Imshin, the author of the “Not a fish” blog from Israel, has been posting some interesting reflections on the Israeli disengagement from Gaza.
In this Aug 12 post she expresses her support for the rule of law in Israel:
- I am neither orange or blue. I think it is too late for flying colors. It is no longer relevant. My personal view has long been that leaving Gaza was always inevitable, but I did feel that the question of timing was important. There are pros and cons to leaving Gaza at this particular time.
But what I think is no longer relevant, it has been decided.
The stand I am taking is in support of the rule of law, in support of the sovereignty of the State of Israel. The decision was made by a democratically elected government with the support of an also democratically elected legislator. The only important question now, in my opinion, is who rules the country
Yes, Imshin, remember that you have NO right to be concerned with “demographics.” Because despite my sophistry, I still in fact to refuse to accept the legitimacy of your Jewish state. You of course know that I cannot praise any Israeli except for Ilan Pappe or his ilk except in the most backhanded manner. The only acceptable discourse is that which makes you acknowledge that you’re a racist and that you are responsible, as opposed to those pretty little boys who strap bombs to their chests in an attempt to kill you.
Brother, trolls try the silliest gimmicks…
“Demographics” is at the heart of not just the Israel/Palestine conflict but is of growing significance in contemporary Europe as well…note the following article (“An Islamic Alienation” by David Rieff) from today’s New York Times magazine:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/14/magazine/WLN111159.html
an excerpt:
“The reality is that a Europe in demographic freefall needs more, not fewer, immigrants if it is to maintain its prosperity. Tony Blair just proposed new laws allowing the deportation of radical mullahs and the shutting of mosques and other sites associated with Islamic extremism. But given the sheer size of the Muslim population in England and throughout the rest of Europe, the security services are always going to be playing catch-up.”
Peele, this thing of “given the sheer size of the Muslim population in England and throughout the rest of Europe, the security services are always going to be playing catch-up” is only another example of the use of “demographics” as code for racism. What, actually, has the size of the Muslim population got to do with security? Nothing at all.
Tony Blair and the NYT are both attempting to place the minor above the major and deny the truth, which is that the immigrant population is not tribal or feudal but proletarian and bourgeois just like the other citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This condition is exactly what the immigrants have voted with their feet for. The “security services” have no part in it at all.
I have read the NYT article. It makes me angry against the author and the paper and anyone who wnats to spread such racism.
“the immigrant population…[in Europe]… is not tribal or feudal but proletarian and bourgeois just like the other citizens…”
no doubt most are…but try and explain that to the family of the assasinated Dutch filmmaker or of the train commuters in Madrid and London…for whatever reason, some of the immigrants have contempt for European values and pose an internal threat…sad but true!
Peele, this may be news to you, but the nature of the immigration into England at least has been endlessly debated for decades. Have you ever heard of Enoch Powell and his “Rivers of Blood” speech. Have you heard of the Broadwater Farm riot?
‘They created Winston Silcott, the beast of Broadwater Farm. And they won’t let this creation lie down and die’
This was said by Silcott, a black man who was eventually released after being railroaded into a wrongful conviction and long sentence, only overturned years later. Said after his release, mind.
See http://observer.guardian.co.uk/race/story/0,11255,1125536,00.html
There’s nothing new under the sun, mate.
you are entitled to your opinion, but one cannot wish this problem away easily…widely divergent fertility rates of natives and immigrants, jihadist extremism, contempt for host country values on the part of Islamist agitators, alienated and impressionable youth (altho a tiny minority but it takes only a few “martyrs” to wreak havoc in open, liberal societies like the Netherlands and UK) have all contributed to a situation that is alarming by any measure.
Peele! For heaven’s sake, man! “Alarming by any measure… fertility rates… extremism… contempt…”
You are in danger of setting up another Winston Silcott, or many of them. Yours is the ideology of Abu Ghraib, Bagram, and Gitmo.
You are irrational and you are long-winded. And insecure, of course. You are also at the end of the line. When your crowd gets down to this level, there is nothing left for afters. Your credibility is blown.
Especially, the kids don’t buy it, because they know the black kids and the Muslim kids much better than you do, and they don’t have that insecurity of yours.
yes, among the negative, unfortunate consequences of these developments are the unfair stigmatizing of the largely peaceful EuroMuslim population and creating opportunities for the Le Pens, Haiders and other far-right demagogues…remember that Le Pen, like John Kerry, came in SECOND in the most recent presidential race in his country.
Some of these comments lament, and others embrace, what is simply otherwise referred to as class warfare in the US. The basic battle, albeit with cultural overtones at times (when they avail themselves), is the poor against the affluent or richer. In some real sense, and I saw this living in India, as well, not so long ago, is that radical Islam is one of the few ideologies in the post-Communism (with a capital “C”) world that fights for the rights and interests of the poor. The fact of the matter is, as I have put it in other contexts before, the terrorists literally have nothing to live for, so they find something to die for. That, I think, is perhaps the best definition possible for who is a “revolutionary.” Whether we like it or not, radical Islam is the last best hope (for now) of the totally down and out and those who otherwise despise their oppression by the institutions of the day. Until the West (by which I mean institutions as well as voting populations) regains its apprehension of this fact, it will continue to mistake its way into advancing the cause of the Islamic extremists.