When all means of survival is cut off in a pen (Gaza) which people can't get out of, I think
that qualifies as genocide. Even if they could get out, I think it would still
qualify as genocide. Maybe you could look up the definition of genocide
according to international law.
When I come back from Palestine,
I probably will have nightmares and constantly feel guilty for not being here,
but I can channel that into more work. Coming here is one of the better things
I've ever done. So when I sound crazy, or if the Israeli military should break
with their racist tendency not to injure white people, please pin the reason
squarely on the fact that I am in the midst of a genocide which I am also
indirectly supporting, and for which my government is largely responsible."
February 28 2003:
"I spent a lot of time writing about the disappointment of discovering,
somewhat first-hand, the degree of evil of which we are still capable. I should
at least mention that I am also discovering a degree of strength and of basic
ability for humans to remain human in the direst of circumstances - which I
also haven't seen before. I think the word is dignity. I wish you could meet
these people. Maybe, hopefully, someday you will."
February 28 2003:
"I think I could see a Palestinian state or a democratic Israeli-Palestinian
state within my lifetime. I think freedom for Palestine could be an incredible source of
hope to people struggling all over the world. I think it could also be an
incredible inspiration to Arab people in the Middle East, who are struggling
under undemocratic regimes which the US supports.
I look forward to increasing numbers of middle-class privileged people like you
and me becoming aware of the structures that support our privilege and
beginning to support the work of those who aren't privileged to dismantle those
structures.
I look forward to more moments like February 15 when civil society wakes up en
masse and issues massive and resonant evidence of it's conscience, it's
unwillingness to be repressed, and it's compassion for the suffering of others.
I look forward to more teachers emerging like Matt Grant and Barbara Weaver and
Dale Knuth who teach critical thinking to kids in the United States.
I look forward to the international resistance that's occurring now fertilizing
analysis on all kinds of issues, with dialogue between diverse groups of
people.
I look forward to all of us who are new at this developing better skills for
working in democratic structures and healing our own racism and classism and
sexism and heterosexism and ageism and ableism and becoming more effective."
Â
In fifth grade, at the age of ten, Rachel Corrie wrote her heart out and stated it at a Press Conference on World Hunger in 1990:
I'm here for other children.
I'm here because I care.
I'm here because children everywhere are suffering and because forty thousand
people die each day from hunger.
I'm here because those people are mostly children.
We have got to understand that the poor are all around us and we are ignoring
them.
We have got to understand that these deaths are preventable.
We have got to understand that people in third world countries think and care and
smile and cry just like us.
We have got to understand that they dream our dreams and we dream theirs.
We have got to understand that they are us. We are them.
My dream is to stop hunger by the year 2000.
My dream is to give the poor a chance.
My dream is to save the 40,000 people who die each day.
My dream can and will come true if we all look into the future and see the
light that shines there.
If we ignore hunger, that light will go out.
If we all help and work together, it will grow and burn free with the potential
of tomorrow.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
