That's why our propagandist-in-chief uses it.
When the IDF killed 23 Syrian demonstrators in one day, the US media went to great lengths not to mention that the demonstrators were unarmed.
On 6/9/11 9:16 AM, Robert Naiman wrote:
> During the First Intifada, the Palestinian Communist Party argued
> strenuously - and successfully - within the Palestinian leadership
> against the introduction of weapons. Their argument was:
>
> 1) Conditions in Palestine are totally unfavorable to armed struggle.
> 2) Use of weapons will get more Palestinians killed.
> 3) Use of weapons will undermine popular mobilization.
> 4) Use of weapons will undermine international support for the
> Palestinians, increase sympathy for the Israeli government, and
> legitimize increased Israeli repression.
>
> Unfortunately, the Palestinian Communists lost the same argument
> during the Second Intifada - in no small measure because the First
> Intifada was perceived - incorrectly, I think - to have failed. But
> the Second Intifada proved every one of their arguments correct. Many
> more Palestinians were killed, there was much less popular
> mobilization, international support for the Palestinians was
> undermined, sympathy for the Israeli government was increased,
> increased Israeli repression was legitimized.
>
> Now there is a new political moment in Palestine. A new generation of
> young Palestinians is turning towards nonviolence. If this movement
> draws a big increase in international support - as it absolutely
> should - it could change history. The fact that pompous ass Todd
> Gitlin is celebrating this development in a pompous ass way should not
> distract us from the fact that there is something important to be
> celebrated - and vigorously supported.
>
> On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 9:01 AM, Patrick Bond<pbond at mail.ngo.za> wrote:
>> In a talk given to our Centre for Civil Society in 2009 -
>> http://ccs.ukzn.ac.za/default.asp?11,22,5,1878 - Norman Finkelstein gave
>> a stunning lecture to a large Durban crowd that included Gandhi's
>> grandaughter Ela, in which he argued that Gandhi would have supported
>> Hamas' rocket launches. I don't have a transcript of this but if anyone
>> wants to read the original discussion of Satyagraha by Gandhi I can
>> forward it. Quite a mixed-bag in terms of race politics, it was, but a
>> century ago in Durban things were rather tricky.
>>
>> We'll see what interesting residues of Satyagraha will apply when the
>> Conference of Polluters climate summit comes to town in about six
>> months' time. Dec 9 is the final day for saving the Kyoto Protocol's
>> binding language - and that won't happen. Instead, there'll be more
>> privatisation of the air via carbon trading.
>>
>> Maybe some civil disobedience will change the tone.
>>
>> (In Gaza a couple of weeks ago, at the Erez border, I witnessed Israeli
>> border patrols firing regularly at unarmed Palestinians. In these
>> peaceful marches to the border there have been dozens killed or wounded.)
>>
>> On 6/9/2011 6:42 AM, Robert Naiman wrote:
>>> Gitlin may be a pompous ass, but the underlying point is still
>>> basically right. When pompous asses come around to seeing that 2+2=4,
>>> it's still four. It's important not to be provoked by the arrival of
>>> the pompous asses on the scene into arguing that 2+2 is anything but
>>> four.
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jun 8, 2011 at 3:45 PM, Joseph Catron<jncatron at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> "[I]t now looks as though—fingers crossed—a critical mass of Palestinians
>>>> may, at last, be getting the point. When they blow people up, they
>>>> manufacture panic and hatred, and lock themselves up. They forfeit the
>>>> initiative. When they act en masse with what Gandhi called satyagraha, soul
>>>> force, they seize the initiative. If the Palestinian national movement had
>>>> begun with disciplined nonviolence, it would have achieved statehood by now.
>>>> That said, much better late than never."
>>>> http://972mag.com/can-nonviolence-move-the-next-century
>>>> Anyone failing to understand why this dripping racist condescension is
>>>> entirely baseless might consider reading Mazin Qumsiyeh's Popular Resistance
>>>> in Palestine. But in the meantime, or in lieu of that, please avoid any
>>>> attempts to feign expertise on the topic.
>>>> --
>>>> "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen
>>>> lytlað."
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
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>
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