From: hernlem@chess.ncsu.EDU (Brad Hernlem)
Subject: Re: Resisting occupation
Reply-To: hernlem@chess.ncsu.EDU (Brad Hernlem)
Organization: North Carolina State University
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 15:33:01 GMT

Ron Evans writes:

	Forgive my persistence, but I am not getting answers to my
	questions.  How are the following positions dissimilar?

	1)  As Palestinians are not given equal rights, they should
	randomly kill Israeli soldiers in the territories until
	they are treated equally.

	2)  As the Bahai's are not given equal rights, they should
	randomly kill Iranian soldiers until they are treated
	equally.

	3)  As Iraqi Kurds  are not given equal rights, they should
	randomly kill Iraqi soldiers in Kurdistan until
	they are treated equally.
-- 
Ron Evans (revans@math.ucsd.edu)

Number 1 and number 3 are most similar. Bahai's are not a nation; they
are a religious group. Number 1 sprang out of the formation of a new
country which chose to ignore the rights of a segment of the native
population. Furthermore, many of the Palestinians currently under the
domain of Israel fell into this position by land conquest in war.
Soldiers are the direct instrument used by Israel to maintain this
position. They are reasonable targets. Similarly, I would agree in the
case of 3, although their position came about not so much as a result of
occupation as a development in the policy of the Iraqi government. We
should be careful, however, (and I am no scholar of Kurdish history) to
distinguish an unwillingness on the part of a government to accept a
nation as an equal and a response by that government to insurrection
arrising out of purely political ambitions. From the information that I
have, it would seem to me that both Saddam Hussein's state and the
"Jewish state" share the common position that certain nations within
their domain will not be granted equal status. With regard to 2, I do
not think that killing Iranian soldiers would yield the desired effect
since Iranian soldiers are not involved (I suppose this is only
partially true since the police and military in Iran are branches of the
same organization, unlike in the U.S.). 

Frankly, Ron, I think I made myself pretty clear when I said that "In my
opinion, no nation has a "right" to autonomy but each individual has a
right to expect respect and equal rights within whatever country he
resides either by citizenship or by force." Neither the Kurds, the
Bahais, or the Palestinians have any "right" to expect an autonomous
state. In the case of Palestine, however, the region was cut up by
outside powers long ago. They allowed a highly nationalistic state to be
formed in Palestine, a place which was by no means homogeneous. This
state, the state of Israel, refuses to accept a segment of the
population on equal terms. I will continue to find this appalling
regardless if there is ever the formation of a Palestinian state.
Basically, Ron, I find nationalism to be more evil than good.
Nationalism can be used to great purposes but it is too easy to use it
for evil.

Brad "Ali" Hernlem (hernlem@chess.ncsu.EDU)
       ^
        \______________ For Jake :-) 
                        And for all you who have been wondering.