The Only Democracy? » Archive
Meir Kahane (of unblessed memory) Comic Strip Hero
By Jesse Bacon Ma’an News reported last week on a comic book honoring Meir Kahane, the slain Jewish fascist leader whose politics were even too much for the Israeli Supreme Court. His party remains banned. Reading the comic strip, a few things become clear. First of all, the artistic quality is incredibly poor. If only the Middle East conflict could be solved by a comic-off, Joe Sacco’s recent Footprints in Gaza would have it shellacked. Second, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination
A Lost Decade in Israel-Palestine: Diary Series Kickoff
This diary opens a collaborative effort to profile the past decade in the life of Israel-Palestine. A Lost Decade in all respects. Far worse than Japan’s “Lost Decade.” Unfortunately, the events that set this decade onto its lamentable trajectory happened shortly before the advent of the blogosphere. Therefore, in living blogo-memory, it has always been like this: a partisan tit-for-tat between “I”s and “P”s, accompanied by bigotry and shrill name-calling, and a sense of helpless circularity – or rather, of gradually spiraling down. But it wasn’t always like that. And the current reality in Israel-Palestine is neither normal nor inevitable. Ten years ago, I had no idea that activism would become such a big part of me, or that I would spend 8 years (and counting) overseas in what is essentially … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured
Budrus hero calls for Abdallah Abu Rahmah’s freedom
By Jesse Bacon I recently had the good fortune to attend a packed Monday night NYC screening sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace and the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. One issue raised by the extremely well-informed director was how similar protests in other villages have had difficulty duplicating Budrus’s success. A Budrus protest participant told me that even Budrus itself could see its victory threatened as Israel completes the building of the Wall. So it is … Read entire article »
Filed under: On The Ground Reports
Terry Fletcher responds to Audrey Farber’s post on Palestinian democracy
In her recent post A true Democracy; if Israel would only let it, Audrey Farber paints a very rosy picture of Palestinian democracy, both present and future. Other commentators and human rights organizations paint a quite different picture, at least of the present. In this New York Review of Books article, Nathan Thrall asserts, A year into Fayyad’s first term, Mamdouh al-Aker, then head of the PA’s human rights organization, spoke of the government’s “militarization” and asserted that “a state of lawlessness had shifted to a sort of a security state, a police state.” Charges of authoritarianism have intensified since. Abbas, whose term expired during the war in Gaza, has been ruling by presidential decree. There has been no legislature since June 2007, and judicial rulings are frequently ignored by the security … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination
Hebrew Lessons at the Learning and Creativity Center in Susiya
Guest Post – Yael Arbel “You must come to see Susiya.” In all truth, I am fascinated by the stories I hear about Susya. I have not been there since the cold, muddy winter of 2002, when we trekked with Ta’ayush activists to bring blankets for those living there, only to be detained by the army. I don’t think I even got to see them at the end of that march. [editor comment: that particular march did … Read entire article »
Filed under: On The Ground Reports
Historic BDS debate in Zeek
By Jesse Bacon Zeek, the artsy hipstery Jewish journal, published two long pieces on BDS (Boycott Divestment and Sanctions) for what I assume is the first time. This bold move plants the movement squarely within the more creative portion of the Jewish establishment, at least as a topic of conversation. This suggests that the effort to make any discussion, as opposed to demonization, of BDS taboo has backfired. It is the BDS-demonizers who find themselves increasingly … Read entire article »
Filed under: Victories for Democracy
New resource in the fight for Israeli Democracy
By Jesse Bacon Amidst the dispiriting news coming from both American and Israeli democracy, one of the signs of hope has been the people who have continued to resist the downward trend. Association for Civil Rights in Israel is one of those hope-inducing groups, and they recently launched a new english-language version of their website Project Democracy, along with partners like Shatil and Zochrot. Their first post is a good a motto for our work as … Read entire article »
Filed under: Victories for Democracy
The mathematics of strangulation of Gaza
By Jesse Bacon When the specifics of Israel’s siege of Gaza came to light, it appeared almost random in its insanity and cruelty. The famous example is the prohibiting of pasta while allowing rice, all the while claiming this was somehow ensuring Israel’s security. Well wonder no longer. Through the heroic efforts of Gisha, whose work we feature regularly here on The Only Democracy?, the actual policy has been released. It turns out there is a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured
Association for Civil Rights in Israel on democracy’s heart attack (Long)
From the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, reprinted by permission. Ed’s note: This is long, but close enough to our mission to warrant reprinting in full. Here you have the definite guide to anti-democracy bills in the Israeli Knesset, some that will be familiar to readers of this blog, some that even close followers of Israeli democracy will be unaware of. Did you know that the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) might consider banning face veils? Or … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination
A true Democracy; if Israel would only let it
A Palestinian state – despite serious obstacles – could become the true democracy of the Middle East, if only Israel would let it. The world is abuzz with the news that Palestinian leadership is talking about soliciting support from the UN for a declaration of statehood (hey, remember when pre-Israel did that in 1947?). The US has kept mum on the topic so far – good for them – but Israeli spokespeople have been adamantly critical of the motions. Their main argument is that it would violate the terms of the Oslo agreements. Ignoring for the moment that the main conclusion to come out of Oslo was the agreement to keep talking and discuss the real issues later, this is a serious case of the pot calling the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Victories for Democracy
Interactive Video
“You have a choice! Israeli Anti-Militarists Speak”
Four Israelis—Dorothy Naor, Sergeiy Sander and Eli Fabrikant, and Ofer Golani—talking about their personal histories, political views and activism in 132 short films.