Posts Tagged ‘activism’
The ‘radical peace camp’ spinning its wheels
The “radical peace camp,” for lack of a better term, continues to baffle us. It seems utterly committed to remaining in the ridiculed sidelines of a complicated conflict. Its latest anti-Israel act comes in the form of a statement calling for IDF troops to refuse to fight in Gaza.
Nothing surprising in the text:
We refuse to remain silent while Israeli leaders force Israeli soldiers to commit war crimes: crimes against humanity for which they will one day be called to account. Israeli soldiers of conscience can, and must, stop this dangerous, illegal, and immoral war.
Etc., etc., etc.
A member of one of the sponsoring organizations brought this petition to our notice, noting with pride that it has nearly 700 signatures from 37 countries. We agreed with her that 700 names was remarkable, but in the other direction: the vast majority of Jews are not against the Gaza operation.
But the question of popularity aside, what about the sheer inanity of the text? It’s hard to see as a serious part of the discussion someone who comes out for peace and quiet only now when Israel is shooting back.
Also, isn’t it just a bit intellectually lazy to label Israeli actions “war crimes?” International agreements clearly stipulate that the party that drags the civilians into the battlefield, or takes the battle to the civilian population, is the criminal. A statement that fails to deal with that is both misleading as to the meaning of “war crime” and irrelevant to any conversation about the realities on the ground.
How do they countenance a statement that calls only Israel to account? We fancy ourselves peace-loving liberals yearning for Palestinian statehood, but we still marvel at the glaring lacuna in the peace statement: where is the recognition that the opponent here is Hamas, not Mohandas Gandhi?
Is Hizbullah trying to turn the Left violent?
Like most things in the Middle East, this news is both new and very old. According to a Los Angeles Times piece from last week out of Beirut, Hizbullah is actively connecting to left-wing activist groups worldwide in order to claim the mantle of moral leader against Western globalized imperialism.
It is doing this through a “front organization” think tank, the Consultative Center for Studies and Documentation, which is showing up in left-wing gatherings and international conferences.
“Hezbollah succeeded in incorporating the idea of resistance as part of the international anti-globalization movements,” said Abdel-Halim Fadlallah, vice president of [the center], the Hezbollah-affiliated think tank that often participates in activities abroad. “Through our contacts with these groups, we have managed to challenge the idea that Hezbollah is a dogmatic terrorist Islamist organization and convince part of the international left that we can be a strong partner,” he said.
Is it working? The article quotes Caoimhe Butterly, “an Irish activist who has worked in Lebanon for two years,” saying of the Second Lebanon War:
“It was a potent symbol that right makes might and that a guerrilla ready to fight for its people can succeed.”
Come again? Have the alleged successes of the Islamist strategy of muqawama, “persistent resistance,” inspired new musings on the use of violence for the anti-globalization campaign? Haven’t these starry-eyed Westerners noticed the social implosion and appalling tyranny in all the societies where it is practiced? Does the Left really want to return to those Stalinesque days when the means justified the ends?
We are ideological polar opposites to that international Left, but we have felt a basic sympathy for their sincerity and passion. A warning is justified: Hizbullah has ruined everything it has touched, including Lebanese politics and freedom, and Shi’ite Islam itself. They will ruin you if you succumb to the allure of violence.
A Hizbullah rally in 2005
