Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Encountering Peace: The loss of youth

La "tristezza" di Baskin per il disinteresse alla pace delle giovani 
generazioni suona irrilevante, se non falsa.
Da oltre 40 anni l'occupazione dei Territori Occupati procede senza 
soste, ma di questo Baskin sembra non essersi accorto.  Così come non è 
riuscito a vedere che esiste un progetto ben preciso connesso alla 
colonizzazione; come non è riuscito a trarre la conclusione che un tale 
progetto, di così lunga durata e di tale indefettibile volontà, 
presuppone l'esistenza di qualcuno che lo sostiene; come non è riuscito 
a scorgere che chi ha sostenuto e sostiene tale progetto lo fa in base 
ad una visione che è facile intuire.  Baskin non è riuscito nemmeno a 
capire che 40 anni di occupazione provocano assuefazione, che chi nasce 
in un paese che da così lungo tempo accetta il suo ruolo di occupante si 
adegua spontaneamente a perpetuarla, a non considerare una eccezionalità 
il fatto che dietro ad un muro esistono altre persone che probabilmente 
conoscerà solo attraverso un mirino.
Sembra che Baskin abbia dormito per lungo tempo e che si sia svegliato 
troppo tardi per fare qualsiasi cosa, salvo manifestare la sua inutile 
"tristezza".  Forse è meglio che torni a dormire.
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Encountering Peace: The loss of youth
By GERSHON BASKIN
09/05/2011 21:13
One of the most uplifting characteristics of summer 2011 in Israel was 
the realization of the leadership of Israel’s youth. Inspiring! There is 
no better word to describe how uplifting it was to see our young people 
take to the streets and demonstrate their leadership. Their 
organization, supported by their command of new technologies and new 
media and augmented by their energy and optimism, swept across the land, 
and their enthusiasm captured the very spirit of Israel.
By far the most impressive and distinguishing attribute of these young 
leaders is their speaking ability. They are so expressive, so remarkably 
capable of putting into words their vision for an Israel that I would 
certainly be very proud to be part of. I listened to them on Rothschild 
Blvd. I heard them in Gan Ha’sus and Gan Ha’ir in Jerusalem. I sat with 
them in my own neighborhood of Kiryat Yovel in Jerusalem.
They so clearly defined what is wrong in Israel and they expressed so 
clearly how to repair our world with a lucid sense of justice as a 
guiding principle for social and economic policies. Their speeches in 
all of the demonstrations were so uplifting.
Where did these young people learn to stand before crowds of tens of 
thousands and raise their voices with such astonishing clarity of 
purpose and determination? I was moved by their dedication to the values 
that I believe are the foundations of the exemplary state that Herzl and 
Ben-Gurion dreamed of and tried to create and on which I grew up and 
educated generations after me in the youth movement.
My high appreciation and admiration of this new spirit in Israel is 
offset by and equally disappointed with the lack of vision demonstrated 
by these young people regarding the issue of peace with our Arab 
neighbors – both within our State and those who surround us. I am 
saddened by the reality that our young people don’t believe in the 
vision of peace.
A recent study of the youth in Israel documented the rising support for 
the rightwing political movements in Israel among the young people of 
this country. Some of the news reports on the research interviewed young 
people about their anti-Arab and anti-peace positions. Many of them said 
“peace – we tried it. It didn’t work, so what do you expect?” Perhaps 
this is a rational approach by these young people.
They came of age during the second intifada watching buses, coffee 
shops, pizzerias and discotheques getting blown up by the most extreme 
form of terrorism we have ever known – suicide bombers. Their childhood 
was filled with fear and terror which had a clear address. They heard 
their own leaders repeat the “no partner” mantra so often that it has 
become an essential part of their consciousness. They came of age in a 
world of separation barriers and walls which enabled our neighbors to 
become invisible. The Palestinian laborers of the 1970’s, 1980’s and the 
early 1990’s were replaced by the migrant workers from all over the 
world and these people certainly exist only deep in the dark shadows of 
our society.
I don’t blame the young people for not having a vision of peace. I don’t 
blame them for not even expressing a dream that could merge a vision of 
social justice with a vision of justice in ending our 44 year control 
over our neighbors’ lives. I am simply saddened by this fact. They say 
we don’t want to be divisive. We want to invite everyone into our tent – 
left and right, religious and secular, Jew and Arab – a tent for all who 
feel the injustices of Israeli society (in reality there were almost no 
Arabs).
They amplified the Israeli dream for consensus, for the middle ground, 
for being a party in the center. The ultimate Israeli political fantasy 
(more correctly myth) is that the center is the best place on the map.
At the same time that they have created a new social-economic discourse 
in Israel, they have helped to foster the disappearance of the existence 
of the normative left and right in our consciousness in deference to the 
current notion of only extreme left and extreme right. Anyone who falls 
out of the center has become an extremist.
Our young people’s source of all information –Wikipedia – defines 
“extremist” in the following way (emphases are my own): Extremism is any 
ideology or political act far outside the perceived political center of 
a society; or otherwise claimed to violate common moral standards.
Morality. In democratic societies, individuals or groups that advocate 
the replacement of democracy with an authoritarian regime are usually 
branded extremists, in authoritarian societies the opposite applies.
The term is invariably, or almost invariably, used pejoratively. 
Extremism is usually contrasted with moderation, and extremists with 
moderates.
(For example, in contemporary discussions in Western countries of Islam, 
or of Islamic political movements, it is common for there to be a heavy 
stress on the distinction between extremist and moderate Muslims. It is 
also not uncommon to necessarily define distinctions regarding extremist 
Christians as opposed to moderate Christians, as in countries such as 
the United States).
Political agendas perceived as extremist often include those from the 
far left or, as a more general term, fanaticism.
In Israel today those who believe in peace with our neighbors as 
something more than empty rhetoric are extremists. Those of us who 
believe that we cannot speak about social justice while we have systemic 
inequality between Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel are 
extremists. Those of us who understand that supporting a two state 
solution is not a hollow slogan of prime ministers but actually means 
that we must end our control over the Palestinian people and their land 
are extremists.
Those of us who speak about peace in moral terms and not simply 
motivated by interests are extremists.
I am glad to have taken part of the Israeli revolution of the summer of 
2011. I am proud to have been counted in all of the demonstrations of 
the past two months. I raised my voice in the choir of hundreds of 
thousands loud and strong for justice not charity, for public housing, 
for ending the privatization of public services, for putting a lid on 
piggish capitalism.
I was glad to hear rabbis and Jewish scholars amongst the speakers who 
rooted this struggle on the words of the Prophets and our sacred texts. 
I am equally and perhaps even more disappointed by seeing a generation 
of young people who don’t believe and who don’t fight for a future of peace.
As they remove their tents for the cities’ squares they declare that the 
struggle is not over. It certainly isn’t!
The writer is the founder and co-director of IPCRI, the Israel Palestine 
Center for Research and Information, he hosts a weekly radio show in 
Hebrew on All for Peace radio, and a voluntary columnist for the 
Jerusalem Post.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?ID=236786&R=R1
-- 
Sostieni Rete ECO
http://rete-eco.it/it/sostienici.html

 Sembra che Baskin abbia dormito per lungo tempo
il curriculum di Gershon Baskin
http://www.ipcri.org/files/gbcv.html
che peraltro visita spesso l'Italia
http://www.lomb.cgil.it/solidarieta/infanziaint.htm
Persio e' un pirla.

 che peraltro visita spesso l'Italiahttp://
www.lomb.cgil.it
quelli che mettono le bare alle porte delle sinagoghe?

 quelli
si' quelli. E peraltro io non sono per un cazzo d'accordo con le
posizioni pubbliche di Gershon Baskin, e questo editoriale a mio
avviso e' notevole solo per le parti in cui GB ammette i fallimenti
suoi e di quelli del suo campo.
tutto questo fa risaltare ancor piu' che Persio e' un pirla.