OPINION & EDITORIAL
Letters to the Editor: April 19, 2002
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Friday, April 19, 2002
The rally for Israel for Yom Ha’atzmaut yesterday was not pleasant for me and plenty of others who were quietly listening and observing the event. I witnessed harassment and empty fervor from the crowd of Israel supporters. One man next to me loudly referred to a Palestinian supporter holding a sign calling for an end to the occupation of the West Bank as “slut.”
I saw and heard young disrespectful men shouting, hooting and taunting silent Palestinian supporters by waving flags in their faces and holding signs in front of them, and then laughing and egging each other on.
Such behavior is absolutely uncalled for (especially if the offensive people were having a “rally for peace”). This event was not a summer-camp competition to see who could score the most spirit points. Holding your signs in front of people who disagree with you doesn’t make you any more right, and it definitely doesn’t make unbiased onlookers sympathetic to your cause.
That you have a bunch of your buddies around who will snicker as you say insulting and degrading things doesn’t address the seriousness and gravity of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict today, and it definitely speaks to your inability to truly understand or appreciate the sentiments of the people with whom the country you align yourself with is at war. These disappointing rally-goers would all be served by more listening and less chanting. Until this kind of juvenile blindness stops, no end is in sight.
Jonah Gaster , UW senior
I take issue with the Herald editorial regarding the upcoming U.S. Conference of Mayors (4/16/02). By highlighting the imaginary “security concerns” of conference planners, the Herald misrepresented the organizing efforts of Creative Peoples Resistance (CPR), and played upon misplaced fears to discredit their important message.
The editorial claimed protesters will “riot, loot and plunder in the name of the environment,” and “will be unable to behave,” a completely unfounded accusation.
The Herald has taken a page from the national corporate media in mischaracterizing people working to expose capitalist pirates who loot and plunder in the name of profit.
When protesters voice opposition to corporate domination and systemic causes of poverty, they are referred to as a security threat, despite the fact that major protests are almost invariably peaceful, where people come together and engage in a variety of tactics, from puppets to peaceful direct action.
Security concerns are imaginary, unless we mean the security of protesters. Riot cops and rubber bullets provoke violence and create disorder, yet police actions are represented as protecting order (the capitalist order of domination and private profits).
The real issue is what the U.S. Conference of Mayors represents. The Herald needs to consider the closed-door atmosphere restricting participation in the conference to a handful of corporations. By propagating the myth of security concerns, the Herald acts to discredit the informed protesters and their valid critiques of a politico-economic system we should all abhor.
Mike Gonzales, UW alumnus
