[Marxism] Cindy Sheehan, Israel, and Afghanistan

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

Lance wrote:

> On 8/17/05, Carrol Cox <cbcox@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > it isn't silly at all for an individualto call for Israel
> > out of Palestine. Free Palestine is a very good general slogan,
> which
> > ought to be pronounced in any appropriate occasion. There won't
> be peace
> > in the mideast as long as Palestine is not free. There may not be
> peace
> > anyhow, but freedom for Palestine is a necessary if not sufficient
> > condition.
>
> This is all irrelevant.  Sheehan is helping the anti-war movement,
> and the whole Israel and Palestine thing has nothing to do with
> it.  Chris Matthews asked her about Afghanistan on MSNBC, he is
> obviously trying to muddle the clear-cut issue as well.

If Cindy Sheehan had thought that the "whole Israel and Palestine
thing has nothing to do with" the Iraq War or the anti-war movement,
she wouldn't have said what she did to begin with at relatively high-
profile occasions: an email message to ABC Nightline that she cc'ed
to many (at <http://groups-beta.google.com/group/bullyard/msg/
7f523b1a73be1a36?hl=en>); and a speech at the Veterans for Peace
convention (at <http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/ferner090805.html>
and <http://www.veteransforpeace.org/convention05/
sheehan_transcript.htm>).

As Junaid suggests, no one except liberal Zionists would say, "Well I
oppose the Iraq war, but I love Israel so much that I think
she's just crazy."

As for Afghanistan, Washington is at war not just in Iraq but also in
Afghanistan, and US soldiers have and are still dying in both
countries.  So, it is perfectly expected that the media ask questions
about that and quite appropriate that Americans think about that.
According to the Hardball transcript that Eli posted, Sheehan
articulately answered Chris Matthews' question about Afghanistan:
<http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8972147/>.  A very good job.

Look at what the Presbyterian Church is doing:

<blockquote>Threat to Divest Is Church Tool in Israeli Fight
by LAURIE GOODSTEIN | The New York Times, Page One of Print Edition |
6 August 2005

The Presbyterian Church U.S.A. announced Friday that it would press
four American corporations to stop providing military equipment and
technology to Israel for use in the occupation of the Palestinian
territories, and that if the companies did not comply, the church
would take a vote to divest its stock in them.

The companies - Caterpillar, Motorola, ITT Industries and United
Technologies - were selected from a list of several dozen
possibilities by a church investment committee that met Friday in
Seattle. The Presbyterians accused these companies of selling
helicopters, cellphones, night vision equipment and other items
Israel uses to enforce its occupation.

<http://www.monabaker.com/pMachine/more.php?id=2962_0_1_0_C></
blockquote>

Presbyterians are capable of opposing the Iraq War while making front
page news about its opposition to the Israeli occupation.  Why can't
leftists?

Yoshie Furuhashi
<http://montages.blogspot.com>
<http://monthlyreview.org>
<http://mrzine.org>
* Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: <http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/07/mahmoud-
ahmadinejads-face.html>;  <http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/07/chvez-
congratulates-ahmadinejad.html>; <http://montages.blogspot.com/
2005/06/iranian-working-class-rejects.html>



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