We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Breaking the Silence

Click here to access article by Michael Pooler from Red Pepper (UK).

Humans are by nature peace loving, cooperative, and desire to produce goods and services for the well-being of their families and communities. Thus, in order to prepare its young people to serve as enforcers of a system of oppression and exploitation, a ruling class must carefully eliminate such impluses and cultivate fear of others through comprehensive campaigns of indoctrination in the family, in education, and the media. This article illustrates how such indoctrination functions in Israel to brutalize their young people who, in turn, brutalize and dehumanize Palestinians.

Through an organization called Breaking the Silence, former Israeli soldiers are attempting to recover their humanity by speaking out about their experiences.

Full of tales of abductions, humiliation within homes and the beating of children perpetrated by soldiers, the testimonies make for shocking and at times harrowing reading. In doing so they uncompromisingly reveal the day-to-day of life under occupation for Palestinians - subject to measures justified under the banner of 'security' - from the unusual perspective of those meting the treatment.