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jewish-privilege · 5 years

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...When the conference began Thursday morning, I was warned that protesters from the Bard chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine planned to interrupt my panel with [Ruth Wisse, a Harvard professor of Yiddish literature and scholar of Jewish history and culture, and Shany Mor, an Israeli thinker who is affiliated with the Hannah Arendt Center]. I was surprised they were not targeting the one on Zionism, but the one on anti-Semitism, the only panel of about 20 over the course of the two-day program where three Jews would be discussing the topic.

“But we’re not even talking about Israel,” I said to the conference organizers. “How does that make sense?”

My concern was met with an explanation of the College’s policy towards protesters. The center’s leadership, and the two Bard College deans attending the conference, seemed to have no particular plan to handle what was fixing to become an ugly disruption of Jews trying to discuss anti-Semitism. [Roger Berkowitz, the founder and director of Bard College’s Hannah Arendt Center] told us that there would be added security, but the security officers were not allowed to remove the students.

As the protesters started to gather in the lobby, I approached them. I told them that I respected their passion and commitment to what they thought was right, but asked why they had picked this panel.

“Come to my panel tomorrow,” I said. “Come protest my comments on Zionism. I’ll be talking about the occupation. Bring your signs.”

I told them I’d reserve the first and second audience-questions for members of their group, but that protesting the all-Jewish anti-Semitism panel was undercutting their work.

“Don’t you see that?” I asked. Didn’t they see that protesting Jews over Israel when they are not even talking about Israel is racist? Didn’t they understand that saying we were responsible for the behavior of the Israeli Jews just because we shared their ethnicity was racist? That making every conversation with Jews about Israel is racist?”

“The conversation about anti-Semitism is already inherently about Israel,” one of the students archly explained, repeating a deeply anti-Semitic trope that has been voiced across the spectrum from David Duke to Louis Farrakhan to Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters. Right-wing anti-Semites see any accusation of anti-Semitism as a Jewish conspiracy to take away the rights of whites, while left-wing anti-Semites sees the same accusation as an attempt to silence Palestinians.

Apparently, so do some Bard students.

...When the protesters proceeded to interrupt Wisse, they were applauded by several of our fellow conference speakers in the audience. These vaunted intellectuals, flown in from across the country to discuss racism, were commending a display of racism against Jews.

This was much more horrifying than the students’ chanting and leafletting, which failed to stop the indomitable Wisse from having her say, defining anti-Semitism as any political organizing against Jews (I have been told since that two students were removed, something I didn’t see from the stage, but the rest stayed). Not one of our fellow conference speakers got up and exercised their free speech rights to call the protest what it was. Not one came over to us after to express shock and horror that three Jews would be denounced for Israel’s actions while attempting to discuss anti-Semitism in America.

...But not one of my fellow speakers said a word. Two days later, I have not received a single note acknowledging what happened, which leaves me thinking they condone it.

And some were explicit about it. At a party for conference speakers at Berkowitz’s house right after the panel, Etienne Balibar, a French philosopher currently teaching at Columbia University, told me he thought the protest was wonderful.

“Why are you silencing Palestinians?” he demanded. “There should have been a Palestinian discussing anti-Semitism. They have many thoughts about it!”

I left the party. How could I drink with people like that? And back at my hotel, I realized that it would be pointless to participate in Friday’s program. There is no debate possible when people think anti-Semitism is not only acceptable, but commendable.

So when I was introduced the next morning, I pulled out a new set of remarks. I directly addressed these academics and writers and intellectuals who were brought to Bard to speak about how to fight racism and anti-Semitism. I told them I was appalled that not one of them had called out this blatantly racist act, the way they surely would have if it had been three Muslims on the dais, or three black speakers — or at least, the way I would have in that scenario.

“I’m horrified by your cowardice. By your self-justifications,” I read from the new set of remarks I had written the night before. “You, who I called luminaries! Whose books I’ve read! There’s nothing more I want to say to you or hear from you.

“The next time someone says, ‘What have you done to help Jews as anti-Semitism has spiked across the nation, as Jews have been murdered at their place of worship and Orthodox Jews get beaten to a pulp day after day in Brooklyn,’ you can say, ‘I sat idly by as Jews were protested for trying to talk about anti-Semitism. I allowed a Jewish woman to be held accountable — because of her ethnicity — for the actions of a country halfway around the world where she can’t even vote. I egged the protest on, in fact. And then I went to a party.’”

There is no debate possible when people think that your very humanity is up for debate, something my fellow conference goers no doubt accept as obviously true when it comes to anti-Black racism or anti-Muslim racism. And yet somehow, when it comes to anti-Jewish racism — holding one Jew accountable for the actions of another simply because they are Jewish — no one bats an eye.

No doubt the intelligentsia at the conference proceeded to debate whether Jews are a valid target of protest in my absence (Berkowitz did ask me to stay, as did a few members of the audience when I walked off the stage). No doubt others will continue to debate the question, too; perhaps they will argue that Zionists are a valid target, even when they are discussing issues that aren’t related to Israel.

Yet polls show that more than 95% of Jews in America have a favorable view of Israel. The debate over whether Zionists are human and deserving of human treatment will have to be held in the absence of Jews of conscience. In 2019, no Jew should be forced to debate their humanity, their right to exist independent of anti-Semitism.

...But as I know all too well, the most important factor in hosting the full gamut of legitimate opinion is knowing where the red lines are. And if you think allowing Jews to be protested for being Jews does not represent a red line, I have nothing more to say to you, and nothing I want to hear.

As I was getting my suitcase to leave the Bard campus on Friday morning, a student approached me. He had followed me out of the auditorium after I made my speech and left the stage. He had a big smile on his face.

“That was great,” he said. “I was at the panel last night and I didn’t really understand what was happening. I’ve never really understood what anti-Semitism is. But your remarks just now — they made it so clear.

“I get it now!” he said, his young face awash in the jubilance that intellectually curious people feel when a puzzle is solved.

I was filled with surprise and gratitude. I had convinced one person.

[Read Batya Ungar-Sargon’s full post at The Forward]

#long post #antisemitism #antisemitism dressed as anti zionism #batya ungar sargon #Bard College

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aboyandhisstarship · 4 years

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i'm enjoying The Ghost recon Wild lands Story you fired, so maybe write about the big plot twist which is never brought up again and promptly forgotten

Oh do you mean the *spoilors* fact that Ricky bombed the US embassy and as such the entire mission, rules of engagement and everything was a massive lie? Yea…kind of sad that never came up.

(not proof read cuse i’m lazy sorry)

Bolvia:

The Cult soldier fell down the stairs, as David pulled his knife out of the man’s throat David asked “they said Daniel was here?”

A cell phone started to ring and everyone tensed up but it just sat on a table. David carefully advanced picking up the phone; Daniels voice came through “are you the Operators who have been killing the holy people.”

David rolled his eyes “speaking.”

The others covered the doors as Daniel said “do you know why you are here…Sand Man.”

David laughed “Listen Pal, if you think knowing my call sign is supposed to scare me.” \

Daniel shook his head “never, just trying to establish a repore…you see your mission here is a lie…you are trying to avenge a dirty DEA agent…and stop a group of gun totting cultists…except.”

David cut him off “look pal, we came here to kill you…since you are not here why not save us some trouble and tell us where you are.”

Daniel laughed “such insolence…on this phone is your proof after you see it…you will have little reason to go after me,” And with that the call ended.

David said “load of crap.”

Jasper pointed out “might as well see what they think is proof.”

David nodded pulling it up.

Yuri and Poltio Dungeon:

A drill whirred as Sadoval yelled “FUCCCCCCCKKKKKK!”

The drill sound stopped as Daniel knelt “Ricky…you are dead…even if brother Yuri and Sister Polito stopped giving you pain this instant you will die…so take this chance to relive your conscience.”

Ricky looked up at the camera before laughing “alright Father, might as well to late for you now consider this a professional curtsy, I did it.”

Daniel asked “you bombed the US Embassy?”

Ricky nodded “and it wasn’t a CIA DEA false flag operation crap either it was just me.”

Daniel asked “why?”

Ricky gestured with a bleeding arm “my bosses were going to pull me out…they didn’t care about what you were doing here…I needed them to care…so I did something dramatic…and then as planed you guys grabbed me.”

Daniel nodded “this making it seem like we bombed the embassy.”

Rik y laughed “you and all of your cultist buddies are dead…and don’t even know it yet.”

The recording ended and Nurf spoke first “what the FUCK!?”

Tabii said “no way this is legit?! Some kind of false flag!?”

Jasper sighed “it makes sense, they were not ready for us…and frankly bombing is not there style.”

David’s radio cracked to life as David said “Ghost lead Sand Man…did you know about this?”

Sasha returned “I have no idea…look Daniel still belongs in jail.”

David yelled “Jail, he should be hoisted up by his thumbs…but we have no more cause to be here!?”

Sasha sighed “he still killed a DEA agent…and terriost…look we got his location from his call…Sand Man…shut him down…I got a call pending.”

David nodded “Wilco.”

He changed his frequency saying “Gwen, Sand Man…we got Daniel…as promised we help you bring him in and you come with us.”

Gwen took a deep breath “roger Sand Man I will meet you.”

Tomb:

The Ghosts entered with David saying “Hands up you piece of Crap!”

Daniel throw aside a phone getting down as Gwen entered “where is he, where is the big bad Cult leader?”

David said “Red Cap.”

Tabii advanjced before said “hold one.”

Gwen blinked “sand Man.”

David looked intent saying “Confirm that order ma’am?”

Nurf said “Boss?”

David lowered his gun “copy Ghost Lead…everyone safety’s on.”

Gwen slowly reached down discreetly picking up a degraded pistol as Nurf said “what!?”

David sighed “he his full immunity.”

The Ghosts lowered their weapons as Daniel stood up saying “thank you…Sand Man.”

Gwen took that moment to light up her pistol and unload on Daniel, his body jerked backwards and hit the ground and Gwen kept firing till her Gwen clicked empty.

David grabbed Gwen taking the gun from her Saying “Red Cap?”

Tabii shook her head as Gwen fell to her knees.

Fort Bragg North Carolina:

David walked into his apartment after nearly 4 months in South America with his computer dinging with an Email from G, Santos it read:

David or Sand Man…took a lot to find you…if you are reading this then we got Daniel and I took some drastic action…because Daniel used his DOJ connections to get out of Justice. As such a little Vilgantie justice was needed. Now I’m sure plenty of people figured I cracked after eyard down there…but they can go to hell, that Manic that monster…Killed my best friend Tortured him to death, Murdered hundreds of people and more and he gets to get away with it!? FUCK THAT…do you know what happens when you give a crazy cult leader with massive influence immunity…you get a dictator, and you know as well as me it will take more than 4 operators to take one of those out.

David I know we didn’t spend much time together but I enjoyed the bit we did…goodbye… Gwen.

#Ghost recon wildlands #Gwenvid #only mentioned gwenvid #Ghost!david #Reporter!Gwen

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notbemoved-blog · 4 years

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Dorothy Day - “Dissenting Voice of the American Century”

During this month of memorialization of the 50th anniversary of the Kent State atrocity—where students protesting American military aggression in Vietnam were gunned down on their own campus—it is well to remember that The Catholic Worker staged the first public protest against the Vietnam War way back in the summer of 1963 while this misguided attempt at containing Communism’s spread was in its early stages. Read all about this and more of The Catholic Worker’s incredible legacy of protest and resistance in Part V, the last of my series on Dorothy Day and her pioneering newspaper. [Links to the previous four posts in this series can be found at the end of this article.]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Vietnam

The Catholic Worker began featuring the radical pacifist writings of Cistercian monk Thomas Merton, as well as those of brothers and Catholic priests Daniel and Philip Berrigan as early as 1959. Others affiliated with The Worker organized the Catholic Peace Fellowship, an organization aimed at educating Catholics on the Church’s neglected tradition of pacifism. When news of the Vietnam War broke, The Catholic Worker was ready.

The first demonstration ever held to protest the war was held by The Catholic Worker in the summer of 1963. It was tiny, but after a ten-day period, The War Resisters League brought two hundred and fifty people to join the Workers. Together they made national television and launched the protest movement against the war.

When Congress passed a law in 1965 forbidding the burning of draft cards, The Catholic Worker called for public draft card burning. David Miller, a Worker volunteer, burned his card and caused an international sensation. Another Worker, Tom Cornell, had gained some notoriety as early as 1960 by burning his draft card at a demonstration against the launching of the Polaris submarine. Later, five other Workers, including Cornell, burned their cards at a rally in Union Square.

Dorothy Day heartily supported the protests and spoke at the rally:

… I speak today as one who is old, and must endorse the courage of the young who themselves are willing to give up their freedom. I speak as one who is old, and whose whole lifetime has seen the cruelty and hysteria of war in the last half century. . . .

I wish … to point out that we too are breaking the law, committing civil disobedience, in trying to encourage all those who are conscripted to inform their consciences, and to heed the still, small voice, and to refuse to participate in the immorality of war.

Counter demonstrators across the street shouted at her, “Moscow Mary! Moscow Mary!” Others yelled, “Give us Joy! Bomb Hanoi!” and “Burn yourselves, not your draft cards.”

Roger Laporte, a Catholic Worker volunteer present at the rally, heard the cries of the counter-demonstrators and, perhaps as a witness to others that he was willing to do anything to stop the war, took their demands seriously. A few days after the rally, at five in the morning, LaPorte bought a can of gasoline; walked to the Secretariat Building of the United Nations; sat down on the landing of the Isaiah Stairway under the words carved into the walls: “They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, neither shall they study war anymore”; poured the gasoline over himself and struck a flame. He died the next day. The incident made international news.

Isaiah Stairway at the United Nations Plaza in New York City.

The very night of Laporte’s self immolation, almost as if Heaven wished to mark the sacrifice of this youth and the thousands more that were to die in Vietnam, all the lights went out from New York City to Montreal. It was the night of the Great Blackout of 1965.

The Catholic Worker came under heavy criticism by the Catholic press for this action by one of its members. Although no one suspected LaPorte would consider such an extreme measure, Dorothy Day felt some responsibility for the tragedy. She never criticized LaPorte’s act, but she was badly shaken by it and called for strenuous prayer and fasting. She prayed that Roger LaPorte’s sacrifice would be accepted by God and that no one would follow his example.

The Catholic Worker continued its support of the Peace Movement. It called for massive resistance to the draft and for men to refuse payment of taxes that went to support the war effort. The Berrigans wrote lengthy articles for the paper detailing accounts of their acts of civil disobedience against the war.

When Cardinal Spellman went to Vietnam for his Christmas visit and called for victory in the war, Dorothy Day decried his statement in the article, “In Peace is My Bitterness Most Bitter.” She paraphrased Christ’s words, writing “Our worst enemies are those of our own household,” and said, “What words are those he (Spellman) spoke against even the Pope, calling for victory, total victory? Words are as strong and powerful as bombs, as napalm.”

Viva La Huelga!

The Catholic Worker also took up the cause of Cesar Chavez and exposed the plight of the migrant farm worker. Chavez was trying to organize the vast migrant worker population into a union and, thus, force growers into paying better wages and providing better treatment to the migrants. The Catholic Worker brought national attention to Chavez’s cause. The paper carried accounts of Chavez’s activities in the fields of Delano, California, and of the increasing harassment by the growers. The paper called for a boycott of non-union grapes and lettuce and for the picketing of any supermarkets that did not carry union-approved products. [Some of my fellow seminarians and I would make trips to local Baltimore supermarkets on Saturday mornings in the early 1970s to test their produce and urge grocers and their customers not to buy scab, non-union grapes and lettuce.]

Dorothy Day’s final arrest was in collaboration with fellow Catholic Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers in 1973.

The Seventies

The Catholic Worker carried its opposition to the Vietnam War into the 1970s. It continued to call for war tax resistance and draft resistance. Letters or articles by the Berrigan brothers, written from their jail cells, were prominently featured.

In the summer of 1971, Dorothy Day made another pilgrimage, this time to Russia. As in Cuba, she recounted her experiences with the Russian people and reported on the country’s economic conditions, as well as on how the Church was surviving alongside its godless counterpart, the State.

In 1973, at the height of the United Farm Workers’ strike, Day went to Fresno to participate in a non-violent demonstration aimed at bringing attention to the illegal jailing of union members who picketed the growers’ fields. She went to jail with nearly one hundred other demonstrators. She was 76 years old.

The Catholic Worker accepted articles from friends around the globe who sought to bring attention to injustice in their own locales. Stories on Northern Ireland terrorism, on Philippine repression, on strip mining in West Virginia, on resistance in Brazil, on tragedies in Bangladesh, and on the Attica Prison uprising all appeared in the paper, along with instructions in nonviolent resistance and pieces on cooperative land-holding and voluntary poverty. The Worker’s outcries against the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal continued, as many Workers went to jail because of their symbolic, attention-getting protests against the nuclear arms buildup.

Dorothy Day’s Death – The Work Continues

Dorothy Day died in November of 1980, at the age of 83. Her last years were spent in semi-retirement. She did not travel much after 1976, when her health began to fail, but she continued each month to write her journal “On Pilgrimage” for the paper. [I discovered through reading her columns that Day was, indeed, at Maryhouse three years ago when we visited. She was confined to her room, but her spirit permeated the halls of the place.]

While retired, Day continued to do what she could for the poor and dispossessed of this world. Three hours before her death, she was on the phone begging for aid for the victims of a devastating earthquake in Southern Italy.

The paper and the movement continue. Two Workers, Marj Humphrey and Peggy Sherer, edit the paper. Other Workers manage the two New York City Houses of Hospitality (Maryhouse and St. Joseph House); they feed hundreds each day, and give shelter and clothing to those who have none. The paper still relies on appeals in the Spring and Fall for the means to continue the work. Marj says that it costs more than $10,000 each month to print and distribution the paper, and that circulation figures are back up to a healthy 95,000 (mostly as a result of the Anti-War Movement of the sixties and seventies).

The paper still sells for a penny a copy (twenty-five cents for a year’s subscription) and is intent on carrying on the work that Peter and Dorothy began almost fifty years ago. Recently incidents in El Salvador, Guatemala, Chile, the Philippines, and Korea have been highlighted—each article written by someone with first-hand experience and knowledge of the horrors committed in these terror-torn countries. One need not be a Catholic to submit an article or to work for the paper—only subscribe to the basic tenants of the Catholic Worker philosophy.

Of course, there is always room in the paper for one of Peter’s “Easy Essays” or for one of Dorothy’s old articles, along with pieces about farming (The Worker still maintains a farm in Marlboro, New York), about activities at the Houses, and about the problems of being poor in New York City.

Concerning the future of the work, Marj Humphrey says, “It’s all in God’s hands. We will continue as long as He allows it.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In the final lines of her 1952 autobiography The Long Loneliness, Dorothy Day remembered how it all started:

We were just sitting there talking when Peter Maurin came in.

We were just sitting there talking when lines of people began to form, saying “We need bread.” We could not say “Go, be thou filled.” If there were six small loaves and a few fishes, we had to divide them. There was always bread.

We were just sitting there talking and people moved in on us. Let those who can take it, take it. Some moved out and that made room for more. And somehow the walls expanded.

We were just sitting there talking and someone said, “Let’s all go live on a farm.”

It was as casual as all that, I often think. It just came about. It just happened. . . .

The most significant thing about The Catholic Worker is poverty, some say.

The most significant thing is community, others say. We are not alone any more.

But the final word is love. At times it has been, in the words of Father Zossima, a harsh and dreadful thing, and our very faith in love has been tried through fire. . .

It all happened while we sat there talking, and it is still going on.

“It is still going on,” and it is a comforting thought that the work will continue as long as God allows it. With any luck, He’ll allow it to go on forever, or at least until the need no longer exists.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This ends my series on Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement and newspaper. Here are the links to the other posts from this series:

Part I: https://blog.notbemoved.com/post/615785179039039488/dorothy-day-and-her-hope-filled-revolution-of-the

Part II: https://blog.notbemoved.com/post/616481057106264064/the-catholic-worker-always-found-room-for-one

Part III: https://blog.notbemoved.com/post/616931763626868736/dorothy-day-and-her-catholic-workers-didnt-skimp

Part IV: https://blog.notbemoved.com/post/617658737377820672/civil-disobedience-and-the

For more information about Dorothy Day and her legacy, check out the new biography by John Loughrery and Blythe Randolph [Dorothy Day: Dissenting Voice of the American Century] and the new documentary by Martin Doblmeier [Revolution of the Heart: The Dorothy Day Story]

#Dorothy Day #Peter Maurin #Daniel Berrigan #Philip Berrigan #Berrigan Brothers #Thomas Merton #Vietnam #Vietnam War #Caesar Chavez #Farmworkers Union #Roger Laporte #David Miller #Tom Cornell #draft card burning #Viva la Huelga!#The Long Loneliness #Marj Humphrey #Peggy Sheerer

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