>Shouldn't a slogan 1) make sense, and 2) bear some positive relation to
>your principles? On 1), I'm not Hezbollah, because Israel isn't trying to
>attack me, or any Americans (though Israel's actions, paid for by the US,
>make it more likely that some ally of Hezbollah will try to attack me, a
>resident of a very Jewish neighborhood in a large American city) and 2) by
>saying you are Hezbollah, you are, however temporarily or expediently,
>performing an identification with the organization's broader goals or
>ideological imperatives. If you're not performing that identification,
>then you're not Hezbollah. Are we supposed to make some forced choice
>between Hez and the Irgun?
1) The slogan is an expression of solidarity with a group now fighting against Israel. In that way, it is comprehensible, therefore makes sense.
2) It bears a positive relation to one's principal of being anti-Zionist and anti-imperialist. Hezbollah is the only force capable of resisting the current incursion, albeit it is doing so alongside the Lebanese army.
3) You can be whoever you like. You can be the the Chief Executive, the Procurator Fiscal and the Witchfinder General all rolled in to one if you like. I am not recommending you take up that slogan in New York, but on the other hand it would be nice if people would break with the demonology about Hezbollah.
4) By raising that slogan outside the US embassy, one identifies with a very specific contextual aspect of what Hezbollah is doing, no more and no less. If you will *insist* that it implies or assumes a broader identification (even when we clearly have different placards, banners, newspapers, propaganda etc) then you'll have to demonstrate rather than banally asserting it.
Hey, and don't worry: Hezbollah is not going to attack New York. Know how I know that? Because Hezbollah has never attacked New York or Washington or any American city, and has never carried out a single terrorist action. It is not a terrorist organisation.
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