eumelia | Entries tagged with racism

So yeah, I haven't been writing here that much for the past couple of weeks.

I've been doing a lot of escapism reading and a lot of activism reading, spreading information regarding the various anti-democratic laws that have passed the Knesset floor, the fact that Human Rights and Anti-Occupation groups are being investigated for absolutely no reason other than to de-legitimise them.

There's a big emergency march in Tel-Aviv today which I'll be attending.

I was also stressing over Uni, because there was some bureaucratic glitch I had no idea what to do about other than spam the head of my department with panicky emails of "Help!" to which she replied "Let it be" and passed my emails on to her dogsbody.

I'm hoping that by the end of this semester (next week) I will be able to say with confidence that next semester is my last.

Once again I'm getting the urge to return to martial arts and now that I have a job that isn't pocket money I may find myself a dojo. I'm keen on Krav Maga because while I loved Kung Fu and it made me flexible (which I'm not any longer) I never felt as though I was able to walk around and properly defend myself.

There's an uprising in Tunisia and I have to say I'm excited about it! The Middle East is never boring and seeing something of this magnitude unfold and affect us all over is amazing.

Also, there's barely been any reporting of it here, only when Former President Ben-Ali fled the country did reports start happening in earnest in local media and no one is saying anything positive. The status quo is trembling.

Meanwhile in these parts democracy, as mentioned, is straining under the crawling weight of fascist legislation and persecution of the Left. I know I've been saying this for years, but dude, it is not on!

Israeli law professor Aeyal Gross traces the decline and strain.

In related News, when I read about Sarah Palin defending her speech-acts (because words affect and like our actions they are accountable) and callously using the phrase "Blood Libel", I couldn't help but wonder - would the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) do anything about it?
Oh, they made a statement, late in the game, in which they Abe Foxeman (chairman of the ADL) said: "we wish that Palin had not invoked the phrase "blood-libel" in reference to the actions of journalists and pundits in placing blame for the shooting in Tucson on others."

Golly.

The ADL isn't willing to toe the line when it comes to Republicans, huh? Can't say I'm shocked as the ADL has always kept sketchy bed-fellows, in the interest of political capital.

Speaking of political capital, the Rabbinical court continues to infringe on freedom of and from religion when it comes to marital and family law and encroaches on divorce in civil marriages which aren't civil unions, but rather marriages that are contracted outside of Israel. Currently, Israel doesn't have a civil court in which marriages can be conducted and no civil union that come in place of marriages - the best we have is common law marriage.

You guys have no idea how much I haven't linked here.

Good luck to you all Down Under and Power to you in Tunisia.

Times they are a changing. We have to make sure they change for the better.

feeling aggravated
hearing Florence + The Machine - Drumming Song
Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/528005.html

Happy New Year, if you celebrated I hope y'all aren't hung over.

For me, the new year actually started with the birth of my new Niece who was born two weeks ago, so really, the passage to 2011 didn't feel to important comparatively.

Some changed regarding this DW/LJ for 2011. I've started writing in Hebrew on a different platform, which is one of the reasons I hadn't been writing much here the past couple of weeks. That, and Uni is beginning to crunch, I'm being very bad writing here instead of studying.
So I may not write that much about politics here, though I don't know.

The current political climate in my locale is fucking scary. The fact that the court actually gave a guilty verdict to former president Katsav on two counts of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment is a small ray of light, that justice was served is a real point of optimism in an otherwise pretty bleak atmosphere.

This morning, Jawaher Abu Rahmah, died of tear gas inhilation. Yesterday was the 1000th demonstration against the illegal fence/wall that partisions the West Bank from Israel and at the same time annexes vast amounts of land belonging to the West Bank to the so-called Israeli side (the whole notion of the Green Line is pretty much dead). She was resident of Bil'in, anti-fence activist and sister of Bassem Abu Rahmah who died in April 2009 from a direct hit of a tear-gas canister.

And people are surprised that people become Shahid. And you're damn right there will be harsh reactions.

Of course, that's the crazy Palestinians and to be frank, I'm not sure how many outside my milieu actually give a damn.

But let's talk about them crazy Jews, who, much to my horror, appear to be a great majority rather than not.
I can't remember if I wrote about this at the time, but a few months ago, 50 municipal Rabbis (Separation of state and religion? What is this thing you speak of?) signed a letter calling flat owners not to rent flats to Arabs.
This sparked a huge wave of protest against this deceleration and of course for this deceleration as it pretty much fed the already burning fire of racism that is so entrenched in Israeli discourse. The biggest demonstration against Arab residents was in Bat-Yam, a city adjacent to south Tel-Aviv, there though, the focus was about - and I shudder to write this - miscegenation.

The notion of the nation's cunt being under attack is not a new one, but it is certainly gaining momentum, as the Rabbis' wives published a letter telling us, daughters of Israel, to stay away and not date Arab men.
There has been no mention of Israeli men to not date Arab women, of course, as it is Arab men who are hyper-sexualised (as all "primitives" are) and women who are fickle enough to fall under their Svengalli spell.

This is the society my baby niece has been born into.

Unfortunately, the voices of opposition which are not considered legitimate because they are part of the Reform Movement which has no standing whatsoever when it comes to Israeli Jewish thought.

Here's to 2011.

feeling angry
Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/527024.html

I started writing this last night, but I pretty much fell asleep at the key board. Such is the day of working both part-time jobs on the same day and then going straight to a Hannukah supper.

Happy Hannukah y'all!

Hey, it's been a while since I linksapmmed you regarding the Zeitgeist of Israeli News media.

Though thinking about it now, it can't really be that interesting to you, because I find myself not all that interested myself. I mean, do you really want to know that in a poll conducted, 62% of Israeli Jews believe that Arab citizens (supposedly of equal standing under the law) should have no say in foreign policy - which certainly helps with the referendum law (in which the decision to withdraw from the Golan Heights and/or East Jerusalem will be be made via referendum of the people, i.e. Us, i.e. 62% of us who think that 20% of the population should have no say in the matter) which passed the Knesset last week.

Good to know where the "majority" stands regarding the nature of "democracy".

In that same poll, 55% of Israeli Jews think the state has the right to "encourage" Arab citizens to immigrate, meaning, should there be a mass population transfer, most of us wouldn't think this was a crime against humanity (yeah, I'm going there, because forced migration and population transfer is a condition of genocide and I refuse to use the term "ethnic cleansing" as that has no legal standing under any judicial body).

But hey, things aren't so bad! only 25% of Israeli Jews would find that living next to a gay couple (originally homosexual couple, most likely they mean two men, as two women are hardly as threatening in the eyes of Machismo culture).
Yeah, we're so tolerated in the only democracy in the Middle-East that doesn't mind using us as a standard of liberal propaganda, so long as we bring tourists, we're okay, but you wouldn't want to actually live next to us.

Of course, not only Israeli Jews were polled and found increasingly intolerant - Palestinians with Israeli citizenship (originally Israeli Arabs) were also polled and wouldn't you know, they are even more intolerant! 70% of Palestinians with Israeli citizenship would rather not live to a gay couple.
But 48% wouldn't mind living next to foreign workers (compared to 39% of Israeli Jews who wouldn't tolerate foreign workers as neighbours).

This poll is unsurprising. For a number of reasons.
First, Queers are always disruptive of the solidarity of an already disenfranchised group - not that that's an excuse for homophobia, but the more traditional the society, the more intolerant it is of Queers. It's a thing that needs to be addressed.
Second, when you have committees that allow for residents to select their neighbours and favour ghettoization of population, well, I can't say I'm surprised that there is such a dehumanising factor in those we perceive as "Other".
And dude, there are so many "Others" in Israel, I have a hard time finding that can be construed as solidarity.

Knesset Memeber Nitzan Horowitz (of Meretz and only out gay MK) was interviewed regarding the poll mentioned above, in this interview he talks about the connection between racism and homophobia. He mainly talks about the larger political forces at work (various parties in the Knesset and movements outside the Knesset) and he also mentions socio-economic status as a huge factor of nurturing intolerance.
Intersectionality, hurrah.

Still, when he mentions the big picture, he doesn't mention the Occupation and the way the violence that permeates the interaction between every group (including gender, street harassment and domestic violence so high, that 20% of men incarcerated in Israeli prisons are there due to domestic violence) in Israel can be felt everywhere.

I think the Occupation as an ethical position this state holds, and the monetary and political resources allocated to keeping the status quo of the Occupation is taking it's toll on Israeli civil (such as it is) society - not to mention the disparity in standard of living among Jews and Arabs who live in the West Bank and the siege on Gaza.

Of course, according to our Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman (Oh, fascist pig one) blames the Arabs for the increase in racism.
I can't even begin to quote the garbage that is written.

As Horowitz rightly said in the interview:

There is a huge gap between the support avowed by the public and by public servants for democratic principles, and the way that support translates into daily behavior. This latest survey shows that the majority supports democracy, but in practice more and more racist, hurtful and discriminatory laws are being proposed.

That's the face Israel presents to the world.

feeling busy
Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/523816.html

I am still not a huge participant in Inception fandom, I comment little and read much, but I read practically everything there in my preferred characters (which honestly it's almost all of them, so I end up reading a lot).
But I lurk, it's easy to lurk and avoid the fail. Of which there is lots let me tell you, of the sexist kind, the hetero-normative kind, the constant use of Magical Healing Cock, dear god and... the racist kind.

However, there is a lot to chose from and as per usual I tend to skip stories I perceive as to be written when the characters are OOC - Out of Character - as in, do things I don' think they'd do or do things I'm particularly uncomfortable with.

Such a story exists and it is currently the topic of debate in this monster of a baby fandom.
The fic is Metaphores as mixed as you can make them by

halflinen, which is about, according to the Author's Note summery: Eames tries to incept Arthur. A story of forgiveness, family, fancy suits, and ~feelings.
I didn't read it, because I don't think or I am uncomfortable with the idea, that Eames would ever do something like that to Arthur.
My perception of Eames doesn't fit with his characterisation in this fic and so I didn't read it.

Another thing that apparently happened in this fic is that Eames is casually racist towards Yusuf - one of the only two non-white characters in the movie - and well, readers have said so to the author.
And have expanded upon what they said to the author
There's another example of a different fic (that I liked) that has begun to be discussed, but it's somewhat different as it isn't a character being racist towards Yusuf, but more a use of the stereotype in the narrative to make a joke about something else entirely, but because it is tied to Yusuf and his Desi heritage it can be construed as an unfortunate combination in the material of the text.

Sorry, I went literature student there, be thankful I did say an "unfortunate metonymy".
( There is Meta and a Point! )

And so my unpopular opinion is thus: exchanges, characterisations and textual proximities may be written in a casually racist way, but they too can be interpreted in a manner in which it actually suits the characters, narrative and don't necessarily mean that the author's ass is showing.
Critique of fic is necessary, good and should be a bigger part of fandom. The writing of issues race, gender relations, gender identity, sexuality, physical, mental and cognitive abilities is also necessary, good and should be done with more thought, rather than regurgitate the old stereotypes, however, things tend to be interpreted differently depending on one's standpoint and that also needs to be taken into account.

Now, after all that, I'm going to read some fic.

Edited to Add: I just found an older post of mine that discusses this topic (during the terrible incident of the Haiti SPN story) and I have found that I've contradicted myself in this manner.
So I'll add that I think there's a difference between writing a story framed in a manner that serves as nothing more than a convenient background for the written fandom at hand and thus appropriates and disenfranchises other characters (and the people reading) which are marginalised (holocaut fail comes to mind) and an incident of characterisation and narrative in a particular story.

Again, the line is fine and this isn't a pass/fail thing, none of the criticisms I linked above do that, but is can easily turn into one and that's my fear when critiques begin to deconstruct fics in this manner - not because the critics are being over sensitive or because I'm "all about the art", but because I sometimes feel there is no space left for ambiguity.

feeling awake
hearing Soggy Bottom Boys - I am a man of constant sorrow
Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/519588.html

I hate this female character flow chart with a passion I try to keep within me for causes that matter.

Luckily, this is one of them.

I am not the first to be irritated by it, no god no.

My main problem with the flow chart is that it reduces all female characters into foils of the male characters.
All of them.
It is especially irksome when Yoko Ono is there as well, being an actual person and all.

Sarah Connor, a heroine which we are afraid to see in this day and age, reduced to "Mama Bear".
Miss Piggy, one of my personal heroes, a performer of the highest calibre and one of the few regular female presence on "The Muppet Show", reduced to her mood swings, rather the hilarious comedienne that she is.
Lieutenant Uhura is useless?! In what freakin' universe!?!? A woman who held her own on the bridge of a Star Ship. I just... Ah!

Look at the flow-chart and judge for yourselves.

But judging is all that ever goes on when it comes to female characters, huh. It's all about whether they fit a paradigm of looks, abilities and personae.

Do male characters not fit that flow chart. You bet they do, but will there ever be a flow chart so demeaning? No, of course not, that flow chart will be critical and thoughtful and be about the characters as Characters, not the characters as "men".

The chart also demonstrates the notion that archetypes and tropes are a bad thing. I beg to differ, archetypes and tropes are what make a story work. If we look at the shortest form of a story, a joke, the comedy (and tragedy) of the tale works because we understand the history of the character as an archetype and we understand the situation the character is in because it is a common trope.

A horse walks into a bar, the bartender says, "Hey, why the long face"

Despite that joke being as old as the hills, it demonstrates my point - the characters, of which there are two, are in a common setting (a bar) and the funny is in the way is treated (as a human) by the bartender.

The joke wouldn't work without the archetype of the bartender and the trope of being sad in a bar.

Is a "strong female character" someone who manages to overcome the archetypes and the tropes? No, a strong character, regardless of gender, orientation, race, nationality, ability and more, is a person who works those things beautifully.

It is of course worth mentioning, that gender, orientation, race, nationality and ability do matter, because of the white-supremacist masculine-centric hetero-normative society we live in, those characters who do not fit well into the social paradigm listen above are scrutinised, because they have been more often than not been stereotyped, instead of archetyped and as such their stories are, at best, written in order to appease the long laundry list of hierarchies listed above.

The thing is, when it's the feminists (hi there!) who create that chart and continue to critique female characters as though they cannot stand on their own, as though they really are simply gender foils to male characters - well then, what exactly is the point?

Other articles to read regarding our loving and/or loathing of female characters would be Harridans, Harlots and Heroines: women of the classical world, all of which would likely fit in that chart as either Fickle Woman, Lady of War, Shrew, Suffering Wife or an Ideal Woman.

And Connecting with Female Characters in Geek Television which goes in quite a bit about the truly irrational hatred of Gwen Cooper of Torchwood and River Song of Doctor Who - two women characters which have garnered a lot of fandom hatred to the point where it seems to be almost a fetish to write fic that simply bashes them.

I will admit that I didn't like Gwen (though not to the point of murdering her in fic for the sake of calling her a whore and getting rid of her from the lives of Jack and Ianto... yes, I've seen it! *shudders*) in the beginning, but fandom taught me to love her and River is someone I loved from the moment I saw her.

When feminists participate in this kind of misogyny, not to mention racism, check this article out from Den of Geek that came out in July... Martha Jones. Martha "I walked the Earth for a year in order to save the Universe and all I got was a boatload of female Doctor Who fans who hated me for it" Jones.

This is me, giving that article and that flow chart the two fingered salute, the birdie and the request to stop perpetuating sexist ideas about what female characters are supposed to be like in order to be "strong".

Sometimes, being a feminist fangrrl is just no fucking fun at all.

feeling hungry
hearing Hans Zimmer - Sherlock Holmes OST: Is It Poison Nanny?
Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/517919.html

I know it doesn't make a whole lot of sense as to why I'm worked up about the fact that the Ministry of ~~Truth~~ Education is absolutely failing when it comes to the teaching on any kind thought in students.

Never mind critical thought, that's really far too much to expect, but simple liberal, everyone is equal and has a chance thought, the kind that has spread around the democracies of the world for the past 200 years.

Very soon after posting last night's entry regarding the axing of funds for the civics curriculum (LJ/DW) I read an update regarding the matter:

Education Ministry director general Shimshon Shoshani reversed on Sunday a decision by another ministry official to cut most of the budget for intensive 11th- and 12th-grade civics classes.

Even after this unusual change in policy, this year's civics budget will still be about half of last year's.
[...]
"This is a key lesson in teaching the students basic democracy," said a 10th-grade civics teacher at a school in the north. "The curriculum allows for a flood of questions on fundamental issues that almost never get addressed in other classes."

The money saved by the budget cuts was slated to be used for Jewish studies, including Bible, Talmud and Jewish philosophy.

Emphasis by me
All things that shouldn't be taught in public education at all in my opinion, or at the very least should be part of a non-compulsory education program.

But wait, there's more!

In his decision on Sunday, Shoshani reversed the civics curriculum cuts instituted by Zvi Zameret, who heads the ministry's pedagogic secretariat, after teachers and principals protested the reduction in classroom hours.

"We are primarily concerned about the trend led by Zameret, which represents a change in the Education Ministry's priorities regarding civics," said a member of the ministry's advisory committee on civics instruction. "There's a feeling that Zameret considers civics to be not very important."

The thing is, that civics is taught horribly.
Really horribly.
And I speak as a person who went to one of the most acclaimed secular public high schools in the country (if reports are to be believed) in the middle of fucking suburbia.

The problem is that we begin to study civics in the 10th grade. Everyone is 15-16 years old.
By that time Half of [Jewish] Israeli Teens don't want Arab students in their class, so say the polls:

Sixty four percent of Israeli teens aged 15 to 18 say that Arab Israelis do not enjoy full equal rights in Israel, and from that group, 59 percent believe that they should not have full equal rights.

Emphasis mine
Some people should not have the same equal rights as others.
Yes, liberalism has won the world over, obviously.

This is exacerbated by the fact that, and I quote:

The survey also revealed that 96 percent of the respondents want Israel to be a Jewish and democratic state, but 27 percent believe that those who object should be tried in court, and 41 percent support stripping them of their citizenship.

This is the future of my country.
I am not optimistic.

The thing is that I don't blame my civics teacher for failing, though perhaps she should have been able to tell me where I could look for answers to my questions.

Public educations mainlines kids into being obedient subjects of the Nation, they don't even need to work so hard at it like in totalitarian regimes. We're lucky, we chose the strength of ignorance willingly. Without overt coercion, while those who object aren't considered part of the greater collective that is Israel.

If that isn't fascism I don't know what is.

My next post is going to be about rape culture. Depressing, I know, but I promise there will be music and movies after that. These are serious things that need to be processed.

feeling irritated
Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/513576.html

They, whoever "they" are, that Tel-Aviv is a safe haven for QUILTBAG people.

Not so, when a young guy's family kidnapped him from his flat in the city, beat him up and threatened to kill him because he's gay.

Reading about this, especially after everything this community has been through this year, along with the blatant Pinkwashing that has happened is so tragic and so upsetting I don't even know what to say.

In related events, because really, you can't separate homophobia from racism and misogyny; remember a few days ago I mentioned the racist surveys regarding the future Jerusalem light-rail, that asked passengers whether they'd mind travelling with Arabs?
Well, they've been slammed, the Jerusalem light-rail company that is.

Municipal officials slammed the company that won the Jerusalem light rail tender for publishing a survey asking city residents whether it would bother them if Palestinians were to use the system under various conditions.

Officials from the municipality and the Transportation Ministry called the questions "racist," and said they should not have been asked, especially not by a private company.
[...]
A spokesman for [The light-rail company] CityPass responded, "The light rail in Jerusalem is supposed to serve all the city's residents and to be an important growth lever for all parts of the city. The survey's goal was to help prepare for various facets of the train's extremely complex operation, including the particular security situation in Jerusalem.

Emphasis mine.
Note that bold sentence, if you would, "serve all the city's residents". Yes, indeed. Note, as well, that they don't say the word "equally".
Public transport, according to this company, is not equal, not when it comes to nationality, race, religion, or for that matter gender. Yeah, you got it, gender segregated cars:

"The train was built to serve everyone," [CityPass CEO Yair Naveh] said, in response to a question on segregated cars. "I think it is required to create alternatives for everyone, and that option exists because of the train's division into cars. It is not a problem to declare every third or fourth car a mehadrin (kosher) car."

The mehadrin cars would serve Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox population, who refrain from mixing genders.

Rachel Azariya, a member of the Jerusalem city council and one of the opponents of the existing 'mehadrin' bus lines in Jerusalem (on which men sit in the front of the bus and women sit only in the back), criticized Naveh's declaration, saying that "Naveh is apparently unaware of the high court ruling forbidding further segregation."

The high court is a toothless lion in this country. Some precedents are approved and listened to, some are not. Arbitrarily and with accordance to interests to do with politics rather than law, justice and the ethical treatment of all people under this aforementioned thing called law.

Jerusalem... you're a beautiful city, but if your Holy Sites and the majority of your residents were gone, I wouldn't be sorry.

Sincerely,

The Atheist Jewess who is sick of the shenanigans done because people think you somehow symbolise the Force.

But wait, there's more... but that's stuff for another post, not regarding the crap that's happening here, but elsewhere, unfortunately, thing that happen elsewhere affect things here. Namely, the fact that I must make noise about a subject that, in principle, I should be apathetic about.

feeling stressed
Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/511637.html

I had a really frustrating discussion today.
It's felt very much of dismissal and prioritising the "struggle".

I dunno.

I mean, is the threat fascism in Israel (which is very real) more than the Homophobia inherent in this machismo and militaristic society?

Hearing the words "Homophobia is a prejudice found in every society and really, things are much better than they were 10 and even 15 years ago" is incredibly glib and frustrating to hear.
Especially considering who tends to be the victims of fascist, ethnocratic and theocratic governments.

Just a thought. Call me over sensitive, but I tend to find connections between rampant prejudice and jingoism.

It may not appear so, but the fact that in the same week I read about a family being treated as second class citizens at a national park because they're gay and the Tel-Aviv Police Department backing out on an expedition to Berlin regarding combating Homophobia related crime.
Who needs fucking "tolerance" when we have consumer surveys asking people if they'd mind travelling with Arabs on the future light rail in Jerusalem.

While I'm often an in-your-face aggressive Levantinit myself, this kind of unapologetic prejudice is just despicable. I suppose I should be greatful we're not even pretending. But then again, no one seems to be aware of this racism thing. You know, that we're racist.

Fuck it.

I'm pissed about a lot of things. It may not be good for my health, but it keeps me going. My outrage fatigue creeps up, but seriously, when I hear people say separate the issues deliberately and really I'm not a proponent of the whole "one struggle, one fight" ideal, it makes me wonder where the Left has gone wrong.

To prioritise "issues" according to some arbitrary criterion is irritating and frustrating and reminds me of the article that circulated a few weeks ago, Why Misogynists Make Great Informants: How Gender Violence on the Left Enables State Violence in Radical Movements:

The guys who said they would complete a task, didn’t do it, brushed off their compañeras’ demands for accountability, let those women take over the task, and when it was finished took all the credit for someone else’s hard work. The graduate student who hit his partner—and everyone knew he’d done it, but whenever anyone asked, people would just look ashamed and embarrassed and mumble, “It’s complicated.” The ones who constantly demeaned queer folks, even people they organized with. Especially the one who thought it would be a revolutionary act to “kill all these faggots, these niggas on the down low, who are fucking up our children, fucking up our homes, fucking up our world, and fucking up our lives!” The one who would shout you down in a meeting or tell you that you couldn’t be a feminist because you were too pretty. Or the one who thought homosexuality was a disease from Europe.

Yeah, that guy.

I'd really appreciate it, if we stopped shooting ourselves in the foot.

Just an idea.

I'm going to eat something. I'm starving.

feeling irritated
Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/510057.html

As promised, this is a follow up to my previous post (LJ/DW) regarding the IDF soldier who posted pictures of herself and "the best time of her life" on Facebook.

It appears that this woman is just keen to dig herself deeper. As often happens on the Internet, this incident has taken on a life of its own. Honestly, I don't have the inclination to get very deep into this, because honestly it's not so much her stupidity that bothers me, but the fact that she has become a meme in the Israeli Blogosphere.

And what this memes, means.

This morning this meme reached the mainstream media (seriously disturbing language therein and quoted below):

[...]Since the photos were published by blogger Ido Keinan earlier this week, dozens of people have uploaded images on to their own Facebook pages depicting similar situations.

Abergil responded on Facebook to an image in which a women was pasted instead of the Palestinian prisoners in the original images, saying that it was not funny and that she would not let anyone ruin her "perfect life."

"I can't allow Arab lovers to ruin the perfect life I lead," she allegedly wrote. "I am not sorry and I don’t regret it."

Ms. Abergil is no doubt a particularly vile specimen of humanity. She is however, I think, being singled out in a way that would not have happened to a male soldier.
I mean, about a month ago the video of IDF soldiers dancing to Ke$ha is Hebron made the rounds and that was just hilarious wasn't it? The boys letting out some steam, of course.
The fact is what Eden Abergil did was not rare, you can go to Breaking the Silence's picture gallery and testimonials page (one for with testimonies made by female soldiers, carefull, PDF) and see how prevalent this dehumanisation is.
And yet, it is Eden Abergil who is singled out. Yes, she is the one to put herself on Facebook, but those guys put themselves on YouTube.

Eden Abergil is a woman, not only that, she's a woman from a Jewish ethnic minority and thus racialised within Israeli Jewish Identity politics and therefore what she did was "stupid" and "damaging".
If this had been a man, I believe we would be hearing a very different tune, one that wouldn't be talking about foibles, but about ethics.

Alas, we shall never know.
But we do know. Because a woman humiliating a man is always more punishable than when a man is humiliating a man - especially when there is a clear hierarchy between who is powerful (soldier) and who is dis-empowered (detainee).

Once again, this is considered a PR fiasco and not a necrotic wound in the way the IDF operates in the field.

Are you surprised when you hear about soldiers looting places they've taken over? No? Why should you be, as Eden Abergil herself says "In war there are no rules".

Yeah, who gives a fuck about the Geneva Conventions?

Sorry, I'm derailing myself.

Over the past few days evidence has been found that says that IDF soldiers, the crème de la crème of the Israeli Special Forces, looted the ships they raided during the disastrous flotilla to Gaza back in June (DW link).
The IDF is, of course, absolutely shocked by this turn in events.

"If the suspicions prove to be true, there must be a serious problem in the IDF in terms of values," a senior Israel Defense Forces officer said Thursday morning following Ynet's revelation on Wednesday that an officer is suspected of stealing laptops from the highly controversial aid flotilla to Gaza and selling them along with other soldiers.

"In such a case, we will not be able to say that these are just weeds," the senior officer added.

Weeds.
Stray weeds has been the excuse for years and years and years.
I, for one, am not shocked.
Not am I appalled.
This is what soldiers of every army all over the world do, the sense of entitlement, of power and ownership is hard wired into our minds by tacit approval that we can do no wrong.

In all these incidences I hear talk of values. But all I see is spin.

Damn you don't want to know what else I have open in my tags.
More bad News coming out of my country later.

feeling irritated
hearing Dessa - Dixon's Girl
Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/509681.html

What Ethnic Cleansing?
While we were sleeping!?
No, no way.

Sarcasm aside.

Over the night 1000+ police men demolished the Beduin village on El-Araqib situated in the Negev, just north of Beer Sheva (the largest Southern town).
The village had 30 houses and they've all been bulldozed.

I've only seen small update reports in the News websites and a few short blog-posts like on The Only Democracy and Mondoweiss.

The reason for this demolition?
The Jewish National Fund deemed the land designated for Jewish use only and are planning on planting a forest there.
No, really.

I can't believe I heard the report about this happening from Facebook.

feeling angry
Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/505875.html

Are you ready to read about some politics?

Are you ready to read about the fact that soon those who advocate (as in speak words) economic boycott against Israeli products will be criminalised?

Are you ready to read about the fact Israel believes that the Occupation is a public relations problem and not an actual human rights problem?

Are any of these things News to you?

They are not to me, but here's the gist. The Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement is gaining momentum. So much so, that politicians are running scared and have drafted a law (which has already passed a first reading - for a Bill to be passed it needs to pass three reads in the Knesset) in which supporting, advocating and participating in BDS activities will be criminalised: Seriously.
Of course, this all came about because the Palestinian Authority boycotted Israel first!

Wrong.

The most brutal, naked boycott is, of course, the siege on Gaza and the boycott of Hamas. At Israel's behest, nearly all Western countries signed onto the boycott with inexplicable alacrity. This is not just a siege that has left Gaza in a state of shortage for three years. Nor is it just a complete (and foolish ) boycott of Hamas, save for the discussions over abducted soldier Gilad Shalit. It's a series of cultural, academic, humanitarian and economic boycotts. Israel threatens nearly every diplomat who seeks to enter Gaza to see firsthand the unbearable sights.

The Israeli mind set, of which mine does not escape, views everything in terms of warfare, something that Dr. Dalit Baum articulated in the video embedded below. A boycott, by it's definition, is a pro-active non-violent form of protest by abstaining from economically participating and dealing with bodies, organisations and governments whose policies, for instance, you do not believe deserve to be supported.

But that, that's Antisemitism right there, not willing to wheel and deal with Israelis, well... that's you being a hateful bigot isn't it?

Never mind that an Arab man is currently in hospital for talking to a Jewish girl. But no, there's no racism.
None at all

It's all, one big PR problem. And you who are freakin' fantastic at PR?
Gays.
Yep, Liberals in Europe and the United States always approve of the Gays.
I mean, all Israel needs is a little re-branding.
Gays made the best logos.
Especially when they host great parties and have a fabulous night life.
C'mon over my brothers! Tel Aviv is just the City for you.

Don't mind that girl who was beaten to a bloody pulp by her brothers because she's trangender (the girl is constantly misgendered in the article).
Or the fact that it has been a whole entire fucking year since the murder at the Gay Youth club and the murderer is still at large.

But no, we queers have to be the pretty face Israel presents the world because while we continue to benefit for activist judges and some social progression, the IDF proclaims itself to be under no obligation to protect civilians. By the way, that white phosphorus Israel has been denying it used during the assault on Gaza? Well, now we're going to "reduce its use".
Brilliant hypocrisy.
Just fucking brilliant.

This is what Israeli democracy looks like - with Loyalty tests, religious persecution, racial inequality, human rights violations and hijacking the language of human rights in order to paint ourselves as better, more accepting, more tolerant and Normal.

feeling aggravated
hearing U2 - Miss Sarajevo
Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/504826.html

Things always hit you harder when they are closer to home.
Always.

I had a race fail a few days ago, in which I basically preached to a woman of Japanese descent why the casting of Avatar: The Last Air Bender was racist.
I was called on it.
And I apologised and I was told it wasn't a problem.

Still, the shame continues to linger, because my privilege fogged the way I viewed this person and the way I discussed the issue with this person.

However, you live and learn right.

Well, no.

If history teaches us anything is that we would rather forget, or even not know and you basically need a very strong lobbying group in order for things to be remembered.

The past month or so has seen so much fail in fandom, the Race!Fail, the Trans!Fail, The Abelism, I'm quite sure there were more fail I'd forgotten and seriously, even though I commented only briefly I was outraged and saddened by all of these incidences. People can (and have) asked me why do I put so much energy into issues that don't have much to do with me (yeah, I know), I mean... why get so worked up on something that doesn't directly affect me.

Well, for one, despite the fact that I'm not in the disenfranchised group of non-white people, trans people and disabled people, these issues affect me mainly because the fact that those groups are disenfranchised I can safely go about my day not thinking about it.

But you know why I really take the time to give a damn and cracks my heart wide open? Beyond it being the right thing to do and being in an ethically sound position.

I want to be safe.

I want my body and mind to flourish, and the body I currently inhabit may have a lot of privileges associated with it, but its history is also bloody, by virtue of it being cis female, queer and Jewish.

My Jewish body is very weird thing. On the one hand it is Israeli Jewish, meaning it is the default body of superiority where I live, on the other, it comes from generations of bloodshed, exile, pogroms and genocide.

The history of this genocide, like most genocides oddly enough, is well documented. The violence was recorded, photographed, duplicated and triplicates by well meaning bureaucrats who kept the train tracks clear.

The genocide of my people even has a special name, The Holocaust¹, and like all historical events which linger in the collective memory of a people, a nation, a community, we tend to treat it with a deference of some kind. Even as I make Holocaust jokes, and sing "Springtime For Hitler" and make cracks about Germany blitzing its way though the Mundial and yeah, I'm waiting for Germany to serve up Spain's ass in the upcoming Semi-Final...

Still.

The Holocaust is an event that continues to shape my life and inform me of who I am, as a Jewish person in Israel and Palestine, as a queer person and as a feminist woman.

It does not, however, as a historical event, exist to be a backdrop to an AU Fanfic about American Soldiers and their love affair. What? The Battle of the Bulge was too tame?!

Yes, someone wrote a story, which has since been locked, but luckly there exists a Screencap (H/T to

allchildren). I have not read it. I do not intend to.
I did read the Author's notes though; the warnings read thus:
Beating, abuse, non main character death, scientific experimentation, starvation, physical and emotional damage
Oh and the added disclaimer (after "nasty comments" began to appear) the gist of which is that this piece of work is NOT meant to be historically accurate. Accompanied to this Author's Note is a picture of the gates of Auschwitz, you all know the one, the one that was stolen and returned and reads Arbeit Macht Frei - "Work Makes One Free".
The... writer... of this AU fic stated that they added the picture, not for itself, but for the slogan, the meaning of the words upon the gate.

I've said it before. I'll say it again. I will probably say it for the rest of my life.

Context matters. Context, much like money, makes the world go around. That slogan cannot be removed from the gates it is attached to. Those words do not mean what you think they mean. The work they are talking about is not craft and the liberation they symbolise is not freedom.

A story, does not need to prettify history in order to make palatable for the readers. On the contrary, history should be shown in its grittiest form, it should be shown to be true and it should be portrayed with verisimilitude.

So, when you use a historical backdrop, in which you, dear author, feel the need to excuse yourself that by writing this you are no different from anyone who writes about rape, incest and domestic abuse, then you do not understand what fetishisation means.
You do not understand what treating subjects (people and events) with respect means.
You do not understand what this writing about history means.

You do not understand what context means and beyond that making you a disrespectful, blinkered and privileged fool, it also makes you, no matter your style, no matter how well written the characters are, a really really bad writer.

Personally. I blame Hollywood. And you know, bad education, entitlement and plain good ole' dehumnasation and antisemitism.

Also. No. Just. No.

This Nice Jewish Grrl needs to lie down now as she can't believe fandom sucks so hard right now.

ETA - 09/07/10: The story that is screen capped above is "1945" by slashxyouxup and is now unlocked. I'm not holding my breath though.

Footnotes
1) Even though we were not the only targeted people. The Roma people and other Gypsy groups were targeted and experimented in the same manner, homosexual men were castrated and murdered and many others. Still though, when you've got an entire country (Poland) set up to be an extermination station, while special Commando forces, Einsatzgruppen, are sweeping though Europe targeting Jewish Communities, you're going to feel that this is the Pogrom to end all Pogroms... in a way... it did...
Back.

feeling blank
Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/501884.html

Finally, finally, finally, I got it done! It took way longer than I thought, but yay! Listening to the same descriptions over and over again is quite harrowing - I cannot begin to imagine how it must have felt to be in Neli's shoes that day.

Any way, here's the video again, and under the cut is the transcript:

( Autism and Racial Injustice: Neli Finally Tells His Story )

I didn't transcript the whole thing, in the end. I looked for others who began to transcript it and thanks to

trouble who contacted me earlier this week regarding the DW comm called

transcripts I managed to finish this task by copying and pasting a segment from

terajk's transcript here - the part that zie wrote begins at "Okay. So once they got you down to the police station, then what did they try to do?", thank you very much

terajk, *hat/tip*.

feeling accomplished
Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/501502.html

Remember last week I boosted a signal regarding Neli (LJ/DW), a young black man on the Autism Spectrum who was harassed and arrested by the police outside the public library.

Well, his mother commented on the post and asked that we spread this video of Neli, telling his side of the story:

feeling aggravated
Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/500276.html

So many things worth writing about, so little time.

I have a huge amount of tabs, on eclectic subjects, open and waiting to be disseminated, but I have to simply linkspam, so many others do it. Also I have been told my perspective is worth something (who knew) so I like discussing the News in a post.

Like the fact that Benjamin Netanyahu (i.e. The Wannabe Master) has said things that make me laugh, for if I didn't I would surely cry:

Human Rights activists should sail to Tehran and not Gaza:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday called on human rights activists who participate in Gaza-bound flotillas to sail to Tehran instead, where he says real human rights violations exist.
"I call on all human rights activists in the world - go to Tehran, that's where there is a human rights violation," said Netanyahu during his meeting with the Austrian Chancellor, Werner Faymann, in which he discussed Israel's ease of the Gaza blockade and flotillas planning on breaching Israel's Gaza blockade.

You know what, yes, there are Human Rights violations in Iran one could argue that are Human Rights violations everywhere.

But honestly Bibi, you expect us to take you seriously when this is happening in YOUR backyard?

Israeli settlers in East Jerusalem on Wednesday threatened to forcibly evict four Palestinian families they claim are living on property belonging to Jews in the neighborhood of Silwan.
The settlers said they would hire private security firms to implement the evictions if the four families, which include 40 individuals, do not leave by July 4.

And scene.
This coming Friday there will be a big demonstration in Silwan neighbourhood, who do you think the police will beat up for being a "public nuisance"?
Yeah.

But wait! There is more... it's actually quite distressing how much more there is.

There is a troubling trend of double standard in the Religious Sector (that is, the Jewish Ultra-Orthodox sector) which eschews civil law and the court... seems to allow it.
Racism and sexism put together is the ugliest way possible.
You know, if I were ever arrested, I'm going to use this as precedence, that the court and the police can't arrest me. Why? because I don't want to be arrested that simple.
And so, racial/ethnic segregation in a religious West Bank settlement (because that's another fucked up thing to talk about!) is legitimised by default because the court is afraid to offend to poor "disenfranchised" religious people's little feelings.
Gotta love the fact that their racist convictions keep getting News, and that there is outrage (regarding what, I couldn't say, simply that there is OUTRAGE!).

This is me, gagging.

Especially because the Religious Culture War is winning and I fear that soon, the Religious will really from a Militia and I'll be dictated under a Theocracy, I mean this is just distressing:

The educational curriculum in state-run institutions for this coming school year will include a new subject: Jewish culture and tradition. Initially, the subject will be taught in grades 6-8 for a period of two hours per week, and then expanded to additional grades.

The new subject will include lessons on Jewish culture, the Hebrew calendar and "the Jewish people's connection to the Land of Israel." In addition, students in the sixth grade will be required to learn the weekly Torah portion; students in seventh grade will be taught the order of prayers in the Jewish liturgy; eighth graders will undergo instruction in Pirkei Avot (Sayings of the Fathers ); and ninth graders will delve into Theodor Herzl's novel "Altneuland."

Liturgy, yes. Battling homophobia, no.

Yeah, this is the way to democracy in the Middle East. Castes and Different Laws for Different People - there's a name for that you know, but shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, it's Antisemitic to say it in this context... *cough*apartheid*cough*.

Because yeah, the Left (by which I mean, me and the other people who think about what the above means) has a distorted view of Zionism, according to ex-General and current Vice Premier and Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon - because being critical and sceptical and not being spoon fed the pig shit that comes out of the mouths of Authority is the anti-thesis of the history of secular Judaism!
In case it wasn't clear, the above paragraph is me being sarcastic!

I have a bunch of other links regarding the economy of the Occupation, but I think that's a bit much after the blasting of info I put here, so here it is, linkspam style, despite the fact that it's not my method of choice:
- Turkey is still hypocritical, but we likes the monies! Spat or not, Turkey still using Israeli tech in attacks on Kurdish PKK rebels.

- Two articles about an economic boycott on the same page, "Targeted boycott and divestment pushing companies out of the settlements" and "Boycott the Occupation: The Israelis promoting the boycott on settlement products".

- And on that note: Only a boycott will persuade Israel.

And now, I'm going out! Hope your democracy is having a slow News Week!

feeling busy
Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/499891.html

I hate to break it to you, but some opinions are more valid than others.

This is tangentially related to the current RaceFail swooping through fandom and once again it seems that people are misunderstanding what it means "to be silenced" or "walking on egg-shells to keep from offending".

Two years ago, I wrote a post for

ibarw which I titled What Is this Symmetry You Speak Of?, in which I discuss the phenomena of silencing the discussion of Race in my locale - which is Israel/Palestine.

Not much has changed, if you saw my previous post (LJ/DW) there is a great amount of fear and hate generated towards opinions that are critical of the status quo.

[ETA]It's important to reiterate that privilege enables you to ignore criticism. What I see being ignored in the discussion is that what is being criticised and brought to attention isn't the right to voice them, but the fact that this is abuse of privilege and bias.

It took me a long time to realise that I had racist bias, surprise! I do my best to be concious of it, usually I fail. Which I guess is unavoidable, but still, it bothers me, it niggles at me, it tells me "do better".

One of the ways of doing better when discussing race is realising the asymmetrical position I have (as a white Jewish woman) in the power structure of the discussion and of life in general. That means that despite the fact that I'm offended by the notion that someone called me on my racism, the hurt I caused by saying or doing something racist is that much more damaging.

Yes, damaging. Not hurtful, not offensive, but actually damaging.

The asymmetry, the imbalance of power between the parties is important because it informs me who has been historically silenced and damaged by the disparity of voices, material resources and media presence. All these are hugely important because without this information you can say, in perpetuating stereotypes, that you're just writing a story, that it doesn't mean anything and that you are simply expressing all sorts of things that stories, media and other tales do.

Because one boy's adventure across the Mississippi, can be another man's continuous verbal assault.
Just as an example to how differently one can read the same story, the same street.

Currently there is a big brouhaha in my locale regarding ethnic segregation in a religious community in a Settlement (i.e. a town situated in the West Bank) called Immanuel, in which a school segregated students according to their ethnic background which informs one's religiosity - the Ashkenazi (European) Jewish people in that town said that the Sephardi (North African) Jewish people weren't religious enough and so the Ashkenazi girls shouldn't be exposed to ideas belonging to the Sephardi girls.

You know what's being spoken about in the News? Whether the Ashkenazi Mothers are in contempt of court or not.

Yeah.

Back to the point. When someone reproduces thoughtless stereotypes regarding people who have been colonised, racialised, segregated and pretty much been beaten up by history like "The Magical Negro" or "Wise Indigenous Woman" - what you are doing is adding to the damaging media representation of people who have been, historically, been shown to be less-than-human.

When you are called on it, the correct response is not "I'm just telling a story" or "You are just looking to be offended".
Stories do not exist in a vacuum and not everyone sees what I see.

Trust me, no one is looking for things to be hurt about.
Honestly, it's just there, all the freakin' time and one gets fucking sick of it.
One of the benefits of fan fiction, specifically, is that you can rectify the damage done by the that book/movie/television show we love, but woe it fails.

Being critical is not personal, it is a standpoint, one that is needed, because feeling that those loud minorities are offending you, because you said/wrote/did something that disregarded that asymmetry of their and your position in life is imperative - especially if we are looking to be better story tellers.

In short, if you feel that you (I and others) are writing something that may offend people; ask yourself, who are you offending and why?

Personally, have no qualms offending people who find my existence and the existence of my friends to be distasteful. I have no qualms saying to people who think that Arabs should stay in their own spaces that that is akin to saying Jews should be placed in a ghetto - offensive? You betcha', worse that saying that Arabs and Jews shouldn't mix? Hardly.

One opinion is considered status quo, the other is not.

I'm not saying not to write certain stories. I do not believe there is a story that shouldn't be told, the question you should ask isn't "Should this story be written?", but "How well written can this story be?"

feeling busy
hearing Madonna - This Used To Be My Playground
Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/499230.html

I read about this yesterday and am appalled as well everyone else should be. Here is what happened to a young autistic black man while walking, minding his own business.

A Voice For Neli

On the morning of May 24, 2010, I arose at approximately 6:30 am to wake my son for school. I discovered that my son was not in his room. I did not immediately worry because I know that he loves to go for walks. A few hours later at approximately 10:30 I called the police station when he had not returned. I was told that he was in custody and was currently being questioned but I was not told why. I immediately told them that my son was Autistic. Although I told them this, they still refused to offer me any information. I told them the to ensure he got his phone call. Once he called me, I could barely hear him because his speech was very low. The only thing I could make out was that he was attacked by the police and he didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I still had no idea what he was talking about.

It wasn’t until later that evening that I found out about the events of what allegedly took place that morning. A neighbor came down to check on me and said she had seen this story on the News. Needless to say I was devastated, appalled, livid, sad and my heart just broke. I knew immediately that something was VERY wrong, because my son would not be in possession of a gun. My son, whom our family calls “Neli”, was jailed without bond and I was told that I was not allowed to visit him.

A school counselor from the school that he attends was however allowed to see him. I’m very grateful for that because she has a long relationship with Neli and she is someone whom he trusts. The school counselor was able to set up a “special” visit for me to get in and see my son a few days later. What I saw completely devastated me. My son was unable to speak, although he was desperately trying to. I have never witnessed anything such as what I saw that day with him before.

My son was traumatized. He has since been transferred to a mental hospital to receive treatment. I have placed a link to the story below for the world to see. How very sensational and yet sinister at the same time. What is so suspicious about a young man sitting under a tree at the library. The library is where my son goes quite frequently because there is a teen room there. What made him suspicious? Was it because he is a young black male? Possible gun? Why was the assumption made that he had a gun when there was no visible gun seen? Again was it because he was a young black man? These assumptions are what catapulted the events of that day and has turned our family’s life completely upside down.

There is a story to tell. My son’s story. For legal reasons, I cannot disclose his side of the events that took place that day. But the truth will come out. The actions that were taken by the police that day were excessive in the least and grossly mishandled. Someone says I see a suspicious black male and he “could” have a gun, while all my son was doing was sitting in the grass at the library. And you shut down six schools and go out on a manhunt for this dangerous black man who was sitting in the grass. Anyone reading this story can read between the lines and see that this just doesn’t add up. This website is just the beginning of an effort on my part to get my son’s story out there, garner support from the Autism Community and shine on the injustices that took place that day.

More info at the link above, there is a Huff-Po article circulating as well.

Do I even need to say what's wrong here?

feeling blank
Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/498821.html

I know it seems like I'm constantly talking about this, but honestly this stuff is scary and so blandly disingenuous that I'm not sure people actually realise the danger of this sort enterprise.

There was a "Police Day" at an elementary school in a small town in the centre of Israel.

Just the title got me prickly with anxiety:

At 'Police Day,' first-graders get to play with real rifles and machine guns

"An educational institution should educate for civic values and independent thought, not admiration for force," said Amit Sharon, whose daughter attends one of the schools. Border Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Moshe Fintzy said the program was authorized and coordinated with the Education Ministry. "We're not like Hezbollah, which train kids to commit suicide," he said.
[...]
[Another parent] noted that although the children understood that all the weapons were used for dispersing demonstrations, there were no explanations about why people held protests or when they might need to be dispersed. "As far as they know now, all protests need to be disbanded by any means necessary. That's hardly education for democracy," he said.

I live in fear of the future generation if this is the public education, especially when one parent is quoted saying:
"the children were very impressed by the demonstrations, especially by the dogs that attacked and stopped someone on command. I don't understand their complaints - there's nothing wrong with demonstrating Border Police activities. It's part of the reality of life here. The kids' tender souls weren't hurt".

Jesus.

Of course, Israeli schools are the "shit" these days, what with racial segregation which is finally being cracked down after years of this shit going on in the Orthodox Settlement of Immanuel.

And yes, when I say Settlement, I mean it is a town built in the West Bank, Palestine. So, yeah.
Racism.

The irony is anvilicious.

feeling cranky
Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/497908.html

Signal Boosting the Latest Racefail, Yeah, there's more.

It took me a while, as ever, to start reading on this because SPN is not my fandom. For various reasons, top of them being that I don't watch the show, don't read the fics and find the fact that I know things that happen in that fandom without trying too, nay, by actively avoiding it, troubling.

Regardless, this is a continuation of Racefail, it never stopped, may have petered down, may have converged and reconverged else where, but it never stopped, because these discussions CANNOT stop.

Fiction isn't a reflection of real life, but we write our prejudices into them and our biases are a part of the way we encounter the world, how we perceive things.

Friends if we do not take into account that our prejudices and biases have actual affect on the world, that they inform us of our privileges and that yeah, we white people can be totally and utterly blind to the fact that we are do not see what someone with brown skin sitting next to me on the bus can see.

Creating a story in which tragedy is a back drop to romance is fine, in fact it's a classic. Reproducing racist white-saviour narratives and disregarding the fact that the tragedy does not actually exist in order for characters to get together is boggling.

Or not, ya know, after all, this is the same Racefail.

P.S. I'm not immune. This isn't a judgement call on other people as much as it is on me, 'cause you know, I'm privileged and I continue on my merry way while this discussion sluices off my back because, ostensibly, it's not about me. It so so is about me and all those other white people who think that dealing with this is hard and annoying and time consuming and just repetitive. Yeah it is hard and annoying and repetitive, because it doesn't fucking go away - I can say, I don't want to deal and say "Baruch Ha'Shem" (God Bless) that I was born White and Jewish in this place that I live, but you know what? That's a cop out. That's being lazy, that's not acknowledging the history of that privilege and yeah, you can fail... but knowing that can and will is a pretty good start.

feeling busy
Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/497447.html

Two years ago, I went to Bil'in. To those unaware, Bil'in is a Palestinian village in the West Bank that was and still is the forerunner in the popular struggle against the Separation wall cutting through the landscape and usurping Palestinian land beyond the Green Line (the historical 1967 border).

Two years ago I went to Bil'in and I haven't been back. I haven't been to the West Bank since.

Mainly, because I'm afraid.

I'm a coward, because I long for normality. I know many who go to Bil'in, Al-Massarah, Wallaga, Nialin, Nabi-Sallah, Sheikh Jarrah and I don't.

I'm scared of the violence. I'm scared of being arrested. I'm afraid of seeing again what I saw two years ago in that little village, what I dub in my mind as the little village that could.

With much guilt I sometimes pretend everything is okay.

The flotilla disaster was not a wake up call, it was another knot in the string of violence committed in the name of keeping Israel from showing its dirty bloody laundry.

Since the flotilla disaster, criticism and threats of isolation have grown, more and more performing artists have said they weren't going to be performing in Israel (I have a ticket to K's Choice performance in September*, we'll see...) and it has put to the average Israeli into a tizzy.

Everyone hates us. The whole world is Antisemitic. We just want to live our lives.

We can't. I can't. Because they don't.

See what I did there.

It's so easy, living where I do, in an affluent middle-class town, less then half an hour drive to Tel-Aviv and to the cultural events of that place, to forget the price we pay for that comfort. That not twenty minutes away from my sister's flat in Jerusalem there are riots because Palestinian homes are being evicted in order to enable Jews to live there comfortably.

My life, is not normal, by virtue of living in a place that creates a doublespeak and a doublethink on what's political, what is societal and what is a crime.

I broke the law two years ago when I went to Bil'in, because I crossed the border by jumping over a fence and not going through a blockade. I went there and smelt the tear gas and saw the bullets hit.
That is where the average Israeli can see that things are shite.
Because beyond the border, in Israel, not in Palestine, things are okay... I will not be arrested, I will not be attacked on campus for walking past a demo... I do not fear the authorities, even though I am threatened by them.

Israelis just want to watch the World Cup, drink their beer and go to an open air concert. They just want to live their lives like every average Joe.

But we are not average. This is an abnormal state.

We have always been at war (with Eurasia).

The Occupation is not over there and it's not about them. The Occupation is the fact that every high-tech company works with the Military on something, the Occupation is the fact that the Palestinians are another market to exploit, both in the West Bank and in Gaza. The Occupation is the fact that our economy is based on the fact that the Palestinians are starving.

This is not about who has the bigger dick. This is about the smoke-screen of normality we Israeli Jews live within and don't seem to be able to see through. That it is beyond ideology, religion and all that crap, it's not about who won the war and how many died on which side... it is about the fact that there are those who exploit and those who are exploited.

I have the fortune of being on the exploiting side, which is why I can chose to not go to the West Bank and see 18-20 year old boys and girls mindlessly follow orders and shoot directly into a mass of people who are there because they live there.

I live here too. Despite my many whinges and whines about immigrating, I cannot imagine living any where else.
Maybe it's my Zionist upbringing, maybe it's pure bloody stubbornness and maybe it's simply that I don't want to be a stranger.

I want people to stop starving so that enable drink my Fair Trade coffee in that nice cafe that has African workers who may or may not be refugees from Sudan or Eritrea.

You can say, well all places are crap, what with Kyrgyzstan starting to genocide, just as an example.

But that's deflection, that's ignoring the mess in your own house in order to make snide comments about someone else's dirty laundry.

No country is perfect and it may seem unfair that Israel is singled out in this criticism, but if you look at the fact that all Israel's gotten over the past 40+ years have been the equivalents of the US wagging its finger and the UN saying without much force "hey, now, what you're doing is not so good", I'd say we are getting off pretty fucking lightly in the wake of the amount of damage we've done to this country and the fact that our economy (have I mentioned?!) relies on the fact that the people we keep under siege and imprisoned in their Bantustans continue to be weak, lacking in leadership and without any sense of stability in their life - which yeah, not all (or even most) Israelis have that either, but ask yourself... why?

This post was inspired by this Hebrew blog entry, which should be translated pronto, hopefully by someone with more time than I.

*Thank you

nurint!

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Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/497261.html

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Eumelia

January 2020

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V and Justice

V: Ah, I was forgetting that we are not properly introduced. I do not have a name. You can call me V. Madam Justice...this is V. V... this is Madam Justice. hello, Madam Justice.

Justice: Good evening, V.

V: There. Now we know each other. Actually, I've been a fan of yours for quite some time. Oh, I know what you're thinking...

Justice: The poor boy has a crush on me...an adolescent fatuation.

V: I beg your pardon, Madam. It isn't like that at all. I've long admired you...albeit only from a distance. I used to stare at you from the streets below when I was a child. I'd say to my father, "Who is that lady?" And he'd say "That's Madam Justice." And I'd say "Isn't she pretty."

V: Please don't think it was merely physical. I know you're not that sort of girl. No, I loved you as a person. As an ideal.

Justice: What? V! For shame! You have betrayed me for some harlot, some vain and pouting hussy with painted lips and a knowing smile!

V: I, Madam? I beg to differ! It was your infidelity that drove me to her arms!

V: Ah-ha! That surprised you, didn't it? You thought I didn't know about your little fling. But I do. I know everything! Frankly, I wasn't surprised when I found out. You always did have an eye for a man in uniform.

Justice: Uniform? Why I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about. It was always you, V. You were the only one...

V: Liar! Slut! Whore! Deny that you let him have his way with you, him with his armbands and jackboots!

V: Well? Cat got your tongue? I though as much.

V: Very well. So you stand revealed at last. you are no longer my justice. You are his justice now. You have bedded another.

Justice: Sob! Choke! Wh-who is she, V? What is her name?

V: Her name is Anarchy. And she has taught me more as a mistress than you ever did! She has taught me that justice is meaningless without freedom. She is honest. She makes no promises and breaks none. Unlike you, Jezebel. I used to wonder why you could never look me in the eye. Now I know. So good bye, dear lady. I would be saddened by our parting even now, save that you are no longer the woman I once loved.

*KABOOM!*

-"V for Vendetta"

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Page generated Apr. 23rd, 2025 10:54 am

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