Stop the music...
Tuesday, 25. July 2006, 19:47:41
This morning I was given a link to a piece of lebanese music improvised with trumpet and bombs in Beirut. It is depressing. It has been depressing to see that the commitment to a peace process in the middle east seems to come second to winning the war.
The history is a mess. Established through terrorism, colonialism, the legitimate desire of people who lived in the area or emigrated there encouraged by the Balfour declaration, guilt over the Holocaust and anti-semitism being fairly prevalent where many jews actually lived, more or less a democracy in a sea of countries often ruled by guns, the state of Israel isn't really a model citizen. Nor does it live in a nice neighbourhood.
Under attack, either officially or unofficially, for almost its entire existence, an occupying power for just as long, it is one of the places I have felt most uncomfortable. When I was there, there were threats of major attacks on Tel Aviv. I drove through the West Bank with an Israeli, and again with a Palestinian. I saw a wall that haunts my memories, although it was still just slabs of concrete under construction. I heard of a devastating bombing attack the morning I was due to leave. It took place in Madrid.
Everyone I met knew people who had died in violence. Everyone I met was unhappy with the situation, unhappy with the way their own respective leaders were handling it. Everyone I met also had clear and tangible concerns about their safety and their ability to live some kind of life that made sense.
So how is it that 3 years later, there are more people dying, more bombs being tossed back and forth as though they are playthings, more people seeing the towns they have built and the trees they have grown once again being ripped apart and torn up? Don't we learn?
Maybe not. On the weekend I kept my housemates awake far too late as I sat around with friends talking and drinking. Isn't that the same lack of neighbourly behaviour? Maybe there is no difference between my insisting on a particular sentence or approach in a standard, and Hamas insisting on holding onto the eventual destruction of Israel as a stated goal, or Olmert insisting on his right to build that wall of my nightmares.
It's a depressing thought. I hope I missed something obvious.
Still, I didn't play music at my housemates. Not my guitar, no CD, nor my bodhran, neither trumpet nor bombs. Small mercies are somnething I guess. Are they enough to save people?
The history is a mess. Established through terrorism, colonialism, the legitimate desire of people who lived in the area or emigrated there encouraged by the Balfour declaration, guilt over the Holocaust and anti-semitism being fairly prevalent where many jews actually lived, more or less a democracy in a sea of countries often ruled by guns, the state of Israel isn't really a model citizen. Nor does it live in a nice neighbourhood.
Under attack, either officially or unofficially, for almost its entire existence, an occupying power for just as long, it is one of the places I have felt most uncomfortable. When I was there, there were threats of major attacks on Tel Aviv. I drove through the West Bank with an Israeli, and again with a Palestinian. I saw a wall that haunts my memories, although it was still just slabs of concrete under construction. I heard of a devastating bombing attack the morning I was due to leave. It took place in Madrid.
Everyone I met knew people who had died in violence. Everyone I met was unhappy with the situation, unhappy with the way their own respective leaders were handling it. Everyone I met also had clear and tangible concerns about their safety and their ability to live some kind of life that made sense.
So how is it that 3 years later, there are more people dying, more bombs being tossed back and forth as though they are playthings, more people seeing the towns they have built and the trees they have grown once again being ripped apart and torn up? Don't we learn?
Maybe not. On the weekend I kept my housemates awake far too late as I sat around with friends talking and drinking. Isn't that the same lack of neighbourly behaviour? Maybe there is no difference between my insisting on a particular sentence or approach in a standard, and Hamas insisting on holding onto the eventual destruction of Israel as a stated goal, or Olmert insisting on his right to build that wall of my nightmares.
It's a depressing thought. I hope I missed something obvious.
Still, I didn't play music at my housemates. Not my guitar, no CD, nor my bodhran, neither trumpet nor bombs. Small mercies are somnething I guess. Are they enough to save people?
You must be logged in to write a comment. if you're not a registered member, please 
In the end, words are weapons, just as music is. What does a pacifist do with weapons? What does a good person do in a war? If nobody stands up for themselves, will they stand up for others?
What if the first stone had been cast?
By chaals, # 26. July 2006, 17:38:46