WHHAAT THAAA F*CK BUDDY?!
Sometimes we turn to absurdity and really basic humour when confronted with images and news that overruns our minds capacity for understanding and emotional context. I recently thought this week of JD's humorous observation on our last tour that kept us going for days and I still find hilarious. We were in New Glasgow, our first show and we were setting up and doing the haul when JD overheard one of the locals exclaim-WHHAATT THHAAA FUCK BUDDY! He was dismayed to find that a great deal of the couches had been removed from one of the rooms in the upstairs portion of the bar. "Where are ya supposed to get laid now??" I believe was the root of his problem with managements decision. I thought of this guy while walking past the line of newspaper boxes with images and headlines from Gaza spread across the front page. What the fuck buddy indeed. What would this guy think? What would anyone from the East Coast think of this war? I'll try not to stereotype all of our Maritime friends but what I'm getting at is there is a particular view of the world form the East Coast that is unique in Canada. Beyond the Maritimes is known as "Away". Ah your from away! Is what your told. Doesn't matter where, it's just not here. I understand why everywhere else is away. A great deal of the East can be mistaken for the Garden of Eden. But the spirit of the East that arises from this notion is of interest to me when trying to come at the Middle East quagmire. As absurd as it is to have your local barfly analyze a situation as this, the very problem would seem absurd to the local barfly. "What you mean you're fighting over a bit of land by the sea buddy?" Why's it gotta come to war? Just get a couple of your best boys head down to the local and have at it with a hard night of drinkin". Many a sad situation and political dispute is solved over a bottle and some tunes there. But as wishful as our man's solutions make me, I know they belong in a different world than ours.
Our world is one of hard politics, religion and their unending war over power. In school I dabbled in trying to wrap my head around a stream of political science known as comparative politics. I found it useful in my nationalism class when trying to understand when studying Eastern Europe to look to Latin America as a source of possible solutions and pathways for development (both civil and economic). Latin America (LA) was a colonial shitting ground for centuries and has always had an affinity in it's post-colonial time toward socialism and state centered development. Eastern Europe was just coming out of the haze of communist power and was looking for ways to live in the capitalist world so taking state structures, economic and social development models from the LA region and seeing if they could work in places like Bulgaria seemed like a good idea. I'm not sure how much past theory this comparative politics approach has come but it makes sense. So in such a hard Realpolitik arena such as the Middle East you have two choices-emotional fatigue brought on by the rationalization of events and trying to assess blame and figure out who is right and wrong and who has the moral advantage thereby should have the political advantage and our support OR ask political science for an answer.
Israel is a very young country. It just passed it's 60th anniversary. Sixty years in barely a couple of generations. When your talking state clock time this is just a few minutes passed 12 noon. What we have all been privy to in our lives is the growing pains of a new state set within the confines of geography divided by millenia of history. As a political structure, Israel is in it's youth and we will not see a resolution of it's growth in our lifetimes. The Arab/Israeli war has never stopped since 1948. Egypt has been the most crucial country in Israel's history as a country that it has continued to battle with as the representative of the Arab league. The history of the conflict is enough for many books. But what has brought the world's eyes back is the fight over a 41km long stretch that has been bounced around like a hot potato that everyone has tried to eat. As part of the Oslo Accords, Israel ceded control over Gaza and removed the Jewish settlers by 2005. The PLO has maintained administrative control since but the State of Israel really is still the one that calls the shots in terms of airspace water rights and travel. Further, they put up a giant fucking wall to keep Gazans out. Walls don't work when you have rockets. The Palestinian Authority (it's own recent political history has been well interesting- lets just say the wrong family members are currently in charge) have declared “Israel still controls every person, every good, literally every drop of water to enter or leave the Gaza Strip. Its troops may not be there … but it still restricts the ability for the Palestinian authority to exercise control.” Human Rights Watch and Democracy Now have both recently called Israel on its actions. So you have a jumpy, young militaristic nation supported by the largest superpower on Earth, surround by nations intent on their removal, a region right next door that is currently being supported by World Public Enemy #1 Iran, a group of people starved, unemployed, turning to God, and his chosen prophets telling them to fight for your very life, and well you get rockets, answered by gunships, jets and tanks.
During my recent trip to England my cousin looked at the TV with a Gaza report on and just shook his head (A What The Fuck Buddy in his head, if you will). An appropriate response. We got to talking about the UK and it made me think that England was a kind of Israel of Europe. You want to see a country surrounded by people that HATE it! England has had the Welsh, the Scots, the Irish, the French, and at many times the Germans, and the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire war machines and political vitriol trained on it. The English have given many of these countries solid cause for their discontent no doubt, but has not Israel? The English up until the late twentieth century have been a pretty racially homogeneous bunch, especially by North American standards. They have held to a particular religious vision for the last 400 plus years and have been a militaristic and economic empire. Through the lens of comparative politics, Israel is a baby England. Now this is true reductionism, but come on this is a blog. Israel has not forged an imperial path (yet) but it does have an enormous diaspora around the world that through its religious conviction fights various economic and social battles on it's behalf. The state of Israel is supported from outside its borders and inside it has become an extremely tough military nation bent on it's protection and development. In the course of historical time, this will get very tiring, and very expensive and eventually the memories of 1948 and 1967 will fade and the world will say enough is enough, just like we all did with England and Germany. The problem, is in non-historical time, in OUR lifetimes. England had to go through a couple of wars that brought the world in before it learned how to play nice and its neighbours realized compromise was the only path to political survival and economic prosperity. England let go of vestiges and made good with it's neighbours. A political solution was what solved Northern Ireland. A political compromise is what it gave Scotland. A political and economic agreement and trust is what the Allies gave Germany. A belief in popular sovereignty and economic independence is what it gave to India (some would ague here it was kinda like selling off capital to pay its creditors and Gandhi was becoming a royal pain in the arse) With great power comes great responsibility.
There is little wonder why a vast majority in Europe have not supported the current response to rocket attacks by Hamas from Gaza. Been there, seen that, done it. Although the high Muslim population in France and England and that natural tendency toward distrust and hate of Israel notwithstanding, the general consensus is that this will not solve the problem and that innocents are the ones as always who will shoulder the burden of war. As simplistic as what Pres. Elect Obama has said, that if someone was throwing rockets in my backyard I'd do everything I could to stop them, it is not the answer. Europe as a political force will not be able by itself to realign the political powers that be in the Middle East toward peace. The U.S. has to moderate it support for Israel and get back to a closer form of neutrality. Hillary Clinton has her hands full and the first thing is not to go to war with Iran. The first thing is to isolate Iran by bringing everyone in the Middle East to the table and making sure Egypt gets back to its leadership position. No one but the insane or the pathologically obsessed or the truly invested few want war. The trick is in the Middle East to make sure these people don't get and hold office. How? The only way that has worked- through hearts and minds and stomachs.
Terrorism is not new to our time. It's a plague that keeps mutating to fit the DNA of our present body politik. If we keep forgetting how we solved problems before, if we keep to such isolated views of how we are to go about living together, we are doomed to a recycled life of death. Israel will grow up. It must find peace for its survival and the majority of Jews know this, more than anyone on this planet, they know this. This fight is a preamble to the real work that will be done this century. The tools, and templates are their. The resources and possibilities are there. It's just what happens between now and then that scares us all.
Post Script:
I failed to mention Tony Blair is the latest peace envoy for the UN. Good Luck. Northern Ireland taught him a lot. Let's just hope they're gonna listen.
On a sad note, Canada was the lone voice in opposition to a UN resolution citing the attacks by Israel are creating a humanitarian catastrophe. Harper said that is was inflammatory. The U.S. abstained.
Israel is a very young country. It just passed it's 60th anniversary. Sixty years in barely a couple of generations. When your talking state clock time this is just a few minutes passed 12 noon. What we have all been privy to in our lives is the growing pains of a new state set within the confines of geography divided by millenia of history. As a political structure, Israel is in it's youth and we will not see a resolution of it's growth in our lifetimes. The Arab/Israeli war has never stopped since 1948. Egypt has been the most crucial country in Israel's history as a country that it has continued to battle with as the representative of the Arab league. The history of the conflict is enough for many books. But what has brought the world's eyes back is the fight over a 41km long stretch that has been bounced around like a hot potato that everyone has tried to eat. As part of the Oslo Accords, Israel ceded control over Gaza and removed the Jewish settlers by 2005. The PLO has maintained administrative control since but the State of Israel really is still the one that calls the shots in terms of airspace water rights and travel. Further, they put up a giant fucking wall to keep Gazans out. Walls don't work when you have rockets. The Palestinian Authority (it's own recent political history has been well interesting- lets just say the wrong family members are currently in charge) have declared “Israel still controls every person, every good, literally every drop of water to enter or leave the Gaza Strip. Its troops may not be there … but it still restricts the ability for the Palestinian authority to exercise control.” Human Rights Watch and Democracy Now have both recently called Israel on its actions. So you have a jumpy, young militaristic nation supported by the largest superpower on Earth, surround by nations intent on their removal, a region right next door that is currently being supported by World Public Enemy #1 Iran, a group of people starved, unemployed, turning to God, and his chosen prophets telling them to fight for your very life, and well you get rockets, answered by gunships, jets and tanks.
During my recent trip to England my cousin looked at the TV with a Gaza report on and just shook his head (A What The Fuck Buddy in his head, if you will). An appropriate response. We got to talking about the UK and it made me think that England was a kind of Israel of Europe. You want to see a country surrounded by people that HATE it! England has had the Welsh, the Scots, the Irish, the French, and at many times the Germans, and the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire war machines and political vitriol trained on it. The English have given many of these countries solid cause for their discontent no doubt, but has not Israel? The English up until the late twentieth century have been a pretty racially homogeneous bunch, especially by North American standards. They have held to a particular religious vision for the last 400 plus years and have been a militaristic and economic empire. Through the lens of comparative politics, Israel is a baby England. Now this is true reductionism, but come on this is a blog. Israel has not forged an imperial path (yet) but it does have an enormous diaspora around the world that through its religious conviction fights various economic and social battles on it's behalf. The state of Israel is supported from outside its borders and inside it has become an extremely tough military nation bent on it's protection and development. In the course of historical time, this will get very tiring, and very expensive and eventually the memories of 1948 and 1967 will fade and the world will say enough is enough, just like we all did with England and Germany. The problem, is in non-historical time, in OUR lifetimes. England had to go through a couple of wars that brought the world in before it learned how to play nice and its neighbours realized compromise was the only path to political survival and economic prosperity. England let go of vestiges and made good with it's neighbours. A political solution was what solved Northern Ireland. A political compromise is what it gave Scotland. A political and economic agreement and trust is what the Allies gave Germany. A belief in popular sovereignty and economic independence is what it gave to India (some would ague here it was kinda like selling off capital to pay its creditors and Gandhi was becoming a royal pain in the arse) With great power comes great responsibility.
There is little wonder why a vast majority in Europe have not supported the current response to rocket attacks by Hamas from Gaza. Been there, seen that, done it. Although the high Muslim population in France and England and that natural tendency toward distrust and hate of Israel notwithstanding, the general consensus is that this will not solve the problem and that innocents are the ones as always who will shoulder the burden of war. As simplistic as what Pres. Elect Obama has said, that if someone was throwing rockets in my backyard I'd do everything I could to stop them, it is not the answer. Europe as a political force will not be able by itself to realign the political powers that be in the Middle East toward peace. The U.S. has to moderate it support for Israel and get back to a closer form of neutrality. Hillary Clinton has her hands full and the first thing is not to go to war with Iran. The first thing is to isolate Iran by bringing everyone in the Middle East to the table and making sure Egypt gets back to its leadership position. No one but the insane or the pathologically obsessed or the truly invested few want war. The trick is in the Middle East to make sure these people don't get and hold office. How? The only way that has worked- through hearts and minds and stomachs.
Terrorism is not new to our time. It's a plague that keeps mutating to fit the DNA of our present body politik. If we keep forgetting how we solved problems before, if we keep to such isolated views of how we are to go about living together, we are doomed to a recycled life of death. Israel will grow up. It must find peace for its survival and the majority of Jews know this, more than anyone on this planet, they know this. This fight is a preamble to the real work that will be done this century. The tools, and templates are their. The resources and possibilities are there. It's just what happens between now and then that scares us all.
Post Script:
I failed to mention Tony Blair is the latest peace envoy for the UN. Good Luck. Northern Ireland taught him a lot. Let's just hope they're gonna listen.
On a sad note, Canada was the lone voice in opposition to a UN resolution citing the attacks by Israel are creating a humanitarian catastrophe. Harper said that is was inflammatory. The U.S. abstained.
posted by The Proletariat @ 8:56 p.m.
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