Revolution #155, February 8, 2009
Town Hall Meeting in Berkeley—A Call to Act to Stop the Israeli Massacre in Gaza
January 29, 2009
On Mon night, Jan 26 at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists; an emergency town hall meeting was called concerning the Gaza massacres. This meeting was sponsored by Revolution Books and the BFUU church's social justice committee as a "Call to Act" to NOT remain silent, but to demand a "stop to the Israeli massacre in Gaza" and to "condemn the US support of this war crime."
The hall quickly filled to near capacity to hear an impressive roster of speakers: Dr Hisham Ahmed, who taught at Bir Zeit Univ for 12 years; Prof Hatem Bazian, a Palestinian lecturer at UC's Dept of Ethnic Studies as well as teaching at Boalt Hall; Dennis Bernstein, host of KPFA's 'flashpoints'; Rev Dorsey Blake, prominent outspoken Black minister; Wilson Riles Jr, well known Bay Area educator and activist; Paul Larudee, an activist wounded by Israeli gunfire in 2001; and Larry Everest, writer for Revolution newspaper, and author of Oil, Power and Empire as well as an expert on the Middle East.
Reiko Redmonde from Revolution Books set the tone of the evening when she noted that this is precisely an emergency call to action because of the emerging horror from 22 days of bombing and invasion—at the same time there is too little condemnation coming from inside the U.S. As she eloquently put it, "without Middle East protesters, the world would see silence."
Then one by one, speakers exposed the lies of the U.S. and Israel, and the reasons behind those lies. Hatem began by talking about the emergence of U.S./Israeli-speak in use of the term "New Middle East." In short this is an elaborate set up by imperialists and client states which is “set up for the few at the expense of many." This is behind the use of gulf states which he called "oil companies with flags"!
Hatem noted that Israel had to show a 'toughness' against the Arabs much like the U.S. has to show a toughness against the Black people. They both feel they have to crush any resistance against the oppressed; however, this has in neither case ended well for them. And we cannot rely on Obama to aid the Palestinians. Indeed he noted that Obama's silence on this war crime in Gaza has been death to Palestinians.
Dennis Bernstein gave a brief speech about how we must end this 'caged occupation' and its U.S. support of $15 million! And he castigated the US press which "cleanses the details of the suffering"; which we are only finding out from alternative sources from Gaza City. Dennis said "the South African's (govt of the 70-80's) were never as brutal as the Israelis in the last 2 months.
Dr Ahmed gave a moving speech about this NOT being a 'war' at all, but an "exercise in sadism". Although he is critical of Hamas, Dr Ahmed noted that this invasion is not about Israeli 'self-defense' (nor did Hamas first break the cease fire). But he warned of a heavier situation ahead with Egypt sitting on a volcano with its peace treaty with Israel about to be abrogated soon.
Interestingly, Dr Ahmed expressed the need for us to act beyond 'divestment, boycotts or petitioning congress'. He felt that we had to move to block (with legislation) Israeli officials from even entering the U.S. because of their war crimes.
Rev Dorsey Blake surprised many of us by castigating the silence of the religious community for fear of offending those victims of the WW2 holocaust. He himself was called 'anti-Semitic' when he opposed the 1982 invasion of Lebanon (readers should google Sabra and Shatila for that). Rev Dorsey moved us all when he said that "silence is a betrayal of the moral glue that binds us together as humanity." He expressed strong outrage for what was emerging as 'horrific unmitigated violence'.
Reiko again made an announcement about Revolution Books and the threats to the store and herself for comments on upholding the recent rebellion of the people of Oakland in response to the police murder of Oscar Grant. But she also added the support for the protest that had also happened; and this brought more house applause.
Larry Everest began in reference to Rev Dorsey and Revolution paper by saying "Never again can the holocaust be used as justification for the holocaust of others." And he added Bob Avakian's quote "the worst thing to happen to the Jewish people since the holocaust is the state of Israel."
But Larry's speech focused on the 9 Lies we are being fed about Israel:
1) This is a war between Israel and Hamas. NO this is a hi-tech slaughter of Palestinian people.
2) Israel was mainly going after combatants. NO even referring to the slaughter of whole families and use of phosphorus bombs, etc
3) This has happened for thousands of years. NO this begins with imperialism (and the Nakba)
4) Israel was founded as a result of the holocaust. NO It began with Zionism which predated the holocaust.
5) Israel represents the interests of the people NO (refers to Avakians quote above)
6) Israel controls U.S. foreign policy NO other way around. Israel is an attack dog for the U.S. in the Middle East.
7) Israel has the right to defend itself NO (strong applause). Its existence is illegitimate. the world needs a one state solution.
8) Obama will be different NO enough said
9) You can't say anything bad about Israel without being pro-Hamas NO and then Larry went on to speak about the 2 outmodeds, but added that imperialism has inflicted more suffering on the world including support at times for fundamentalist regimes.
He ended by saying "you have to go where the learning takes you" and how we must join in with the other speakers in an END TO SILENCE. and "we need to stop thinking like Americans and start thinking about humanity."
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