War & Peace: March 2003 Archives

My dad's side of the family is from Diemeringen, a town in the Alsace region of France. They mostly left in the 19th century; some of them were still there during World War II (and were hidden in Paris by kindly Christians). My grandparents went on a trip to Alsace in the early 1980s and met an elderly pair of sisters who only spoke French; they hired a translator and had a nice chat. Diemeringen was mentioned in the Jewish Bulletin, yesterday — the historical synagogues are endangered.

"How did so many synagogues end up in Alsace? Most French Jews lived in the province when, in 1791, France became the first country in Europe to grant Jews citizenship. Between then and 1914, some 176 synagogues were built in the province out of 256 for all France."

Synagogues aren't the only thing in trouble in France, apparently. According to the NY Times, antiwar rallies are turning their attention to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and are taking on a troubling tone. They aren't just criticising Sharon or the settlements. There's stuff like this happening: "Another French Arab pointed to a group of protesters from a Jewish student association, and said: 'They are targets. They are not welcome here because of what they did to our Palestinian brothers.'"

The general climate for Jews in France seems to be getting rather chilly...

Listening to a rebroadcast of Forum from earlier today, an hour on "patriotism"...

Where did they find the gentleman on the phone? Such a troglodyte-like throwback to the bad old days, I rarely have the pleasure of hearing.

One fine moment was when he made the assertion that criticizing the president or his policies is unpatriotic, apparently with the proviso that it occur in a foreign country. At one point, someone called in and inquired whether the Republican party's years of public mud-slinging at Clinton was unpatriotic. "Well, they didn't do it abroad. I mean, I've been a critic of Clinton..." You don't say. Gosh.

And let's just hope he never criticized Clinton in the Bay Area, because according to him, "San Francisco is just like a foreign country to me."

Ah. The troglodyte is Gil Ferguson, retired Lt. Col. United States Marine Corps, former State Assemblyman and Chairman of the California Republican Assembly Publications Committee.

(And the counterweights were: Cecilia Elizabeth O'Leary , associate professor of history at CSU Monterey, is the author of "To Die For: The Paradox of American Patriotism"; Helal Omeria, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, Northern California Chapter; Eva Jefferson Paterson, executive director of the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area)

A student disappears along with his family, and a teacher wonders what happened to him, and worries that she knows the answer

Five Postwar Suggestions for George Bush
From Alternet, an article suggesting that since we've gone to war, we might as well do things right from this point on and really actually try to make Iraq a real-live democracy and then get out.

And on the information management front, the FBI no longer has to try to make sure its database is accurate before sharing the information. Oh boy...

--> Evasion! Scroll down to the part about Haliburton.

Wow. Was this guy evesdropping on the conversations I've been having with Michael?

When do you know when things have gotten irretrievably bad in your country; what are the signs, how do you decide? Is it possible to just gradually get used to conditions you really should be taking as loud and clear warning signs?

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--> www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2003/03/25/no_return/index.html

Two articles tonight.

One, from Alternet, by Barbara O'Brian, "Is It Too Late to Save America?" My boyfriend Michael thinks it is. I'm not sure yet.

--> www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15425

Two, a posting by my friend Kimberly on her blog. This one really hits home somehow.

--> www.livejournal.com/users/kimberly_a/151310.html

Salon's March 19 edition features an article called "See No Evil" by Edward W. Lempinen. "Progressives have lots of arguments against the war on Iraq -- some of them compelling. But why aren't they burning to free Saddam's oppressed masses?"

And I have to say... it's a good question. Dubya and his administration frame everything with such simplistic arguments, and have behaved so poorly, that it obscures the legitimate issues with Iraq. But it is true that Dubya behaving badly doesn't make Saddam a saint.

I remain very torn, yet I take some comfort and direction from this concluding statement:

"For those leftists who have supported the war, and for those who have loudly opposed it, now is the time for a shift in strategy. Bush and his inner circle have repeatedly gone on the record describing the war on Iraq as a war on liberation. Even if we do not believe them, we must work relentlessly to hold them accountable. We must insist that the U.S. and its allies implement, as quickly as possible, a constructive post-war plan. They must protect the Kurds from Saddam and from Turkey. Aided by the U.N., they must provide for the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people, no matter the cost. If they truly want to detoxify the Middle East, Bush and his inner circle must commit to seeking a practical solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. They must be reminded constantly, and forcefully, that it is urgent to repair trust, and to stop the corrosion that comes with chronic hypocrisy. By insisting on these values, by returning to the street in a tide of millions, the left might hijack the meaning of this tragedy and salvage from it something constructive. In doing so, we would stand for something that would resonate well into the political center; in doing so, we might create energy that could be channeled into the 2004 presidential campaign."

Other relevant excerpts follow.

--> www.salon.com/opinion/feature/ 2003/03/19/left/index.html

This is what we did in my 'hood last night. I think there were a couple of hundred people there, at least! At one point, a group of people marching up and down Piedmont Avenue passed by, and they just kept coming and coming.. it took 10 or 15 minutes for all of them to pass us. Some of us just stayed in front of the school the whole time.

This week's New Yorker (March 17 issue) has an interesting column on 1) how many of us are deeply conflicted about going to war on Iraq, and 2) how this administration's Utter Certainty that they are Doing the Right Thing has caused a lot of harm, even before the shooting starts (and it seems inevitable that it will start.)

--> www.newyorker.com/talk/content/?030317ta_talk_hertzberg

And in today's Chronicle, a report that anarchists will be joining tomorrow's peace march. Oh joy. "'I don't encourage the violence at all, but the breakaway protests are about changing the way things are going,' said Steve Comstock, a 21-year-old Santa Cruz resident who was arrested after participating in the last splinter march." Er, how, exactly?

I'm not saying there isn't a place for civil disobedience — but this ain't no civil rights movement sit-in we're talking about. It's one thing to say, "If we can't all have access to our shared institutions, than NOBODY gets access." It's another thing to say, "Destroy the system!" without even proposing an alternative.

That's not peace, it's not a solution, and it's not even a coherent message. I want no part of it.

"Anarchists to take part in S.F. march; They say they're demonstrating against evils of capitalism"

--> sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/03/14/BA66439.DTL