Re: [Marxism] more thoughts on Gaza
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On Sun, Aug 10, 2014 at 6:30 AM, Gary MacLennan via Marxism marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu wrote: Things fall apart... Randomly and existentially, and perhaps of interest to nobody, that damn poem keeps turning up in this context: https://twitter.com/jncatron/status/495677525020782593 -- Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] more thoughts on Gaza
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I have read Richard Seymour's [Lenin's tomb blog] contributions on Gaza and they are, as one expects from Richard, extremely thought provoking. He appears to be working on a thesis about the auto-radicalizing process that is underway in Israel. As I understand it, his argument is that the logic of the Zionist project is pulling the Israeli people and government further and further to the right. They must expand their conquest and that necessitates ethnic cleansing and the practice of genocide, something the Israelis refer to as nail clipping or mowing the lawn. What is unique about the Zionist colonial settler project, is that it refuses to publicly acknowledge their sponsors -first Britain and now the USA. For the Israelis, there is supposedly no mother country. Instead, the Zionist settlers argue, that they are returning home. But the actualities of colonial conquest are there for all of us to see. Those who support Israel are increasingly uncomfortable about the ongoing massacres that that the conquest and theft of another people's land inevitably requires. Supporters of Israel would like the killing to be in the past and so easy to forget. Instead, the killing fields are there for all to see in the mediasphere. Liberals like Mary Robinson and Carter would like the Israeli war machine to stop and for two states to emerge. But the experience of imperialism in Ireland would suggest that two state solutions do not work. Whatever the case, it is clear now that the main opponents of the two-state are the Israelis themselves. Clearly their preferred option is for ethnic cleansing. What is frustrating the Israelis is continued Palestinian resistance and even on occasion successful military defiance. That in turn puts pressure on what is a reservist based army. None of whom want to die, and very few of whom enjoy the experience of encountering Arabs who shoot back. So as I read it and of course caution is needed, Israel is faced with the stark choice of giving into Hamas' demands or of marked escalation, including a possible re-occupation of Gaza. Continued bombing is eroding the power base of their main allies - Sisi, and the Kings Abdullah. More than ever Israel needs Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to acquiesce in the Zionist adventure. But cost of that acquiescence is getting ever higher. Things fall apart... comradely Gary Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] More thoughts on Gaza
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I watched the Jon Snow Channel 4 piece on Gaza last nite on Youtube and it was magnificent. It was simple decent outrage about what is happening. I also looked up Uri Avnery, of Gush Shalom, to see what he was saying. I was provoked into this by a Washington Post piece which claimed the Israeli peace camp activists were behind Netanyahu. I have been critical of Avery's dream of a respectable Zionism, but his article was very good in its description of the 'mediators' http://www.avnery-news.co.il/english/. They are an execrable bunch, especially the loathsome Tony Blair. There was also a discussion on Al Jazeera English that I sat through. What stuck with me most was the metaphor of 'mowing the lawn' to describe what Israel was up to in Gaza. The metaphor describes perfectly the thinking within Israel. It totally dehumanizes the Palestinians and positions them as the Feared/Despised Other. More than anything else the metaphor speaks to the moral bankruptcy of the Zionists. It also masks only slightly a fear that the Palestinians cannot be beaten. The grass will grow again and again and again. The political futility of trying to destroy Palestine is obvious to all but the most depraved. We now have a 72 hour truce. I hope that Netanyahu will have trouble in getting the killing frenzy going again. When the blood lust has cooled, I believe that even within Israel the realization that they have anathematized themselves will begin to penetrate. If nothing else they will see it in the eyes of their biggest supporters. Obama and Kerry will continue in public to speak in glowing terms of Israel, but when they leave the obligatory meeting with Netanyahu et al, they will hasten to wash their hands. No one likes the butcher and the torturer - the performer of the dirty business upon which all structures of oppression and exploitation necessarily rest. That is what Israel has become, an ever so eager peddler of dirty deeds. Some light unto the nations! comradely Gary Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
