MarcGopin.com

Rush Limbaugh and others have been quick to associate the President with the swine flu and all other ills, it seems. Apparently this is a convenient way for Obama to get his choice for Director of Health and Human Services quickly appointed. The reality of this hate radio is shocking.

I have been thinking long and hard for many years about Richard Hofstadter’s famous essay, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics“. This is one of the most important essays in American history by one of the most influential and insightful of America’s historians.

Here are some critical quotes:

American politics has often been an arena for angry minds. In recent years we have seen angry minds at work mainly among extreme right-wingers, who have now demonstrated in the Goldwater movement how much political leverage can be got out of the animosities and passions of a small minority. But behind this I believe there is a style of mind that is far from new and that is not necessarily right-wing. I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind.

The paranoid spokesman sees the fate of conspiracy in apocalyptic terms – he traffics in the birth and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, whole systems of human values. He is always manning the barricades of civilization… he does not see social conflict as something to be mediated and compromised, in the manner of the working politician. Since what is at stake is always a conflict between absolute good and absolute evil, what is necessary is not compromise but the will to fight things out to a finish. Since the enemy is thought of as being totally evil and totally unappeasable, he must be totally eliminated – if not from the world, at least from the theatre of operations to which the paranoid directs his attention. This demand for total triumph leads to the formulation of hopelessly unrealistic goals, and since these goals are not even remotely attainable, failure constantly heightens the paranoid’s sense of frustration. Even partial success leaves him with the same feeling of powerlessness with which he began, and this in turn only strengthens his awareness of the vast and terrifying quality of the enemy he opposes.

The enemy is clearly delineated: he is a perfect model of malice, a kind of amoral superman-sinister, ubiquitous, powerful, cruel, sensual, luxury-loving. Unlike the rest of us, the enemy is not caught in the toils of the vast mechanism of history, himself a victim of his past, his desires, his limitations. He wills, indeed he manufactures, the mechanism of history, or tries to deflect the normal course of history in an evil way. He makes crises, starts runs on banks, causes depressions, manufactures disasters, and then enjoys and profits from the misery he has produced. The paranoid’s interpretation of history is distinctly personal: decisive events are not taken as part of the stream of history, but as the consequences of someone’s will. Very often the enemy is held to possess some especially effective source of power: he controls the press; he has unlimited funds; he has a new secret for influencing the mind (brainwashing); he has a special technique for seduction (the Catholic confessional).

Hofstader’s essay is brilliant, but I disagree on one important point, namely that this is an especially American problem. This describes the fascist personality since the dawn of time, since the invention of accusations against the amazing Socrates, since the demonization of the Jew throughout European history, since the racism for thousands of years against people of darker skin, people from Africa, indeed a kind of odd desire to humiliate and destroy our African ancestors from whom we all come.

The bizarre nature of this kind of ethics, politics, and construction of the political self cries out for deeper understanding at the psychological level. Hofstadter himself notes this:

It is hard to resist the conclusion that this enemy is on many counts the projection of the self; both the ideal and the unacceptable aspects of the self are attributed to him. The enemy may be the cosmopolitan intellectual, but the paranoid will outdo him in the apparatus of scholarship, even of pedantry. Secret organizations set up to combat secret organizations give the same flattery. The Ku Klux Klan imitated Catholicism to the point of donning priestly vestments, developing an elaborate ritual and an equally elaborate hierarchy. The John Birch Society emulates Communist cells and quasi-secret operation through “front” groups, and preaches a ruthless prosecution of the ideological war along lines very similar to those it finds in the Communist enemy. Spokesmen of the various fundamentalist anti-Communist “crusades” openly express their admiration for the dedication and discipline the Communist cause calls forth.

I think that we have not begun to do enough diagnosis of this perennial scourge of human political organization. We note it, we study it, Hofstadter writes extensively on the anti-intellectual style of American politics. But, again, I think that a basic knowledge of ancient Greece, Chinese history, German history, will leave us breathless with the amazing capacity to suppress reason in favor of bizarre demonizations.

Then I think back to President Obama’s press conference last night, and I thank God for the day that his mother bore him. I thank God for every single time the man defers with humility and respect to ‘science’ and what science will help us understand about the virus, and about so many other complex issues.

I cannot imagine how the unprecedented number of simultaneously occurring crises facing the world would be handled by a less rational president, by someone even somewhat tainted by the “Paranoid Style in American Politics”. Perhaps someone else may be intimating a rounding up of illegal aliens from Mexico at this point of our state of understandable fear of the virus. We as a human species, I believe, dodged a bullet on January 20, 2009.

We Democrats are watching the Republican Party suffer right now, and it is so often the case that we do not address the deeper problems of the American psyche once we have victory at the polls. I applaud the few Republicans left, such as George Will, who are trying to reconstruct a principled, non-extremist core and base of the Republican Party. It is good for a country to have more than one party, I think.

But I have also become convinced that at some point in history we need to go after the paranoid style in politics and its fascist tendencies. Our American educational system is sorely lacking in the deep work necessary to secure a social contract based on shared public values and commitments. This is not beyond our capacity, and I am certain that the world’s security depends upon a powerful United States not slipping into the hands of Rush Limbaugh’s approach to the world.

More progressive thinking needs to go into a permanent shift of the American enlightened citizen, both rich and poor, intellectual AND non-intellectual, away from the politics of hate. We can disagree where disagreements belong, in the murky waters of moral ambiguity, when the use of force is justified or not, when abortion is right or wrong, how and when and how much to help the poor, along with dozens of other complex moral challenges. But we should think about what media, educational and social programs could  do to make the rage, anger, and paranoia that fueled so much of the anti-Obama campaign–and that still fills the radio waves–into something as unrespectable as Nazism has become. We have never attempted this as an American civilization. But it is high time.

by Scott Cooper

During a recent speech to the US State Department, US Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell said that “people create conflict and people can end conflict.  I’ve seen it happen in Ireland.”

On that note, here is something happening right now between real people, Palestinians, Israelis, Arabs and Jews:

Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel Commemorate together Memorial Day, Nakba Day, and the Day of Independence

We invite you to a unique gathering organized by a group of Arab and Jewish activists (sponsored by “Beyond Words” Association)

Tuesday 28th – Wednesday 29th, April, 2009

To respect and commemorate the pain and loss on both sides and to create a shared independence.

At the end of 61 years of an imposed destiny, we ask to choose our shared life once again without fear, without accusations, and without denial.

Together we will deal with challenges of inquiry, trust, opening hearts, responsibility and growth.

* * *

On the Israeli Independence Day, Palestinians inside and outside of Israel, commemorate the “Nakba” day, which means the “catastrophe”.

For the last 61 years, the Jews have been accustomed to connecting with their pain on Memorial Day and celebrate their joy on Independence Day as exclusive events for the Jewish public. On the other side, the Arabs in Israel have been accustomed to concealing their pain for the heavy loss they experienced with the establishment of the State of Israel.

The holiday of the Israeli Day of Independence, by its very nature, suggests nostalgic celebrations for the winners and disregards the defeated.

On this holiday, feelings of separation, estrangement and alienation are being intensified in both peoples’ living in Israel, regarding one another’s symbols and rituals.

In light of this drastic gap in the feelings of both peoples, citizens of the State of Israel, we, Jews and Arabs, invite you for a genuine and courageous encounter, where we will meet ourselves and the others in places of pain, hope and empowerment.

The event will take place at the Guest House of Beit Oren

The 2 days are structured as a comprehensive process, including full board hospitality (sleeping accommodation and meals) on the site.

Starting Tuesday at 2 P.M. Ending Wednesday at 6 P.M.

There will be activities for children

For registration phone Beit Oren Guest House – 04- 8307444

For more details:  Rihab Bahus – 054-2190541, Yossi Keinar – 052-3989243 Jamal Daghash – 050-2760402

BBC, CNN, Anderson Cooper, Larry King, Barbara Walters, Haaretz, AL-Jazeera, Fox (I know this one’s a stretch), Oprah, where are you?  Oh wait, this isn’t ‘sexy enough’..

Perhaps this lack of motivation in the mainstream media to identify and give attention to the millions of people making positive change on a daily basis is precisely why many of us have decided to get some of our information elsewhere i.e. Blogs, Wikis, etc. You might call it our own expression of “turn on, tune in, and drop out.” (Unlike Tim Leary’s suggestion, this has no dangerous side-effects that we know of).

Interested in helping people who are taking it upon themselves to courageously and non-violently change reality? Send an email to scottcooper24@gmail.com

Kamal & Adam at a gathering of thousands of Arabs and Jews just outside of Jerusalem last August

A few days ago, the world commemorated Holocaust Day with memorials, moments of silence, and time taken to remember the lives of loved ones lost. For years this day has been a source of internal conflict for me as a Palestinian, so this year my wife Marie and I decided to hold our own memorial by doing something I have put off for a long time: we watched the movie “Schindler’s List.” It was my first time seeing the movie, which tells the story of a German man who risked his life to save hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust. Although it may seem strange for a Palestinian to take time out to remember the Holocaust, I felt it was an important step for me. I needed to connect with the pain of those who suffered, and I needed to go beyond nationality to acknowledge the loss of human life.

I must admit that growing up I did not know much about the Holocaust. As Palestinians, we simply did not learn about it. There was a stigma attached to it, an understanding that Israel would use the Holocaust to lobby for sympathy, then turn and use the sympathy as a terrible weapon against the Palestinian people. So when I was asked about the Holocaust, I always felt that defensive urge to say “It was not my fault! I suffered for it too.” Deep down, I think I felt that by acknowledging their pain, I would betray or marginalize my own suffering. Also, some part of me feared that if I sympathized with “the enemy,” my right to struggle for justice might be taken away. Now I know this is nonsense: you are stronger when you let humanity overcome enmity. However, it took me time to learn this lesson.

Many years ago, I decided there is no way I can understand and communicate with my Jewish friends if I don’t learn their history, their narrative, and their story. I decided that the Holocaust Museum would be the place to start my journey. My heart was racing as I crossed the threshold of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. I began looking at the pictures and reading the stories with the distinct awareness that I was the only Palestinian there. As I walked through the museum, however, my self-consciousness was replaced with shock. I could not believe how denigrated men could become to commit such atrocities. How could racism strip men of all humanity?

A few days later, I shared with some of my Jewish friends about my trip to the Holocaust Museum. Many were surprised, and wondered what had prompted me to make such a visit. As I explained my reasons, I could see the walls that divided us crumbling apart. Yaacov, a Holocaust survivor, told me his personal story. As a young boy in Poland, he had been separated from his parents and forced to pretend to be Christian, praying the Catholic prayers and attending church. His father was murdered during the war. One of my best friends, Rami, described the horrors his father suffered in Auschwitz concentration camp. Again, my heart was gripped with pain and sympathy in hearing their stories.

Visiting the Holocaust Museum and allowing my friends to share their stories was pivotal for my relationship with them. I could understand where they were coming from. I could empathize with their feelings that the world is against them. The Holocaust had shaped their awareness of the world around them, and my understanding of this tragedy was important for them to successfully communicate with me.

This is why I decided to remember the Holocaust this year. Watching Schindler’s List, I was moved by the story to a degree that I cannot describe. It was impossible to fight the tears streaming from my eyes. The connection I made with those who suffered the Holocaust goes beyond nationality, religion or race; it was the connection of one human being to another in the face of universally understandable pain.

At the end of the move, Oscar Schindler was given a ring inscribed with the words “If you save a life you save the world,” a phrase from the Talmud. Today this statement stands true for all of those men and women active in bringing an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But in my story, I want to deliver a message to the cynics, the hopeless, and the ones who have given up on the quest for peace. This message is also to the many people who have questioned the small grassroots initiatives, the meetings, the dialogue groups, the interfaith projects, the demonstrations, and protests against the killing of people, Arabs and Jews. If you can save one life, you are saving the world.

My challenge is this: Oscar Schindler regretted not doing more to save more people. He cried for not selling his car, his pin, and everything else in his possession just to ransom one more life. Governments, nations and even some religious groups donate billions of dollars for weapons, yet when it comes to promoting understanding, life, and coexistence, our governments and people are broke. I want us to consider, can we put a price on saving one life? Can we put a price on saving the world? It is vital to protect our values and humanity regardless of the cost we must pay for it. Oscar Schindler was able to save a thousand lives, and it was well worth it. How many lives can you save?

If you need suggestions for activities or donations you can contact me at azizabusarah@gmail.com

It has become commonplace for innocent religious worshippers to be a focal point of war. This time it is Iranian pilgrims in Baghdad, and we must mourn for them. It is true that the United States is responsible for the destruction of Iraq, but no one familiar with the politics and leaders of the region can fail to note the decades long devastation from proxy Sunni-Shiite wars fought since the Iranian Revolution. Al Qaeda knows how to stir that pot as an extremist Sunni organization, but the current leaders of Iran stir it further by proxy wars and agitations all over the Middle East. It is time for opinion of the majority of the Iranian people to dominate their politics and foreign policy, which is a focus on prosperity, basic human needs and dignity. One senses the trap that leaderships across the region are in as far as Sunni/Shiite violence. But I am convinced that this is one more reason for Iran to accept Obama’s overtures and the implicit ‘grand bargain’ for normalization. This is key to the global future, to the Gulf’s future, to Islam’s future, and, above all, to the future safety of civilians, religious and secular alike. .

Women mourning their relatives

April 21 is the traditional commemoration of the Holocaust, which destroyed 90% of European Jews and 30% of world Jewry. Demography suggests that due to the number of children who were killed, over a million, there are over 20 million Jews missing now, and the population has never recovered.

Just a few of the six million murdered in the Holocaust were my kinsmen and cousins. Gopins came a hundred years ago from a small village called Troyanivka, now located in Western Ukraine. I dream of them all the time.

Troyanevka

In August 1941 the Jewish residents were all rounded up and murdered at an oil dump that became their final resting place. There were approximately 200-300 men, women and children.

Here is an account of what happened:

In August 1941 the Nazis executed 375 Jewish men in Manevychi; in September 1942 the remaining Manevychi Jews, ca. 2,000 people, were killed by the Nazis and their local helpers. Jews of the surrounding towns perished in a similar way. Those few who survived did so by joining Soviet partisans, mainly the brigade led by Nikolai Konishchuk (Kruk). Contains memoirs, survivors’ accounts, photographs, and other materials, describing prewar life in Manevychi and its vicinity,the flight of Jews to inner USSR in summer 1941, the fate of Jews under Nazi rule, fighting with the partisans, and survival.

Here is an account of what is left there:

TROYANOVKA I: US Commission No. UA02220101
Alternate names: Troyanovka (Yiddish), Trojanovka (Polish), Trojanowka (Russian) and Troyanivka (Ukraine.) Troyanovka is located in Volynskaya at 49º50 26º30, 100 km from Lutsk and 88 km from Rovno. The cemetery is located at NW, 500m from road to Gradisk. Present town population is under 1,000 with no Jews.

* Town officials: Village Executive Council – Bolkanyuk Leonid Mikhaylovich and Hilyuk Olga Fedorovna.
* Regional: Oblast Cultural Department. Dept. for the Protection of Monuments, 263005, Lutsk, Galana St. 2, Chemeris E.V. State Archive of Volynskaya Oblast of 263024, Lutsk, Veteranov 21.
* Volyn Jewish community, Lutsk, Vinnichenka St. 49, apt.6 [Phone: (03322) 24713]. Israel, Yad Vashem, The Federation of Volhynian Jews of Jerusalem.

The earliest known Jewish community was 19th century. 1939 Jewish population (census) was 212. Effecting the Jewish community were 1st World War and Civil war. The Jewish cemetery was established in the 18th century with last known Hasidic burial 1941.
Kirzhner Moisey of 263005, Lutsk, Grushevskogo St. 18, apt.38 [Phone: (03322) 34775] visited site on 18/04/1995. Interviewed were Nakonechniy V.A. on 17/04/1995. Kirzhner completed survey on 18/04/1995. Documentation: Shmuel Spector. The Holocaust of Volhynian Jews. 1941-1945; Yad-Vashem. The Federation of Volhynian Jews. State Archive of Volynskaya Oblast Fond 96, op.1, d. 211; Metrical book of death record. 1856.
TROYANOVKA II: US Commission No. UA02220501
The mass grave is located village N, near new woods. The Jewish mass grave was dug in 1941. No Jews from other towns or villages were murdered at this unlandmarked mass grave. The isolated wooded flat land has no sign or marker. Reached by road to Gradisk, access is open to all. A continuous fence with no gate surrounds the mass grave. The approximate size of mass grave is now 0.01 hectares. No stones were removed. The common tombstones date from 1993. The site contains marked mass graves. This mass grave has not been vandalized. Now, authorities clear or clean occasionally. Within the limits of the mass grave are no structures. Moderate threat: vegetation. Slight threat: uncontrolled access and vandalism.
Kirzhner Moisey of 263005, Lutsk, Grushevskogo St. 18, apt.38 [Phone: (03322) 34775] visited site on 18/04/1995. Interviewed were Chemeris E.V. on 17/04/1995. Kirzhner completed survey on 18/04/1995. Documentation: Smuel Spector. The Holocaust of Volhynian Jews. Jerusalem: Yad-Vashem. The Federation of Volhynian. 1990, p. 71, 151, 171, 199, 328, 358.

אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ אֵל אֱלֹהֵי הָרוּחוֹת לְכָל-בָּשָׂר. תֵּן מְנוּחָה נְכוֹנָה עַל-כַּנְפֵי הַשְּׁכִינָה בְּמַעֲלוֹת קְדוֹשִים וּטְהוֹרִים כְּזֹהַר הָרָקִיעַ מַזְהִירִים אֶת-נִשְׁמוֹתֵיהֶם שֶׁל שֵׁשׁ מֵאוֹת רִבְבוֹת אַלְפֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲנָשִׁים וְנָשִׁים יְלָדִים וִילָדוֹת שֶׁנֶּהֶרְגוּ וְשֶׁנִּטְבְּחוּ וְשֶׁנֶּחְנְקוּ וְשֶׁנִּקְבְּרוּ חַיִּים בִּידֵי מִפְלְצוֹת הַצּוֹרְרִים בְּגָלוּת אֵירוֹפָּה.

Our Father, our king, Master of the spirits of all living things, give a proper rest on the wings of the Divine Presence in the highest realms of the holy and pure ones, who shine like the highest heavens, to the six million of Israel, men and women, boys and girls, who were murdered and slaughtered and asphyxiated and buried alive at the hands  of the oppressors in the European Exile.

NOT FOR CHILDREN UNDER 18

Find the courage to watch the slow death of an unarmed demonstrator in Palestine. Shamai Leibowitz, veteran Israeli Jewish human rights activist in Pursuing Justice reflects on evidence of an Israel Defense Forces murder of an unarmed and un-threatening demonstrator in the Palestinian village of Bil’in. You be the judge.

Bil\’lin

Did you notice what a sunny, beautiful day it is in the film? Does it remind you of the day on the beach in Camus’ The Stranger?  The simplicity of killing, the natural beauty that can coexist with it and not be somehow implicated in a crime against humanity? Are you haunted by Biblical verses on oppressing strangers and God driving people out of  promised lands? Such warnings are a strange and timeless echo of history that screams back at the banality of murder that Camus depicts on the warm, sunny beach. Camus’ stranger, no love, no feeling at all, just the hot feel of the gun. The Bible’s stranger, hot with moral emotions, love, hate, oppression, consequences, outrage. Such wild exaggerations, both of them, Camus and the Bible, the Atheist and the God-intoxicated prophet. And then there is us.

As far as I can tell from years of interviews and studies, it would seem that the IDF considers nonviolent resistance to be an even greater threat to Israel than violent resistance. It is the only way to explain expulsions from Israel of leading nonviolent resistance activists, beginning decades ago with Mubarak Awad, at the same time that Sharon and others shut down the PLO and allowed Sheik Yassin to build Hamas over thirty years ago.

This is not surprising in the history of immoral occupations. Nonviolent, principled, moral resistance is far greater a threat to continued land annexation than is extremist rhetoric and violence. What is especially poignant in the Palestinian case is that between Israel’s tacit support for the extremists to the Arab world’s funding of extremist positions in Palestine it has left nonviolent democrats as orphans of history. But this is the responsibility of all of us, not the poor thirty year old man nonviolently protesting thirty meters away from heavily armed courageous soldiers separated from the protesters by barbed wire fences and trenches. At great risk to their personal safety they aimed at his chest and shot him with a high powered rifle in order to defend Israel’s right to exist. Watch him die, study the human exchange.

As I reflect on the rhetoric around Israel’s right to exist, I truly understand why it is such an emotional term for Jews. But I must say as an American that America has a right to exist–but not at the moment of Abu Ghraib. If I was a fly on the wall at Abu Ghraib and I could do anything to stop the massive torture of innocent young men randomly rounded up from around Iraq, if I could waive a magic wand at that moment and give back the thirteen colonies to England, I would. Anything to stop the degradation, the depths of human depravity and sin. I would gladly have British troops march into my home, charge me exorbitant fees for tea, and live with the fact that as an American I forfeited my freedom by failing to stand strongly for justice.

So I wonder about ‘rights’ of states to exist and the unconditionality of that. I am haunted by the conditionality of fateful deeds, the laws of cause and effect, and the odyssey of crime and its consequences. Crime has a life of its own, just as the events depicted in this video will have a life of their own. I certainly know that Palestinians are also paying a price for their actions in the past decades as they sought a way to regain their land, and fate has dealt them a heavy blow for both their tactical and their moral mistakes.

But the grand and seemingly invincible uniforms of the IDF soldiers in this film, their faceless superhuman image, it all seems weak to me in the face of the judgments of history. In the United States there are exceedingly powerful men who orchestrated the torture who are wondering what constellation of events in the United States may clear the docket enough for Congress and the American people to demand payment for what they did. The mighty who I feared just a few months ago have fallen.

A time is coming when there will be an answer to all of this, and it will be fateful. I do not relish the cycle of crime and its consequences. It leaves everyone as empty as Adam, Eve, and Cain, as they faced a world empty of Abel. There is no happiness in justice, only the tragic necessity of righting wrongs and evening out the sufferings of humanity.

There is a better way, however, and it is to be found at the side of those demonstrators in Bil’in. The greater their numbers and the more consistent their nonviolence and the more we join them the more absurd that violence will become. This is the way to create a new fate, a fate that is in our hands.

The Children of Afghanistan

This important exchange took place at ICAR, my school, in recent days. This debate addresses a topic we must think about which is how and whether to engage extremists who have committed massive war crimes. Inevitably it devolves into questions of what we know and who we know it from, which also gets into issues of trust and distrust of prevailing sources of information in the West and elsewhere. I have come to see in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, especially the Israeli/Hamas conflict and the Hamas/Fatah conflict, that reliable information is very hard to come by. This is where we need to listen to each other, listen to victims, agree on core principles, and move forward with plans that attack the problem from several directions. It begins with Saira Yamin’s letter to NYT, continues with Professor Richard Rubenstein’s response and then Saira’s response:

More Force in Afghanistan?
New York Times, April 2, 2009

“Graveyard Myths,” by Peter Bergen (Op-Ed, March 28), gets the picture half-right. Restoring law and order in Afghanistan is indeed critical to winning the war. Quashing the Taliban is fundamental. But the view that a United States troop surge can bring stability to the region is worrisome. This would lead to a tit-for-tat reaction by the Taliban.

The Taliban are not an ethnic group. They represent a religious movement thriving on the conviction, right or wrong, that they are waging jihad against a Western onslaught. The Taliban may not be popular, but the engagement of Western troops has led to the spread of the movement in Pakistan as well as the recruitment of thousands of Muslims from Central Asia, Arab states and Southeast Asia.

Training the Afghan National Army and police forces to overcome the movement is crucial. Who can do it? Not President Obama’s troops.

Saira Yamin
Arlington, Va., March 28, 2009

Click here to Read the Article:

Response from Richard Rubenstein:

Congratulations to Saira for having her letter published in the NYT. I think it is great for our students to develop such strong voices. At the same time, it would be useful at some point to discuss the Afghanistan/Pakistan question together at some length.

I do not agree with Saira that “quashing” the Taliban is “fundamental” or that training the Afghan army and police to “overcome the movement” is “crucial.” Johan Galtung and I (among others) think that the Taliban are both a religious movement and a movement of the Pashtun people, that “quashing” them is impossible except at an unacceptable financial and moral cost, that they are far less monolithic than they sometimes appear, and that it will be possible, if done correctly, to deal with them in ways other than by trying to crush them. I also believe that training Mr. Karzai’s army and police to fight the Taliban is probably unfeasible and is not America’s business in any case.

What the U.S. can do as a nation is to help the Afghan people satisfy their basic needs by providing them with development funds and assistance, channeled where possible through international agencies. What conflict resolvers can do is to help them resolve their differences, to the extent possible, as independent consultants, and not as U.S. agents.

It seems particularly important to have this sort of discussion now — and publicly — since the Obama administration is floundering as it tries to satisfy both the Pentagon and anti-war forces at home and abroad. The administration appears to have accepted the al Qaeda = Taliban equation, which seems to me a fatal error. Michael Shank’s and Rep. Honda’s recent writings on the Afghan-Pak situation deserve careful study, since they take a nuanced view of the situation. So do Galtung’s.

Richard Rubenstein
From Saira:

Dear Professor Rubenstein,

I am extremely pleased to know of your interest in Afghanistan and Pakistan. I strongly agree that there is a need for ICAR to generate options in response to President Obama’s military solutions for the region. President Obama has announced a troop surge of 17,000 and is also considering a request for an additional 70,000 for Afghanistan, with the plan to go deeper and wider into Pakistan as well.

I wholeheartedly agree with your view that a development strategy for Afghanistan is essential. I am a strong advocate of this approach even though I did not have the space to mention it in my Letter to the Editor. I would also like to recommend development assistance for Pakistan’s impoverished tribal areas along the Afghan border, in particular. In regard to development strategies I would favor more opportunities for Pakistan and Afghanistan for trade with the US and the rest of the world. The plowshares for peace approach, (see “How the US can help revitalize economies in Pakistan and Afghanistan” ) would be useful in this respect.

Trade rather than aid, shall allow indigenous communities an opportunity to contribute to the economy. Foreign aid promotes subservience to foreign donors and hence interferes with local policy making. A lot of aid has been channeled into Afghanistan for several years through international development agencies and has been mostly mismanaged. Similarly the US has now made a commitment for a $15 billion aid package for Pakistan. I am not sure who is going to enjoy the aid: the people of Pakistan or the corrupt President Zardari and his cronies.

In response to your views about the Taliban being monolithic, I would like to stress that is important not to take the Taliban as a primarily Pashtun movement. There are about 40 million Pashtuns in Pakistan and Afghanistan, (with about 25 million in Pakistan alone.) The approximately 15 million Pashtuns living in Afghanistan constitute roughly 40% of the population. The 40 million Pashtuns, in Pakistan and in Afghanistan do not as a whole or even a majority, subscribe to the Taliban views, although that is the perception in the West. Further, all Taliban are not as radical in their religious views as the ones allied with al-Qaeda. The al-Qaeda linked Taliban, the ones that pose a threat, constitute the Pashtuns, Arabs, Uzbeks, and many other Muslims from various states and regions. To this list let me also add Muslims from Europe and the United States, many of whom have joined the ranks and files of the Taliban in the spirit of Jihad against a Western military intevention i.e. the Global War on Terrorism. The fast growing Tehreek-Taliban-e-Pakistan (TTP or the Taliban movement in Pakistan) is also successfully recruiting thousands of unemployed and impoverished Punjabis, which represent Pakistan’s largest ethnic group. Again, not all Punjabi are pro-Taliban. The seeds of the Taliban movement were sown during the Afghan Jihad against the former Soviet Union. The Mujahideen, many of whom became Taliban were able to recruit about 50,000 non-Afghan Taliban. The non-Afghan Taliban were Muslims from various international regions I have mentioned above.) Many of the Taliban fighting against the International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF), are Uzbeks and Arabs who have been settled along the tribal borders across Pakistan and Afghanistan for decades, since their engagement with the former Soviets. Many of them are mercenaries and their leaders are misusing the Islamic card to make money for themselves. Many of them are indoctrinating youth in madrassahs against the wishes of parents.

The radical Taliban are penetrating deeper into Pakistan. They have been destroying girls schools in Pakistan’s north western region. There are 450,000 Pakistanis displaced in Pakistan owing to confrontation between the Taliban, the Pakistan Army, US and Nato Forces. The Taliban assassinated Benazir Bhutto and have very radical views about the rights of women. I am not sure the Taliban ideology can be addressed through development approaches alone, especially when there is so much money coming in from foreign suppliers to keep the Taliban engaged in the region.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are both impoverished countries. They are not similar however. They are both experiencing different problems, and are at different stages of conflict and development. The Taliban definitely are a common problem for both countries. The Pashtuns in Afghanistan in particular feel frustrated with the Western view of the Taliban and Pashtun as a homogenous entity. The rise of the Taliban cannot and must not be attributed to Pashtun culture alone. The ascendancy of a fundamentalist religious agenda infused in the Afghan Jihad to oust the Soviets, is partly to blame, and it is now being directed against the US and its allies. Today the Taliban pose a very grave threat to my country. A female State Minister has also been assassinated by them. A female professor at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad was physically assaulted by a Taliban, who said he had been ordained by God to tell her to cover her head.

I want a safe environment back home for myself and my daughter and wish the same for all the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The governments of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the international community must do their part in ensuring equitable distribution of resources to the poor so they are not lured by employment with al-Qaeda and the Taliban. In the meantime the people deserve protection from the violence being perpetrated by the Taliban. Law and order must be enforced. Negative peace is the first step towards positive peace, and it will not come through long-term development plans alone.

I look forward to your thoughts.

Best,

Saira

Meanwhile, this important article by Martin Gerner on recent interest of some elements of the Taliban in Obama’s words is quite timely.

Finally, I had conversations recently indicating that there were some Taliban involved in peace and coexistence trainings in nearby countries. As with all groups, there are factions and factions, there is evolution, and there is always some positive reaction from some when they are sought out. What these trainings are doing, what President Obama’s overtures are doing, is creating options in people’s minds, nonviolent ways out of traps,  which in turn instigates creative pressures within groups and stimulates more change. This is what we seek in the world the most, not promises of ‘peace in our time’ which is unrealistic but, increments of positive change, creative ferment. This will be a central theme of my next book coming out in June with Rowman Littlefield.

Syrian Ambassador to the United States gives an important interview to CNN. The story is significant because Moustapha lays out the parameters of a separate Syrian/Israeli peace track, while also stressing the importance of a ‘comprehensive’ peace for Israel, which must include the Palestinian track. He also stresses that Lieberman is a more honest face of Israel than Livni and Olmert, considering the atrocities in Gaza. He would rather engage the real deal in Israel rather than deal with fake rhetoric. The nuances of his position are quite revealing of the different positions of Syria and Fatah. There is also praise for Obama and Mitchell, but caution that Mitchell’s job is harder than Ireland due to the pro-Israel lobby in Washington.

Hope springs eternal–and strangely. Kazakhstan, a nation with strong new ambitions, is offering to host a nuclear bank that would make it unnecessary for multiple nations to develop highly enriched unranium on their own. This is a critical alternative to many nations developing dual use technology leading to nuclear weapons grade  material. President Obama, of course, is supporting this proposal–and so is President Ahmadanijad of Iran. If this moves ahead it could form the basis of a non-military solution to the crisis between Iran, its neighbors, Israel and the West. Stay tuned.

There is a trend emerging here. First Turkey, now Kazakhstan, non-Arab Muslim nations who are stepping up to the plate to break the impasses of the Middle East that have dogged the world for hundreds of years. A confluence of new found confidence of emerging Islamic nations and the arrival of President Obama may be providing a way forward beyond the ‘war is the only option’ psyche of recent American policy and behavior, in addition to the ‘jihad is the only option’ psyche of the extremists in the Middle East. And, to confirm another pattern, Kazakhstan, like Turkey, has a distinct record of positive embrace of the Jewish community locally and globally. This too will pave the way for the United States to aggressively engage in Middle East peacemaking.

The President of Iran and the President of Kazakhstan

This is the Arabic version of my previous post. Translated by our new contributor Azziz Abu Sarah of Palestine, new Senior Research Associate at the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution which I direct.

دكتور مارك جوبن

لقد حان الوقت لحركه واسعة النطاق للنضال الفلسطيني على مبدأ اللاعنف لأن كل الطرق الاخرى فشلت. لدي امال بان حكومة اوباما ستكون الانجح في تقريب الحل بين الاطراف المتنازعة لكن في صميم قلبي شعرت دائما بأن هناك طريق واحد للسلام لم يعتمد حتى الان وهو طريق اللاعنف وعدم التعاون على اساس المحبة. طريق غاندي ومارتن لوثر كينج
لقد اتخذ العديد من الفلسطينيين في اسرائيل وفلسطين هذا الطريق من خلال المظاهرات السلمية الاحتجاجات ومقاطعة المنتوجات ولكن لم تتمتع هذه الحركة بالدعم الكامل لان النجاح لحركة اللاعنف مرتبط باختياره كالطريق الوحيد للنظال.
أنا لا أتحدث عن العدل أو انه من مسؤولية الفلسطينيين أن يمدوا ايديهم لليهود. في عالم عادل كان يتوجب على يهود اسرائيل بعد انتصارهم في حرب 1948 ان يتحلوا بالشجاعة وادراك نصرهم وبالتالي المسؤولية والكرم. بعض الاسرائييليين فعلوا هذا ولكن الاكثرية لم تكترث. ان الحاجة لحركة النضال الشعبي ليست من دواعي العدل ولكنها قد تكون الوسيلة الوحيدة للنجاح.
لقد اختارت القيادة الفلسطينية طريقين في الخمس عقود السابقة: العنف الشديد ضد المدنيين, والاعتراف باسرائيل, المفاوضات, والعمل المشترك مع السلطات الاسرائيلية والذي انتهى به المطاف الى فقدان حركة فتح شعبيتها الى جانب الايمان بتورطها بالفساد. لم ينجح اي من الطريقين. الفلسطينوين كانوا منبوذون من الاسرائيليين ولقبوا بالبربر بالطريق الاول وبالضعفاء في الطريق الثاني
إن مبدأ اللاعنف وعدم التعاون بحيث نمد ايدينا لليهود كأصدقاء هو الجواب الوحيد. فهو بقدم للاسرائيليين الفلسطينيين على انهم اقوياء لكن عادلين, كرماء, مسالمون, غير فاسدون, مصممون ومثابرون على المقاومة. إن هذا الشكل من المقاومة سيظهر اكبر ضعف اسرائيلي وهو الشعوربالسمو والتميز بالقيم عن العرب. ان اعضاء حركه حماس لا يدركون بان تعصبهم لطريق العنف ضد النساء والاطفال أدى لهزيمة حتمية. انهم يتصرفون كالنازيين في داخل العقلية اليهودية. بدل استهداف الاطفال بالصواريخ او القنابل الانتحارية تستطيع حماس ان تضع افضل الناس في خطر من خلال القول “انا هنا. ولن اتحرك. انا في طريقي للاقصى. انا امشي للقدس. تستطيعون قتلنى بالالاف كالبربر امام العالم. لن اعطيكم عذرا بعد اليوم لان تسرقوا ارضي او تقتلوا اولادي
اتخاذ اللاعنف كالوسيلة الوحيده هو الطريق الوحيد للنجاح وبمد ايدينا لاصدقائنا اليهود الذين سينضمون الى هذا النوع من النضال. هذا هو الطريق الذي مر عليه غاندي ومارتن لوثر كينج لتغييرالحضارات. إن المطلوب الان ليس اقل من ثورة في الضيمر الاسرائيلي. هذا التحرك يجب ان يكون منظم وواسع النطاق ويتمتع بالتزام المشاركين. وبالتالي ترسيخ محادثة ودية بين الاعداء, و على هذه الحركه ان تخبر اليهود الاسرائيليين بما يلي:
أنا سأجلس على هذا الحاجز, في هذا المطار, لأنني انتظر ان تعاملني بكرامة وعدل. أنا أعرف انك كابن لابراهيم وكناج من الظلم والمعاملة الوحشية انك من سلالة حضارة نبيلة. أنا أعرف ان قوانينك تططلب منك ان تخضع للاوامر, ان تصوب فوهة بندقيتك باتجاه اطفالي وترهبهم, وبان تجبرني ان اتعرى من ملابسي وان تنتهك حرمة جسدي. لكن قوانينك ليست عادلة وانت تستطيع ان تخرقها وان تنضم الينا. أنا أعرف انك وضعت هذا الجدار من اجل أمنك وانا ايضا اريد الامن لاطفالك. ولكن لا تستطيع ان تستخدم ذلك كعذز لسرقة أرضي, او كالسبب انك لا تعتذر عن ما اذيتني به طيلة ستون عاما. شاركني الان وسنناضل معا من أجل السلام والعدل, سنتفاوض ولكنني لن اسمح لك بعد الان بان تفسدني, تشتريني, تهينني أو تثير الانقسام. اطلق رصاصك علي ان شئت ان تتبع اوامرك او شاركني ان اردت ان تكتشف ايمانك اليهودي وقيمه. سأكون بكرم الرسول محمد (ص) وساكون عادلا كما كان, ساستقبلك في بيتي كما فعل. لكن عليك ان تراني كمساو لك, كأخاك, وبعد ذلك نستطيع حل كل شيئ. تستطيع ان تأخذ اسرائيلك وان نأخذ فلسطيننا والله سيرشدنا كيف نصل الى السلام والعدل.