New World, Old Tactics

New world, old tactics

Discrimination, apartheid and divestment in Israel

The Holocaust was undoubtedly one of the great atrocities of humanity. There will never be so profound a difference between anyone to warrant the indiscriminate discrimination of an entire people.

But past abomination does not justify that of the present.

The inequity between Palestine and Israel is undeniable. Beyond question or doubt, it is a grave injustice. But so often, criticism of Israel is immediately deemed an attack on judaism and discontinued. Discussions of fact become outrun by guilt.

Calling someone anti-semitic is a lot easier than listening about the inhumane conditions Palestinians are forced to endure.

Noting that Israel is an unjust state that denies people of different beliefs rights and retaliates attacks with disproportionate force is harsh but true. It has nothing to do with hating Jewish people.

Zionism is the Jewish political movement to re-establish a homeland for Jews in Israel. It seeks to create a Jewish identity, unify Jews and preserve Jewish culture. However, as such, zionism only strives at the suffering of the Palestinian people.

Now is the time to make clear that we will no longer stand for this mistreatment of an entire race. Not only does our government give billions annually to Israel, which undoubtedly attributes to the rampant human rights violations, but we, as a society, often unknowingly propel this unacceptable cycle of abuse.

A boycott of Israeli good and companies that support the zionist movement, as well as a divestment from these institutions sends the message that it is not an ideal we share, nor one which warrants any kind of aid.

The comparison between apartheid in South Africa and occupied Palestine is relevant, though contested. The situation is different, in that South Africa had a national policy of discrimination, blatant and undeniable. Israel’s apartheid is not legislated, per se, but is undeniably practiced.

But in a 2007 visit to Gaza and the West Bank, prominent South African politician Ronnie Kasrils said he felt as though brought back the past apartheid state of his home.

He witnessed the rampant checkpoints and ultimately contradistinct quality of life between the comforts of the Jews-only settlements and the poverty forced upon the Palestinian people. Kasrils called the structure of the segregation “infinitely worse than apartheid.”

A boycott approach was successfully used by consumers opposing apartheid in South Africa.

“By the time Barclays' Bank (UK) had pulled out of apartheid South Africa, its share of the student market had plummeted from 27 percent to 15 percent,” the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions for Palestine Movement reports.

This is a tangible show of efficacy. We need to apply this to companies promoting the zionist agenda.

Standing against Israel is not discrimination against Jews. It is standing against discrimination against Palestinians. Respect for humanity is not mutually exclusive.

Israel was deemed a state to essentially make reparations after World War II.

Palestine’s occupation is religiously justified. God promised Jacob, father of all Jews, a land for his children. It happened to be Palestine.

The Jews are virtually using a book that they wrote to legitimize their actions. How is this even remotely reasonable?

"Judaism is a religion that has tried to establish itself as a nationality," said Eddie Merlo, senior history major. "Now the Palestinians are constantly losing land to Jews, as they refuse to stop settlement expansion."

But last week, after months of refusing the United Nations and the Obama administration’s calls to freeze just West Bank settlement expansions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally announced a 10-month pause on growth in the West Bank.

Palestine’s leaders have said for months that they will resume peace talks with Israel once it freezes settlement growth on Palestinian land in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

This compliance appears to be a significant effort by the Israelis to continue on with peace talks, however, it lacks the full effects sought by Palestine and all others seeking justice in the region. This lull is neither permanent nor does it actually end displacement and harm to Palestinians.

In East Jerusalem, in order to clear way for more Jews-only settlements, Israeli authorities have been forcibly evicting and demolishing Palestinian homes, on grounds that they were built without proper permits, and are therefore illegal.

Israel did not agree to stop expanding in East Jerusalem, leaving a conservative 60,000 Palestinians at risk according to the UN.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs states that the permits are very difficult for Palestinians to obtain; they are forced to build “illegally” to stay within the city, or else risk losing their Jerusalem Identity cards, the documentation required by Israelis to access and live in the city.

Over 600 Palestinians, at least half of them children, have already been displaced by these demolitions.

The American company Caterpillar provides the most commonly used bulldozer by the Israeli military, which according to Jewish Voice for Peace, “have been used in home demolitions, destruction of agricultural land and sometimes killing civilians.” In 2004, Caterpillar bulldozers, tearing into water and sewage networks, were used to contaminate Gaza water supply.

What’s worse is that Caterpillar CEO Jim Owens refuses to stop sales of military bulldozers to Israel, despite many calls from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and many other groups. Caterpillar is consciously selling their products as military, not construction equipment, with complete disregard to the systematic acts of terror they are perpetuating.

BOYCOTT.

Why support this?

The displacement of one people for the accommodation of another is neither just nor tolerable. Neither is the conscious deprival of basic human rights.

Students are frequent to this cause and tactic. There is a strong movement in students of the University of California system pushing to divest in numerous companies currently invested in.

From the UC Office of the Treasurer comes the information that the UC has $40 billion of investments in Israel, “at least 3.4% or $1.4 billion of which is invested in technological and military companies contributing to Israeli apartheid.”

General Dynamics Corp., General Electric Capital Corp., Honeywell Corp., Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and United Tech Corp. are a few of the companies which which provide Israel with military weaponry used against Palestinians. Helicopters, jet engines, fighter planes, tanks, rocket launchers, aircraft missiles and other missiles are but a few that these corporations supply.

Israel’s quest for nationality, dominance and land directly imposes on the rights and identity of the Palestinians. It is rooted in and perpetuated by a sense of Israeli nationalism.

A great nationalist said, "For us the nation is not just territory but something spiritual...A nation is great when it translates into reality the force of its spirit.”

It was no zionist, but fascist leader Benito Mussolini who said this in 1922.

While patriotism seems almost heroic, nationalism is frequent to manipulation of the perception of human worth.

Zionism and fascism are more similar than not. Ancestry is a unifying and binding force for people and for strengthening the state. They rely on nationalism as a means to promote national rebirth and unity, a return to culture and history and a push for national pride above all else.

This is also a push towards desolation. Zionism is directly harming the Palestinian people.

We are perpetrating this devastation.

America has budgeted nearly $3 billion for Israel in unrestricted military aid for next year, as we have for over 20 years. Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. military and economic aid, yet is in no way held accountable to report how our money is being used.

Why are we giving roughly one-fifth of our foreign aid budget to a fascist state?

Isn’t it, in itself, a little totalitarian that when people express dissent over Israel, it’s so often deemed anti-semitic?

Anti-zionism is not anti-semitism. As long as this rhetoric is sold as fact, misconceptions will perpetuate and injustices will go ignored.

Starbucks, Home Depot, Disney, Motorola, AOL/Time Warner and Coca Cola are just a few companies that propel the zionist movement, which people regularly support. We need to make a conscious effort not to.

Palestinians are treated beyond second-class citizens. They are being treated like livestock.

Amnesty International has found that Israel is rationing water access for the Palestinians.

“Israel allows the Palestinians access to only a fraction of the shared water resources, which lie mostly in the occupied West Bank, while the unlawful Israeli settlements there receive virtually unlimited supplies,” said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s researcher on Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories, in an October report.

Is it not enough that Israel restricts access to occupied Palestine? Rationing water blatantly denies an entire people a basic human need. Access to clean water is a right of all people.

As many as 200,000 Palestinians are forced to live in rural communities without running water, the report details. Yet Amnesty International found often, the Israeli army prohibits these people from even collecting rain water, literally destroying the containers they keep the water in.

This is not a mere denial of a human necessity, but an active effort of deprivation.

This is unjustifiable.

The West Bank is its own concentration camp. The only difference is instead of gas chambers actively killing Palestinians, Israeli policies are slowly and consciously letting them die.

Which is worse?

Our money should not be supporting a country with such blatant disregard for the welfare of another people. Our money should never support the displacement of an entire population.

We need to stop funding an unjust, unbalanced military state. It is our duty to stand against these egregious violations of human rights. Boycotts and divestment are a clear way to be heard.

An entire people could never be greater than another. Any country that ever acts otherwise is not worthy of our alliance or support.

Agents of Change

Agents of Change

A Compelling Force of Progress in Defeating Times

True agents of change are not often identifiable at first glance. There is no radical and indiscriminate standard for appearance, only action.

Chris Garland is the Political Director for the California Faculty Association. A union representing 23,000 faculty members of the California State University system, serves to ensure three main ideals. It states these as "a quality education for our students, fairness for those of us who earn our living as teachers and policies that ensure access to higher education."

Garland, who looks as comfortable in a tailored suit as in a grey fleece sweater and jeans, his gold wedding band always present, has for just over the past two years, enforced, guided and strengthened the union’s commitment to these ideals.

He is passionate about all things he loves. He lights up when discussing his commitment to social justice as much as when speaking of his wife, Lesley, and their marriage, to his hobbies and recreation.

Garland is an avid sports fan. He grew up in Bayonne, NJ, playing baseball and hockey. He adamantly proclaimed that he and Lesley are huge baseball fans.

Embracing his east coast roots, Garland loves the Mets, the Giants and the Rangers.

The first college graduate in his family, he postponed university after his brother’s death to stay with his family and work after graduating high school. At 23, he left for the University of Alabama, where he graduated with a degree in Political Theory with a Religious Studies minor.

From serving on the Committee for Higher Education when staffing his first elected official in D.C. upon his graduation, Garland fostered an uncompromised interest in education. From financing his own, he committed to making higher education more accessible to all students.

Most recently in his work with CFA, Garland authored Assembly Bill 656, presented by Assemblymember Alberto Torrico, D-Fremont.

The bill could be the most important, necessary and effective legislation for the current attack on higher education. AB 656 would levy a severance tax on big oil companies in the state, bringing in over $1 billion for higher public education.

Kevin Wehr, professor of sociology and CSU Sacramento’s CFA chapter president, discussed the reach of the bill and his support of the direction Garland is leading CFA.

“Had [AB 656] have been approved,” Wehr said, “the CSU’s share would have entirely offset this $564 million dollar statewide budget cut. This is the kind of legislation that prevents an entire gentrification of the CSU, and keeps our universities accessible to all students. This is our purpose.”

Garland has decided to run for Assembly in District 9.

There is nothing disingenuine in his apology for coming late to a meeting to discuss his candidacy, due to traffic over which he had no control.

“I’m sorry,” he gently urged attendees to trust, “because I think not being on time is rude and disrespectful.”

And Garland truly embodies the call to respect he addresses. The product of a union family, he believes in loyalty, and an ideal of true social justice. He respects all people, and fights to offer everyone fair opportunity.

Garland was asked why he decided to run.

“Why am I running, I’m running because I’m my father’s son. I saw an injustice-- I see an injustice-- and I have to do something about it,” he stated simply.

He entered this race without a lack of disadvantages. Both short of the present public recognition and financial solidity garnered by his opponents in the months prior to his entering the race, he was not deterred.

Garland faces four strong opponents. A Sacramento County supervisor and two City Council members, respectively, have been in the public eye since long before the bid for election. More so, two of which already sit with over $200,000 in cash on hand.

However, Garland raised $30,000 in just the first five weeks following his announcement to run. He is ambitious in his fundraising goals, and has seen the type of efforts that justify this aim.

Garland has the far-too-rare ability to mobilize people.

Whether compelling individuals and groups to donate to his cause and campaign or motivating student efforts, his conviction truly drives people to take action.

Garland, in speaking to a room of 40 young democrats, student activists, at CSU Sacramento, had over 30 people commit their efforts to his campaign.

“I am confident that I will win this election, but regardless of the outcome, I will still be committed to you all. This is a team and a partnership,” Garland promised. “I want to do everything I can to make sure this club and you, the members, see success.”

He is kind and funny, with a quiet sincerity. “Sorry for walking around,” Garland said in his address, “I can never stand still because of all the caffeine and because I’m perpetually nervous.”

Melissa Hurtado, former College Democrats at CSUS president and one of the students present, has been volunteering as an event coordinator and intern on Garland’s campaign.

“He’s not just asking for our support and time so that he wins this campaign. [Garland] is really giving us an opportunity. He has the resources and connections to hire the best campaign people in the state, but he believes in us students,” Hurtado explained with vigor. “We’re the ones he’s come to, asking for our support and help, and he trusts that we can do as good of a job as more established people. [The students present] are all really excited about him.”

Garland is able to reach into integral parts of the person and create a drive-- people trust in him because he gives them a reason to.

”He’s offering us experience and the potential for jobs. He stresses that all the time and really means it. He’s made himself a resource to us that we really didn’t have before,” Hurtado said. “The best part, though, is that he actually stands for what we believe in. He’s an advocate for us and for justice.”

“[Garland] already gave me a reference for a job with the [California Democratic Party] and the work I get to do on his campaign is the kind of stuff I’d need years of experience to get for anyone else. Now I get to work for the things I believe in, and someone who believes in the same things.”

Garland makes people want to fight as hard as he does for the ideals we share. This is too little seen in modern politicians.

He is the candidate for students and a righteous soldier for social rights and justice. Garland is without question or doubt fighting for the right causes. He is worthy of our support.

How to Endure

How to Endure

An Economically Conscious Guide to Coping with Murphy’s Law

Let’s be honest, this wartime economy is doing no one good. Compromises and sacrifice are routine. Heartbreak, headache, broke and exhausted-- some cosmic force just looms, keeping anything from going right.

Shout-out to the former administration and ol' Murphy for lost jobs, lost friends, lost lovers and suffering. We’ve got a lot to cope with. But as long as there are yield signs, blind dates and high school reunions, everything that can go wrong, will.

The light at the end of the self-depreciating tunnel is that Murphy's Law, like hope, comes and goes in waves. There's no question, though, when the rough times come, they come hard and long, and not in the roll-over-and-light-me-a-cigarette way.

But accept no defeat. Instead of giving in and up, consider these few tips for how to endure and survive the hard times without exhausting your savings account.

1. If you want to wear pajamas for two days and not leave bed and eat ice cream with a fork, go ahead! Just opt for the Safeway brand instead of Ben and Jerry’s, which is cheaper, while tasting painfully identical.

2. So you don’t necessarily have the means to be fiscally indulgent, but moral indulgence is accessible, acceptable and comforting. Just limit yourself to three nights of excess, whether fine food, theatre or binge drinking.

3. Going out every night is not all it's made out to be. Staying in is financially helpful and can give you time to look up jobs, catch up on old e-mails, job postings and international news. And if it so pleases you, fine, check the ex’s Facebook. But do not go so far as to change your network to try and get a glance at that new girl leaving him wall posts.

4. Also, refrain from sending your former boss angry e-mails about his overly friendly hugging and bad breath. You still need a reference letter-- seek as many resources as possible to help you secure a new job. However, if you’d like to anonymously note his uncharming behavior to the big boss and his wife, you do so.

5. Between job searching, fill your newly freed calendar going for bike rides and take trips to free museums. Spend hours in bookstores! People watch at cafes with free refills on coffee. Don’t get embarrassed if someone catches you looking.

6. It is not regressive to invite over your best friends for a sleepover, drink too much Two Buck Chuck and vent.

7. It is regressive to call the ex-ex-boyfriends for some instant gratification, no matter how unappealing sleeping alone sounds. If you want comfort, check Craigslist for free kittens and find something worthy of your love. You'll feel great about adopting and can guiltlessly let it be an outdoor cat after it stops being cute and little. There are discount pet foods and it's completely unnecessary to commit to expensive supplies.

8. If you really must give in to our capitalist programming, schedule your retail therapy appointment at the local consignment shop instead of at Nordstrom. You can look timeless in real vintage. If you want distressed denim, you can find a cheap pair of already worn-in jeans and borrow your little brother’s skateboard. You don’t need to pay $280 when you can just take a fall or two. It builds character.

9. You do not have to go out with the guy your stepmother met at the grocery store and thinks is just perfect for you. Turning down a free meal is unequivocally superior to enduring a regrettable evening of small talk and utter lack of commonality.

10. On a side note, ladies, broke or not, there are some things there is absolutely no need to compromise, particularly your independence. This has nothing to do with a Destiny's Child song. This is not 1954 and you do not need anyone to gain some regressive sense of power or control because he picked up a check. You can manage to split the cost of a meal, do not just accept it when your date reaches for the bill. Of course not every guy is scum, looking more for a toy than an equal. This may sound unnecessary and unrealistic. Maybe over reactive and even a little femi-nazi. But why even chance the vastly inaccurate perception of weakness.

11. There’s just one last thing that will undoubtedly help ease your sorrows. It most certainly won’t remind you of these troubling economic times before us.

Laugh. Sometimes it’s all you can do.