Abolition – Page 2 – let kindness win

From the River to the Sea

“From the River to the Sea” has become the latest casualty in the war of indoctrination. Congress has enacted a resolution calling the words “from the river to the sea” anti-Semitic, while adding millions to Israel’s defense and robbing United States citizens of proper care. But more significantly it comes as Congress supports the ongoing genocide of Palestinians and repression of pro-Palestinian voices grows.

Lazy thinking. That’s how we’ve arrived here.

Post WWII western countries wished to be rid of the Jewish refugees. The refugees were relocated to Israel and a Jewish state was recognized by the UN in 1948.

What could have possibly gone wrong with that decision?

Already a hotbed of division, Israel expanded its territory with violence and displacement of the indigenous Palestinian people. May 15 is known as Nakba, the day of observance of Palestinian “ethnic cleansing” and land theft that occurred then and continues now.

True to their imperialistic nature, the US, Great Britain and others, supported Israel to engage in resource grabbing. This included oil and soon will be for the natural gas off the coast of Palestine – that they have just acquired through removal, and killing of Palestinians and destruction of Gaza.

“Keeping the peace” meant condemning the Palestinians to brutal occupation, because Israel is a nationalistic state, not a democracy. Palestinians who live in Israel do not share the same freedoms as Israelis. Checkpoints, water rationing and illegal Israeli settlers’ ongoing violence to Palestinians and their land have only escalated over the past 16 years. Like the apartheid state of South Africa – that the US was reluctant to see abolished – we have continued to pour billions yearly into the defense of Israel and have been willing to witness the eradication of Palestinian lands and lives.

The brutal attack by Hamas on October 7 was anexcuse for more land theft and genocide. These are not empty words. Look at the reality, not the smear campaign of corporate media, not the profiteering war mongers and their congressional lackies. I have never condoned the violence of October 7, and I will never accept the genocide that has been perpetrated by Israel since that day.

“From the River to the Sea” is used by both sides. Israel has been able to dominate the narrative – both there and here in the US. It is time to turn the narrative around. It is time to pursue peace and stop listening to the voices of hate.

We have some unlearning to do…

And for some levity in the chaos.

Redeem the Power of Love

The International Court of Justice will rule on the provisional requests made by South Africa in its genocide case against Israel this Friday, January 26 (6 am CST). You can listen here.

The case of genocide could take years to decide, but one of the provisions asked for ceasefire.

Another case will begin in Oakland, California on the same day. The case is Defense for Children International – Palestine versus Biden’s administration and calls for an end to the killing of innocents.

You can hear it here. The federal hearing on the case against Joe Biden, Anthony Blinken and Lloyd Austin will begin at 11 am CST.

Apparently, it takes court orders – that may or may not be complied with – to get world powers to cease their violence on civilians and children. Apparently, we have not yet understood we’re one people living on one planet and what happens to one happens to all.

We have not understood the fruitlessness of war. But most importantly we have not understood the strength of our humanity. We’re being called to know that strength. We are called to know the depth of our compassion and the power of our collective will to change.

It’s not anti-Semitic to say stop killing innocent people. It’s pro-human to call for a permanent ceasefire and to begin to repair the harm and the collective fears of everyone. It’s wisdom to recognize the only winners in this bloodbath are those profiting from war machines. It’s imperative to realize that it’s a land grab for resources, as are all wars.

Humanity seems bent on self-destruction. Yet, historically, it has been the effort towards peace that has eventually succeeded. We are beyond having a single leader save the day. It’s up to each one of us to redeem the power of love and to return to what is possible.

Somewhere in the neutrality and in the power of being human, we can be triumphant. Let us try.

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.” — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech

Who Will We Be?

I sat out Martin Luther King Day this year. Beyond Vietnam plays in my head plenty, as does his revulsion of the silent left*. The debates on social media were traps: would Martin be on the side of Israel or on the side of Palestine? Equipped with quotes of justification we reduce the genius of the man to a snapshot designed to serve our needs.

No I couldn’t urge the day of service this year. I wasn’t touched by Biden feeding the poor after serving up a speech marking 100 days of bombing Gaza – and only being able to talk about the hostages still held by Hamas, not a word about 24,000 Palestinian dead and counting.

No, I wasn’t able to scroll through the memes inviting us to our higher angels. One though, did catch my eye. It asked, “Will you live up to the quote you are posting today for the rest of the year?”

Martin paid for his wisdom. He took the hits and continued to follow his path of nonviolence. He refused to succumb to power and wrote some of his most important understandings inside the walls of jails. He watched as the friends deserted him for his too much caring for the poor or for victims of a rich man’s war.

They buried his work for years, thinking they might snuff out the humanity, the urgency, and the recognition that we had indeed gone to far into our materialism and too far from our hearts. I think people spend too much time pondering MLK and not enough time putting knowledge to task.

He showed us how to live; how to examine; how to be forthright and above all how to be human.

And now it is our turn. Who will we be?

“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Evolution of Compassion

South Africa took the bold step to bring a case against Israel for the conduct and the intent to commit genocide against the Palestinian people before the International Court of Justice. The extensive legal document asserted that Israel’s conduct towards the people of Gaza is a breach of the 1948 Geneva Conventions regarding genocide. Israeli war operations and the intent voiced by Israel’s leading politicians were given as examples of inciting and not preventing genocide. The concluding request of South Africa’s application to the court asked that Israel immediately cease military operations in Gaza.

In legal terms this case is an evolutionary step forward regardless of outcome. It is one that calls for a legal standing based on human obligations “owed to all”. If granted, it would allow the court to begin to enforce human rights treaties that have long gone unchecked. The Geneva Conventions of 1948 marked the first time nations agreed upon what constitutes genocide. This ruling could finally give power to that understanding.

The International Criminal Court also began investigating Israel’s abuses of international humanitarian law. It does not have jurisdiction over the Geneva Conventions, as does the ICJ. While primarily focused on the warring activities since, October 7, the South African application to the ICJ does not excuse Hamas, but does elaborate on the seventy-five years of apartheid, the fifty–six years of hostile occupation and the sixteen year blockade of Gaza.

Why South Africa? South Africa’s experience of and the dismantling of apartheid gives it unparalleled status to be the convener of this legal remedy. And what is the system of apartheid used in South Africa’s past and by Israel today? When one group of people asserts power over others through unequal treatment under the law, discrimination due to ethnicity, race or religion, and uses brutal military force to maintain control, these are practices of apartheid.

The case before the ICJ began Thursday, January 11. The court may ask Israel to cease the bombardment by Feb 12. Here are the other nations in support of South Africa’s application.

This is an important time to speak out. We have it within our reach to uphold human principles of dignity, preservation of life and the pursuit of peace. Peace will never be achieved through military means.

May the ICJ recognize the case against Israel and act to end the genocide. May our evolution of compassion continue to grow as we realize the power of peace and begin to demand it.

The Promise and Risk of South Africa’s Case Against Israel

Bernie Sanders calls on Congress to block funding to Israel. Contact your senators and urge them to support Bernie Sanders bill S. Res. 504 on Tuesday, January 16 at 5:30 pm EST.

The flag of South Africa. Honoring their commitment to humanity and human rights.

The Indoctrination of Choosing Sides

It doesn’t seem to matter how high the numbers of dead, or how many are women and children. The statistics of war crimes committed don’t seem to budge the dial of compassion. We treat the threat of broader war breaking out in the region as if it’s anticipated. I’ve thought a lot about it and I’ve come to this: we’re stuck in the indoctrination of choosing sides. We’ve been groomed to be pro-Israel; therefore we are immune to any criticism of their most right wing government.

I’ve tried to understand our willingness to be the loudest and most powerful opposition to a permanent ceasefire. The best I can come up with is this: we are stuck in the indoctrination of choosing sides. From an early age we compete and the duality of “us and them” is drilled into our being. And if we are the praying types, we learn to ask god for his/her/their blessings as we attempt to defeat our opponents – as if any god would be inclined to chose one side over the other. Do we think that god is tallying up the prayers and the one who gets the most will win?

I was taught to be a critical thinker and so it’s my nature to follow arguments to their conclusion. This is not a conclusion that makes any sense.

And then there are the intellectual arguments to justify our choice. I witnessed it when Putin decided to invade Ukraine with people dragging up history to defend the slaughtering of innocents. And now again with Netanyahu and his accomplice Biden, we are witnessing the same ridiculous arguments as these war criminals carry on their bloody conquests.

Perhaps it is time we choose the third side: being human.

There are those fighting back against genocide.

Before people get their knickers in a twist, I have nothing against Little League or sports in general. It is the heightened fervor of competition and “us and them” that I question.

Photo of Little League World Series 2007 compliments of https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ruhrfisch

A Wish for Us

Another year ends and wishes for good will and peace abound. So I will add my wishes for each of you, those I know and love and those that I don’t know but together we share this earth, her abundance, the air, water and our human kinship.

My wish is that we take time away from busyness and remember how precious is each moment; that we appreciate silence and its simplicity. And that we cultivate the inherent wisdom we hold to transform the world anew.

My hope is that as we come to love and respect ourselves we will realize the interconnectedness of the human family, realize we are one race and end the ignorance of separation and superiority.

That we will find the courage to break the chains of belief and allow for new vision and dreams to manifest. And that we challenge the stories that keep us locked into war as a resolution of conflict and the ideas of scarcity that lead the powerful toward conquest.

That we listen to marginalized people who are facing the destruction of the earth and their ways of life and find the determination to end the use of fossil fuels. This we must do in loving recognition for those who will come after us.

Ultimately let us find creative ways to break our silence and speak power to justice recognizing we can do more than pray. We’ve been given all the tools we need to make life on earth better for everyone. Let’s do it.

Mostly I wish for us to discover the gifts that lie in our own hearts and to ignore the doubts that tell us peace cannot be.

If we can throw off the shackles of belief.

If we can feel even one drop more our humanity.

If we can challenge the lies we have been told.

If we can recognize our comfort should not be bound in another’s sacrifice…

If and only if…

We will make this world a better place for everyone.

In 2024, find the courage and the clarity to be human.

Sign on to the numerous petitions demanding a permanent ceasefire and an end to all financial support of Israel’s war on civilians.

Amnesty International

US Campaign for Palestinian Rights

Take time to read more than US propaganda. Think about it. And act.

Hear other voices like Democracy Now.

We can make 2024 the year we move towards peace.

A Cry for Moral Reckoning

The world watches as the death toll of civilian Palestinians surpasses 18,000. At the UN, 153 countries voted for ceasefire, 23 abstained and eight countries – a few of them tiny islands – voted with the United States and Israel to maintain the ongoing genocide.

The vote demonstrates the isolation that is beginning to encompass the United States and Israel.

Christian Palestinians who have suffered in this reign of terror have an open letter to Chri stians worldwide. They decry the willful tolerance to violence that too many people of faith have adopted over the past three months. They debunk the lies that allow for the United States and western media’s collusion with Israel. And they cry out for moral reckoning.

Cop28 has ended along with the dream that the world would unify to end the use of fossil fuels. Instead we are urged to “transition” to natural gas. Indigenous leaders and climate activists from around the world also drafted an open letter regarding the genocide of Palestinians. They remind us that colonizing has always been the excuse for genocide and the stealing of land.

It was in their letter that I learned of Israel’s twelve permits recently granted for natural gas drilling. They were extended to Great Britain’s BP and Italy’s ENI among others. The lies about the need to remove Hamas and the forced removal of Palestinian civilians for their “safety” made sense in this context. Israel wants to cash in on the “transition” away from fossil fuels. When power and greed lead, human beings are dispensable.

What we are seeing is this: people of peace, people of faith, people who are demanding an end to land theft and to genocide are not being silent. May we all eliminate the beliefs that allow for the slaughter of human beings for greed and power.

That is our first challenge and then united we will stand.

Viva humanity.

Please take time to listen to my WDRT Conversation with Janan Najeeb, Executive Director of Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition regarding Palestine today, the historical context and the urgency for all of us to return to our humanity.

Our Resistance is Peace

We have learned the ways of war. We are good at dividing and conquering and we rely on our ability to shame or ignore those who are different or oppose us – even among people on our “side”. Violence has become the human default in word and deed.

We’ve backed ourselves into a corner and we continue to try to punch our way out.

As we witness the grotesque slaughter of civilian Palestinians – mostly women and children – and the ongoing violence to so many people throughout the world, we are left with the undeniable reality that we must change course.

However lofty our goals, however righteous our positions, without recognition of our shared humanity we will always fail to achieve the lasting peace we seek.

Whether we like it or not, whether we approve or not, we are one people, one planet. And we are destroying her. Through extraction of resources and the murdering of our people we are turning this garden into an unlivable hell.

There is a simple truth we need to embrace. There are more people wanting peace than the few who are destroying that possibility. And if so, then how do the peaceful find one another? How do we allow each of us the dignity to live as we choose?

Most importantly: how do we end the violence that has become our choice for resolution?

There’s only one remedy for this sickness of humankind. Those who have the courage and the ability must create new ways of coexistence. Through love and compassion we must revive the power of peace in our lives and let that become humanity’s highest goal.

Peace is possible. Let this be our resistance.

Image of Gandhi at the Salt March, 1930.

Let us return to the power of resistance through peace. Each of us.

The Insanity of War

Once again there is nothing new to report. Dominant cultures act out of dominance and humanity is forsaken.

It’s said the Nazis learned the ways of legalizing the mistreatment of human beings from their study of the United States government and military’s treatment of indigenous people.

Accounts of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing are rampant in our history. From the moment colonizers landed on these shores, Native people were systematically removed by ignorance or by plan.

In 1830, Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act forced the relocation of 60,000 Cherokees and other tribes. Known as the Trail of Tears the presidential orders were brutally carried out by the United States military.

And there are still those among us who glamorize the legendary Kit Carson whose scorched earth policy on the Dine or Navajo people were followed by numerous and deadly, violent forced removals. This ethnic cleansing or genocide was driven by ignorance, greed and racism and gave way to the Navajo Long Walk.

Sounds all too familiar, doesn’t it?

Land acquisition, resource plundering and cultural assimilation are the root of dominant culture and continue throughout the world.

Intentional and willful killing, displacement of innocents, destruction of non-military homes and other civilian enclaves such as hospitals, all fall within the realm of war crimes as ratified in the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

The retaliation of the Israeli government to the terrorist attack by Hamas has resulted in widespread war crimes from both sides. President Biden’s continued support in word and in financial aid to Israel constitutes an extension of those war crimes – and by default on all of us as citizens.

Isn’t it time we emerge from the insanity of war?

The signing of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 which established laws regarding war crimes.

Maybe it’s time we make war a crime…

Give Peace A Chance

There’s a story about a person who placed a stick on the ground and asked, “How do you make this stick smaller without touching it?” People took some time to think about it, and then one person jumped up, ran outside, came back and placed a bigger stick next to the now, smaller one.

In this time of reckoning, we grapple with the slaughter of innocents on both sides and the horrible reality that the vicious cycle of violence is something we have grown to accept. We can no longer allow the status quo of power and might to be victor. It’s time we lay a bigger stick.

And what can possibly be the bigger stick? It’s surely not more arms and more killing. It can only be through compassion and kindness that the gross wounds of humankind can begin to heal. It can only be with a relentless force of love and peace that we can stop the cycle of pain among the brotherhood of humanity.

It will only be with the keen awareness and understanding that we are here to help one another, not get in each other’s way. This can happen when we receive and rejoice in our diversity and see it as the strength that in fact it is.

Acknowledging that peace is not only possible but that it is also a sacred right. It is something available to us, nestled within us and available to manifest around us. We must dare to allow our greater aspirations not be diminished by what has been. We are no longer asking to “Give Peace a Chance”. We’re demanding it.

Ceasefire Now.

If you have not yet signed onto a petition for a ceasefire in Gaza, do it now. Every voice counts.

Demand a ceasefire by all parties to end civilian suffering

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-ceasefire-now?source=IG_ceasefire

Laying a bigger stick is a story I heard from Prem Rawat and it continues to guide me.

Category: Abolition