[lbo-talk] Susan Abulhawa on WITBD for Palestine (rights vs. statehood

[Carrol Cox]

I agree with this -- including the "hollow at the core." But you have t 
understand that in mass movements in their early stages almost the only 
kind of slogans/calls that will generate the necessary mass to _Begin_ 
serious discussion are such slogans. First you get people talking to 
each other under the impetus of public action, then you begin a process 
of correction and expansion of initial slogans. I agree that "natural 
rights" is about as hollow as they come, but it may be not a bad 
starting point.

Carrol

On 10/15/2011 12:49 PM, Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> On Oct 15, 2011, at 1:34 PM, James Heartfield wrote:
>
>> Joe C. posted: ‘This, in my opinion, is what we should be working toward.? Calling for our natural rights as human beings and as an indigenous people is what unifies us all.? To be accorded human rights is our rightful inheritance.?’
>>
>> I think statehood is a clearer demand. What natural right? What are indigenous people? Are some humans indigenous and some not? ‘to be accorded’ – by whom?
>
> Excellent questions. Statehood is a goal that can unite people as they fight for it. All those other things are kind of empty. High-sounding moral-exhortatory claims, but hollow at the core.
>
> Doug
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