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Monday, June 07, 2010

This is not a poem; a massacre is not a massacre

By Ghassan Hage,
(hat tip- Media Lens)

Long ago, I was made to understand that Palestine was not Palestine;
I was also informed that Palestinians were not Palestinians;
They also explained to me that ethnic cleansing was not ethnic cleansing.
And when naive old me saw freedom fighters
they patiently showed me that they were not freedom fighters,
and that resistance was not resistance.
And when, stupidly, I noticed arrogance, oppression and humiliation
they benevolently enlightened me so I can see that arrogance was not arrogance,
oppression was not oppression and humiliation was not humiliation.
I saw misery, racism, inhumanity and a concentration camp.
But they told me that they were experts in misery, racism, inhumanity
and concentrations camps and I have to take their word for it: this was not misery, racism, inhumanity and a concentrations camp.

Over the years they’ve taught me so many things:
invasion was not invasion, occupation was not occupation,
colonialism was not colonialism and apartheid was not apartheid…
They opened my simple mind to even more complex truths
that my poor brain could not on its own compute like:
‘having nuclear weapons’ was not ‘having nuclear weapons’,
‘not having weapons of mass destruction’ was ‘having weapons of mass destruction’.
And, democracy (in the Gaza strip) was not democracy.
Having second class citizens (in Israel) was democracy.

So you’ll excuse me if I am not surprised to learn today
that there were more things that I thought were evident that are not:
peace activists are not peace activists, piracy is not piracy,
the massacre of unarmed people is not the massacre of unarmed people.
I have such a limited brain and my ignorance is unlimited.
And they’re so fxxxing intelligent. Really.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

"So you’ll excuse me if I am not surprised to learn today
that there were more things that I thought were evident that are not:
peace activists are not peace activists, piracy is not piracy,
the massacre of unarmed people is not the massacre of unarmed people."

What sweet lines! Just a couple of things he forgot to add:

"Islamist thugs are not Islamist thugs. Iron bars are not iron bars. Anti-Semites are not anti-Semites. Terrorists are not terrorists."

jack said...

I would hardly call HAMAS "freedom fighters" and "resistance" they are/were part of an internationalist Islamic movement involved in foreign conflicts most noticeably Bosnia, murder and torture rival Palestinian groups, deliberately target civilian population in Israeli firing rockets and suicide bombings and don’t even recognise Israel right to exist as a state.

Johnm said...

Neil, I think you have missed the point, all things come in good and bad forms. There are good concentration camps and bad ones, good Jews and bad Jews, depending on ones point of observation. What you are describing is global insanity without indicating whether you are about the good or the bad form.

Johnm

robert said...

Good grief. I've just realised. Dr Hage is based in Australia.

Australia! Where the Bibi-worship of the mass media (and the so-called right-wing media, such as Quadrant and Australian Conservative) makes The New York Post look like a model of even-handedness.

Australia! Where the libel laws are so insanely Stalinoid that, decades ago, it was seriously proposed by at least one state government that these laws should be extended to cover criticisms of dead people.

Australia! Where there is no Bill of Rights, no First Amendment, nothing to stop the thought-police kicking our doors down if we say or write something they don't like.

Australia! Where the Federal Government would abolish the Internet if it could, and since it can't, is currently trying to impose North-Korea-type controls on it. (All "to save the children", of course. Of course.)

Australia! The first country in the world to make free speech not merely illegal but, in the minds of 99% of citizens, unimaginable.

God help Australia, because the average Australian certainly won't. At least they haven't carted Dr Hage off to prison yet.

jack said...

@Neil Clark

What’s happening in Hungry as your wife probably has friends or family members in Hungry to keep you informed in developments happening there?

I heard a day or two ago that Hungry is facing the same financial meltdown problem as Greece with the banks collapsing (which LaRouche predicted would happen along with Ireland and Spain).

Do you know if this is true?

“Some 70% of all property development in Budapest is conducted by Israeli owned firms. Twenty separate Israeli companies dominate the Budapest property market, and own the vast majority of our capital’s shopping centres, office blocks, and prestige hotels; in addition to most of the recently constructed residential blocks in the city.”

Neil Clark said...

Hi Jack-
i hope to be writing something about Hungarian situation soon.
all best, Neil