Account of 4/5 SF March

The US/Israel v. Palestine conflict is not age-old and not between equal parties. Before US oil imperialism created Israel with its prop, the UN, Jews and Arabs lived for centuries in Palestine, mostly in peace. This is a 54-year-old occupation of a puppet government, Israel, to protect US oil profits from nationalization of the oil companies by the Arab revolutionary movements. Israel is armed to the teeth with every modern murder weapon courtesy our tax dollars to the tune of $4 billion annually above the table and $4 billion annually below the table to be the US oil cop called Israel. The Palestinians, at best, have a few hand weapons. Most just have rocks. Thus, the dispute certainly reflects the state of class struggle around the world. It is the workingclass that has the greatest sympathy for the Palestinians and for good cause as the capitalist class, represented by the US government, oppresses us all. Unfortunately, we have not yet advanced to the level of a general strike, which is what is needed. I can assure you that if we had political strikes in this country for the Palestinians, there would be no more Zionist State of Israel. All the capitalist class cares about is their profits. We have shaken up the capitalist class enough with our worldwide marches to expedite this horror show in Palestine. The fact that we have had this show of strength worldwide and so many marches in the US means the capitalist economy is sinking very fast. The reason Israel acted so viciously is because they are desperate as the Israeli economy is also sinking very fast. The only hope for peace in the Middle East is for a united workingclass to fight for a socialist, secular Palestine. That will take place. History is with us; we shall win.

An unidentified individual, apparently from the
Palestinian side, was arrested by police. No one seemed to know why. "
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The man who was detained, (as I learned on TV news, because I wasn't there, where people from the Israeli side were shown trying to push the ABC camera out of the way) is part of the Bay Area Coalition to End the Sanctions on IRaq group, which I occasionally attend demos of. I'll append his description of what happened. He is really forward, and describes on their mailing list being kicked off of the Whole Foods parking lot for flyering. there is a lot of disagreement within the group about the tone and tactics used by him and a few others. Some people have quit the group over this. I personally have the most conflict about working with the IAC for demonstrations; when you're a small group, it is nice to have someone do the big organization work, but I can't in good conscience work under people who technically support various bad authoritarian gov't s around the world, and also, I feel sensitive towards working with people who really seem to cross the line into anti-semitism. People have big brains, and are capable of abstract thinking, so why is it so difficult to separate the concept of 'the jews" from individuals who support Israeli and US foreign policy. Thus I end up doing less work with them than I would
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from ba-cesi on yahoogroups
well, i hope it played well on channel
7, kpfa got it
about right.

i was detained and not arrested. after
a brief
sojourn in paddy (irish slur?) wagon
and police
station with cuffs, i was released.

what happened was i went over to the
other side to get
some chat going and i did, was having a
good talk with
a couple of israelis when a big fat
face, female
started gnawing on my arm and then some shoving
started. i called for the cops and when they got
there ...i was...it. so the fat face, joe's dna
dangling from said face's teeth, disappeared , i
showed some blood to the sergeant, he was impressed,
he lectured me on criminal inciting to riot
possibilities which i now must consider for the
future, etc.
ho hum, hope channel 7 played it as zionist
violence.

Israel has no oil exports, and in fact gave Egypt the (occupied) Sinai peninsula, which DID have oil, back. Furthermore, you claim that Israel is there to stop revolutionary movements. Perhaps, but please remember that those revolutionary movements are not socialist but religious fundamentalist (like Iran). Yes, the oil industry in Iran was nationalized, but remember that was done under the Shah, not under the Revolution.

In general, attempting to force the gigantic mess that the enitre middle east (Israel included) is into the rigid framework of the 1840s and 1850s socio-political thought is just plain wrong. It does not work, and does not apply.

As for history being with you, well, if you don't see the problems with that, I can't help you. It's time to abandon religious adherence to Marxist and work to build a new ideology, and a new movement. I personally am involved with Open Source Software, which is where I think we need to go. It is inherently democratic- all may participate and all may use. It is inherently anti-capitalistic- one may sell it for a profit, but it is also able to be freely redistributed and changed, so long as those who do play by the same rules (i.e. everyone may change & redistribute it). Marxism cannot and does not apply to an information and services based economy. It's time to let it go.

Another observation I feel is important to note after the recent socialist and communist views expressed is that the most vocal of some of the Palestinians were actually very well dressed businessmen. It is ignorant to break this struggle down to capitalism. The conflict is more basic than that.

It is certainly true that the Arab American community is primarily a middle class community. That does not change the reality of what is going on in Palestine. The fact remains, Israel is a US puppet state to protect American oil interests. The minute it does not do that or it is too economically or politically expensive to support Israel, that will be the end of US support of Israel, and thus the end of the Zionist state of Israel. Israel is a completely contrived creation of US oil imperialism. As to the Israeli economy, its collapse is adversely affecting the Israeli workingclass and the support at home for Israel's government is thereby weakened. This little war, like all wars, temporarily strengthens the little dictators who claim to be representatives of the people. They in fact represent the capitalist class. The class struggle is always primary. The name of the game is money, and in the Middle East, that means O-I-L. That is the reason for this long-planned invasion of the West Bank, to stop all revolutionary movements that might be a threat to oil profits.

you didn't address a single point I raised to your previous incarnation, "working class." Defend what you have to say, and then face the facts when your marxism fails in the face of reality.

I don't like Israel either, but I want to point out that going back to the tired and stupid rhetoric of marxism is not the answer.