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Today's
Stories
July 31, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Kerry:
He's the (Any) One
July 30, 2004
Kolhatkar /
Ingalls
Shattering
Illusions: Kerry's Speech Tells Anti-War Activists They're Not
Wanted
Dave Lindorff
Murder
Not So Foul?
Bruce Jackson
Walt Whitman on the Sound of Wolf Blitzer's Voice
Fidel Castro
The
Pathology of George W. Bush
Maximilien Robespierre
Memo to Kerry and Bush: Why They Resist
Saul Landau
Bush
Charges Castro with Sex Tourism; JFK Rolls Over in His Grave
Sex, Drugs & the Blues!
Serpents in the Garden
CounterPunch's
Sizzling New Book on Culture and Sex is Now Available
Click here to purchase
July 29, 2004
Cockburn /
St. Clair
Hail,
the Conquering War Criminal: What Kerry Really Did in Vietnam
Frank Bardacke
What
Michael Moore Left Out of F9/11
Tom Barry
Shallow and Formulaic: Kerry's Latin America Plan
Ron Jacobs
Kerry
and Lennon: Hawking the CounterCulture
Robert Fisk
The Unreported War
Lichtman /
Kellis-Borok
What Kerry Must Do to Win (But Probably Won't)
William S. Lind
The 9/11 Commission Report: Cashing in on Failure
CounterPunch
Wire
Doonesbury Onto John Kerry in 1971!
Website of
the Day
Jabbing JibJab: Copyright Madness
July 28, 2004
Robert Fisk
The
Occupation at 114 Degrees: Baghdad is Swamped in the Smell of
the Dead
Kevin Mink
Kerry's Misperception of Palestine
Ray McGovern
Israel and the Iraq War: How the 9/11 Report Soft-Pedals Root
Causes
United for
Peace & Justice
An
Open Letter to John Kerry: Winter Soldiers and Summer Patriots
Mike Ferner
Vets Demand End to Occupation: "Pull the Troops or Face
Impeachment Mvt."
Imraan Siddiqi
Turning Tricks with Ann Coulter
Alexander Cockburn
Candidate
Kerry
Website of
the Day
Iraq Vets Against the War
July 27, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Why
the Democrats Deserve Nader
Dave Lindorff
Back to the 19th Century: Globalization's Coming!
Mike Whitney
Control Room: Inside Al Jazeera
Ali, Anderson, Bello, et al.
If We Were Venezuelan, We'd Vote for Chavez
Stefan Wray
Texas Plan to Grab Los Alamos Takes Hold, as DOE Shuts Down Labs
Louis Proyect
Reflections on Nicaragua: First Came the Contra Butchers, Then
the Sweatshops
Rick Giombetti
Faith in Freedom: the Challenge of Thomas Szasz
Bill and Kathleen
Christison
The
9/11 Report and Its Weak-Kneed Consensus: Dogding Israel/Palestine;
Blinkered on Causes of Terrorism
July 26, 2004
Todd Chretien
Green
Resistance: a Reply to Normon Solomon & Medea Benjamin
Robert Fisk
Terror
by Video
Richard Forno
Security
Theater in Boston: Security Expert Harrassed by DHS for Exposing
Flaws at the Fleet Center
Mitchel Cohen
Report from a Boston Demo: Arresting the Curious
Richard Moreno
Rockers
for Justice: an Interview with Tom Morello and Serj Tankian
Alexander Cockburn
Boston
Awaits a Dead Party
July
24 / 25, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Democrats and Their Conventions:
Part One
Dennis
Hans
Those 16 Words Still Smell, Mr. Bush
Patrick
Cockburn
The Struggle for Iraq is Only Beginning
Josh
Frank
The War Path of Unity: Dems Reject
the Peace Movement
Justin
E.H. Smith
Christianity and the Left: the Latin
American Experience
Tariq
Ali
What's at Stake in Venezuela
Fred
Gardner
The Politics of Pot: Year of the
Antagonist
Mark
Scaramella
There's Dope and There's Dope
Ron
Jacobs
The Weather Underground's Prairie
Fire Statement...35 Years On
July
23, 2004
Lee
Sustar
Revolution in Nicaragua: 25 Years
On
Dave
Lindorff
Battle for NYC: Bush 1, Protesters
0
Saul
Landau
Zaniest President in US History: Bush
Beats Reagan
Mike
Whitney
The 9/11 Whitewash: Blaming No
One
Mickey
Z
Get On the Bus: 150 Years After Elizabeth
Jennings
Gary
Leupp
The 9/11 Commission and the Looming
War on Iran
July
22, 2004
M.
Junaid Alam
Ten Ways to Build a Better Democrat
Brian
McKinlay
Rusted On Down Under: Howard, Bush and Sharon
Jason
Leopold
Cheney Lobbied for Easing of Sanctions on Terrorist Regimes While
CEO of Halliburton
Chris
Floyd
Mob Rule: Ripping the Lid Off of America's Pious Myths
Uri
Avnery
Chirac v. Sharon
July
21, 2004
Paula
J. Caplan
The Emotional Casualities of War:
Psychologists Can't Heal All the Damage
Joshua
Frank
Nader Sleeping with the Enemy? Let's
be Fair
Ron
Jacobs
American Exceptionalism
Reza
Ghorashi
The Elections, Iran and al-Qaeda
Amy
Martin
Will Congress Rearm the Guatemalan Generals?
John
Ross
Bush May Lose, But His Wars Will Go
On and On
July
20, 2004
Stan
Cox
The Bush / Kerry War Ticket
Chris
Randolph
An Open Letter to Dr. Ehrenreich: It's Over, Barb!
Forrest
Hylton
The Ghosts of Gonismo: "Popular
Patricipation" and Bolivia's Gas Referendum
Mark
Scaramella
It's Official! Mendocino County is Crazier and Fatter Than the
Rest of California
Sam
Bahour
The World is Knocking on Israel's Door
George
Reiter
A Defense of David Cobb
John
Ross
Burying Iraq, Burying Bush
John
L. Hess
Girlie Stuff: Media Tolerance of Arnold & Co.
Website
of the Day
This Land is Your Land
July
19, 2004
Uri
Avnery
Marie and the Ghosts: the Hoax of
Paris
Col.
Dan Smith
What Has Been Accomplished?
Mike
Whitney
Allawi: Our Puppet with a Pistol
Karyn
Strickler
Just Marriage, Not Gay Marriage
Robert
Fisk
The Crisis of Information in Baghdad
David
Swanson
Media Blackout of US Labor Opposition
to Iraq War
Jennifer
van Bergen
The Death of the Great Writ of Liberty
July
17 / 18, 2004
Gary
Leupp
Apocalypse Now: Why the Book of Revelations
is Must Reading
Ghada
Karmi
Vanishing the Palestinians
Lenni
Brenner
When Cattle Unite, Lions Go Hungry: Notes for Ralph Nader
Ben
Tripp
Man on a Bridge: a Ghost Story
Brandy
Baker
What Would Elizabeth Cady Stanton Make of John Kerry?
M.
Shahid Alam
Israel Builds Another Wall
Sasan
Fayazmanesh
Nuclear Hypocrisy: Israel, Iran and the IAEA
Patrick
Bond
The George Bush of Africa
Fred
Gardner
Politics of Marijuana: Cannabiniod Therapuetics
William
Blum
Bush and Thucydides
Ben
Terrall
Carter and the Indonesia Elections: "I Don't See Anything
Wrong with a General Running the Country"
Tom
Barry
John Lehman on the War Path
David
Vest
Dylan Without the Music
Phyllis
Pollack
Return to Sin City: Keith Richards Does Gram Parsons
Ron
Jacobs
Smearing Muhammad Ali: Bob Feller Strikes Out
Joshua
Frank
Kerry to Edwards: "Let's Lose!"
David
Nally
A Call for Sudan: Our Georgraphical Blindspot
Toni
Solo
Bolivia's Gas Referendum
Landau,
Hassan, Prashad & Lindorff
Three Reviews of Moore's F911
Poets's
Basement
Ford, Smith and Albert
July
16, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Adonal Foyle: Master of the Lefty Lay-Up
Shervan
Sardar
Dershowitz, the ICJ and Jim Crow Laws
Ron
Jacobs
The Lil' Engine That Couldn't: Kucinich Surrenders on Anti-War
Plank
Robert
Fisk
Iraq, According to Edgar Allen Poe:
Coffin Bombs in Baghdad
Greg
Moses
The Forts of Iraq
Mickey
Z.
Ad Infinitum?: Presidential Campaigns in the Age of TV
Dan
Bacher
A Landmark Win for Salmon and the Tribes
Dave
Lindorff
The Mumia Case: Support from NAACP,
But a Movement in Shambles
Paul
McGeough
Did Allawi Shoot Inmates in Cold Blood?
Website
of the Day
10 Reasons to Fire Bush (and 9 Reasons Kerry Won't Be Any Better)
July
15, 2004
Heather
Williams
McMissing
the Point: Supersize Me Crashes on Its Message
Werther
Iraq: Follow the Money
Tom
Crumpacker
The Birds of Guantanamo
Brian
Cloughley
What Does the Bush Regime Object To?
Bill
Christison
Reorganize the CIA? Of Course,
But...
July
14, 2004
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Chronicle of a Nomination Foretold:
the Green Deceivers
Neve
Gordon
Of Socrates and the Apartheid Wall
Diane
Christian
The Priesthood of Death
Stefan
Wray
Who Benefits from Missing Data at Los Alamos Nuclear Lab?
Josh
Frank
The Nader / Dean Debate
Conn
Hallinan
Divide and Conquer as Imperial Rules
Elizabeth
Weill-Greenberg
Bring My Brother Home!: Class, War
and Education
Website
of the Day
Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear and the Selling of US Empire
July
13, 2004
Ray
McGovern
The CIA and Iraq: an Intelligence
Debacle...and Worse
Mark
Donham
The Sierra Club's Inexplicable Treatment of Cynthia McKinney
Ben
Tripp
Politus Interruptis: With Friends Like
These, Who Needs Electorates?
Mark
Gaffney
Slipping Towards Armageddon: Israel
in Iraq
Dave
Lindorff
Osama Wins! Election Postponed!
Chris
White
Double Think: the Bedrock of Marine
Indoctrination
July
10 / 12, 2004
Kathleen
Christison
The Problem with Neutrality Between
Palestinians and Israel
Janine
Pommy Vega
Trail of the Comet: a Gathering of the World's Poets Against
War
Sherry
Wolf
From Maverick to Party Attack Dog: Howard Dean Gay-Bashes Nader
Saul
Landau and Farrah Hassen
A Transfer of Power, Sort Of
Michael
Donnelly
How to Steal an Election: the Green Version, 2004
Stanton
/ Madsen
Iraq Survey Group: Rumsfeld's al-Qaeda?
Richard
Lichtman
The End of Innocence: Reflections on American Pathology
Gila
Svirsky
Thank You, Your Honors: a Legal Blow to the Wall
Kurt
Nimmo
Clinton's Life
Toni
Solo
Empire-Speak: What Roger Noriega Really Means
Ron
Jacobs
The Black Panthers and the Rest
Camelo
Ruiz Marrero
Gene Warfare in Oaxaca: Genetic Mutation of Mexican Maize
Omar
Barghouti
Wither the Empire: Rise of a Global Resistance
Poets'
Basement
Curtis and Albert
July
9, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Carlos Delgado on Deck: Blue Jays Slugger
Stands Up Against War
Justin
Delacour
Wishing Kerry Would Shut Up About
Latin America
Robert
Fisk
Iraq in Reverse: Martial Laws Fuel Insurgency
Boris
Kagarlitsky
Two Congresses and a Funeral
William
S. Lind
The October Surprises
Sibel
Edmonds
Our Broken System: John Ashcroft's War on Truth
Ron
Jacobs
Reading Tea Leaves: What Vietnam Tells Us About Iraq's Future
Gary
Leupp
The Lie That Will Not Die: Cheney and
the Iraq/al-Qaeda Link
July
8, 2004
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
The Inexplicable John McCain
Toufic
Haddad
Protesting Israel's Apartheid Wall:
a Letter from the Hunger Strikers' Tent
Dave
Lindorff
Liberation as Martial Law
Joshua
Frank
The Fall: How Beltway Dems Sank Howard
Dean
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush & Cheney Play the Hitler Card
James
Petras
The Truth About Jimmy Carter
July
7, 2004
John
Chuckman
Kerry's BBQ: a Deafening Silence
of Meaning
Virginia
Tilley
A Line in the Sand: Azmi Bishara's
Hunger Strike
Susan
Martinez
A Letter to Bill Cosby
Mickey
Z
Elie Wiesel's Strange Parade
Michael
Donnelly
Our Own Private Wilderness: Trusting the Land in the Inland Empire
Sean
Donahue
Boston Social Forum: the Dems aren't the Only Show in Beantown
Diane
Christian
Sovereignty and Freedom in Iraq
July
6, 2004
Lisa
Viscidi
Fleeing Guatemala: Central Americans
Risk Lives to Reach El Norte
Marc
Norton
The Felonious Five Ride Again: the
Supreme Court and Enemy Combatants
James
Brooks
Chemical Warfare on the West Bank?
Ray
McGovern
Porter Goss as CIA Director?
William
Cook
Legacy of Deceit: If Dante Knew of Bush and the Neo-Cons...
July
5, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
US Imperialism in Latin America: Sept.
11, July 4 and Systematic Torture
Chris
White
A Former Marine Sgt. on the Meaning
of Independence Day
Joe
Bageant
Cranky Reflections on the 4th of July
Robert
Jensen
Stupid White Movie: What Michael Moore
Misses About the Empire
Kathy
Kelly
"Two Days an' a Wake-Up"
July
3 / 4, 2004
Elaine
Cassel
Bush's Police State and Independence
Day
Stan
Goff
ABC of Opportunism: "Progressive"
Latin American Leaders Support the Coup in Haiti
Snehal
Shingavi
"We Want Real Justice for Bhopal": Two Survivors Speak
Out
Bruce
Anderson
The Cheney-Leahy Metaphor and the Greens
Sharon
Smith
Twilight of the Greens: the Chokehold of "Anybody But Bush"
Josh
Frank
Ralph Nader's Revolt: an Interview with Greg Bates
Robert
Fisk
Pentagon Tried to Censor Saddam's Hearing
Joe
Bageant
Sons of a Laboring God: Leftnecks Unite!
Brian
Cloughley
Fortress Bush and the One Law Doctrine
Justin
Delacour
The Anti-Chavez Echo Chamber: Venezuela's Media Tycoons
William
S. Lind
Saudi Spillover
Linda
S. Heard
A Joke Called "Justice"
Greg
Moses
"It's Illegal, But It's Our Right": Korean Labor Won't
Back Down
Ron
Jacobs
"Ain't You Proud to be White on Independence Day?"
Toni
Solo
Weary of Indigenous Resistances? Just Pretend They're Not There
Dan
Nagengast
Chicken Manure as Cattle Food: Safe, But Do We Want to Eat It?
Stew
Albert
Brando, a Personal Recollection
Dave
Zirin
From the Black Panthers to Sacheen Littlefeather: a Eulogy for
Our Brando
Patrick
W. Gavin
The Progressive Case for Dodgeball
Steven
Rosenthal / Junaid Ahmad
The Problem is Bigger Than the Bushes: a Review of F911
Poets'
Basement
Kearney, Ford and Davies
Website
of the Day
Global Peace Solution
July
2, 2004
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Suicide Right on the Stage: the Demise
of the Green Party
Douglas
Valentine
Fahrenheit 911: Mocking the Moral Crisis of Capitalism
Gary
Leupp
"Just Because I Could": On Obscenities and Opportunities
Lee
Ballinger
Illegal People: Kerry Opposes Immigrant Rights
Robert
Fisk
Saddam in the Dock: Confused? Hardly
CounterPunch
Wire
"What Law Formed This Court?": a Transcript of Saddam's
Arraignment
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush's Drug Card Lottery: the Price Ain't Right
Saul
Landau
Buzz Words and Venezuela
July 1, 2004
Katherine
van Wormer
Bush's Damaged Mind: the Madness in
His Method
Joe
Bageant
Is Our President a Whackjob? Does It Matter?
William
James Martin
The Dogma of Richard Perle
Dave
Lindorff
Bush's Evacuation Moment
Robert
Fisk
Bread and Circus Trials in Iraq
Alan
Maass
Green Party in Reverse
Website
of the Day
Michael Moore and Israel: Blind or a Coward?
June
30, 2004
Kurt Nimmo
Nicholson
Baker's Checkpoint: a New Kind of Anger About Bush
Tariq
Ali
Getting Away with Murder in Iraq
Jennifer
Van Bergen
Bush and the Detainees
Douglas
Valentine
Apotheosis of the Psychopaths: Instead of Fahrenheit 9/11, Rescreen
The Quiet American
David
Price
Fahrenheit 9/11 Through the McCain-Feingold Looking Glass
Roger
Normand
America's Criminal Occupation of Iraq
Stan
Cox
Sanitized for Your Protection: Ashcroft's
War on Art
Henry
David Thoreau
On the Futility of Bush v. Kerry: All Voting is a Kind of Gaming
Ben
Tripp
Who Dast Call Him Liar: a Rebuttal to Nicholas Kristof
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
|
July
31, 2004
The
Iron Sheik (aka Will Youmans)
An
Interview with a Palestinian-American Rapper
By
M. JUNAID ALAM
I recently got a chance to
discuss the political and personal with the radical Palestinian-American
activist and rap artist Will Youmans, who dons the moniker 'Iron
Sheik' in his clever and powerful music aimed against Israeli
oppression of the Palestinians - and more recently, the American
occupation of Iraq. Below, the Iron Sheik discusses the roots
of his radicalization, how music has helped him convey his politics,
and the importance of integrity, solidarity and resistance in
the struggle for justice.
In the lyrics to your rap
music, you strongly identify with and support the
Palestinian cause, fiercely oppose the war in Iraq, and fire
rhetorical salvos
against the Bush administration. Did you develop your politics
and then find
music as an avenue of expressing them, or did you first get into
rapping and
then develop radical politics?
My first musical influence
besides the Beatles was Public Enemy. So I came to
know music as political expression. Because of Public Enemy,
my first political
consciousness was centered on American race relations. My early
sense of
justice gave me a sense of outrage at the American history against
blacks,
Native peoples, Mexicans, Chinese, etc.
My political views on the Middle
East, my sense of injustice there, developed
separately, but the underlying principles were always the same
as my views on the US domestic scene. Groups were treated unequally.
My views on the Arab world and US foreign policy came a bit later.
Later on in college, the
political music of the Arab world inspired my already strongly
held views and
showed me how effective political music can be, especially since
it is so
underground and inaccessible in the States.
I definitely started rapping
before I became an activist. But only recently did
it occur to me to combine the two.
What ignited your passion
for politics? How much did your Palestinian roots and Arab ethnicity
play a role in your radicalization? What kind of obstacles and
problems did you have to cope with when you first expressed your
radicalism with rapping, in terms of other rappers, audience,
and friends and family?
My family was a great source
of knowledge for me, though they never were
dogmatic or trying to brainwash me. I became political outside
of the family's
influence. Since there was so much activism in my family though,
it had to seep in somehow probably.
My transforming moments were
the 1991 Gulf War. I was in 7th grade, but jumped on a bus to
DC to protest with my Aunt. I saw my Mom crying when the bombs
were falling, even though at first I thought they were kind of
cool, in a GI Joe kind of way. But I didn't begin to understand
the politics of Palestine until I went there at the age of 17.
My eyes opened up and I embarked on a path of learning. Palestinians
tend to have more radical politics because the extent of the
injustice committed against them is so radical. Dispossession
from homeland, ethnic cleaning, cultural expropriation
we as a people had everything stolen from us. That kind of experience
would make any people "radical." For us, justice ends
up being seen as a radical solution. Justice is the only path
to peace though.
My main obstacle as a rapper
is that I am of the books. I was never on the
streets. My friends liked getting into fights. I thought it was
stupid shit. I
also grew up very comfortably, never had to worry about basic
needs. I held
down jobs since 9th grade, no doubt, but I blew all my loot on
tapes and ugly
clothes I wouldn't wipe my end with now. So, for people wanting
street, I'm
soft. I'm a Nerd-rapper. I care more about abstract knowledge
and learning than I do about trying to compete in some testosterone
contest.
You take a pretty defiant,
aggressive approach with your music, taking direct aim at some
main reactionary propagandists, cutting to the core of Israeli
myths, and adopting the moniker of 'Iron Sheik', which first
belonged to a professional wrestler who played the stereotypical
'Middle-Eastern bad guy' in the 70's. Do you find it therapeutic,
to any extent, to sort of turn the tables by using irony and
the anti-Arab racism of the right-wing to show how hollow their
own arguments are?
Taking the name feels good.
It is a form of resistance. It is like beating back an invader
who claims ownership over your cultural space. The Iron Sheik,
as a caricature, bastardized our culture, vilified us as a people,
and did it all for money. That whole idea of exploiting stereotypes
for money disgusts me. We
need to take back those ideas and stereotypes and mock the crap
out of them. In another sense, a Sheik is a learned or respected
individual, and my knowledge is my strength. It is Iron. MC's
like to battle, well I will debate anyone, anywhere on Israel-Palestine,
and I will win. Few can command the facts like I do. And, people
who really know, they come down on the right side. Those who
do not, lose morally.
Despite the wealth of scholarly
information now available from Israel's own
historians using declassified archives about that nation's history
of robbing,
looting, rape, and ethnic cleansing, in America the Zionist mythology
largely
prevails, mostly through bullying and wild accusations of 'anti-Semitism'.
How has this oppressive intellectual atmosphere affected your
musical method and style, and your consciousness in general,
in defending the Palestinians and being one?
Oh yes. Here's an analogy.
Zionists in the US are the high school bullies. They have managed
to scare so many people into silence. Even Palestinians in the
US get freaked out about speaking their mind. We self-censor,
we fear what the Zionists will do. We even give them more credit
than they deserve. We think they got their stuff together, but
they had nearly a century head start in this country getting
organized, fitting in. I'm here to tell everyone we will not
be bullied. We will share our history. We will be honest.
And when we speak out, it will
let others follow. If we don't stand up for our
views, who the hell will? Once we get going, the dominoes will
start falling.
The more we dissent, the more everyone else will. American Jews
critical of
Israel need to help more than ever. They have it harder than
us because they get the same stigma for speaking out PLUS alienation
from their community. We should reach out with love and support
to those good people. So all those ignorant Arabs and Muslims
blaming "the Jews" need to rethink their views. A Jewish-American
activist fighting for what's right is my brother or sister before
a club-hopping Palestinian who doesn't even care about our people.
The American left has traditionally
been pretty weak on both the issues of Palestine and Israel's
relationship with America. The liberal so-called left
has almost always cowered and hid when it comes to criticizing
Israel. Even in the anti-Iraq war left, bringing up Israel and
Zionism can be a tough task. On your Camel Clutch album there's
a particularly poignant song in which you rap out the real history
of Israel, Olive Trees, and you say: I can't stand it/ It's time
to panic/ cuz we're heading for the bottom of the Atlantic/Israel
and America's a sinking ship, If we don't change it/ Soon we're
going down with it
Why do you think there is
such great fear in bringing up the role and influence of the
world's last colonial settler-state in American imperialism?
Do you think progress is being made in this area, with the ISM,
SJP, or Arab-American groups?
Most definitely, there is change.
I mean way more people are active on Palestine now than the past.
It is natural. Israel was once a progressive idea, a socialist
state now it is an outpost of global capitalism. It was all very
well
to progressive people in the US who knew very little about the
situation. Most
people did not even know people pre-existed Israel. Folks on
the left talked
more about the kibbutzim than they did the Palestinians in refugee
camps.
Israel was after all, a solution to Europe's despicable Jew-hatred.
Without a
Palestinian response in the US, why would anyone doubt it? Jewish
nationalism is in principle just as valid as any other groups
(so long as no one is wronged in the outcome).
It was off the Left's radar
for a long time, except for a few voices: Isaiah Berlin (not
sure how critical he was) in the 50's, 60's, the Arab-American
writer Amin Rihani in the 1920's, M Cherif Bessouni (1960's,
70's), Noam Chomsky (80's +), AAUG (1967 +), Nasser Aruri, Samih
Farsoun, Edward Said, Elaine Hagopian, etc.
Also, the old left was mostly
white and Jewish, more liberal and sensitive to American domestic
politics. The newer left is more open to Palestine. They
understand colonialism more because more often they descend from
colonial
peoples, and tend to be more questioning of established views.
I see in the new left, basically everyone after Said and Chomsky,
more commonly critiques of Israel. Read the 'New York Review
of Books' now, some of the best analysis on Israel-Palestine.
'The Nation' is improving. 'Dissent' still sucks, of course.
I think we are winning the left. It is the Liberals we need.
Also, keep in mind that the free-market right and Libertarians
are potentially sympathetic to rights-based arguments. Maybe
I'm not a true radical because I consider them as possible allies
in this struggle, but I have an urgency that disallows me from
being too choosy about whose support I accept (racists need not
apply though).
The question consuming the
American left at this hour is that of the elections, and there's
been a feverish debate over politics and principles vis avis
the 'Anybody But Bush' bandwagon. Given that there is zero difference
between Bush or Kerry on the issues of support Israel and occupying
Iraq, how do you view the ABB call, as an Arab-American and as
an activist in general?
Tough call. I won't vote for
either because I vote my conscience in California.
To be honest, if Bush wins, he will feel a mandate, which he
never won in the
first place. If he wins, his aggression will be rewarded. If
Kerry wins, I'll party that Bush is gone, then cry the next morning.
At least the Neo-Cons will be punished a little bit. Plus, that
John Edwards is so charming! (syke!)
Change in American politics
is 90% illusion. Screw the elections. I want a multi-party system;
no Senate; and let's terminate the electoral college; and add
run-off elections for President! Let's start a campaign for Real
Democracy in the States, then Israel, then the rest of the world
(starting with the Arab and Muslim countries).
Has expressing politics
through rap allowed you to widen your audience and make it easier
to communicate your politics to more people? Do you have any
particularly memorable experiences from any of your performances?
Hip-hop is much more accessible
for people, especially the youth and folks who don't have the
leisure time to read, and what not. It is about to access to
knowledge. I have been fortunate enough to gain much knowledge.
I want to pass on what I learned to others and pay tribute to
those folks putting that knowledge out there. People are much
more likely to listen to a song than read lyrics in a magazine
or whatever, I think. One of my most gratifying moments is an
odd one for a hip-hip artist. At the ADC convention in 2003,
I performed 'Olive Trees' and got a standing ovation from many
old folks, a lot of Palestinians, who experienced what I'm talking
about. Even if they didn't understand the words, they felt me.
Hip-hop lets me tap that emotional strain that I lose too easily
as an activist talking in abstractions. Music is a form of abstraction
of course, but it lets me connect to other humans in ways that
writing and lectures cannot. My other memorable moment was performing
in Pine Ridge, a native reservation. I was in front of high school
kids. Hip-hop let us connect, because almost all of them listened
to it. Many of the kids felt the struggle my rhymes expressed,
and related it to their own. Hip-hop, as a subversive, but mainstreamed
medium, gives people many tools for reaching out to other communities.
I'm not saying hip-hop is all love or positive, but its origins
were about speaking a reality. Corporations and clubs made hip-hop
into fascist action-fantasy bullshit. But we can take it back
and use it to connect with each other. Check out Iron Sheik's
website, www.ironsheik.biz
where you can support his work by picking up his album, and listen
to some of his tunes, including:
Leena2Memory: [Life of a Refugee]
The Oil Anthem
Olive Trees
M. Junaid Alam, 21, Boston, co-editor of radical
youth journal Left Hook,
feedback: alam@lefthook.org.
first published in Left
Hook.
Weekend
Edition Features for July 10 / 12, 2004
Kathleen
Christison
The Problem with Neutrality Between
Palestinians and Israel
Janine
Pommy Vega
Trail of the Comet: a Gathering of the World's Poets Against
War
Sherry
Wolf
From Maverick to Party Attack Dog: Howard Dean Gay-Bashes Nader
Saul
Landau and Farrah Hassen
A Transfer of Power, Sort Of
Michael
Donnelly
How to Steal an Election: the Green Version, 2004
Stanton
/ Madsen
Iraq Survey Group: Rumsfeld's al-Qaeda?
Richard
Lichtman
The End of Innocence: Reflections on American Pathology
Gila
Svirsky
Thank You, Your Honors: a Legal Blow to the Wall
Kurt
Nimmo
Clinton's Life
Toni
Solo
Empire-Speak: What Roger Noriega Really Means
Ron
Jacobs
The Black Panthers and the Rest
Camelo
Ruiz Marrero
Gene Warfare in Oaxaca: Genetic Mutation of Mexican Maize
Omar
Barghouti
Wither the Empire: Rise of a Global Resistance
Poets'
Basement
Curtis and Albert
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