Stop Crucifying Palestine
كفوا عن صلب فلسطين

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"Opinion: Students should be proud for challenging hate speech"

by Michael Stauch
Anti-Racist Action

Published in: THE SOUTH END
Wayne State University student newspaper
Detroit, Michigan

November 30, 2006

On the Web at:
http://thesouthend.typepad.com/tsenews/2006/11/opinion_student.html#more

"The students of Wayne State University should take a moment today to give themselves a well-deserved pat on the back. On Nov. 15, Itamar Marcus, founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch, gave a presentation on WSU’s campus about Palestinian media. The audience sat quietly and patiently, with some people scribbling notes, as Marcus presented for over an hour his analysis of Palestinian media under the Palestinian Authority.

"In the Nov. 16 issue of The South End, Students for Israel’s Tova Schreiber claimed that those of us who asked pointed questions of Marcus after his presentation, “did not help the Palestinian cause.” We in Anti Racist Action (ARA) could not disagree more! In fact, we believe we, and everyone else who confronted Marcus, did the “Palestinian cause” a great service in raising our questions and concerns, and not allowing him to sidetrack us with arbitrary “statistics” and polls.

"Both Marcus and the moderator of the event, Frederic Pearson, tried to control the situation, tried to silence us as we insisted to have our questions answered, and to hold this man accountable to the ideas - white supremacy and colonialism - he admits he adheres to. They failed. We would not be contained. WSU students can proudly say we didn’t allow hate speech to go unchallenged on our campus. This is a great victory for the Palestinian cause, as racist, slanderous accusations about the Palestinian people were challenged and defeated.

"At the event, about fifteen students asked Marcus questions. Only three of those questions could be considered “friendly.” Everyone who wanted to ask a question was allowed, and Marcus answered every question asked of him. Wayne State students should be proud that such is the balance on our campus. But rather than admitting that Zionism isn’t “mainstream,” but rather racist extremism, Zionists have to falsify events. They say not that they were outnumbered four or five to one at the event, but that “lengthy outbursts” prevented “students with legitimate questions” from asking them. This is nonsense. Anyone that was there knows it. Furthermore, the audience members who were opposed to Marcus and Zionism asked very legitimate and valid questions.

"One such question was this: since both Israelis and Palestinians bring their children up to “defend” their land, and teach their young people to die for their country, why does Marcus condemn the colonized for teaching their young people to fight colonialism with all they have, but not condemn the colonizer, Israel, for teaching its young people to murder and humiliate Palestinians in the name of colonialism? Marcus had no answer. He cited a lot of opinion polls about “democracy” and literacy rates and other irrelevant nonsense. But the question remained: why did he condemn anti-colonial rebellion, but not colonialism?

"In an era when the majority of the world has rejected colonialism, and people like Nelson Mandela are remembered as anti-colonial heroes, this man stood in front of Wayne State students and declared himself firmly in support of colonialism! He got the reception he deserved.

"Another claim was made in Schreiber’s editorial. She said that, “people like Salam and other ARA members have taken advantage of the Palestinians’ genuine plight, and have used it as a mask to conceal their hatred of Israel.

"And by shouting down a Jewish speaker because of who he is, they revealed themselves to be racists.” It amazes me that a racist who wants either to cleanse all Palestinians from the land (in the case of the right-wing Zionists) or simply administer apartheid “more humanely” (as in the case of the liberal Zionist) can pretend to any sympathy for the Palestinians’ “genuine plight.”

"Anyone genuinely concerned with the Palestinians’ plight should work toward divestment from Israel and the ultimate goal of dismantling the apartheid, colonial-settler state of Israel and replacing it with a single, democratic polity where Jews and Arabs can live side by side as equals. Unless one has the courage to oppose the state of Israel in spite of all the slanderous accusations this opens a person up to, one cannot claim to be “on the side of” the Palestinians.

"By supporting Israel in any way, one betrays the Palestinian people with every breath. Furthermore, this sentiment exposes a Zionist trick ARA continually warns people to be wary of: the attempt to equate Jewish identity with the state and ruling class of Israel. Let me clarify. We did not “shout down” Marcus because he is Jewish. That would be anti-Semitic. We, and others, “shouted him down” because he is a racist apologist of the colonial-settler, apartheid state of Israel. Yet Schreiber attempts to equate an attack on the hate speech of a racist Zionist with that of a Jew with no interest in or sympathy for Zionism! To Jews who feel attacked when ARA exposes the racist state of Israel, we have some very simple advice: stop identifying with a racist state and you will no longer feel attacked. Identify instead with the long, proud tradition of Jewish resistance to colonialism, anti-Semitism, and racism that ARA always emphasizes. Work with us to replace the state of Israel with a single, democratic polity where Jews and Arabs can live side by side as equals.

"The fact that Zionists can only defend themselves by intentionally misrepresenting the Nov. 15 event should be telling. Zionism has no future. It sustains itself by lying and distorting the truth. The days of Israeli apartheid and colonialism are numbered. With luck and great determination, we will see a just and equitable peace in the Middle East in our lifetimes."
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