Well, today's counter-demo was a lot better than the one ten days ago.
There were more of us.
[Still outnumbered, but what did you expect?]
The gentleman next to whom I stood was yelling such lovely phrases that his head directly translated out of Yiddish, many of which would have needed further translation to be fully comprehensible to the crowd on the other side (for whom an understanding from what he said difficult would be, precisely, they should known-have-been with such expressions their whole life already, but what else you expected perhaps?).
But that actually highlights the problem. You've heard the expression "two Jews, three opinions" before, yes?
What that means at a demonstration is "one hundred Jews (and maybe twenty Gentiles) and nearly a thousand slogans".
With no co-ordination of what gets hollered when, or by how many.
Often those slogans go off message.
Which is further not helped by a group singing 'Haveinu Shalom Aleichem', or the chap yelling that 'they' should all be deported to Guantanamo (what I have heard, is a fine place this time of year).
WE DON'T HAVE SLOGANS.
WE NEED SLOGANS.
Everything that we have to say just is not simple, simplistic, or simple-minded enough.
The phrase "dismantle the terrorist infrastructure, desist from gratuitous violence, and stop teaching anti-Semitism in your schools while you're at it" lacks, shall I say, a certain punch. It has no chantable rhythm. It does not scan. It fails to excite.
["Destroy Hezbooooollaaaah....! Destroy Ham-ass!" - by me is good, maybe, perhaps not quite...... ]
But I think a good time was had by all - fighting Jews, fellow travelers, cops, and crazy crackers alike (thank y'all for coming, and hope to see you at the next love-fest).
I'm dehydrated, my throat is scratchy, my blood-sugar level has plummeted, and I've got a head-ache van jewelste.
Oh, I also got to see several people leyning tefillin (it's a mitzvah) so you know who else was there too.
I can't think of anything better to have done on the Seventeenth of Tamuz.
So I'll postpone my 17º Tammoez posting of a poem by Jacob Israel DeHaan, with translation and commentary, till tomorrow. When everybody's blood-sugar level is up.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
IN TUNE WITH WILD LIFE
That noise outside while I was drifting awake? Turned out to be the streetsweeping vehicle. Not actually an owl. But it had sounded ike an o...
12 comments:
Chaver- I was there both days, too. It was gratifying to see the turnout yesterday, especially compared with our lackluster turnout 10 days earlier.
What can I say- our people have no rhythm - even with a bullhorn, I couldn't get the folks to sustain a chant. But ultimately, no complaints- we stood there- hundreds of us- in solidarity with our land of milk and honey. Our group was beautiful- multigenerational, multi-ethnic, and very very passionate.
We showed up, and we showed the islamofascists across the street that our love for Israel is strong and steadfast.
And like the Everready bunny, they just keep coming. Monday at noon, at the consulate, Jewish Voice for Peace (I call 'em Jewish voice for Capitulation) has a lunchtime rally scheduled.
Chazak, chazak v'nitchazak. Its a hard road we're traveling.
Singing already written songs seemed to work best...give peace a chance, hava nagila, etc...but still we really only had it in one little cluster.
It was still a success. Our numbers were strong, the group was diverse...and seeing their anger up against our peacefullness probably looked good.
How about
"El pueblo, unido, Hamas sera vencido"
Get it? Hamas and not jamas.
Love your blog btw.
great
pervert one of the best slogans to suit a zionist cause which borders on nazism, which uses the same collective kind of punishment the nazis did, which slaughters men, women and children in a ghetto they created (gaza) as the nazis did in warsaw.
Anonymous,
Go to hell with the rest of your islamofascist murderous buddies.
Anonymous,
Precisely what Chardal said.
I could not have said it better myself.
It is attitudes such as yours which harden us. If, eventually, Gaza is steamrollered into a giant parking lot, you will have been the cause thereof, and the stimulus.
Islamofascist?
What the hell?
"It is attitudes such as yours which harden us. If, eventually, Gaza is steamrollered into a giant parking lot, you will have been the cause thereof, and the stimulus. "
honestly, shit like that proves my point. What you are taking about is ethnic cleansing, bordering on genocide.
Just because you are a Jew doesnt mean i cant call you a nazi
BECAUSE YOU ARE
What the Jews were in WW2, thats what the palestinians are now.
My dear Anonymous,
Just because you can't read, I probably should not call you an idiot - even though I fear that you are.
If Gaza ever gets turned into a parking lot, Egypt will finally have to take back the people who used to be Egyptian citizens - until Egypt decided that it was better to disenfranchise them all.
And despite the fact that six million Arabs have been slaughtered in the last fifty years, less than a couple of tens of thousands have perished because of Israel.
On the other hand, how many have been killed by Islamic radicals in Algiers? How many of his own people did Saddam Hussein kill?
How many did Gamel Abdel Nassers stormtroopers gas in Yemen?
How many were killed by other Arabs in Lebanon?
How many did Hafez Assad kill when he flattened Hama?
How many have the isurgents killed in Iraq?
How many Arabs died when King Hussein of Jordan had to take back his country from the PLO?
How many have been killed by Islamic extremists in the Sudan?
Why do the Arabs have such faith in the rhetorical qualities of murder?
People have a fucking right to live wherever they damn well please. So keep your paws off of their homes and give the refugees back their land.
As for the deaths being the arabs fault, well partly perhaps but im not disputing that their leaders suck! I AGREE THEY SUCK! But it has to be said that most of the turmoil in the middle east has been and continues to be caused by the west (incl. israel).
"Why do the Arabs have such faith in the rhetorical qualities of murder? "
Maybe because thats the only way they can express themselves in a world where they are gagged and bound by zionists and imperialists.
Regardless, that wasnt the point. The point is that Israel is actively pursuing lebensraum through the use of ethnic cleansing and collective punishment.
Can you get more nazi than that without raising the swastika flag?
Anonymouse: People have a fucking right to live wherever they damn well please. So keep your paws off of their homes and give the refugees back their land.
Tia: In what universe?
People do not have the right to live wherever they please. As a Jew, I couldn't even VISIT Saudi Arabia, much less LIVE there. Even nice modern, moderate Jordan refuses to allow Jews to own land.
Did you know that in the 1940's nearly 900,000 Jews were forcibly expelled from the Arab countries they lived in for generations? Their homes and bank acounts were confiscated by the state- many fled with just the clothes on their back. These are the forgotten refugees of the Mid east. What rights and recourse do they have?
"People do not have the right to live wherever they please. As a Jew, I couldn't even VISIT Saudi Arabia, much less LIVE there. Even nice modern, moderate Jordan refuses to allow Jews to own land."
HEY!?
Am i saying i AGREE with that?!
Ofcourse not! Im not some rabid anti-semite.
When i say people have a right to live wherever they damn well please, that doesnt mean that right is granted. That means that i support everyone who wants to live in a place he/she cant because of some dictatorial, fascist bullshit
"Did you know that in the 1940's nearly 900,000 Jews were forcibly expelled from the Arab countries they lived in for generations? Their homes and bank acounts were confiscated by the state- many fled with just the clothes on their back. These are the forgotten refugees of the Mid east. What rights and recourse do they have?"
The same as the palestinians.
However do not complain about people treating you in a certain way, if you yourself treat people like that as well.
We need solidarity, whether jew or arab, you all have the right to live out your lives in PEACE. But do not be surprised that when YOU deny someone to live in peace that person will treat you likewise
Post a Comment