the classical sense. We have no actual dictator or figure head... we have a pervasive ideology, which we cow-tow to and destroy lives to live up to.
That act of Jewish immigration is, I'm sorry to say, Apartheid. Not the same kind that was committed in South Africa and indeed, perhaps it is the wrong word, it is often a word which doesn't mean what we think it means. So here's what it means to me; as a person who grew up hearing it, hearing about Nelson Mandela and growing up under the love and care of people who wanted me to be colour-blind:
Apartheid means that a Bedouin village is razed over night and is only reported in the Mainstream Media two days after the fact.
Apartheid means that rebuilding that village is automatically illegal. Bedouins, like the other Arab ethnicities in Israel, will not get permits to build and expand their villages, towns and settlements.
Apartheid means that passing as an ethnicity not your own will while cruising for sex will get you 18 months in prison for rape through coercion.
Apartheid means listening to stupid white feminists (and I am one!) argue about whether coming in a t-shirt instead of a tank top to a demo in East Jerusalem is oppressive, because of there has been a request for modest appearance by the Palestinians who are being evicted from their homes, while the actual women who live there are, you know, being evicted from their homes!
Apartheid is the fact that all of that is News, that we read every morning, noon and night, and think it is Normal.
The Occupation is not just in Palestine. Apartheid may have a very specific meaning, but language is a very flexible thing. And separateness (which is the translated meaning of the word) may not actually be what it means, but difference, prejudice and the assumption that this is done for the good of the nation, is appalling.
I was going to write some more about the fact that different Jewish groups are treated differently under the law, about pinkwashing, about the privilege of writing this and being (relatively) safe.
But that would just be procrastination.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-03 09:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-03 10:00 am (UTC)Obviously an avid watcher of Fox News.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-04 02:32 am (UTC)Why? How can you justify taking children from their parents and sending them away to fend for themselves?