From: Philip Hood (email suppressed)
Date: Mon Dec 04 2006 - 18:11:45 PST
On Mon, 4 Dec 2006, db wrote:
> To jump off from the South African examples in the original call (with no
> intent to equate SA with Israel), the Rolling Stones would yet be playing at
> an apartheid Sun City stadium if international pressure hadn't been applied
> to that country (for the parsers: not to suggest that such a result was the
> end-all goal in the quest for ending apartheid).
all I'm saying is this: that for many years
everyone & I mean everyone w/ eyes to see
knew what was going on & that it was wrong.
the truth of the matter was for a while,
and many years before, everyone was saying
oh, look at that, tisk, tisk, its so sad.
finally, after a hot minute, people who woke up
to question their own (via
their government's) complicity in the
apartheid, and the most real pressure they
were able to apply was right at home within
their government. Sure they were looking
internationally, but when they were finally
fed up about what their own governments were
doing to support the actions and institutions
of the unhappy regime in place there, thats
when the game was up.
I'm an anarchist at heart as much as anyone here,
but I have to tell you: acceptance and
full participation within the framework
of the democratic process that is on the ground
is, maybe sadly, mandatory. there is no other way
around it here. somewhere along the way,
we are going to have to compromise and yes,
work with people who only seem to have
themselves and their white rich families
safety and well being and their fat-ass
insurance and IRA accounts and SUVs and their
Hamptons and their $1.99 big macs as their first and
primary and only interest. Yes, you are
going to have to work w/ these people in
order to save so many more and maybe even
the entire fate the population of the planet.
anyway, all I've said earlier is still
true: that there are actually so many
laws in so many places in at least
the US that would cut the killing, hurt
and pain down dramatically in so many
ways on this planet. Most countries
of the people reading this email are
not that different - the only thing we need
do is stand up and demand that these laws merely
be followed: to have our governments to stop
breaking the law - that is all.
rather, however, we all too apt to
sit down and point to whats happening
next door, neglecting to see how
its actually us feeding the flames of
the fire.
that's all I'm saying about this
boycott thing. I dig _any_ righteous
thing that's going to get some more
people alive and happy and striving
for just simple stuff, like, dating &
going to see a movie, dating someone,
getting a nice job and feeling like
proud of stuff they made and being
together w/ family and community,
having struggle, but holding on because
life is so sweet and precious. Anything
that leads to that is good & there is
no one on this planet that doesn't
want this fundamental thing. But, I'm
saying that you have apply the correct
pressure to solve the problem where
you can. And here, in this case,
its because we are all allowing this
to happen. I'm saying, if you are really
going to boycott, then take it to the
source, and end this killing.
We have laws (at least in the US), in fact,
to ensure that.
All we have to do is keep checks on
the government forces and have them
to stop breaking, and to follow their own
laws that have long been on the books.
For a while we've had a problem with
forces in the government that didn't
want to follow those laws, and in fact,
broke them, over and over again,
hurting many people along the way.
And whoever is reading this email, I'm
sure that your government was in the
mix too ...
Its up to us to help put the pieces
back together.
-ml
pth
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.