when the status quo frustrates.

I will not dance to your war drum

So I’ve been gone awhile. Work managed to swallow my life, and it’s a long story, but…I will be back in due time.

But I’m back today to break my silence, because today Israeli tanks entered Gaza after air strikes that killed 400 or so people just weren’t enough.

Across the world, people protested. Here’s Toronto’s demo:

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It went on much longer than this: thousands and thousands of people. But it isn’t enough.

This is what’s happening. Right now. And while a little over half of Israelis support what their government is doing, only 19% think that a ground invasion is a good idea.

We, here in the West, are complicit. Canada was the first country to refuse to recognize the results of the Palestinian election, after all, the first to cut aid in 2006. And the U.S., of course, largely funds the weapons currently raining down on the people of Gaza. We perpetuate this horror, or, rather, our governments do, and I don’t know any course of sane action beyond taking to the streets and screaming at them until they stop.

Suheir Hammad:

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 at 7:39 pm and is filed under Human Rights, Imperialism for Dummies, Military bullshit, Politics, War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “I will not dance to your war drum”

  1. Frandroid Atreides says:
    January 4, 2009 at 9:23 am

    You know what’s funny? This MSNBC article talks about protests all over Europe, but doesn’t mention Canada, nor the U.S… I have a friend visiting SF right now and he says he came across protests on both Friday and Saturday, but looking at all the TV news channels he could get in his hotel room, none were reporting U.S. protests, just those in Europe. And of course we both know where we were on Saturday.

  2. Mel says:
    January 4, 2009 at 4:17 pm

    I’m really afraid about what’s going to happen after this (un)holy war is over.

    There is so much racism within Israel itself, what with the Palestinian-Israelis, and relations were never that good to begin with.

    This, beyond the mindless murder that is being perpetuated, will roll us back decades to where we had the potential to be when it came to Jewish-Palestinian relations.

    I still don’t know what I can do, other than scream and shout and try to help the people in the southern regions of Israel (since Israelis civilians – both Jewish and non – are not allowed to enter Gaza and the West Bank is closed at the moment, for fear of resistance coming from there).

  3. jane says:
    November 8, 2009 at 3:43 pm

    God Bless you Sweetheart, Carry on for they that can not.
    xoxoxo
    always

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