The aloneness

A Lebanese baby killed by Israel when it bombed a civilian convoy fleeing the violence. From the Angry Arab.

The baffling failure of humanity over the past few weeks is incredible.  Traveling and overwhelmed by events, I have little in the way of words.  Luckily, there are many (though never enough) doing all they can to dent the empire of killers and warmongers, led by Bush and Olmert, and cheered by the U.S. media. 

One of those is my dear friend Nora Barrows-Friedman, a producer for Flashpoints on KPFA radio, who writes from Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem.  An earlier report can be read here.

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There will be no statistics in this journal entry. Because what difference does 10 shredded children in Gaza, or 15 sliced children in Lebanon, or 40 smashed children in Iraq make to the international community anyway? What difference does it make when the twisted and sick US corporate media doesn't even mention their names, or their ages, or their favorite color, something to put a human face on the mangled mess that the latest US-made Israeli-fired missile replaced as a nose, a mouth, two eyes, freckles, cheek, forehead?

Yes, there were "escalations" today in Gaza and Lebanon. There were "military strikes" and "retaliatory attacks" and "intensifications" and "deaths." There were "officials" and "spokespeople" and "leaders" joining in the finger-pointing and the name-calling. Meanwhile, Arab people are burning. Numbers and statistics become, therefore, irrelevant. Language loses its meaning on the tongue, becomes sludge and dribbles down one's chin. My dear friend Siham said today, "What does the term 'civilized society' mean when they are killing people like this?"

What becomes of a language that has lost its original meaning? Does it shrivel up and slink into an abyss to mingle with the ghosts of these headless, armless, forgotten brown-skinned kids? And as we watch the footage, as we hear on the phone from friends witnessing in their backyards, as we read the articles, how many times can we use the words "unbelievable," "disgusting," "horrific?" They have lost all meaning as well.

We need a new language to describe these nightmares. We need a new vehicle to convey the disbelief and the disgust and the horror as Gaza burns, as Lebanon smolders, as Iraq collapses.

As we rub our eyes tonight, bleary from thick cigarette smoke and too many hours of being glued to the television, my friend Mustafa says, "No one notices, no one cares. We are alone in this world." This is the aloneness. The isolation. Gazan and Lebanese and Iraqi children are huddled in their beds tonight, screaming out to the wall of silence in a sore-throated language, isolated in their terror.

Comments

[jonathan]

Hizzbollah ought to give up their war. Hizzbollah is a hate group no different than the KKK.

Hizzbollah rocketed the Israel train station. but you won't see any mention of this on this fascist blog.

Scott = left wing fascist.

[Sappho]

Looks as if Jonathan has not only been sipping the Bush/Israel Kool-Aid, but also has his KKK rhetoric down. I guess all those nightly meetings out by the burning cross have really gone to his head!
It's sad & pathetic when right-wing nutjobs speak before they invest some serious time studying world politcs, or anything that requires reading & listening.
Might I suggest checking out some of the great sites Scott has listed on the right hand side of his blog. Ifamericansknew.org is a great place to start, considering that it lays out the Palestine/Israel conflict in layman's terms--you know, for slow ignorant folk like Jonathan.
Before coming to someone else's blog & making a complete ass of yourself, arm yourself with KNOWLEDGE. Coming to battle with no weapons kind of defeats your purpose, no?

[scott]

Thanks Sappho for the support, as always! Sorry I don't comment where you're at - I don't have a blogger account. But I do visit!

After jonathan went nuts on several posts and then put up the KKK manifesto here (since removed), he's been figuratively thrown off the island.

[Muhannad]

"left wing fascists"
"neo nazis stalinists and ancharists who have come together"
hehehehe
left wing and facists together does not fit.
new nazis stalinists and ancharists also does not fit and that is really funny.

[Fritz]

Well, the neighborhood bully, he's just one man,
His enemies say he's on their land.
They got him outnumbered about a million to one,
He got no place to escape to, no place to run.
He's the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully just lives to survive,
He's criticized and condemned for being alive.
He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to have thick skin,
He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in.
He's the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land,
He's wandered the earth an exiled man.
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn,
He's always on trial for just being born.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized,
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad.
The bombs were meant for him.
He was supposed to feel bad.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim
That he'll live by the rules that the world makes for him,
'Cause there's a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac.
He's the neighborhood bully.

- Bob Dylan, 1983

[Sappho]

Jonathan:
First off, I have to say, you come off sounding like your a 13 year old boy with only a junior-high level education. Before you start commenting, might I suggest buying 'Hooked On Phonics'--as your spelling & grammer are pathetic.
Since you asked for facts, I'll throw some out at ya, but I doubt you will be able to catch them.
***Palestine was 1st inhabited by Palestinian Arabs, with Jews being the minority at around 25,000 in 1850--there were approx. 400,000 Muslims.
In the late 1800's, a group in Europe known as "Zionists" wanted to colonize this area of land. They wished to create a Jewish homeland--even considering places such as South America & Africa before choosing Palestine.
More & more Zionists arrived, with the intent of taking over the land. The indigenous people of Palestine were fine with it at first, then it became obvious that Zionists wished to take over THEIR land, & fighting ensued.
***In 1947, the U.N. intervened, making them divide up the Palestinian's land, giving 55% of Palestine to a Jewish state, even though this group was the minority at around 30% of the population.
Zionists were the invaders, not Palestinians!
Before falling into lock-step behind Israel, please review history & facts.

Now, I have never sided with organizations like Hezbollah, & blame falls on them, as well. But Israel has continued to punk these people & seeing as how Israel does possess a military & weapons that far surpass any that Palestine, Hamas, or Hezbollah have, it is very mis-matched.

As for you calling Scott & I "leftwing fascists"--well, thats truely hilarious! That makes no sense, as Muhannad pointed out!
Your "truth" or rebuttal was,
" Bathists, Khomeni lovers Bin Laden followers and all the similar political types are all fascist bigots who cant be trusted to protect their minorities or govern."
LOL!! You call that "facts"??? There were NO facts, only ridiculous name calling! Like I said before, dont come to battle with no weapons. Just like North Korea, you talked yourself up, only to have your big "truth" missile fizzle out into the ocean!
I am done playing with you, for you have nothing worthy to bring to the discussion & I find it disrespectful to Scott.

[Sappho]

Scott: Thanks for your comment, & visits to my site. But you know, you can comment anonymously, then add your name at the bottom of your comment...would love to have you engage in the discussions, & help bash out any nuts like the goof above!!!
Keep up the good work & the good fight!
Sappho

[the slexxx]

it makes the situation (to me at least, I guess), that much more difficult when those who profess to "speak" for the palestinian people are just as paranoid and nutty as the israeli militarists.
one of the greatest tragedies here is that reasonable and thoughtful inhabitants of the area are left out of the discussion completely. oh, and then killed, to boot.
maybe we can set up some sort of "duel" between all the sets of violent ideologues in which they kill each other off and leave everyone else alone...

[Eurosabra]

The Israeli author Shulamith Hareven wrote a book, translated by one of the "progressive" presses in SF, entitled "The Vocabulary of Peace", which specifically addresses the degradation of the Hebrew language through development, acceptance, and use of euphemisms for violence. Although her interpretation owes a little too much to Wittgenstein for my taste, and her knowledge of Arabic might have allowed a comparative view she eschewed, it's still the best (of three) books on sociolinguistics of the conflict. (The other two are both entitled _War of Words_, by Cromer and Suleiman respectively.)

[Sappho]

Scoot:
I think its time to pull the plug on jonathan. He has nothing to bring to discussions but right-wing rhetoric & hate speech, including personal insults aimed at you.
Proof positive that these nuts have no good argument,& rely only on hateful words.

[scott]

hey sappho,
yes, i agree. i've been deleting and banning him, but he keeps changing his IP address. clearly he's used to attacking blogs with his hate speech, but i'll keep on deleting and banning him.