In the Light, Palestine-Israel: The ordinary-extraordinary life of a father and son in Gaza

Excerpts from my journal as I explore the situation in Palestine and Israel

Hesham, the son, and Taher, the father, live an ordinary life in an extraordinary setting: Gaza. What is normal here in Gaza might be considered extraordinary elsewhere. In this account I hope to show something, maybe only minor details, of their relationship. My audience is not Gazans, but people in my own country, the United States of America. To see father and son in some of their daily life—fitting a suit for a wedding, later a party of males celebrating the upcoming wedding—is ordinary for many. However, because of where Taher and Hesham live, Gaza, which is under siege, frequently attacked by Israel, suffers high rates of poverty, unemployment, medical problems, and with most of the world oblivious to life here, the ordinary can become the extraordinary. That is my hope. Sumoud!

All we want is to be ordinary. —Mahmoud Darwish

PHOTOS

April 1, 2013, Monday, Gaza City, Rimal neighborhood, El Shawwa Building, my home

Another improvised, spontaneous day yesterday [March 31.2013], Easter (for many worldwide, maybe for a tiny sliver here in Gaza where I observed no sign of it anywhere). Hesham phoned to ask where I was, whether I was free, whether we could meet. Two years have passed since we last saw each other: Gaza, the photo workshop he enrolled in. Despite his studies last fall in NYC we were unable to meet in my homeland. Yesterday we greeted each other with big hugs and the customary Arabic cheek kissing. So happy to see each other. Nearly like brothers. Or more accurately because of the age difference, uncle and favorite nephew. We strolled downtown, he treated me to a special concoction of ice cream and something like flavored ice. We strolled further, we might have had coffee, he phoned his father, asked me if I’d like to meet him. I said sure, and that began not only a foray into his family as a slice of Gazan life, but also a possible photographic project in Gaza—the ordinary-extraordinary life of son and father. After my recent Skype discussion with S when she encouraged me to photograph ordinary Palestinian life I considered who might be my subjects. Maybe Islam and Ban and their infant son. Which raised problems—the hijab or head covering (as Hesham instructed me, even if instead of me  a woman photographed Ban at home with her hair uncovered, etiquette dictates that those photos not be shown outside the family.) Then Hesham and his father walked onto the stage and might become the principal actors in my project.

Taher Mhanna (Taher in Arabic means pure and I believe fits him well) bought me chicken kabob and afterwards we visited his tailor to be fitted for new suits for him and Hesham. Before leaving the restaurant I tried a few portraits of Taher thinking, this will be the screen test, I will learn what sort of chemistry exists between us, how he photographs. The new clothing is for impending marriages. Hesham’s brother and cousin will both marry—separately—in the coming weeks, and I’m invited to some of the festivities including a bachelor’s party. Joking with Hesham I asked, do you know what bachelor’s parties in the USA sometimes entail? He nodded, but he may have thought simply alcohol when I meant paid sex, either a show or participation.

Not a particularly savory western influence. I doubt anytime soon Gazan betrothed males will partake in either the booze or the sex. I learned that the tailor’s business has diminished because of the siege Israel intensified after Hamas came to power thru an election in 2006. The business is now reduced by about 70%. Formerly they’d exported to Israel who would add a label, Made in Israel. All employees were male; 4 or 5 brothers, sons of the founder, run the business. When the founder died he was making a suit by hand. The suit now hangs on the wall and I dumbly forgot to include it in the copious set of photos I made yesterday.

When I photographed the line of workers at their sewing machines I wondered, what has been their education? How many have university degrees? What were their previous jobs? Why are they here? I could imagine a series just about this, portraits of some workers, with biographies or statements from them.

The owners and I joked about future clothing technology after one had told me that his father sewed everything by hand. I said, yesterday by hand, today by machine, tomorrow perhaps by computer. And following that perhaps a new clothing technology: not actually wearable clothing but virtual clothing—with a push of the button a new skin, one for cold, one for hot, one for dry, one for wet. Hesham added, the Japanese have invented an air-conditioned suit. No surprise, I added, from the inventors of the bread machine, the hybrid automobile, the digital camera, and the high-speed bullet train. The Japanese are very clever people. Photographically I played with the mirror that father and son used to see themselves in their new, overly loose at this point, garments. I played with the various personnel that helped in the fitting, including the main tailor but also onlookers and, when focused on Hesham, his dad in the background or nearby helping, or when on father, son. I believe the set portrays something about the relationship between father and son. And this might be a main theme in this series. Parallel to the tailor’s business condition, Taher has been out of work because of the Hamas-Fatah split and the siege. He ran a construction business and hopes now for new projects. He told me finding financing is slow and he wants to make sure he can work with his new partners.

Hesham had recently been accepted for a conference in Turkey about business (his major is business administration) that was to occur in a few days, but he declined because of the family marriages. Had those marriages not been planned, he might have attended the conference. Thus I’d miss him for my assistant in the photography workshop I lead and as a primary  subject of this photo series. He told me all about his studies in the USA last fall, at New York University in NYC, a program that brought Israelis and Palestinians together for dialog and often heated argument. He loved it, but found the city too busy and fast. He much preferred the relative peace of Boston where he went twice, both times failing to meet me—once to escape Hurricane Sandy and once to visit friends in a suburb far from Boston which is perhaps why we didn’t link. Like my friendship with Ibrahim in Gaza, my friendship with Hesham is yet another reason I am attracted to Gaza and find it a good fit.

It is when we all play safe that we create a world of utmost insecurity. —Dag Hammarskjold

TO BE CONTINUED

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In the Light, Palestine-Israel: I enter Gaza

Hear the prayer of our soul. There speaks our truth and faith: To fulfill our task on earth we need Powers great from lands where spirits dwell, Strength that comes from friends who have died. —The House of Peace

Excerpts from my journal as I explore the situation in Palestine and Israel PHOTOS March 25, 2013, Monday, Gaza City, Ramal neighborhood, El Shawwa Building, my home Everything the same, everything different. That’s how I’d describe my current feeling upon arrival in Gaza yesterday [March 24, 2013]. Familiar surroundings and people in Gaza (this is my 6th visit), entirely different from the way I usually live and with whom I live and interact back home. From Jerusalem to the Erez crossing from Israel in about 90 minutes, paid for by the American Friends Service Committee with whom I work in Gaza, very smooth. The road narrowed and became more potholed the nearer as we approached Gaza. The driver was friendly but not communicative, probably the language differences. He has one young daughter, I told him about my family. He’d like to visit Gaza, but can’t because of Israeli restrictions. So much for that conversation. Entering the border crossing or checkpoint, a massive one, buildings expanded significantly since I was last here in winter 2010, a young woman (behind glass and placed higher than me) interrogated me for about 5 minutes. Her first question was are you a journalist? I slipped and said, sort of, well no, not really. (I might have been barred had I identified as a journalist.) Doing what, with whom, who is the American Friends Service Committee, what do they do, why photography, photography for what and whom, etc ? I was puzzled by these questions since I had a permit. Is honoring such a permit conditioned on giving proper answers? As I wrote my Levant list, with photos: One might ask: by what right does Israel control entrance into Gaza? The entrance hall is much larger than is probably needed. I’ve never seen more than a handful of people using it. Like a facility built for the Olympics and then the Olympics are cancelled, rendering the facility useless. I observed a family of Palestinians, 2 women, both obese, one very elderly, with a small child, going thru the turnstile—with wheeled luggage. All had problems. Had I not been under surveillance by the ubiquitous cameras I would have made photos. First the luggage, jammed thru, stuck, pushed, ejected, then the woman. The older woman held onto the turnstile as she painfully inched thru. And she could walk. What about those who can’t? A motorized cart awaited her and drove the small family the 2 or so km to the exit point. Once past the prying cameras I pulled out my own and photographed fences, corridors, more motorized carts, walkers, etc. No rubble collectors like I had spotted 2 years ago, but I observed one tent with about 4 young men and boys in it, which I photographed, and another ramshackle structure that might have been a temporary dwelling. Do people risk their lives out here or has Israel relented slightly and does not fire on them? I learned later that after the so-called Pillar of Cloud operation last November,  when Israel again assaulted Gaza, 8 days of unrelenting destruction, in a ceasefire agreement, Israel expanded the fishing area from 3 to 6 nautical miles. And then shrunk it again when militants fired rockets into southern Israel during Obama’s visit 2 weeks ago. After the group of Salafists (fundamentalist Muslims) admitted responsibility, Hamas arrested several men. Going thru Palestinian security I photographed (with permission) an exploded Qassam rocket near a Koranic inscription, proudly displayed on top of a cabinet in the inpection office. As if to state, our religion sanctions violent resistance. The luggage check was cursory. Had I brought with me some booze and stuck it near the bottom of the luggage I doubt the inspector would have found it (unlike the last time I tried that). Luckily he did not find my medicinal pill cache. How would I explain this? Not drugs sir, simply meds. Here, try one. No questions by these officials. And of course the architectural differences between Israel and Palestine are dramatic, indicating power and wealth disparities very clearly. First stop, the AFSC office where the director, Amal, greeted me and accepted a hug with cheek kisses (Only for Skip, she told a colleague). Islam greeted me with a bear hug, Mosab greeted me with hugs and cheek kisses, and I met some new staff, the taciturn Hamed, and a grim fellow stuck at his computer. My good friend Ibrahim was on his way to Tunisia with Firas for a World Social Forum, and Rana is out for 1 month after she slipped on oil and broke her leg. No sign of the ever-present cleaning woman with her insistent and incessant smile. They asked if I was glad to be back. Oh yes, very glad. When I enter the region, Palestine-Israel, I feel happy, mabsut. However, when I enter Gaza I am super happy, very mubsut. Wandering around while staff met to hire new personnel for a documentation project (that I might help with) I discovered a poster in Amal’s office showing 3 Chicago AFSC staff, Jennifer Bing, Miriam somebody, and a man I didn’t recognize. They smiled at the camera as Jennifer stood beside the photo I’d made of Amal at a Popular Achievement Program festival in Gaza in 2009. This pleases me, as I told Mosab, often much more than money. TO BE CONTINUED LINKS “Tunisia hosts World Social Forum, and reflects challenges to Arab Spring”  by Medea Benjamin on April 2, 2013 Popular Achievement Program of the American Friends Service Committee

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In the Light, Palestine-Israel: Water Justice Walk in the Jordan Valley

Excerpts from my journal as I explore the situation in Palestine and Israel

Yet another untold story: the Jordan Valley is nominally the West Bank, thus Palestinian, yet it is completely controlled by Israel. Organized by the Jenin Freedom Theater and sponsored by EWASH, the Emergency Water, Sanitation, and Health organization—a walk for equal water rights in the valley (and beyond).

Israeli greenhouses and orchard

Cross hatched area is a closed military zone, Palestinians usually not allowed—most of the Jordan Valley, nominally the West Bank

PHOTOS

March 23, 2013, Saturday, Austrian Hospice, Old City Jerusalem

I get up every morning determined both to change the world and to have one hell of a good time. Sometimes, this makes planning the day difficult.

—E B White

I joined the water justice walk in the northern Jordan valley yesterday [March 22, 2013]. Some 100 people, most young, many international, assembled at 3 points, Ramallah, Hebron, Nablus, to bus or otherwise reach a small village, Khirbet Samar, and walk to different villages, all Bedouin. The Jenin Freedom Theater organized the day, EWASH paid for it, and the Jordan Valley Solidarity Campaign, among other groups, participated. The Freedom Theater performed at the first site, what they call Playback Theater, drawing on stories from the audience. They began by asking for emotions which led the 3 actors to embody each suggestion. The village headman or sheikh gave the last story, probably about soldiers and water. Much like Chicago’s Second City and Boston’s Story Theater by using improvisation to dramatize audience stories.

I observed only partial references to water, at least as long as I was with the group. I’d met the bus in Ramallah at the appointed time 8 am; it left at 9:30 delayed waiting for what might have been key people, like the translator (who vomited into a plastic bag and pail during the bus ride). So we arrived late to Khirbet Samra, the others had already left. After much decision changing we hiked the 3 km or so to the second point where the rest of the group awaited us. Then the performance. And then the lunch provided by local people—delicious but thin lentil soup, flat bread known as taboun, and salad. I mixed my salad with my soup, dipping the bread into the mush. Very tasty.

The walking was invigorating. The first time I’d walked with a group in some time, especially here in the region. And to be in the Jordan Valley—sheer pleasure!

As I emailed several friends:

i just returned from a long hot windy sunny day in the northern jordan valley with a water walk. today is international world water day….info here:

http://www.thefreedomtheatre.org/news/walk-for-water-justice/

i came back to jerusalem early to make sure i could reach jerusalem tonight. transport is always iffy and i wished to avoid camping out at the kalandia checkpoint tonight.

I bumped into Yonatan, now effectively the Jenin Freedom Theater director and successor to Juliano Mer-Khamis, cofounder and director, murdered 2 years ago, and Yonatan’s wife. I also saw the thin young earnest man who directs the Play Back Theater, and Susan, one of my less dedicated photo students from last year.

Not sure how to get back to Jerusalem before the night and into the Austrian Hospice before they lock up at 10 pm (forgetting to get the key) I hoped providence introduce me to someone driving back, at least to Ramallah by 8 pm when the last bus leaves for Jerusalem. Standing around wondering what will happen next I met my ride benefactors, 3 generous and jolly Italians, I think an older male and female with their young adult daughter—Marcello and family. They were driving to Jerusalem and had space in their car. He works with NGO’s on water issues, mostly providing services and equipment but some advocacy. He told me his organization has to be careful doing advocacy because if they are too visible and demanding they could be in trouble with the Israeli authorities. They are part of EWASH which provides cover.

Driving along the main highway thru the valley, off-limits to most Palestinians even tho in the West Bank, we stopped at the Jordan Valley Solidarity Campaign’s center, a house created in the style of traditional valley housing 100 years ago. The architecture surprised me. It was not a tent, my supposition about Bedouin always living in tents demolished. Arches, palm leaf roof (how do they keep the rain out?), internal bread oven, lounging areas with cushions, etc, all quite spacious and fitting into the land. On an outer wall, the words, Friends Meeting House. This I needed to photograph and send to relevant people—a little joke among clued-in people (like fellow Quakers).

To a limited list, mostly Quaker:

who would believe? i found this today, stopped in, chatted awhile, and  learned about the jordan valley solidarity campaign.

(http://www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org/). they had no idea who quakers are.

PHOTO ATTACHED. however, just suppose…

The day was extremely windy, whipping plastic apart, driving large plastic barrels along roads, and hurling sand into our eyes. I’m relieved we weren’t riding in a VW bus.

Surveillance camera and balloon over the Jerusalem YMCA
where President Obama was speaking

East Jerusalem

Incidentally, President Obama was in Jerusalem. I made 2 related photos, a Palestinian couple under an Obama banner, another shows the surveillance balloon over the YMCA where he spoke. Here’s what I wrote a few people about my views of his presence:

…oh, that tricky obama with his clever words and absent actions. the few palestinians i’ve polled here were not impressed. altho at least after genuflecting and making the sign of the cross to the israelis he mentioned the palestinians and their suffering. leading however, wrongly in my view, to the “widely accepted” 2 state solution. fat chance. you outta see all the new construction in settlements.

TO BE CONTINUED

LINKS

Walk for Water Justice in the Jordan Valley

Water Rights in the Jordan Valley

“The Speech That was Not Delivered,” written by Uri Avnery, about Obama in Israel

My trip to Palestine-Israel and Shaliach Mitzvah Gelt (an overview of my trip plan with an appeal to financially support Palestinians)

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A new book of my photographs: Eyewitness Gaza (the book)

In this book of approximately 80 photographs made mostly between 2008 and 2010, I concentrate on conditions—and popular struggles to change those unjust and inhumane conditions. With special focus and dedication to youth, infant to young adult. It’s available in different formats and eventually an ebook. You can preview and purchase the book here.

Eyewitness Gaza by Skip Schiel and Teeksa Photography | Make Your Own Book

BUY THE BOOK HERE

In addition I can offer the movie, also titled Eyewitness Gaza (which is based on many of the photographs in the book), a recent slide show about Gaza and other shows, slide and print, about related themes, and after my upcoming 3 month journey back to Palestine and Israel in the spring, new slide shows and print exhibits.

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Occupy! Precedents & Manifestations

Yoga in front of the Federal Reserve Bank, Dewey Square, Boston

A UN observer inspecting an unexploded cluster bomb-laden rocket in southern Lebanon. (AP)

Photo courtesy of The Independent 2011

Pages from my journal about the Occupy Movement

Occupy Boston

International Day of Solidarity with the Occupied Movement & a march to end US wars :: October 15, 2011

Occupied Wall Street—1

Occupy Boston March on Indigenous Rights Day, Oct 10, 2011 (video)

October 16, 2011

Another iteration of Occupy Boston yesterday [October 15, 2011], my third. The main camp remains. With some reported violence last week the police had dismantled the second camp along the Greenway. Yesterday all seemed calm, even when the peace march reached Verizon and stopped to chant slogans, and later outside the Bank of America, a hated symbol of corporate greed and congressional and administration malfeasance. At this second site, I stationed myself between marchers and the bank, joining a surprisingly small phalanx of bicycle cops to stand between institution and opposition. Speeches, chants, waving fists, and the march continued. I filmed and photographed, prepared at any minute for violence. This reminded me of clashes in Israel-Palestine at spots like Bil’in, the Palestinian village which for more than 5 years has resisted the separation barrier, where one could not predict outcomes. The power of a crowd, a mass, a mob is not easily directed. Or might be effectively directed by the likes of Samuel Adams. Oh Sam, where are you now?

In front of the Bank of America

In front of Verizon

I believe the march had been planned by the Boston branch of the United National Antiwar Committee before Occupy Boston started, as a demand to end US wars. It turned into a march that also supported Occupied Boston. Because of the multivalent nature of the march young people were not the usual high proportion.

Guarding the Army recruitment center

Wishing to not bore myself or any possible audience I strove for unusual photos. One might be at the Army recruitment center, the march reflected in the glass wall with its Army signs. Another might be the low camera angles.  Another might be faces. I tried.

A travel and couple dream. With others we rode in a bus thru the night, arrived in Cambridge after one leg of a longer trip. We all helped the driver remove the folding chairs serving as seats so the bus could be cleaned. I’d acquired 2 large loaves of crumbly bread, one I dropped on the ground but retrieved to eat later. I wished to save both loaves for the rest of my journey.

A young man and young woman who’d also ridden on the bus intended to go further. They needed to catch their next bus somewhere in East Cambridge. I directed them thru Central Sq, confident I knew the way. By now I might have been on a bike. I looked longingly at them, this newly forming couple and thought fondly of when I was in a similar stage of life with P. I felt grateful that P and I had met and loved and married and had children, all when young, and by recalling our history I felt less old, less left out. I kept all this meditation to myself.

In a hotel I found for my overnight stay, I showered by turning the entire bathroom into a shower, spewing water all over walls and floor. I did this wantonly but with permission.

October 18, 2011, Tuesday, home in Cambridge

Australian Delegation Visits Cluster-Bombed Areas of Lebanon, Calls for Ban

I see a connection, albeit a slender one, between our Quaker meeting’s monthly prayerful witness at Textron Industries in Wilmington Massachusetts, manufacturer of cluster bombs, and the popular movements now erupting internationally. Some 85 of us “occupied” a conspicuous space in front of the building, held it for one hour as a multitude of people rode by, prayed for peace or whatever we felt impelled to do during our “occupation,” and created a visible and irrefutable sign and question about the meaning of this building—what Textron made, how it profited, and who lost limbs, sanity, and lives because of its product. One year earlier I’m not sure we’d have found many from Friends Meeting at Cambridge willing to sit in prayer in front of Textron. Or if we had that we’d have so many participants. Our visits to Textron date back nearly 2 years when John Bach—love that man!—initiated nearly single-handedly a monthly series to Textron. I joined early, regularly participate, and for this recent manifestation, contributed a display about the company and its nefarious work.

John Bach, founder of the Textron Industries monthly prayer sessions

October 20, 2011, Thursday, home in Cambridge

Cool and wet, after a day of rain, heavy at times, mid 50s, overcast, calm.

Photographing the tents at Occupy Boston reminded me of the Simplex Tent City set up in 1987 to contest MIT’s take over of residential property between Central Sq and the university. So I investigated my archive. The negatives must be at P’s and so for now remain unavailable.  In my basement I found a few prints, and then I remembered that I have photocopied sets of many of my earlier photos on the shelf above my computer. So I dragged a bunch of notebooks down and perused them. I found only a few from that tent city, and they were not very inspiring. I found other photos from various political projects. I’d assess them as of mixed value. Juvenilia perhaps. One or two images might warrant inclusion in a retrospective. (Will I ever reach such a point? Hang up my cameras, get out my archives, make a selection for a retrospective?)

1970 MIT Tech File Photo

1987

1997 Agnes Borszeki — The MIT Tech

The important point is precedent. Simplex Tent City is one small but important local precedent, as is the wave of factory takeovers during the labor movement, and after that the lunch counter sit in’s and the freedom bus rides. And obviously the much more recent uprisings and revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Israel, to a limited extent Palestine, and extending to Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Kansas. (Before that, Serbia and the downfall of the dictator Milosevic and the “Battle of Seattle” in 1999 and other revolts against dictators and world domination by corporate and financial institution powers like the World Bank and IMF.) Each of these was a takeover or occupation of territory and with that, the claim to human rights.

Textron is one immediate local manifestation that’s affected me powerfully. Another is the recent temporary occupation of the Israeli Consulate in Boston. Tomorrow’s rally [November 9, 2011] to sustain Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security in the face of pending cuts might be joined by Occupy Boston. Across the country such occupations supply an often eager cadre of marchers, ralliers, and occupiers for a variety of issues. I hope the list lengthens. Occupy is an infectious model, a template for building awareness and expediting action. It is curiously and perhaps unconsciously reminiscent of occupation—the occupation of Iraq, the occupation of Palestine. Whether this is a productive reference or one that is self-defeating is yet unknown.

Another unknown of the movement is the meaning of declining public support, or so suggest some polls. Currently it’s something like 45% oppose, 35% support. However I suppose this is true of all movements and actions. None garnered widespread support thruout their entire duration. I know many people opposed the Freedom Bus Rides, and later the Poor People’s Campaign organized by Martin Luther King Jr shortly before his assassination. Certainly his stand against the Vietnam War was unpopular among many supporters and might have been one factor that led to his murder. This is simply part of the dynamic. We now laud at least the Freedom Bus Riders, and many of us view the Poor People’s Campaign as a paradigm for wide-spread action. One works to increase support but lack of support does not necessarily point to failure.

OK, the dream: about X for a change. She agreed to help me conduct a photo workshop about rivers or some other element of the environment. The assignment was vast and challenging. I asked her to do lots of background reading. She was taking time off from her studies which were about law (the professions of medicine and law eliding together in my dream). I looked forward to working with her. She was to share a house with me and others.

Around this time, D came to visit. She brought lots of her stuff and we couldn’t manage to find a space to store it that wouldn’t interfere with X’s stuff. While trying to sort out space I introduced D to X. At that very moment X was on the computer and D recognized the program X was using. It was about international law. They immediately connected. I felt good about this.

The phone rang, one of many mobile phones, it belonged to X, I answered. It was Amory. I think I knew that he was X’s lover or boy friend. I answered, hello, this is Skip answering for X. I then announced the call to X who seemed overjoyed to receive it. I was jealous. Dream ended.

TO BE CONTINUED

LINKS

Occupy movement

Occupy Boston

Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Together

Simplex Tent City in Cambridge

Ten Years Later, Simplex Issues Remain Unresolved

Boston project creates new niche, November 28, 2005, by Christopher Montgomery, in the Plain Dealer Reporter

Textron Industries in Wilmington Massachusetts

Made in Mass., bomb stirs global debate

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Occupy! & Gene Sharp

Photos

Occupy Boston—1

International Day of Solidarity with the Occupied Movement & a march to end US wars :: October 15, 2011

Pages from my journal about the Occupy Movement

October 6, 2011

Oh, yes, Occupy Boston! A grand event, modeled after Occupy Wall Street (OWS) which has been running for 3 weeks [as of October 31, 2011], spawning local variants around the world. Boston began about 1 week ago, taking over, with municipal participation and approval, Dewey Square which is opposite South Station and at the end of the Kennedy Greenway. I dropped by yesterday on my way to M’s, emailing her to join me or at least to accept my tardiness. Some 100 tents were implanted side by side, a blazing variety of tent gear, many with signs, some showing solidarity with labor organizations. Tents for food, clothing, medical assistance, legal assistance, media, coordination, etc. And a nightly round of General Assemblies at 7 pm, which is a meeting to discuss plans, using the consensus model, but bending this to agree to a plurality. So far the police have been mostly cooperative. As far as I know, no large-scale civil disobedience is planned. This information comes mainly from one young man who’s been volunteering for the past 3 days.

I arrived around 3 pm, as Cornell West, the preeminent scholar, university professor, author, rapper, preacher, and activist co-led a large contingent of nurses in a small march around the square. Even tho I was aware of his key role in supporting the Occupy movement, I’d not expected him here. There is a very powerful YouTube video showing him leading chants for the occupiers on Wall Street. Yesterday many gathered around him, hugged and kissed him, called him a hero. He looked embarrassed by this attention, joyfully hugged and kissed in return. I did my best to show this energy and chemistry, accidentally in a position within brushing distance.

Needless to confess: I am ecstatic about this popular movement, how rapidly it’s spreading across the country, based on the simple call of We are the 99%, that is the 99% of the population who are not rich and dominant. The unifying call is against corporate greed, and spreads out from there to oppose war, advocate for better health coverage and education, and regulations of commerce, especially the financial industry. One young man tried to gain support for marihuana legalization. He began imperiously: the single most important issue is the marihuana laws. Change them. Are you with me? People booed. He moderated his call, but only a handful of supporters cheered him on. This reminded me of a poetry slam or a film festival when the audience votes for their favorite movie. At Occupied Boston, by popular assent, perhaps, the participants may clarify their platform.

October 12, 2011

I’ve minimally edited and posted a 2.5 minute movie about the Occupy Boston march on Monday, Indigenous Rights Day, altho I spotted few indigenous people and no indigenous organizations. Estimates were as high as 10,000 marchers—I guessed 3,000 when pressed by Rachel and Abby. Lots. And mostly young, I’d estimate mostly students. Most white, most looked middle class. Which might be one key weakness in this movement. R pressed me to join the support group on Monday night that would try to block the police from removing the occupiers who by then had expanded their zone past Dewey Sq. to another nearby site along the Greenway. Police justified this removal by stating that the Greenway had been recently improved there and would be ruined if occupiers used it.

Park Street Station & Boston Common

Guarding the Army recruitment center

In front of the Bank of America

In front of Verizon

By some accounts the removal was violent. I’ve seen several photo sets and movies which have not clearly demonstrated this quality. In fact, in most of the media I viewed the police did not wear riot gear. Reportedly the Veterans for Peace group stood between police and occupiers to “protect the kids,” and the police handled the vets roughly.

I declined R’s invitation on the grounds that 1. It would be late and dark and so it would be nearly impossible to photograph, 2. I’d already been on the job for the afternoon with lots of photos, 3. I’m not too interested in photographing yet another confrontational scene, and 4. My role is primarily a photographer, not activist.

There seemed to be confusion about leadership and communication during the march. Who is leading? Periodically everyone sat down and the “peoples’ mike” was brought out: this is a novel technique for amplifying voice. For instance, I might speak, using short phrases, as if expecting translation. The crowd nearest me repeats my phrase, thus amplifies it. Anyone can call for the mike. At the Charlestown Bridge, the projected end of the march, chosen because it represented how money could be better spent on infrastructure rather than bank bailouts and Wall St. support, blocked by police (with the justification that the bridge would not support so many people), once again the peoples’ mike was put into use. Several groups shouted out their requests: one to stay at the bridge and one to return to the campsite to protect it. The former were mostly the anarchists, most of them wearing black and covering their faces with bandanas. They suddenly and inexplicably ran down a side street.

I asked one young man wearing a bandana, why the bandana? For the gas, he replied. Really? I said, quizzical. And might have asked, what gas? The police give no sign of shooting tear gas. I suspect the mask is primarily to prohibit identification in case the group decided to attack property. And also as a fashion statement and a way to identify one’s politics. However, for many viewers it might signal terrorist, criminal, someone with something to hide. Not a very positive statement.

In photographing the march I searched for high places, like the parking garage, for an overall view. For the climactic photo of the series I anticipated they’d cross the bridge and rather than photograph them from a first person viewpoint, in the march itself, I cleverly chose a different position—from the waterfront near the Charlestown locks so I could show them streaming across the bridge. I anticipated this position from prior experience. So I sat awhile, took the opportunity to pee into the water, waited and waited—no marchers. No signs of marchers. A helicopter hovered overhead so I knew they were still nearby. Had the police blocked them? Probably. Wouldn’t surprise me. I phoned R, he’d left the march (Wimp! And then he berated me for not showing up for the nighttime confrontation.) Reluctantly I left my treasured position, abandoned the final dramatic view, and found the marchers stalled by the police.

Providentially the Program on Negotiation and the Harvard Law Documentary Studio at Harvard Law School had scheduled a screening of the new movie last evening about Gene Sharp, How to Start a Revolution. Sharp, the movie director, and the deputy head of the Albert Einstein Institution which is Sharp’s main vehicle for disseminating his ideas about nonviolent change, were present. During the discussion following the screening and talk I asked Gene, how can a leaderless movement like the Occupy movement formulate the detailed strategy that you call for? He answered humbly, I don’t know. I have my doubts that they can.

Had I the opportunity I might have asked a second question: some, like Grace Lee Boggs, Martin Luther King Jr, Vincent Harding, and Joanna Macy, suggest that the revolution should be about values rather than regimes. Since your methods seem most useful for regime change, as with Serbia, Egypt, Ukraine, and other nonviolent eruptions, how can we adapt your principles to this shift in focus? One of his latest writings, Self Liberation contains the phrase “and other oppressions” to suggest the methods can be translated to this new orientation. I should read the booklet. All his writings are downloadable from the Einstein Institution website below.

His lessons, effectively portrayed in the movie, suggest careful attention to detailed planning: know one’s adversaries, prepare for different contingencies, be resilient, etc.

On a personal note, the film and Gene himself resonate with me in at least 2 ways. Like Gene and the movie, someone made a movie that features me, Eyewitness Gaza. And like Gene I find myself in a mentorship role, sometimes with very attractive young women. In Gene’s case it is Jamila, head of the A Einstein Institute, a refugee from Iran, extremely beautiful and youthful, devoted to him as a daughter might be to a father. He is in his 90s, I have no idea about his interests in her, whether they range further than mentoree or father-daughter. Perhaps at one time they did. Now he looks feeble. Might I be him in 20 years (if I survive that long)?

The various manifestations of the Arab Spring bring needed attention to Gene Sharp, nonviolence, and the movie. I wish all well.

I should apply his techniques to my own life, at least my life as an artist and activist: what are my goals (to open eyes, doors, and hearts to new realities, so that my deeper goals of enlightening myself and others and ending suffering can be realized), what is my strategy (make evocative media, true to my heart, prepare for harsh criticism and much avoidance), who are my adversaries (“good liberals,” pro-Israel folks, many Jews, some Quakers coming from a misguided culture of peace, etc), how to deal with them (by truly working from an open heart as I attempt to practice with Sderot, the Israeli town frequently attacked by rockets from Gaza), and who are my allies (such as Jewish Voice for Peace, the American Friends Service Committee, some Quakers, some Israel-Palestine activists), etc.

Lent by the Peace Abbey of Sherborn Massachusetts

One major recalled dream from last night: I was on a hiking or camping trip with a large group and I knew no one. First we were to climb down a long ladder and then swim. I’d brought only my mobile phone, camera, and wallet, but, altho I knew we’d be immersed, I’d forgotten to bring plastic bags. Following an older woman who needed help climbing down the stairs, we reached a respite spot. It was connected with a Protestant church and featured a bar filled with liquor. I wanted some. But I wanted plastic bags more so I surreptitiously scouted the kitchen and toilet. I finally found a few bags that I believed might protect my gear.

As central as the bags were, even more central was my need to shit. Where would I do it and when? Somehow the toilet exploration didn’t figure into my calculation. Seemingly a non sequitur, when I emerged from the bar—happily with my plastic bags but still needing to shit—I walked thru a porch on which a young black boy was getting a haircut.

TO BE CONTINUED

LINKS

Occupy Boston

Dr. Cornel West – We the People Have Found Our Voice (video)

“Occupy Boston: Veterans clash with police, scores arrested” by Elizabeth Flock in the Washington Post

Gene Sharp

Gene Sharp – How to Start a Revolution

Gene Sharp: Author of the nonviolent revolution rulebook by Ruaridh Arrow, Director of Gene Sharp – How to Start a Revolution

Albert Einstein Institution

Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Together

Eyewitness Gaza

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Schism: to a friend and colleague, lost, perhaps someday found

How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.

—Henry David Thoreau

Gaza Strip, after the Israeli assault on Gaza, Operation Cast Lead

Photos:

Main Israel-Palestine archive

Movie (about Gaza based on my photography):

Eyewitness Gaza

Dear M,

We came together about 8 years ago thru a shared passion: justice in Palestine/Israel. You do good work, I try as well. We supported each other. We confided details of our personal lives. You listened well, I tried to listen. We suggested new paths to each other. I value our rich interchange. Your work is about the Jewish-Nazi holocaust and the Zionist narrative. You study the issue thoroughly to see how the holocaust permeates the rise to power of the Israeli state. I make photographs.

Gaza, Occupied Palestine

Then we smacked into an impasse. You judged my photo presentations as lacking political analysis. You tried many times to convince me to add more context, more history, more about the development of Zionism. You feel this is vital because of the general ignorance of western populations who are swamped by the Zionist narrative. You believe this narrative—based largely on the image of Jewish victimization and suffering, which in turn stems from overemphasis, in your view, of the holocaust—then leads to Israeli impunity. I understand this. Here’s how you put that criticism:

[I] believe in dealing with historical, structural, and political realities—and I look for evidence of understanding of these dimensions all the time.  In this sense, I view your presentations and communications as seriously constricted and static—tolerant of Zionism and the Diaspora Jewish Sacred Victim identity that is tied into it.

This is not the year 2001.  It is 2011.  Lots of us have moved quite a ways, coming to an understanding of Zionism and then an absolute intolerance of it and its destruction of Palestine.  I don’t see evidence of this kind of movement in your presentations or communications.

Gaza City

Outside Bethlehem

Inspired by your criticism, I once tried inserting into my Gaza slide show a long section about Zionism and the context of the current troubles. Viewing it a few times, I concluded that the new section would distract from portraying my experiences—in the manner of “eyewitness” and “thru my lens.” I removed it. Perhaps in one of my other shows, maybe The Matrix of Control and How to Dismantle It, or Tracing the Jordan River, I can, thru astute photo selection and sequencing, develop more context. You urge me to speak or write over visuals. I resist that, adhering to the traditional goal of photojournalists to make photographs which portray with minimal use of text.

Ibrahem El-Shatali, Gaza

A secondary complaint you make against me is that I “bend over backwards” to appeal to Israeli positions, to show that all sides suffer. You call this extreme “anti-anti-Semiticism.” In part, you might be referring to my inclusion of the Israeli town near Gaza, Sderot, in my most recent slide show, Eyewitness Gaza. By visiting Sderot twice in the last 2 years, developing friendships with a few of the residents critical of Israeli policies, I have tried to understand the trauma suffered during regular rocket attacks from Gaza, support dissidents among the Israeli Jewish population, and demonstrate that I am able to acknowledge and portray the suffering of parties other than the Palestinians. Thru this inclusion I hope to demonstrate compassion for relatively innocent human beings and broaden my audience.

Further, you feel that I’ve not sufficiently portrayed the vast disproportionality between the suffering of Israelis and Palestinians. Perhaps my charts and words do not carry the message powerfully enough. I’ll review the show with this in mind.

Rocket shelter, Sderot, Israel

A close friend wrote when I asked her views of my draft:

There’s an even more important reason (than you give here) not to close one’s heart to any suffering, no matter how polluted with destructiveness.  If the suffering of the “victim identity” can’t heal, it will continue to perpetrate further suffering on others.  I see a real problem in absolute intolerance of [anything—view, person, approach, narrative, or justification—] in that when we do not open our hearts to the suffering of perpetrators, we do not contribute to their healing.

Nomika Zion. Sderot, Israel

The main point however is that I am a photographer, not an analyst, historian, or scholar. As much as I study and when appropriate offer context and analysis, this hasn’t satisfied you. My plea that I wish to restrict what I show to what I can photograph, with limited use of photos made by others, apparently does not persuade you. I have chosen to confine my analysis to discussions after my slide shows and in my blog, and hope that a form of context is in my photographic editing.

I chose to leave the hard analysis to experts like Jeff Halper, Ali Abuminah, Ilan Pappe, Edward Said, Uri Avnery, Hanan Ashwari, Amira Hass—all whom I read regularly—and others more versed in the subject, skilled in the methodology, and concentrated on the topic. I try to emulate the photographic work of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Dorothea Lange, W. Eugene Smith, Margaret Bourke Smith, James Nachtwey, Mary Ellen Mark, Sabastio Salgado and numerous others whose images powerfully portray without text. Altho much of their work was initially contextualized, interpreted, and placed in a historical frame—usually by text and visual sequence—their photos are now often shown independently of context.

The Migrant Mother, photo by Dorothea Lange

Refugee camp, photo by Sabastio Salgado

Pieta, from Minimata, by W.Eugene Smith & Aileen M. Smith

Gold miners, Johannesburg, South Africa, photo by Margaret Bourke White

West Bank, 2000 – Palestinians fighting the Israeli army, photo by James Nachtwey

I suspect one difference in approach between us is your reliance on argument and mine on emotion. I’m sure both are useful. As someone remarked recently about the recent success of the US Army’s abandonment of its  “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy concerning gays, it was the many diverse approaches that won the campaign, not any single approach.

I admit that I’ve caused you pain. Perhaps I’ve been myopic and overly stubborn, arrogant even in pursuing the path I think is correct for me. I suspect I’ve been sloppy in explaining some of my positions. I’ve probably also been ignorant of your feelings. For all this I apologize.

Over the past year or so we’ve grown slowly apart, you exacerbated by what you felt were my blocked ears and missed opportunities. During the summer you broke off from me, not wishing for further engagement, argument, or discussion about our controversy.

I drew two tentative conclusions: our friendship was shallower than I thought, and we’ve experienced a split in solidarity for a just cause. I’m sure both dynamics pervade many movements. Lost friendship might increase despair and fractured solidarity weakens a movement.

These two tendencies seem endemic in political movements. During the Civil Rights Movement (more accurately termed The Freedom Movement) for the rights of black people in the USA, Martin and Malcolm were adversaries, perhaps more in the media than in reality. And the movements they headed, nonviolent desegregation and black power, contended against each other for attention. In a famous but not often publicized photo, Martin and Malcolm glowingly smile at each other while they shake hands. They appear to be unifying. Which may have been one key reason for their assassinations: power in unity. Likewise, at Pine Ridge reservation, the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre, during the 1970’s, traditional people aided by the American Indian Movement clashed with the reigning political party at that time, diminishing the effects of both.

Malcolm X & Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

Wounded Knee Occupation, 1972

Pine Ridge flag

Perhaps we reflect the schisms in the Middle East, not only the historic divisions between Israel and Palestine, but the internal divisions—in Israel between the settler movement and most other Israelis and in Palestine most famously between Hamas and Fatah. Are we infected with the toxic schism phenomena suffocating the region of our concentration?

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Document calls us …To denounce all forms of split that can lead to internal conflicts… (the National Conciliation Document of the Prisoners. May 11, 2006, which in turn quotes the Holy Quran, In the name of God, the Compassionate and the Merciful, Abide by the decree of God and never disperse.)

Just a few days ago you phoned to suggest a conversation. You appeared to set us on the path toward reconciliation. A small trickle in a larger stream that I prayed would water the movement for Palestinian freedom and a truly just Israeli nation. Harsh words between us and then: boom, crash, end of conversation.

So goodbye Mr. M, for now.

I hope you continue your good work. I expect to do my best at mine. I am grateful for our good efforts together and the help you’ve given me. May we both find our ways—separately and together—thru the tumult of these times.

I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated.

—James Nachtwey

LINKS:

“Palestine: The Schism Deepens,“
by Nathan J. Brown

“Non-Violence v Self-Defense, Martin and Malcolm on Nonviolence and Violence,”
by James H. Cone

“Pine Ridge Reservation, 1973,” Occupation of Wounded Knee,
by Voices Education Project

“Bury my life at Wounded Knee, The marginalization of American Indians may be getting a boost from globalization,”
by Julie Winokur

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Queries and my responses about Palestine/Israel

For the workshop, “The Question of Palestine & Israel,” at the Friends General Conference Gathering, June-July 2008 (revised July 17, 2008)

What are my questions concerning this topic?

Can I concoct a schematic view of the situation that omits names of peoples? A and B rather than Israel and Palestine. And what difference would this make?

Will I eventually lose my life or health or property or reputation by caring about Israel-Palestine?

What are the main areas of compromise needed for resolution?

How does religion affect the conflict?

Is there anything of the earth—magnetic and electrical fields, other energy sources yet to be discovered—that might contribute to the frequent fighting of peoples in the region?

What connects me most personally with the issues?

The fact of Jesus’ life lived in a few areas of the Levant, and for such a brief period.

The light, physical and metaphysical.

My various shifts of opinion as I’ve matured and what hopefully is a progression toward a greater, more encompassing truth.

My sense of outrage, which initially led me to this project and continues to propel me, offering me energy and direction.

Individuals in the region who I love and support: Ibrahem, Mosab, Amal, Yousef, Belal, Fida, Issam, Amani, Adham, Jean, Kathy, the kids at the Ramallah Friends School, the kids generally, Walid, the barber, the shuwarma shop man, the internet café man, Osama who I met at Kalandia, the elderly taxi driver with what might have been throat cancer, AND Matan, Anarchists Against the Wall, ActiveStills, Uri Avery, Jeff Halper, Angela Goldstein, Arek Ascherman, Gila Svirtz, Beny Gefen, the underground solider I met at Ma’ale Adumim, the man grilling me at Erez crossing, and numerous others, some I can recall vividly, some I only briefly met, some I’ve read or heard about.

Why is this topic important to me?

It is a volatile region and topic, possibly leading to a nuclear conflagration, the final holocaust.

I feel personally connected with it, as indicated above.

I’m challenged by the task—making good photos, making useful (but not too useful photos) for the struggle, comprehending and portraying the situation, and understanding how light operates in the region, physically and metaphysically.

I am personally complicit by nature of being a human being, first and foremost, and by being a US citizen.

What is my first awareness of the issues and what were my associated feelings?

The pioneer period, when I thought all Israelis were like early white settlers and farmers in the US—noble, courageous, earth connected, other directed, communal, cooperative, all of them living in kibbutz. I had no thought or awareness of native people in the region, the Arabs or Palestinians. I was 8 when the Israeli nation was founded, a true believer if a nascent one.

Then the 1967 war while I was teaching at Maimonides, an orthodox Jewish school near Boston. We were in session when we learned the results of the 6-day war, the Jewish blitzkrieg. I was as elated as my students and peers. I was 27, a new father, and 4 or so years married.

Following that, the terror period, when Palestinians hijacked and might have occasionally blew up airplanes. The debacle in Munich followed this, when Israeli athletes and others kidnapped by Palestinian militants were killed during a botched rescue attempt. Now I was first aware of Palestinians, but not with a positive view toward them. I deplored their methods, while possibly being slightly sympathetic to their causes. Did I understand their causes? Barely. This was in the early to mid 1970s; I was then 30-35, a few years before my mother died.

Was I aware of the Shatila and Sabra refugee camps massacres in 1982? I don’t think so. I should have been, I was 42 and coming out of my comfortable family cocoon.

What are the gray or most confusing areas about the topic?

The heightened sensitivities of many American Jews about the Israel-Palestine situation, how quickly they’re rattled when they detect any challenge to or criticism of Israel?

Resolution of the conflict, how to persuade or require compromise?

The role the US should play, hamstrung by being a biased party (for now at least).

The lack of disciplined, humane, smart leadership on both sides.

The core beliefs of the most extreme Palestinian and Israeli elements.

The confluence of 3 major religions, how did this occur?

The ancestry of Palestinians, who are they exactly?

How to hold all parties in the conflict to international law and conventions and humane practices?

What am I most fearful of/worried about/challenged by when dealing with the topics?

The reaction of strong supporters of Israel, some of whom are my friends and former students.

The risks I run in doing my work, on the ground, physical risks, and with that my aging—how long will I be able to continue this project?

Returning a Jew. That is, switching sides completely once I’ve understood Israeli positions. As might have happened to me partially in South Africa, when I returned much more sympathetic to the Afrikaners.

The quietude of so many in the US, notably among religious groups, very specifically among Quakers. How best to awaken people?

What are the core beliefs of those supporting Israel?

For the radical right wing, a small minority of people with power disproportionate to their number: the holocaust and the covenant between Abe and god justify Israeli Jewish control of the entire region from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, some feel even to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Altho historically beleaguered, vilified, attacked, and massacred we are a superior people, chosen by god, and we have a right to rule—not only the right but the ability and mandate. Arabs are at worst less than human and at best interlopers and latecomers with few rights other than those we grant.

For the center, largely secular: we say the covenant plays little role, the chosenness as well. However, we have long memories, recall the persecution over the past two millennia, often either by Christians or as Christian nations stood by doing nothing. We must be self-reliant, attentive to any threats, maintain a strong military, court world opinion especially in the United States, and be ready to defend our people and national interests.

Of those supporting Palestine?

Our human rights must be guaranteed, which means the right of return, shared sovereignty in one state or two separate viable states, equal rights for Palestinians living in Israel, and the support of the international community. Our Koran specifies that we also are children of Abe. Our ancestors have roots in this land since before the Jews and Muslims were communities. Our bloodline goes back millennia.

What blocks do I and my community experience about this topic?

The threat of being called anti Semitic, angry, partisan. The lack of awareness and education. The high emotionality of the topic. The sense of guilt, both because of the holocaust and how little most people did to quell it, and the continuing complicity of the US government and with it, me.

What is my vision as we work toward peace, justice, and security in the region?

We’ll break thru the crust of denial, hatred, ignorance, and greed, and germinate into loving, insightful, brave creatures confronting one of the great illnesses and evils of our time. I will play a role, small but significant, thru my photography and stories. My Quaker community will likewise speak and act to resolve the conflict, first by strengthening our small 2-year-old Israel-Palestine group and then by expanding it and going more public with events.

What vows will I make to implement this vision?

I will return to the region yearly for as long as I have health, passion, energy, and conviction. I will develop a larger audience, Quaker and wider than Quaker. I will co lead my monthly meeting’s Israel-Palestine group, which means, find a suitable leadership role, not too visible (because of my reputation); bring back info and inspiration from this workshop; continue to network by offering to blog with multiple sources; expand our monthly meeting circle; help organize more public events; implement the brainstorming our monthly meeting group has done; and link with other local organizations, especially Jewish and Christian.

I’ll also see if I/we (workshop participants) can develop a workshop blog, and I’ll consider other follow up from the workshop.

For further writing about this topic please read my Israel, Palestine, Kaleidoscope:
A memoir of my involvement with the issues of Israel-Palestine

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Bill Moyers interview with Grace Lee Boggs

To try my hand at answering some of Bill Moyer’s questions to Grace Lee Boggs (she did an excellent job in her interview on the Bill Moyers Journal, August 31, 2007):

Could Martin Luther King Jr have been more radical?

He departed from organizing the Poor People’s Campaign to support the Memphis sanitation workers, an act of courage and compassion. That’s radical. He was one of the first national leaders to challenge the Vietnam War, radical for sure. And most importantly he was embarking on a struggle to close down federal government until it responded positively to the call for economic and social justice, the Poor People’s Campaign. I’m not sure how he could have been more radical. Let’s recall that he was assassinated—possibly with involvement of the US government if the Memphis trial held a decade or so ago is any indication—as a danger to the empire.

Do you see signs of a national turning, a national movement?

Definitely in the US Social Forum held this summer in Atlanta, drawing over 10,000 grassroots activists, at least 60% of them under the age of 30, a racial and economic mixture unlike anything I’ve witnessed recently. True to form, the media (including the Moyers’ Journal, as far as I know) has not given it much attention. Likewise, for other aspects of national grassroots movements. Another example: a small lay Catholic non-violence community I’m part of in central Massachusetts, Agape. We now draw many-fold more college and university age students than ever before to our retreats, workshops, gatherings, and volunteer opportunities. I suspect Agape is one small example of numerous pockets of significant change.

And finally, where are the leaders?

I’m so pleased Grace answered that essentially they are you and me, not from government and not high profile. The venerated Buddhist monk and poet, Thich Nhat Hahn, has repeatedly taught that the next Buddha will not be a single character, but instead the Buddhist community, the sangha. This speaks to the truth that what we need is not individuation but collectivization.

Thanks to Bill for plunging into tough topics. May he continue for many years. And reach an ever-widening audience.

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