I have a question?

Have you ever been accused of being brain-washed, having voiced an "unpopular" position or opinion?

I always find that kind of response to be such a cop-out from actually giving any thought to an opinion that doesn't fit the general consensus.
I mean if what I have to say causes you such insecurity maybe one should think about why and not just accept what you think as The Way Things Are.

A smart person told me that there are no facts, there are only opinions. I have to say, coming from this person I found it odd that they would have such a post-modern way of thinking (post-modern, because it basically says that there is no such thing as empirical data that can be trusted), and I agree with them... it's true. Facts have very little bearing on opinion and opinion in general is what accumulates fact.
Makes the little adage "Don't confuse me with your facts", so funny.

In any event, while "empirical data" is often skewed and changed to fit an agenda - Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics - material reality is something you can't change. It's representation in the world, yes. What actually happens... not so much.

Over the past months I've been called "brain-washed", "extreme", "strange", "provocative", "sitting in an ivory-tower", "out of touch" etc. etc.

All I can think when I hear those words thrown at me is: "I can't believe how much people refuse to look, listen and learn outside what we're spoon fed".
And then I *sigh* and shut up, listen to what's being said, what isn't being said and continue to feel confident in the security that my opinions can take the beatings the general consensus throws at them.

Here's for some ( mainstream media madness )

Here is some more information. Skewed though it may be.
Israeli Commitee Against House Demolitions.

It's amazing how much our perceptions are just a matter of arbitrary perspective.

Yesterday, I was telling my parents about the LGBT studies and Queer theory conference that went on at Uni (the eighth "The Other Sex" con at Tel-Aviv University) and was asked if everyone there was as strange as I.

They said it as a joke (or not, I try not to dwell), but I couldn't help but think about it in a more critical way.

Am I strange?
I mean, really?
And in any event, define "not strange", or "normal", or "normative" - none of those are synonymous.
So beyond that little venture into semantics land, I have to say that this year's conference was fun, as I actually knew some of the people speaking on the panels and understood the theory that was being discussed there. Last year, was my first Queer academic conference and there was a whole lot that I didn't understand, other than what I had actually experienced as a queer person.

Where was I?
Oh, yes, the "strangeness".

Walking down the street, in my day to day life, I wear my political identity on my sleeve; which not everyone gets, understandably so, I suppose. Most of the time I feel as though I somehow escape the scrutiny of the hegemony because I don't break any societal conventions in the way I present myself to the world (correct me if I'm wrong IRL people). But I'm aware of where I and the "mainstream" meet and conflict, that place where I know that I don't fit into the categories society assumes to subject me to.

And today, at this conference, it's always amazing to hear the theories that describe the reality in which we live and the people who, along with me, don't fit the *deep breath* Patriarchal-heterosexist-Ashkenazi (i.e. white)-Jewish-nationalistic hegemony.

There is always a problem of representation. There wasn't any panel (that I saw) that touched on Bisexual identity specifically, there wasn't a whole lot about Trans' issues and there was a lot of Judith Butler bashing, which seems to be a trend in current post-structural theory and philosophy - which I don't get, personally.

There was a whole lot of talk on Queer identity, which a lot of times is used as an umbrella term for LGBT, but as (the amazing) Amalia Ziv said this evening, Queer is also an adjective and a verb... but not everyone has an identity which is fluid and shifting and changing.

I consider myself and call myself queer in certain circles, but I know that my some members of my family don't understand what I mean by "queer", but "bisexual" - with the baggage that word carries, is something most people who aren't queer themselves and know queer culture - is easier to understand, because it holds within the binary mainstream society insists we live as either homo or hetero, being bi is a little skew from that, but there is the option of one way or the other - with Queer, the options, the categories, themselves are put into question.

And that's what I felt what the conference was about; mainly about literary texts and more theorizing than practicality... but hey, this is academia, sometimes theory is the praxis.

Once again we have scientific research detailing the differences between the "Straight" brain and the "Gay" brain.
Turns out, surprise, surprise, that the brains of gay men and straight women have similarities in the area of the brain that has to do with emotional response and communication, while the brains of gay women and straight men have similarities in the area that focuses on spacial perception.
The source of this oh so progressive info: The Guardian - Gay men and heterosexual women have similarly shaped brains, research shows.

I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous.
Seriously.

Scientists at the prestigious Stockholm Brain Institute in Sweden also found certain brain circuits linked to emotional responses were the same in gay men and straight women.

Biology doesn't count for much in our modern society.
Emotional responses were similar in two segments of the population which are by default considered "Other" and lesser than the ruling population?
Gosh, I wonder.

The results could explain a University of London study earlier this year that found gay men and straight women share a poor sense of direction compared with heterosexual men, and were more likely to navigate using landmarks alone.

Don't you just love the way they phrase things.
Yes, all gay men and all straight women have "poor sense of direction".
Those cunts and homos shouldn't be driving, eh.
As though having a a good sense of direction enabled you to be a better participant in society's larger scheme.

The research is part of a larger effort to identify differences between the male and female brain, in the hope they will shed light on why some mental disorders affect men and women differently.

Perhaps it is because we are taught to behave differently to ailments?
While no doubt that the biochemistry of males bodies and female bodies are different, ignoring social ordering and societal structuralism is like trying to put together a puzzle in which you have none of the frame pieces and you don't have a picture of the puzzle to compare with.

For example, major depressive disorders are far more common and persistent in women, while autism is around four times more common in boys than girls.

Because women, in general and not all, have less avenues for independence and are constantly bombarded with mixed messages on what they must do in order to be a Good Woman - Western society, obviously, seeing as this article doesn't mention any queers or hetero's of colour, it is safe to assume that of the 90 volunteers they were all white and of a certain class (though perhaps not, as this research is trying to be "objectively scientific" while taking a bio-sociological stance. Hypocrites).
As for autism being more common in boys... perhaps, maybe, I dunno, it presents itself differently in girls!
Isn't that exactly what the research is trying to show?!

Oh and by the way? Where do the bi men and women stand in this little experiment. Any Transgenders (or are they in the same categories as gays and lesbians). Anything at all about intersexed or genderqueers.

Yeah, no so much.

Gah, these things piss me off so much.
Scientific research my peachy ass.

In October 2000 there was a lynch. It was all over the News. It isn't easily forgotten, especially not with images as iconic as this.

It took me no time to find these links.
The only link I could find of this disgusting story, beyond the blogosphere, was in Ha'aretz weekend supplement (printed edition) in Hebrew. Today I got an RSS feed of the story translated into English. Unlike the Hebrew article, which has markup errors and is thus basically unreadable on-line, the English edition doesn't have pictures and I have not been able to find any other photos of the lynching. A group of dozens Jewish boys between the ages of 15-18 from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze'ev assaulted and almost murdered two Palestinian teens from Shu'fat, which is just a stone throw away form that Jewish neighborhood.

The lynching took place on the 30th of April (yes, a month ago) and it was only brought to the media this past week.
What is even more disgusting is that the 30th of April this year was National Holocaust Memorial Day, obviously the date was not chosen for the hell of it, especially because Palestinians come to Pisgat Ze'ev Mall often enough for them to be familiar to Jewish population.

The article is a horrifying and illuminating read. I must be growing cynical in my old age as I was not surprised at all that something like this happened. The fact that I share with those "good Jewish boys" an iota of commonality is sickening.

Did I mention there was a book burning as well? Oh, and that Israel is the 4th largest arms dealer in the world.

I end this extremely depressing entry with the hope that someday lynches, burnings and profiteering through the suffering of others will be shocking and nauseating.

I am not shocked and nauseated that these things happen in the country in which I live.
That is the saddest thing of all.

What an interesting story.

On the gut level I thought; fuck that's a brave thing to do.
On the more cognitive level I thought; damn that's clever.
On the student-who-analyzes-everything-she-reads level I thought; well, that's one of the most rebellious, subjective things she could do in that situation.
On the absurd/political level I thought; those men harass her to the extent to which she must bare all, literally and she's reprimanded!?

Just goes to show that sexual harassment is the most normalized crime, there really is nothing wrong with wolf-whistling to a total stranger in the street.
She retaliates to a perceived threat and gets the punishment.

A few prize quotes from the article, just to show a little bit more of the absurd/political side of this:

"She gave the explanation that she had been ... pestered by New Zealand men. She's not an unattractive-looking lady," [Sgt. Peter Masters] said."

Police treated the incident as a one-off.

"She was taken back to the police station and spoken to and told that was
inappropriate (behavior) in New Zealand," [Sgt. Peter Masters] added."

And since this is Ha'aretz, the woman in question is an Israeli tourist.
Take from that what you will.

( Feeling linkphobic? Just Follow the cut )

Another day of memorial, this one is present and thus, to me, much less poignant than Yom Ha'Shoah was last week, for some reason.
Dead soldiers and dead civilian victims, killed in War and Terror.

My feelings are mixed.
Last year I was depressed and the whole thing washed over me and was dimmed into the background of my own personal self pity and pain, to do with the war I participated in.
Now everything feels sharp, not the pain, but the facade of the (necessary and important) ceremonies in which the names of the dead will be spoken and candles will be lit, is so much more clear to me.
The ceremonies seem like theatrics to me. But I'll go to my elementary school where every year, younger and younger (because every year I get older) children stand on the grass slope where they will sing the same songs as last year, recite the same poems and maybe the choreography of the dance will be different, though I doubt it.
I'll go because dead men and women need to be remembered and at this point this is what we have.

Tomorrow is Independence Day, always after Memorial Day, so that we know what those dead men and women fought, lived and died for.

Korin Alal (though Ehud Manor wrote it) puts into words the way I feel best on these days... even if they are mixed:

I have no other land
Even if the ground is burning
Only a word in Hebrew, penetrating
Into my veins, my soul
In an aching body,
In a hungering heart.
Here is my home

I will not be silent, for my land
Changed her face
I will not concede to her
I will sing in her ear
Until she opens her eyes

I'm tired.
I'm never taking a course that requires me to wake up at six AM.
Or alternately I could start going to sleep at reasonable hours...
But fuck that right?

But the fact that I'm tired won't stop me from reporting this shit, that went down in the beginning of last weekend and which may or may not be resolved.
It pissed me off royally.
Beyond the tragic and cruel nature of these invalidated conversions, it spotlights a grave and important matter about the relationship of religion and state in Israel.
That it is rotten.

I got into an argument about what is acceptable involvement of religious establishment in the state.
Personally, I think they can fuck off, since these establishments are chauvinistic, sexist and racist.

There is no civil marriage in Israel, the closest we have is common-law unions which were established so that "un-marriageable" couples could have legal standing.
Who are the "un-marriageable" you ask - they are members of the population that cannot get married through the Rabbanut. The system was initially built for couples who according to Halakha couldn't marry each other: Cohens and divorces mainly. But this also includes Mamzerim (bastards) who cannot marry through the Rabbanut, Jews cannot marry Muslims or Christians, nor can Muslims and Christians marry each other, there is no same-sex marriage either.
This, is of course easily solved by marrying elsewhere; Cyprus, Canada, the USA, Anywhere that allows foreign nationals to marry.

And after marriage (which brings great civil benefits) comes divorce (more and more these days and don't let anyone tell you otherwise).
It's a great invention, Jews are practical that way.
Of course it is the Husband that must grant the Wife the Get (divorce), she can "choose" whether to accept it or not. Not that the man would give a shit, all he needs in order to have a Halachikly legal family (while not divorced to his first wife) is something like a 100 signatures from 100 Rabbis and he can marry and have (halachicly)legal children - bigamy and polygamy are illegal in Israel - so he can ignore with impunity the pleas his Wife makes so that they can be rid of each other. There are sanctions, monetary usually, but go beg a Yeshivah Bochur to pay alimony when he can't sustain himself without a wife, or just a run of the mill asshole who doesn't want to pay alimony and that putting him in jail only postpones the writ of execution of whatever he owes his wife, his lawer and his children should he have any. The wife, due to all this, is now an Aguna - another side effect of the Rabbis revocation of the conversions - there are hundreds, if not thousands, of Agunot women in Israel.

My side of the argument was that we either take the anti-patriarchy hammer and bash the Rabbanut until nothing is left of that racist, sexist establishment, or have the state acknowledge the fact that there is more to Judaism than Orthodoxy so that that the pluralism we pretend to have in Israel have some basis in reality.

A mixture of reform and revolution - I'm more keen on rebuilding from the grassroots, but others kind of like the way things are... or at the very least don't mind the way things are; seeing as the privilege of being born Jewish has the added bonus that no one will be nosing around our private life and checking to see if we're actually being Jewish.

It makes me sick.

I've heard people say it takes time for these things to change, after all blacks in the USA only got civil rights in the 60's of the 20th century and the women only got the vote less than a hundred years ago.
Change is slow but it happens.

Yes, change is slow... when those in power have no incentive to change, when the atrocities that these establishments perpetrate don't touch their lives, then change can be slow.
When the status quo is just fine and dandy to The Man, then change can be slow.

Classical liberal* bullshit.

*No offense to any liberals who may be reading this.

I'm not going to make it to the May Day march happening in Tel Aviv today and I mentioned it to Mummy, because I share things with Mummy and generally she likes it when I share things her.

She said that May Day is passé. That it doesn't mean anythings anymore. That only old pensioners still want to march and that only the crazy Left factions still choose to march, that they're on the fringe of the political map.
And now that the Soviet Union doesn't exist anymore it's a meaningless communist holiday.
She said that when she lived in South Africa and communism was illegal and she marched in Anti-Apartheid demos on that day it meant something.

Well, it does still mean something.
It's not a "communist" holiday.
The official title for May Day is International Workers Day, or International Workers Rights Day.

In this era; in which temp workers have almost no rights in their work place.

In which the minimum wage in most countries doesn't correlate with the standard of living.

In which the welfare system discriminates against single parent families (usually singe mothers as we know).

In which there are one day strikes where bosses make promises and get the workers back on track but in fact nothing changes.

In which my friend who works as a Barista in a chain doesn't see the point of a union because she isn't going to stay long enough at the job for it to do any good.

In which strikes demanding better pay, better terms, better education are ignored by the government and completely miss the opportunity to show a united front, in Solidarity, for education, higher learning and a future for those who will get a mediocre education.

In which globalisation enables the movement of cheap labour from a "Third World" country to a "Western" country and these workers are used, abused and can barely sustain themselves because they send the majority of their wages back to their families;

In which the lining of ones pocket is more important than the fact that the majority of the peoples pockets are empty.

In which a burgeoning food crisis is immanent and those who grow the food will have nothing left because it will all be taken and distributed all over the world just so "we" won't be without our precious rice.

In which small business, like my Father's pharmacy, have to compete with giant chains and he works so hard to make sure his children want for nothing and works from eight AM to eight PM, being the boss, the worker and the professional.

In which 19(!) families control 34% (maybe more) of the income of Israel's 500 leading companies - Ynet Article.

In this era of exploitation, by-any-means-necessary-profit, "voluntary" over-time, Life Style and unsustainable economics, it is imperative to mark a day, be it a traditional one or a new one, so long as it's international, where those who are exploited, used and have their rights/see their comrades rights being abused move together in solidarity for a better future for everyone.

And to those who say; there has always been exploitation, there has always been inequality, there have always been those who have and those who don't.
I (and I'm sure many others) say: if there is no change, there is only stagnation and the only "always" that comes from that is death.
...
Um, yeah.
I'm done.

Happy (after)May Day Everyone!

"The head of the criminal affairs bureau in Lower Austria, Franz Polzer, said Mr Fritzl had admitted sexually abusing his daughter repeatedly during the time he imprisoned her".

May I please ask; why is no one calling what this disgusting excuse for a human being did, rape?
Why is it sexual abuse, when it happens between family members?
Why are "incest" and "molestation" used instead of calling it what it is?
Is there any doubt that this so-called father forced his daughter into becoming a sex-slave and having seven children of his children?

That... man... should be castrated, thrown into a jail cell (solitary confinement at that) for the rest his natural life and never see the light of day again.
Of course, that kind of justice isn't what's given out to sex offenders these days.

If I weren't so angered by this, my mind would be boggled.

When they've been forced into marriage.

Sometimes I fail to understand the logic of the world that I live in.

You know, the kind of bravery it takes for a little girl to run away from a house where she has was forced to "consummate the marriage" by her twenty-something "husband" is extraordinary.
The girl is eight.
EIGHT!
The whole idea of child brides, never mind teen brides, but Child Brides is beyond me. Isn't that institutionalized pedophilia?

The good news is the marriage was annulled, and the girl has gone to live with her family and will be returning to primary school.

Child brides make as much sense to me as "honour killings" - it's a "cultural thing" so it's okay. That's the way "they" treat women and children.
Who are we in the "West" to judge?

But see it's not the way "they" treat women and children. Women and children, in every culture, whether it's in this monolith we call the West or in "Ethnic" (I hate this word) cultures, will suffer for being women and children - especially female children.
I'll tell you how I feel the West has changed, instead of "honour killings" we have women and girls who are raped and murdered by their boyfriends, husbands or colleagues.
The majority of women who have been murdered, were murdered by their exes.
Instead of child brides we have child prostitutes.
The trafficking of women and children into sexual slavery is a pan-global phenomena.

So in the "West" there women can work, own property, choose to not marry, choose not to have children, wear pants and sneakers, not wear make-up etc.
In the "West" women can love who they want, speak out against gender based crimes, they can be doctors, lawyers, engineers, factory workers, writers, editors, actors, performers, leaders... they can go into any profession if they so choose.
I get to have more choices.
Which is a great consolation prize no doubt - this is said seriously.

My point is Relativism, as my Ethics professor said in the first lecture is "Moral Bankruptcy". If you're (editorial you) going to say "well, it's their culture, who are we to judge" - please make sure you understand the what makes a "culture", a culture and how it relates to the culture you're living in.

Here is the text to the article about the amazing little girl who got me ranting about the stupidness of moral and cultural Relativism: ( Under the Cut )

A few days ago former Knesset Speaker and former Jewish Agency chief Avraham "Avrum" Burg gave a speech and interview about Israel, Palestine, the Jewish nature of the state, the state of Judaism in Israel and lots of other things in this close to 90 minute session - yeah, it's long. But if you get some spare time (like I had yesterday) listen to what he has to say.

Avrum Burg Speech MP3, via Jewschool

Perhaps a little background information is needed on the man, in order to appreciate the speech. I unfortunately am not that good at summarizing a man's life, so I'll refer you to his wiki page - Avraham Burg, which is as good a starting point as any I suppose.

What one really needs to know about Mr. Burg is how he is now perceived in mainstream Israeli society. He is viewed on the negative side, due to his criticisms of Israel's policies, nature and over-all screwed upness. This is especially hackling to most Israelis because, as before mentioned, he's a former MK Speaker and former Jewish Agency chief (pretty much as Zionist as can be) and he's now been flagged, and if I'm not mistaken (though don't take my word for it) has said about himself, that he is a post-Zionist, his stronger critiques have called him an anti-Zionist.
His politics and opinions became very public after the publishing of his (semi-biographical/semi-autobiographical) book about the Holocaust and Israel and his own family's history on the subject. The book is called לנצח את היטלר (english: Defeating Hitler) and I recommend it heartily, I found it moving and correct in it's assessment of the trauma that Israel has incorporated into its national identity.
Over the book's publishing in the summer of 2007, he was interviewed in the Ha'aretz magazine - which you can conveniently read here in Hebrew and in English - and it was the kiss of death to his mainstream image.
I liked what he had and still has to say.
Suffice to say, I'm in the minority here.

The Israeli government has given a temporary residency permit for a gay Palestinian man to live with his Israeli lover in Tel-Aviv. Due to threats on his life regarding his sexuality (and, no doubt, relationship with an Israeli).

The article mentions that according to Aswat director Rouda Morcos (a very charismatic speaker and clear voice in minority discourse), there have not been many reports of physical violence in the past few years which were motivated by homophobia and that often the Shabak threaten to out homosexual Palestinians if they don't collaborate.
The article.

I have no doubt that this Palestinian man gave information to the Shabak in exchange for a permit to enter Israel and I have no doubt that he was also threatened with his life because of his sexual orientation.
There are a lot (comparatively, obviously) of gay and lesbian Palestinians living within Israel. The only LGBT group, mentioned above, is based within Israel, in Haifa, which has a large Arab population in any event.

The various (and there is more than one) Arab cultures in Israel and Palestine have been oppressed and suppressed for so long, is it any wonder that queer Palestinians do what they can to leave those areas in which their sexual identity within that national identity are considered taboo?

I mean, women who desecrate the family honour for walking around in jeans or without a hijab or for being raped. The Army doesn't deal with this phenomenon within the West Bank, as far as I'm aware and the Israeli police at times there isn't much they can do for the girl who is threatened with murder, because there isn't any proof that there is a plan to kill her and more often than night the other women within the family participate in the ritualized killing.

This of course doesn't happen in a vacuum.
These are oppressed people within an oppressed segregated society. That doesn't mean that what goes on to those people is acceptable or even legitimate. It does, however, mean that no change in the promotion of women's rights or LGBT rights within Arab, Druze, Bedouin, Palestinian society can be made before any decent progress is made in the treatment they get from Israel as a legal and political body that defines their identity.

Israel, when it comes to LGBT rights isn't very backwards; openly gay men and women serve in the IDF with laws that protect them against homophobia, same-sex couples can register for common-law marriage (a system that allows legal rights for coupes that can't marry because of stupid rabbinical control over marriage laws, which include couples of different religions), they can adopt each other's biological child and very recently a law has passed that includes adoption of non-biological children.

The quality of life in Israel is better is many ways for Arabs who live within the Green Line - as citizens the right to education, the freedom of movement, free speech and everything is far greater than within Palestine. That isn't to say that the their lives are that much better, racism and White (Israeli style) supremacy are so culturally embedded it's disgusting, but there is equality under the law.

Excuse me this entry has gotten jumbled up and away from the point I was trying to make, which is this:
The Occupation oppresses a people, which in turn oppress minorities within that people, those twice or third-over oppressed people do what they can in order to leave the territories under Occupation in order to live more freely in the sovereign state which occupies the people with whose nationality they identify.
In short - it is Effed Up.

That's all.

I read the Bisexuality - What's in a name article today.
Via.

It's very true you know.
The invisibility thing.
In my current state of affairs I'm Single (or Quirkyalone ;P) and it's as if my sexuality doesn't make any difference. It's almost as if I'm a Single Straight Girl.
Which I'm not.
I'm a Single Queer Grrl.
Yeah, well who cares?
I do, obviously.

I've been told, numerous times, that I put too much on labels and thus allow myself to be boxed in a defined by those little ticky-tacky boxes.
Not needing labels, in my experience means that the you are quite firmly in the mainstream, that who you are is completely compatible to the way "regular" society is constructed.
When you find yourself at a dissonance with the society in which you live, it's important to find words, language and symbols with which to identity, with which you are anchored and aren't just floating around in an a-morphic bubble.

So I disappear into that place where if I'm with a guy I'm straight, if I'm with a girl I'm gay... no one even thinks whether the guy or the girl I'm with aren't straight. Hetero = Straight, Homo = Gay.
Bisexuality is nowhere to be found. And yeah, there is more awareness (especially in entertainment media), but still the stigma of bisexuality haunts us: we can't commit, we need both sexes (genders) to be satisfied, we will leave our long term relationship for the other sex, no matter what who we are with, oh and of course we're disease spreading sluts. Duh.
And of course it's only a transition period towards total Gayness, or just a "curious phase".
Bleh.
And this sentiment comes from all directions, from the GLBT community and from the "Mainstream".
Sometimes I really do want to give up and just say "I'm Gay" and be done with it.
But that thing called integrity comes to mind, you know being honest with yourself and the rest of the world about who you are and the way you express yourself.
My integrity keeps me from choosing the "easy" way out, or to confirm to an identity that doesn't really suit who I am.
The freedom I feel from my fluidity is a double edged sword, because it is a freedom I have to reaffirm all the time, consciously or unconsciously.
It ain't easy.
But who I am is important to me and there are things I won't compromise.

Part the first and not to forget that these are the answers to the Meme.

The car I drive

We have one car and it's a Renault Kangoo. It's a gear engine, meaning that during rush hour it is a pain to drive and in my itsy-bitsy country every hour is rush hour.
I enjoy driving alone, but because of my slight paranoia I drive much more carefully when I'm in company than alone and I hate driving while my parents are passengers, it's uncomfortable any way you look at it.

Women, Men and In between
( Cut for sex talk and a bit of TMI )
Activism - where I fit in and my thoughts in general

I only began to be really active in the past two years so I'm really trying to find where I feel most comfortable in the huge array of Leftist social activism in Israel, which is as diverse as can be due to the turbulent nature of our little stretch of land.
At this point I consider myself affiliated with feminism, queer pride, anti-oppression, anti-war and anti-occupation, I don't know at this point how to incorporate all of them into action even though my own ideas, ideals and principles include all those things.
So I'm registered to a bunch of email lists that let me know of activities, I'm friends with people who do more than me or are actually members of groups and organizations and they let me know when stuff is happening.

I don't do nearly enough, but I know I do more than a lot of people, so I'm trying to juggle the whole Uni thing as well, which is a bit overwhelming. Not to mention that being active, puts yourself a whole lot more out there and exposed, which this little sheltered child was never exposed to as a child - I mean I knew it happened to other people and I knew that my parents were active in South Africa, but by the time I came along those times were long past (goodbye 70's, hello 80's).

Activism in Israel (like anywhere when you think about it) especially Left activism can, at times, be very divisive; what issue is more important? The Occupation? Women's Rights? Israeli Palestinians Rights? Queer Right? Privatization of public offices and issues?
All these things are a part of the same symptom, which gives the whole "One Struggle" theme a great deal of validity, but on the other hand it ignores the inherent differences and history of each issue and aspect - like at times anti-Occupation actions ignore the fact that when you're affirming one national identity (Palestine) you're calling the cancellation of another (Israel), it just doesn't work that way.
Or the way Queer activism calls for equal rights in marriage when there isn't even civil marriage in Israel... let's get rid of the Rabbanut before we start with specific demands to certain communities.
And all that.

So that's what I think.
Yeah.

I've been boycotting Coffee Bean for a little over a year now, because the chain managers fired workers when they tried to unionize, stole tips and basically were very, very bad managers.
I always liked the Coffee Bean's coffee and ice-coffees, though I can't really say I've missed it as such, but I've certainly been aware of what I've stopped consuming.

So finally success!

Histadrut, "Coffee Bean" sign breakthrough labor agreement
By Haim Bior

The Histadrut labor federation and the coffee shop chain "The Coffee Bean" signed a labor agreement on Tuesday, ending a long dispute between the company's employees in the 14 branches nationwide and the management.

This marks the first collective agreement between the Histadrut and a restaurant.( Read more... )

I don't know if I'll actually go back to drinking their coffee on a semi-regular basis (like I did before the labour dispute between the workers and the chain, but it's nice knowing that the Unions are gaining control again and perhaps will overthrow this neo-liberal money wasting machine we call an economy... or not and they'll just keep their workers rights in tact - no small feat these days!

Maybe it's the fact that I'm the daughter of immigrants.
Maybe it's the fact that I find hypocrisy distasteful.
Maybe it's because I really am *shudder* a statist at heart.

Perhaps this is simply because this is the reality of the situation and no matter how humanist I am in my philosophy, I'm not the one who runs the current socio-political paradigm that creates that huge divide between Israelis and Palestinians.

It's no secret that I sympathize and empathize with Palestinians and Palestinian national self-determination... this is because it is the basic human and civil right of every nation on earth to live in a territory as a home-land. It is what I was taught (and understood) Zionism to be for the Jews; what Zionism actually was and is in praxis is not what I want to write about.

Because of the Zionist movement, Jews did create a home-land in historical Palestine (now Israel and the Palestinian Authority).
The problem is that Israel is a colonial remnant with all the baggage that goes with it.
Israel is different that other colonial remnants, is that it came late in the game and it has now based itself and isn't going anywhere.
Nor do I believe it should.

The history that we all go back to - 1948, 1967, 1987, 2000 etc. It doesn't do any good.
It doesn't matter anymore who started what and when.
Only that we finish it.
By communication, by stopping the usurpation of land, by shifting the status quo even if it pains those involved.
By agreeing, not on a Hudna, but an actual two sided agreement and not a unilateral decision.

It's not in Israel's best interests to keep the people of Gaza under siege and/or attack or keep building settlements in the West Bank. On the other hand it's not in Hamas' best interests to keep bombarding Sderot, the West Negev and beyond, and for Abu-Mazen to start flashing sabers.

Intifada #3 is in no ones interest.

Except the USA.
They get money.

BTW, you can call me naive all you like, but other than what I suggested, there really is only the annihilation of one or both of the Nations in question, which I don't think anyone wants.

High Court upholds Katsav sex crimes plea bargain

( Body of the Text for the Linkphobic )

I really have no idea what to say about it.
I'm so angry I don't know what to do with myself other than to say that this is so wrong, unjust and so full of shit the brown is oozing out of this whole situation.

I'm loathe to use this word for fear that it will insult other men, but this man got away with it. Really he did.
He's not going to jail, he didn't "commit" rape, the major "alleged" sexual assault crimes were dropped and all he's left with is a sexual harassment charge and a "non-violent" assault.

Did I mention that there is no fucking justice in this world?

I heard, at the time when this was all over the News, that he was being slandered and he even accused the media of persecuting him and mentioned the word "Lynch".

I think of "A" who had her identity revealed at some point (which goes against the victim anonymity law) and how she was called a whore and a prostitute and how she brought it on herself and all the regular victim-blaming spiel and thought "is no one going to say anything about abuse of power and position".
Because this is exactly what it is - say, he really didn't (though I sincerely doubt it) rape those women - someone came forward and accused this man of forcing himself on her, with the expectation of compliance.
Yes, in the eyes and minds of these men in high position it is expected of women to comply to their whims and wishes, after all, almost all the women they are surrounded with around the office are there to serve them.

How dare those women not be available sexually, that unthinkable that they not want to submit to my power and dominance. How dare those women complain, they should be greatful I find them attractive and want to sleep with them.
This is, quite obviously, said with great scorn, sarcasm and anger.

If you're interested, here are the related articles which can be found at the bottom of the page linked above:
Katsav plea bargain signed: President to admit to indecent assault, resign today.
Tens of thousands protest in Tel Aviv over Katsav plea bargain.
Shendar: Public misled on Katsav plea bargain.
Source: High Court shouldn't cancel Katsav plea bargain.

For a non-Israeli view on this check out the BBC article and related stories linked on that page: Israel upholds Katsav plea deal.

I went to Bil'in today, as it was the three year anniversary for the struggle against the Separation Wall (which in that area is a fence) and to mark the half year mark since the Supreme High Court declared the path of the fence to be moved.
This hasn't happened and the weekly demonstrations have and will continue.

This was my first demo in the area so I stayed on the hill and didn't go into the wadi and as such avoided the actual "action" of being tear gassed and shot at with rubber bullets. Today twenty or so activists were injured (one had to be evacuated to hospital, thankfully there was Red Crescent presence) from the soldiers actions and one soldier was injured from a stone thrown at him.

I managed to take some pictures that weren't total crap with my obsolete Point & Shoot Digital Cam: ( Don't Miss Them )

We arrived there at about 11:30, began marching at 12:30, began disperding at around 15:00, I got home at 17:30.
Long, good and productive day, I feel.

23/02/08 10:25 - Edited to Add: Link to English Ha'aretz story.

Peace minded residents of Gaza, Sderot meet online, write blog.

Peace minded residents of Gaza, Sderot meet online, write blog.
By Ronit Roccas, Haaretz Correspondent

They used to meet in Sderot. It seems like ages ago. They were a group of Palestinians from Gaza and Israelis, most of whom were from Sderot. A siren could go off at any moment, but they continued to try to understand how sanity could be returned to the region. They thought of starting joint summer camps for children from Gaza and Sderot, and above all they tried to create a dialogue that overcame prejudices and deceptions. But it's been six months since they last met in a Sderot living room.
( Read more... )