From: Philip Hood (email suppressed)
Date: Mon Dec 04 2006 - 06:52:36 PST
All:
I'd like to see film-makers here make, watch,
distribute & support more of the art and exposition
already out there as well help give birth to
that which could be made in the future that high-lights
this grave topic.
In terms of the politics of the situation, I think
that as citizens of whatever state-body we are, our
first concern should be addressing at a local
level our government's participation. For those of us
US citizens, I think we bear a very great responsibility
for many issues in Palestine and Israel, with the
issue of cluster munitions being a very recent and
palpable example of many.
I'm not sure what a call
to "Boycott Israel" really means, but I can understand
why we as US citizens, for instance, need more
transparency and focus in international arms export
controls. We would need to push our politicians to make
more sound, rational, fair and balanced decisions on
this matter. We need to support them with our voices
and feet in the streets, for they can't do it alone.
We also need for there to be independent
investigation and study and sufficient accountability if
and when wrong has been done in regards to breach
of military arm protocol.
I just fear to much that a call for "Boycott!"
is so utterly guttural and reactionary. I'm not even
sure of what it means. I'm not
sure if its a slogan and placard I myself want to
carry, although I think I understand very well why
someone might call for it. But personally I'd much
rather fight to help my friends and myself understand
more clearly the situation, and work within the framework
of the power structure at hand to merely make the
processes in place supporting irregularity in
the situation to change.
In the US, again, we have honestly quite
a lot of responsbility for the situation, and
again, to be honest, its not till we all around
the world begin to wake up and say we all need to
work together in a way that fosters love and
caring, empathy and understanding, is this
situation going to get better. The current
prevailing point of view of an eye
for an eye is so clearly not working, and the
world, with all the children in it, is worth so
much more than that. I agree with the basis of
the sentiment that there is no better time to
do whatever we can to end the killing
in Palestine and Israel THAN RIGHT NOW.
We are all children of the earth and brothers
to one another, and because of that, we are all
chosen people, and all deserve to live and
a chance to love.
-ml
pth
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For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.