Part of working for change is making

alliances with people of similar values. I

was recently asked to help promote an
upcoming event to bring an
international group of speakers to
Seattle on the future of Gaza and
Israel. I was interested because It was
to include someoneI already read and
respect. The final lineup presented to
me didn't include the speaker I respect,
but did include an anchor I wasn't
familiar with. It wasn't until I read
some of his work and followed the
contextual clues that another picture
emerged. I searched his name and the
overwhelming response is - this person
is a pariah for espousing what most
people define as anti-Jewish hate
speech by both Palestinians and Jews. I
guess it must be bad when a list of
scholars signs on to a letter condemning
your positions as bigoted. In this case
Im willing to trust the wisdom of an
entire network of people over that of an
individual. (cf: http://is.gd/eciged)

This underscores a common sense
equation: If you're Palestinian, and
white supremacists approach you to join
together to condemn Jews, youd likely
say no, because you recognize that hate
is the larger enemy. If I condemn what
can only be described as racism and
apartheid as it exists in Israel today, Im
not condemning the race or religion-Im
condemning the actions and behaviors
that have hurt so many. I can work for
an end to the current madness of
apartheid, but it would be hypocritical
on my part to repeat the same behavior
that I condemn in others.

Because I did some basic research I
changed my mind and will not be
helping these particular people host this
particular event. I didnt have an
investment in their outcome. Anyone
with the most general knowledge of the
players in this dialog can figure out who
I mean. Id rather align myself with
those who argue facts and the morality
against apartheid than make a fool of
myself by showing my naivete.This was
something I had to decide for myself -
its not something I can let another
decide for me without forfeiting my
integrity.

There are a great many Jews who would
end the apartheid and racism as it
exists in Israel today. Though Seattle is
a home to many progressive Jews, as an
outsider, I hear Palestinians who feel
that progressive Jews can be just as
complicit in the politics of settlements
and in the endemic prejudice. Im not
saying I have all the answers - I think
my role is one of trying to appeal to
reason and ethics in bringing about
change in my own country. I dont have
to go all the way back to Viktor Frankl
to appeal to ethos, either - many
modern Jews would set things right. But
it requires Jews to practice the same
enumeration of the realities of the
injustice, then and now, just as we as
Americans must come to grips with the
reality of injustice afforded to Native
Americans and persons of color right
now in order to bring about justice. Lots
of people think we became a color-blind
society a long time ago, and theyre in
denial if you try to convince them
otherwise. Most Americans are also in
denial that the events in Gaza this
summer clearly crossed the line into
genocidal actions on the part of Israel.

So to the people coordinating this event
without me: Believe what you want to
believe. The 51 days of hell in Gaza
should not go unchallenged. The ICC is
one venue, The court of public opinion is
another, and Palestinian resistance
continues. Ive been involved in a few
actions in my life: The civil rights
movement, the antiwar movement,
standing against genocide in Central
America...even before the 51 days in
Gaza this summer, I got involved in the
issues of Palestinian statehood and
Israeli apartheid. As an American, my
solution lies in convincing my
government and my countrymen to stop
sending bombs to Israel and to start
taking actions to reverse the current
war dynamic.

Just as in the US, Palestinians live in a
time in which grossly unequal access to
capital and resources determines who is
fabulously wealthy and who lives in
desperate poverty. However, the
problems in Gaza and the West Bank
and Jerusalem make US problems pale
in comparison. Imagine if in the US that
minority political leaders were
imprisoned for simply being the
opposition. This and much worse occurs
every day in Israel, and the US keeps
giving foreign and military aid to a
country that uses the resources to
practice real apartheid. Few US
politicians are willing to acknowledge
how severe this situation is, but just like
25 years ago in South Africa, these
unjust laws are causing massive social
problems for Palestinians - but also for
Israelis, who have internalized the
massive injustice and endemic racism in
a manner that cannot be easily undone.

These failures exist in other places in
the world, but rarely in countries the US
considers democracies. All too often
the problem lies in a group who thinks
they are more entitled to allocate
wealth than other groups. This most
often negatively affects the indigenous
population. Our history of colonialism
underscores this elitism that can often
go hand in hand with militarism. The
end effect is a concentration of wealth
and political power. The same dynamics
that gave us Ferguson and Wounded
Knee are not so different from Gaza.
The solutions are the same:
Demilitarize. Distribute wealth more
equally. And allow local autonomy to
be more than a charade that covers up
a corrupt political process ruled by a
few.

We cant get to this awakening without
breaking the status quo. Some
situations call for civil disobedience.
The boycott divestment sanctions
movement is also part of the solution.
But much of this transformation will
have to happen on an individual level -
convincing people we might not
otherwise engage with to start thinking
differently. This is when we need the
wisdom of the whole world. Vandana
Shiva reminds us that we must turn
toward the innate knowledge of seed
and nature and turn away from the
false science of the corporatists who
would define truth in self-serving terms.
Our world needs more than simply one
day a year to celebrate indigenous
peoples - the task is no less than
reinventing knowledge to serve people
everywhere. I dont think technical
education in math and science is going
to get us there either.

We have to have this dialog on race
and culture and ethos now, everywhere,
or were finished as a species. Just as we
nearly extinguished ourselves with
nuclear weaponry at the height of the
cold war, this militarism is destroying
the fabric of every society it touches.
We must confront the governments of
the world who would rule by absolute
force of power to disarm and bring
about the end of this dominionism. We
cannot say we stand for democracy if
we support murderous governments in
Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, or even
Israel. Our national interests do not
trump basic human rights. We cannot
simply interpret the rule of law and
international treaties to mean whatever
we want them to mean. We have to
stand for something-or well fall for
anything.
Neal Wells, September 1, 2014, Rose
Hill, WA