There are a lot things you don't hear about: The Palestinian conflict is just one of them
First off let me apologize for being mia. Im taking summer classes and working full time- so its been difficult to actually sit down and blog. I hope u understand.
Anyway, a lot has happened in my absence. Everyday I wake up and listen to aljazeera as I get ready to go to work...listening, hoping – perhaps foolishly- for an ounce of good news. I wake up to news of a bomb in iraq killing a hundred people. Israelis air strikes into gaza, the Palestinians dying in Lebanon. You know how it is...
But what disturbs me more is the news I don’t hear about, even on aljazeera. I don’t hear about the wall and the toll its taken on Palestinian life- despite a detailed world bank report affirming this. I don’t hear about how the children have to go through checkpoints to get to school. Or the children that have died while sitting at their desk in school. I don’t hear about the racist statements uttered by the Israeli government. i don’t hear about the daily apartheid, humiliation, devastation, land confiscation, assassination, and house demolitions. I don’t hear about the Palestinians within Israel- the discrimination the face on a daily basis. Has this really all become old news? On its part, all anyone hears from Israel when stuff like this happens is something equivalent to "oh, oops, whatever. "
I don’t hear about the Iraqi refugees stuck on the Syrian border. I don’t see the faces of the people who die everyday- the names of their loved ones that survive. To me they are just a number- inanimate and abstract. Insum all these numbers constitute a little wooden box that you keep in the very back of your dark closet. It sits there, collecting dust begging to be opened; but you cannot be bothered....you are too busy shifting through your shoe collection. What you fail to realize is that somebody, a real somebody, flesh skin and bones, died because of a lie (again, "oh, oops, whatever."). And the blood continues to spill...
I don’t hear about the effects of NAFTA in mexico. How people struggle to feed their families...until, they are left with no choice but to immigrate to the very place that caused all their suffering in the first place. And likewise I don’t hear about the north Africans that also risk their lives to cross into Europe.
I don’t hear about how the US ‘spread democracy’ in America- and all the people who died as a result. Or how about that time we invaded the Philippines?
I don’t’ hear about the poor in china being evicted to make room for the Beijing Olympics.
I don’t hear about the AIDS orphans in Africa- and you know I don’t hear much about making AIDS meds accessible to people in Africa for that matter either.
I don’t hear anyone denouncing what happened at Hiroshima and nagaski. I don’t hear anyone apologizing to the victims of 9/11 for using their loss as an excuse to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq. I don’t see anyone apologizing to the people of Afghanistan- who have been through so much, who continue to struggle in the midst of a puppet government and warring militia. Instead, the average afghani has been made to look completely backwards, stupid, and uncivilized. Almost as if they deserve everything they’re getting them. I don’t hear anyone talking about dead Afghanis.
I don’t really, honestly, hear anything about Darfur because although people in chic new york city cafes can pronounce the word and wear a tshirt they really know very little about sudan, its history, its present. The other day I heard barrack obama on PBS say that if Sudan had had oil, the US would have intervened. Newsflash, Mr. Obama: Sudan has oil. And newsflash: this is not some hip glossy issue that can simply be splashed on to some NGO request for funds from the US government. I mean does anyone in America really understand what's going on- or feel for the Sudanese people? Or is just some political fairy tale that Sarkozy picks up so he can boost his popularity? May i remind him of what France did to Algeria- and to all of Africa, for that matter?
I don’t hear about the 40 year civil war in Colombia. Or what America is doing to help fuel that conflict.
I don’t hear about the discrimination here at home- about getting pulled over because you’re driving while black. Being a suspect because of the color of your skin. Even simple things, like well, not being able to catch a cab because your skin is too dark. Forget a black man in the white house for a second; just think of the black people in prison that shouldn’t be here- that are serving heavy time for light charges. I don’t hear their story. All I hear about is Paris Hilton.
...So you must think I’m deaf by now. Fact is I’m not. I read about this stuff, but honestly, no one really ( ok well maybe a very few people) sit down and has conversations about this. And you don’t really see it all on the news either.
So in the midst of all these unspoken injustices, where do I fit in?
I mean what am I doing about all this? Fact is it can be overwhelming to look at all at once and try to solve everything.
But if we as a nation suddenly woke up one morning and decided to do something different, I think we could really get somewhere. Maybe I’m too optimistic, but the fact is I have to be.
And yes, I know I’ve said a lot. But I feel that before I continue with this post, I have to state that the Palestinian narrative of injustice, is in fact, similar all to these things ive just mentioned, and more. And I must say, that I in no way pretend that we are the only victims. I perhaps dwell it on more than other injustices, simply because I’ve lived it. I inherited the pain from my ancestors. Its called historical trauma, actually- look it up, studies done on Native Americans affirm that they suffer from it. What I’m trying to say is that I dwell on it because I am a part of it. I am from there. But I am also from here. So a single working mother who struggles to pay her medical bills here, well it bothers me just as much as what I see happening in Palestine. Now what do these two examples have in common?
Well, let’s look at the history of slavery in the united states. Black people were uncivilized. In fact they were downright stupid. They deserved to be lynched. Palestinians today are not slaves per say- but let’s look at their history. Under suffering the choking hold of the British, they came under the rule of Israel- and became known as two-legged cockroach, thanks to prime minister golda meir. Yes, today, these two situations have different dynamics; but they trace back to a two things: racism, and power i.e the control of resources.
Let’s look at it another way:
Consider these two videos:
http://www.youtube.com/...
http://www.youtube.com/...
The first was recorded in LA, when police fired into a peaceful crowd on May Day
The second takes place in Bilin, in the west bank, where villagers and peace activists set out on a peaceful march protesting the confiscation of their land.
At first look, you might say they have nothing to do with each other. Granted, the Palestinians are not immigrants, but the original inhabitants of the land. The march in LA was for immigrant rights, not land rights per say. But at the end of the day you have to regimes (and allies by the way) exerting their will upon the people. Both people are being some form of justice. Both people decided to express their frustration in a peaceful manner. Both people got kicked in the ass for it. Yet on most days, the people in Bilin will not hear about the march in LA, and the protestors in LA will likewise not hear about the march in Bilin.
I don’t know about you, but when I don’t hear something, I usually feel the need to say something. I hope that I can take it to the next level so that things are not just ‘said’ but people on both sides of the world can discuss these injustices.
More to come.
In solidarity,
falasteenyia