As the horror suffered by the people of Palestine continues, artists and activists in San Francisco are fighting back: They shut down the Golden Gate Bridge. Set up encampments at UC Berkeley. Graffitied \u201cGaza\u201d on the streets. Blocked entry into SFO. Spent an entire community theater show yelling \u201c\u00a1Viva, Viva Palestina!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Night and day they are quietly thinking or loudly arguing about issues like genocide and apartheid. Talking about what it means to be a Jew, a Zionist, a Nazi, a war criminal, a terrorist, a Palestinian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What might, at times, feel like a useless exercise, can be a critical invitation for action. To awaken, and invite others to do the same. To speak up, to act. Necessary roosters chanting for new dawns. Loud and, to many, bothersome. Like real roosters are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this highly divisive moment, where lies the truth? Can we trust our government to \u201cdo the right thing?\u201d President Joe Biden has long said, \u201cIf Israel did not exist, we\u2019d have to invent it.\u201d Isn\u2019t that the clearest reason for the continuous and nefarious support that the U.S. gives to the right-wing Israeli government? Biden\u2019s phrase implies, loudly, that the U.S. needs Israel to remain exactly where it was implanted, and therefore needs to keep a beach-head position in that part of the world. To protect \u201cour interests.\u201d Our \u201cway of life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By calling Israel \u201cthe only democracy in the Middle East,\u201d the U.S. pretends to justify the unjustifiable. It is my opinion that the term \u201cdemocracy\u201d itself and its purported goodness have become akin to a religious dogma. It requires the abandonment of questioning, the sacrifice of our doubts in favor of our faith in the democratic \u2014 and capitalist \u2014 systems as the only possible alternatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is a hard sell. The current state of our own democracy makes many skeptical. It only seems to work if you throw your bucks to keep that war machine humming. Any war. A constant war. A war that distributes our best-selling product: weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
National ideologies attempt to proselytize us from an early age. A healthy questioning of \u201cthe established truth\u201d is frowned upon as potential treason. To the owners of most countries, a gullible and poorly educated population is easier to control and manipulate. It creates unfathomable alliances between the very rich and the very poor. Alliances that, of course, favor the rich. The very poor, in supporting those who in fact are their class enemies, hope for magical solutions that can \u201ctrickle-down\u201d to them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few years ago, I showed a film in my \u201cIssues in La Raza History\u201d class, which I taught at San Francisco State University. It is called \u201cLa Operaci\u00f3n\u201d (\u201cThe Intervention\u201d is an approximate translation). It\u2019s a heart-wrenching film about the uninformed sterilization of women in Puerto Rico, that colony of the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the film ended, a heavy silence filled the air. Then, that silence was broken by quiet and not-so-quiet sobbing. The students looked at each other, some using paper tissues to wipe their tears, or to blow their noses. Then, I asked the students if they could verbalize what they were clearly feeling?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two young women with Puerto Rican roots looked at each other, as if waiting to see who would dare to speak first. Then, both started to speak at the same time! That caused them to break into a necessary laughter, breaking the tension. Now they could speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI had no idea that happened!,\u201d I remember them saying. They were outraged. Disgusted. I asked them: \u201cNow that you\u2019ve seen that\u2026that you have been moved to tears\u2026that you are so upset\u2026do you think that you might try to do something about it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone else in the class jumped in: \u201cWe should protest!\u201d Another: \u201cWrite letters to our representatives!\u201d Yet another: \u201cThere is a demonstration this coming weekend! It is not about Puerto Rico\u2026but is a protest against the US armed intervention in Panama! I am going!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The young women looked at each other for a brief moment and then said, enthused: \u201c\u00a1Vamos! Let\u2019s go!\u201d As they made plans, the students seemed to be no longer weighed down by feelings of sadness or impotence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is how many of us feel today when we see what\u2019s happening in Palestine. Like those students did yesterday, today we are looking for a way \u2014 any way \u2014 to defeat impotence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Protests are one way. Art is another. Whatever we do, we need to do it daily, and at various levels. Let us stop the flow of traffic to open the flow of necessary conversation. A theater production also helps. A poem? Or perhaps a song that we write and sing with hundreds of other people who must also learn new ways to cry in these truly alarming and heartbreaking times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ignorance is not bliss! Neither is silence. Let\u2019s talk and co-create, every day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once awake, it\u2019s hard to fall asleep again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OPINION: As the horror suffered by the people of Palestine continues, artists and activists in San
\nFrancisco are looking for a way \u2014 any way \u2014 to defeat impotence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88922,"featured_media":60379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":true,"newspack_featured_image_position":"above","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11905,4],"tags":[],"coauthors":[18475],"class_list":["post-60377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-devils-advocate","category-voices","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n