Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
One of the Butterflies
by W. S. Merwin
The trouble with pleasure is the timing
it can overtake me without warning
and be gone before I know it is here
it can stand facing me unrecognized
while I am remembering somewhere else
in another age or someone not seen
for years and never to be seen again
in this world and it seems that I cherish
only now a joy I was not aware of
when it was here although it remains
out of reach and will not be caught or named
or called back and if I could make it stay
as I want to it would turn to pain.
The trouble with pleasure is the timing
it can overtake me without warning
and be gone before I know it is here
it can stand facing me unrecognized
while I am remembering somewhere else
in another age or someone not seen
for years and never to be seen again
in this world and it seems that I cherish
only now a joy I was not aware of
when it was here although it remains
out of reach and will not be caught or named
or called back and if I could make it stay
as I want to it would turn to pain.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Flat Hedgehogs
For Isaiah Berlin
When the hedgehogs here at night
see a car and its fierce lights
coming at them, they do the one
big thing they know.
— Jack Gilbert
When the hedgehogs here at night
see a car and its fierce lights
coming at them, they do the one
big thing they know.
— Jack Gilbert
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
An Epistle and A Blasphemous Borrowing of the Bible
by Amy Mashburn on occasion of my receiving my umpteenth job rejection notice.
Chapter 1
Prologue
1 In the land of Lincoln, there lived a woman whose name was Alli. This woman was flawless and smokin' hott; she feared feet and shunned research not from primary sources. 2 She had two sisters and two roommates, 3 and she owned many cute outfits from Banana Republic, a car named Ruby, and the most glorious head of hair known to mankind. She was the greatest woman among all the people of the Great Chicagoland area, and the Minnesota National Guard to boot.
4 Her friends used to take turns holding tea parties in their dorm rooms, and they would invite the Wheaton College Debate Team to eat and drink with them. 5 When the period of college had run its course, Alli would invite them to her cute apartment and have them speak in debate jargon. Early in the morning she would sacrifice some eggs and fresh bell peppers and onions for each of them, thinking, "Perhaps my friends are hungry and curse the world at large if they don't eat and drink coffee before 9:00 a.m." This was Alli's regular custom.
Alli's Test
6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."
8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered the redheaded bombshell Alli? There is no one on earth like her; she is flawless and smokin' hott, a woman who fears feet and shuns research not from primary sources."
9 "Does Alli fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. 10 "Have you not put a hedge around her and her household and everything she has? You have blessed her with the sharpest wit, the quickest mind, the vastest memory, the fastest feet, the hardest work ethic, the coolest friends (ahem), and THAT HAIR. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything she has, and she will surely curse you to your face."
12 The LORD said to Satan, "Whatevs, son, because Alli has already endured so much that she has remarkable strength of character. JUST YOU WATCH and she will withstand any test, nbd."
Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
13 So then the LORD allowed Alli to be tested for what seemed like forever. Twas a pretty sucktastic test that involved a long period of unemployment and rejection from teenager asshats parading around as non-profit administrators. 14 However, Alli prevailed with a resourceful that impressed even the Baudelaire siblings (have you READ Lemony Snicket?) 15 and filled her time by reading a ton of books, single-handedly saving the Wheaton College Debate Team, going on runs, and receiving long, hand-written letters from Major Generals.
16 She filled her apartment with wonderful songs and her blog with inspiring poems.
17 Then she fell to the ground 18 and said:
"Never naked I came from my mother's womb,
and never naked I will depart.
George Senior gave and the Court system has taken away;
Who knows what that reference is from, kids?"
Chapter 1
Prologue
1 In the land of Lincoln, there lived a woman whose name was Alli. This woman was flawless and smokin' hott; she feared feet and shunned research not from primary sources. 2 She had two sisters and two roommates, 3 and she owned many cute outfits from Banana Republic, a car named Ruby, and the most glorious head of hair known to mankind. She was the greatest woman among all the people of the Great Chicagoland area, and the Minnesota National Guard to boot.
4 Her friends used to take turns holding tea parties in their dorm rooms, and they would invite the Wheaton College Debate Team to eat and drink with them. 5 When the period of college had run its course, Alli would invite them to her cute apartment and have them speak in debate jargon. Early in the morning she would sacrifice some eggs and fresh bell peppers and onions for each of them, thinking, "Perhaps my friends are hungry and curse the world at large if they don't eat and drink coffee before 9:00 a.m." This was Alli's regular custom.
Alli's Test
6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."
8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered the redheaded bombshell Alli? There is no one on earth like her; she is flawless and smokin' hott, a woman who fears feet and shuns research not from primary sources."
9 "Does Alli fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. 10 "Have you not put a hedge around her and her household and everything she has? You have blessed her with the sharpest wit, the quickest mind, the vastest memory, the fastest feet, the hardest work ethic, the coolest friends (ahem), and THAT HAIR. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything she has, and she will surely curse you to your face."
12 The LORD said to Satan, "Whatevs, son, because Alli has already endured so much that she has remarkable strength of character. JUST YOU WATCH and she will withstand any test, nbd."
Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
13 So then the LORD allowed Alli to be tested for what seemed like forever. Twas a pretty sucktastic test that involved a long period of unemployment and rejection from teenager asshats parading around as non-profit administrators. 14 However, Alli prevailed with a resourceful that impressed even the Baudelaire siblings (have you READ Lemony Snicket?) 15 and filled her time by reading a ton of books, single-handedly saving the Wheaton College Debate Team, going on runs, and receiving long, hand-written letters from Major Generals.
16 She filled her apartment with wonderful songs and her blog with inspiring poems.
17 Then she fell to the ground 18 and said:
"Never naked I came from my mother's womb,
and never naked I will depart.
George Senior gave and the Court system has taken away;
Who knows what that reference is from, kids?"
Monday, January 4, 2010
When Does It Become Genocide?
By Nadia Hijab
*Nadia Hijab is an independent analyst and a senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies.
During a visit to Ramallah a year ago while the Israeli bombardment of Gaza was underway, I shared my fears with a close Palestinian friend. "It may sound insane, but I think the Israelis' real objective is to see them all dead."
My friend told me not to be silly, the assault was horrific, but it was not mass killing. I said that wasn't the issue: This was a population already very vulnerable to disease, ill-health, and malnutrition after years of siege, with its infrastructure rotted, its water and food contaminated. Israel's war would surely push the people over the brink, especially if the siege was maintained -- as it has been.
In other words, Israel would not directly kill tens of thousands of Palestinians, but it would create the conditions for tens of thousands to die. Any epidemic could finish the job. My friend fell silent at these words, but still shook his head in disbelief.
Two things have changed since last year: More people have started to apply the term "genocide" to what Israel is doing to Gaza. And not only is Israel being directly accused but also, increasingly, Egypt.
Is it genocide? "The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide" -- a clear, concise document adopted by the United Nations in December 1948 -- states that genocide is any of five acts committed "with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."
Three acts appear to apply to the situation in Gaza: "(a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part."
Legal scholars disagree about how to interpret the Convention's articles and it has proven difficult, over the years, to define crimes as genocide, let alone to prevent or end them. In line with the Bosnia precedent -- the only authoritative legal treatment of genocide to date -- it would be necessary to establish deliberate intent for an accusation of genocide against Israel to stand up in court.
Israel's leadership has not, of course, issued a declaration of intent. However, many leading Israeli officials can be said to have done so. For example:
• Putting the Palestinians of Gaza "on a diet" -- Dov Weisglass, chief aide to Ariel Sharon, in 2006.
• Exposing them to "a bigger shoah (holocaust)" -- Matan Vilnai, former deputy defense minister, in 2008.
• Issuing religious edicts exhorting soldiers to show no mercy -- the Israeli army rabbinate during the actual conflict.
Such declarations echo at least three of the "8 stages of genocide" identified by Genocide Watch president Gregory Stanton in the 1990s after the Rwanda genocide: Classification, dehumanization, and polarization.
Then there is the deliberate destruction or barring of means of sustenance as Israel has done on land and at sea. Already, the Goldstone Report has said that depriving the Gaza Palestinians of their means of sustenance, employment, housing and water, freedom of movement, and access to a court of law, could amount to persecution.
Since the December-January assault, there have been many authoritative reports by human rights and environmental organizations on the impact of the war and the ongoing siege on the people, soil, air, and water, including the increase in cancers, deformed births, and preventable deaths. The death toll in Gaza from swine flu reached nine in mid-December and 13 a week later -- an epidemic in waiting.
The eighth stage of genocide Stanton identifies is denial by perpetrators "that they committed any crimes." Ironically, Stanton headed the International Association of Genocide Scholars during the conflict, which shut down discussion of Israel's actions despite protests by, among others, genocide scholar and author Adam Jones. Jones and 15 other scholars had posted a declaration stating that Israeli policies were "too alarmingly close" to genocide to ignore and calling for an end to the silence.
Alarmingly close is right. Here is how Raphael Lemkin, the Polish-Jewish legal scholar who pushed for the genocide convention, defined it in 1943: "genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation.... It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups."
It is hard to conceive of a better description of what is going on in Gaza.
All UN member states have the duty to prevent and stop acts of genocide. What is needed is a country brave enough to take the lead, before it is too late.
*Nadia Hijab is an independent analyst and a senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies.
During a visit to Ramallah a year ago while the Israeli bombardment of Gaza was underway, I shared my fears with a close Palestinian friend. "It may sound insane, but I think the Israelis' real objective is to see them all dead."
My friend told me not to be silly, the assault was horrific, but it was not mass killing. I said that wasn't the issue: This was a population already very vulnerable to disease, ill-health, and malnutrition after years of siege, with its infrastructure rotted, its water and food contaminated. Israel's war would surely push the people over the brink, especially if the siege was maintained -- as it has been.
In other words, Israel would not directly kill tens of thousands of Palestinians, but it would create the conditions for tens of thousands to die. Any epidemic could finish the job. My friend fell silent at these words, but still shook his head in disbelief.
Two things have changed since last year: More people have started to apply the term "genocide" to what Israel is doing to Gaza. And not only is Israel being directly accused but also, increasingly, Egypt.
Is it genocide? "The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide" -- a clear, concise document adopted by the United Nations in December 1948 -- states that genocide is any of five acts committed "with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."
Three acts appear to apply to the situation in Gaza: "(a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part."
Legal scholars disagree about how to interpret the Convention's articles and it has proven difficult, over the years, to define crimes as genocide, let alone to prevent or end them. In line with the Bosnia precedent -- the only authoritative legal treatment of genocide to date -- it would be necessary to establish deliberate intent for an accusation of genocide against Israel to stand up in court.
Israel's leadership has not, of course, issued a declaration of intent. However, many leading Israeli officials can be said to have done so. For example:
• Putting the Palestinians of Gaza "on a diet" -- Dov Weisglass, chief aide to Ariel Sharon, in 2006.
• Exposing them to "a bigger shoah (holocaust)" -- Matan Vilnai, former deputy defense minister, in 2008.
• Issuing religious edicts exhorting soldiers to show no mercy -- the Israeli army rabbinate during the actual conflict.
Such declarations echo at least three of the "8 stages of genocide" identified by Genocide Watch president Gregory Stanton in the 1990s after the Rwanda genocide: Classification, dehumanization, and polarization.
Then there is the deliberate destruction or barring of means of sustenance as Israel has done on land and at sea. Already, the Goldstone Report has said that depriving the Gaza Palestinians of their means of sustenance, employment, housing and water, freedom of movement, and access to a court of law, could amount to persecution.
Since the December-January assault, there have been many authoritative reports by human rights and environmental organizations on the impact of the war and the ongoing siege on the people, soil, air, and water, including the increase in cancers, deformed births, and preventable deaths. The death toll in Gaza from swine flu reached nine in mid-December and 13 a week later -- an epidemic in waiting.
The eighth stage of genocide Stanton identifies is denial by perpetrators "that they committed any crimes." Ironically, Stanton headed the International Association of Genocide Scholars during the conflict, which shut down discussion of Israel's actions despite protests by, among others, genocide scholar and author Adam Jones. Jones and 15 other scholars had posted a declaration stating that Israeli policies were "too alarmingly close" to genocide to ignore and calling for an end to the silence.
Alarmingly close is right. Here is how Raphael Lemkin, the Polish-Jewish legal scholar who pushed for the genocide convention, defined it in 1943: "genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation.... It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups."
It is hard to conceive of a better description of what is going on in Gaza.
All UN member states have the duty to prevent and stop acts of genocide. What is needed is a country brave enough to take the lead, before it is too late.
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