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It's Time to Make Some Judgments, Take
Some Actions
American
Responsibility and Palestine
By MAGAN WILES
Something about Palestine is an ego
trip for a white girl. You have delusions of grandeur, that you
will arrive on the scene and the Palestinians will have parades
and cry "Peace! Oh, yes, peace at last." You fee you
can keep people safe because you are an American with Inalienable
Rights, that Nobody can do Anything to you, that people will
listen to you because you are a Westerner with access to powerful
and rich people. You come here half expecting that you will end
the occupation single-handedly. You believe soldiers will listen
to you, will obey your orders because, after all, you have paid
for their guns and jeeps and military-issued boxer briefs.
Some of the Palestinians believe this, too, that you have magic
keys, a mystical power to open checkpoints and minds and stop
bulldozers from destroying their homes. They ask you "Please
talk to them." They ask you this while holding their babies,
they ask you to explain to the men with guns that they are sick
and cannot wait in line in the hot sun. They ask you to bring
medicine from America, to help them build factories, to talk
to George Bush and tell him how much they are suffering. They
ask you to speak to the American people, all 200 million of them,
to tell them to stop sending tax money to the American government,
who is sending the money to the Israeli government, who is sending
the money to Palestinians in care packages of bullets and rockets
and monster bulldozers.
And you become sick with guilt because you know it is your responsibility
to help with these things, because you know it is being done
in your name and with your money, but mostly it is your responsibility
because you try to be a good human being and when people are
suffering you believe this is wrong and you want it to stop.
You know that if you were a Palestinian--and there's really no
rhyme or reason as to why you weren't born in Palestine, nothing
special you did to deserve to be born in America--you would wish
that people cared enough about you to stop this horrible thing
being done to you.
The longer you are in Palestine, the more you learn, the more
you see, you realize that there is actually very little you can
do. You are mostly alone here, and there are 200 million people
back in America and they feel bad about the stuff that you tell
them, but not bad enough to take direct action to stop the killings,
stop the wall, stop home demolitions. It will take thousands
of people to do this, thousands of people to rebuild Palestine,
thousands of people to stop the governments of America and Israel
who are slowly killing the Palestinians. Surely out of 200 million,
there are a couple thousand who have the time and resources to
help you fix this problem. But they are not here. There are only
10 Americans here. You want to get pissed at people. You want
to say "Why are you making me do this alone? Why am I the
only one fixing our mistakes? Why aren't you here, too?"
In the same instant, you forgive them, because you know it's
hard, when you have families and bills and when you are trying
to find your own happiness, too. You forgive them and you decide
not to judge them because you are not God, and you know that
you are no saint. Because you know that when you leave this place
you will be secretly glad to return to the quiet streets and
the endless water and the malls full of cold air and shoes.
My friends and family and homies, the world is seriously sick
right now, and the American government has not only proved themselve
to be incapable of fixing things, they have also proved that
they are the instigators of the sickness. We have a war in Afghanistan,
a war in Iraq, we pushed for and financially supported the war
in Lebanon, we support the Occupation of Palestine, and there
is talk of war with Iran and North Korea. Please email back if
you disagree.
We can't sit back and allow them to do what they want with our
tax dollars and our power, because they are abusing it and they
are killing people, and meanwhile our own education system has
gone to shit, millions of people don't have health insurance,
everyone is working two jobs just to get by, New Orleans is still
a pile of rubble....it goes on and on. We have to take things
into our own hands. We have to start working on the world's problems--and
the problems within our own country-- as if they are are our
own problems. It's the only way things will change. We have to
be brave enough to say "This is not who we want to be anymore.
This is not the way we want the world to be anymore." No
one is going to do it for you. I repeat--if you are unhappy with
the conditions of the world, the conditions of your country and
your life, you have to do something about it personally, because
no one is going to do it for you.
End sermon. Things seem really bad right now, but at the same
time I feel a current of change moving through our people. I
think you all are tired of this militaristic, war-driven, corporate-controlled
society we live then. I think you all know that there is a better
way to live. I think you ready for it to happen, and I trust
the day is approaching when you will feel you have the power
to make it happen, when we stand strong together and take back
our country.
My humble advice? Start small. Start with yourself--examine your
job, your lifestyle, the things you buy--investigate how your
own actions impact the world at large. Read independent media.
Go to a lecture that sounds crazy and progressive and radical,
and see what you think. Don't just give your money away to charity--this
is still expecting other people to do the work for you. Roll
up your sleeves, dig in, do volunteer work, educate yourself
on political candidates, call your congressman when you're pissed
off. Participate in government--this is what democracy is. Be
the change you wish to see in the world.
I don't know anything, I'm not an authority on anything, but
I know we can't go on living the way we are, the world cannot
sustain it. I know most people are unhappy, and we need to do
something about that.
Magan Wiles is an actress who teaches Theater
of the Oppressed to young people through the Center for
Survivors of Torture and War Trauma in Saint Louis, Missouri.
She can be reached at missmagan3@yahoo.com
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