An ancient Jewish tradition, Shaliach Mitzvah,claims that god will protect a person on a mission until she returns with evidence of the mission’s completion. Such as a receipt for a donation. I’m raising money to give to worthy folks I meet on my next trip to Palestine-Israel. I’ll donate your money, ask for a receipt, and hope to be protected until I give you that receipt as evidence that I’ve completed my mission as a conduit for your generosity.
My good friend and colleague in the struggle, the Jewish activist and educator, Marty Federman, taught me that a shaliach is an agent or representative. He explained:
[And] “mitzvah” is…commonly used to mean a good deed as in “helping the poor is a real mitzvah” but the word actually means a commandment [normally something commanded in the Torah] as in “observing the Sabbath is a primemitzvah.” One who is a “shaliach mitzvah” is considered to be either “an agent of a good deed” or, more relevant for the situation you’re in, “an agent of fulfilling a commandment” [in this case the mitzvah/commandment is providing for the poor/needy.] This has become, as is often the case, a popular tradition done by people who don’t fully connect it to any specific Jewish text or ruling but it actually has roots in a couple of verses from the Talmud:
“A mitzvah protects and rescues one while s/he is engaged in it.” [Sotah 21a]
and
“Agents of a mitzvah will not be harmed.” [Pesachim 8a]
If you’re interested in joining me on this mission you can contribute directly thru PayPal (marked “for Shaliach Mitzvah”) on my website, or by check (9 Sacramento St, Cambridge MA 02138).
I’ll be in the Mideast from March 17 until June 11, 2013 working with the American Friends Service Committee, Friends of the Earth Middle East, Palestine News Network, and the Jenin Freedom Theater, among other organizations. I’ll make photos and teach photography. You can stay tuned to my dispatches at my website and this blog.
A special interlude as I examine and portray the troubles in the Levant
With heart-felt thanks to ifixit and J at the office, a true wizard.
There is a saying in Tibetan, “Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.” No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster.
― Dalai Lama XIV
My saga in Bethlehem, Occupied Palestinian Territories began about one week into my 10-week photographic journey to this troubled region. I noticed my computer, groaning toward its 6th year anniversary, slow down, crawl, and then emit grinding noises. I tried rebooting which didn’t help. And when I tried once more to restart, it refused—it had comatosely quit. I suspected a broken hard drive. I tell this story because of what it might reveal about living in a region illegally and unjustly occupied by a foreign power while most of the international community, especially governments, do nothing.
First question and step of this saga: what is the problem? J at the office offered to put the computer thru some sort of diagnostic. Couldn’t do it, computer wouldn’t run, no surprise. I considered some options (short of calling my entire project a bust and go home early, 9 weeks out the window):
Replace the hard drive, J would install new software, all that I needed for my photographic work, and conceivably I’d have an improved computer. Software could be expensive and my entire investment in the initial software would be lost. What about pirated software?
Rent a laptop, probably a Windows since I’m in Windows land. This was JV’s recommendation. He doesn’t condone software theft. I located a basic level PC in Ramallah with all the software I needed for $100 monthly, not bad I suppose.
Buy a new computer here, either Mac or Windows, either new or used. However the markup in Israel and Palestine is about 1.7 because of taxes and shipping. I priced a few at the new Mac store in Ramallah, sorely tempted but why waste my money?
Ask M to buy and ship a new MacBook, or as she suggested buy one thru Amazon or some other company that ships internationally. But the same probable extra costs as indicated in #3 holds. I am grateful that she was willing to do this and regularly asks how the resurrection is going.
Do without, use whatever computers I can scrounge where I work. The office has offered me superb facilities. But after that ends what?
Maybe there were more options, I forget. I have followed option #1 because I’m curious about whether I can resurrect the computer, and I look forward to my old buddy with a new outlook on life. My friend and neighbor Johnny is impressed with my sumud (steadfastness, a characteristic of many Palestinians) in the face of disaster—the will to survive, even succeed, fortitude, doggedness.
I backed up everything before I left home, I have a new iMac waiting for me upon my return (once I successfully migrate everything, altho now there is probably nothing to migrate, except maybe off my backup drive.)
And what about data retrieval? J tried that and failed.
Inspired by the Dalai Lama’s legendary love for taking stuff apart to see if he can fix it (I’m not sure he’s applied his acumen to a laptop), here’s my story:
All repair images courtesy of ifixit, others from the internet
1. buy a hard drive. best if in Israel because of availability and price, so I ordered one from BUG, an electronics chain in Jewish Jerusalem. J had advised a different place but I couldn’t find it. Gilat helped me locate this one, everyone was helpful and efficient. Price was 500 NIS or roughly $120 for a 500 gig Seagate. This required 2 Sunday trips, one to order and one to pick up, but since I was in Ramallah anyway for Quaker activities, Jerusalem was not hard to reach.2. to install it I needed a special tool to remove special screws. The tool is called star or torx, pronounced torks. Following various leads from various people I finally found one at a Bethlehem hardware store, thanks to J and B. Cost 24 NIS (about $6)
3. remove the old hard drive from its holder plate by removing the torx screws, only to discover the new hard drive wouldn’t go all the way in. Research this online and learn often such a problem is caused by rubber gaskets slipping out of position and jamming the hard drive.
4. bring a flashlight to the office to confirm this hunch. It’s confirmed. Decide after more research that I need to remove the entire upper case to reach the gasket.
5. to remove the case I need to remove the tiny Phillips head screws. Can’t find a tool for this in the office, despite the preponderance of video equipment and corresponding tools. Try one large hardware store in Bethlehem on my way home. No luck.
6. scout Bethlehem hardware stores, first the store that had the torx driver (on the way to the Israeli checkpoint which I might try to reach anyway so I can walk from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, reversing the walk I made 5 years ago). Hope they have a tiny enough Phillips screwdriver, #00. No luck again.
7. Ask Johnny if he knows where I might find one to borrow in Bethlehem, maybe a jeweler or mobile phone repairer or computer repairer in Bethlehem, anyone dealing with tiny screws.
When I told Johnny about my current phase of computer repair he lambasted me for not purchasing a new computer before I began this trip. He said, Look Skip, I’m a craftsman, I use the latest tools even if I have to borrow money to buy them. It pays off. You’re a craftsman and need the best tools, the latest. I explained to him that before I left home I’d considered a new laptop but decided not to buy one because carrying such expensive equipment would make me nervous about loss or breakage, plus I wanted to use my Harvard discount so M could save a little money buying hers (only one per year).
And later when I told Johnny about my current obstacle—the tiny Phillips head screws I need so I can remove the rubber gasket—he said, no problem Skip, me or my brother Robert can find the tool. Bring your computer home tomorrow, we’ll fix it. He was adamant about this, laid it on me as a mandate. Bring your computer to us and we’ll see that it’s fixed!
8. Finally I found the tool in a southern suburb of Jerusalem to which I walked from Bethlehem. I removed the screws (one seems stripped), opened the case, refitted the rubber lining that blocks the hard drive, inserted the new hard drive, closed everything up, tested it—ureka!—and now wonder how to install the new operating system and software.
Ideally I’ll have the essential portion of my computer back. Not the original files which I can live without on this trip. Assuming proper installation of software, I’ll still have to reconfigure the system—install passwords and other data to make software like Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Office, iMovie, Lightroom, and the like work.
I am very grateful for my iPad which has not (yet) failed me, despite a scare with the battery that for a moment wouldn’t charge. I swore at my iPad, it began charging (since kissing and thanking my laptop shortly before it quit proved useless, I thought I’d try a different technique). With the iPad I write my journal, do basic email and web work, check my blogs and do some limited work on them, make videos, Skype (very important), and otherwise, in conjunction with the desktop computer at the office, I manage. I’ve also been forced to more fully explore the iPad, see what apps are available, experiment.
I could have survived without my laptop, merely limp along and improvise, if needed. All because of a little piece of hardware. Ruminating on this problem I wonder if I’d have been smart to install a new hard drive at home. The other one experienced years of rough service. Maybe, who knows? Or bought the new MacBook before leaving, which would have denied M her chance at a computer with my discount, and I’d fear breaking or losing my new $1300 plus piece of gear.
Coming soon, how people who live in a poverty-stricken, imprisoned zone such as Palestine can acquire software.
If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it’s not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.
I have followed Skip’s activities through his email newsletter which has kept me up to date through the personal contacts he has made with peacemakers. From living [myself] in a situation of violence and change in South Africa I know how valuable it is to have the kind of support he is offering to peacemakers in Israel and Palestine—getting out the everyday stories of life, thought, and peace and justice making that don’t make the international headlines. It helps keep the people on the ground going.
—Jeremy Routledge, former director of the
Quaker Peace Center in Cape Town, South Africa
Dear friends:
In various ways, I’ve faithfully reported to many people about my work concerning Palestine/Israel. For the past nine years, not only while I was most recently in the region in 2010, but subsequently with my US-based work, I’ve tried to keep people informed and motivated thru my photos and stories.
Later this month I will begin my 7th journey of photographic discovery and exposure of conditions and struggles in Palestine/Israel. I hope you can join me, as a viewer and reader—and as a financial supporter.
Yaffa/Tel Aviv, Israel, 2010
Gaza, 2010
For this 10-week trip I plan to volunteer my photographic services again with the American Friends Service Committee in Gaza and the West Bank, Holy Land Trust in Bethlehem, Al-Rowwad in a Bethlehem refugee camp, Friends of the Earth Middle East in both Israel and Palestine, and the Jenin Freedom Theater, as well as other organizations who request my services. Mainly I will photograph for them and also, when asked, teach photography to high school and university age youth. The AFSC plans a traveling exhibit about the occupation; they’ve sought my photographic contributions. All this is at no or minimal charge to the organizations. Thus I need financial help.
Public opinion in the US is slowly becoming more responsive to Palestinian experiences, the numerous violations of human rights and international law, and the expanding non-violent resistance against the injustice perpetrated by the Israeli government (with corresponding violence and sometimes criminal actions by Palestinians). The United States and many European governments mutely accept most of the illegal and unjust Israeli policies. Slowly, incrementally, a mild trickle of awareness is percolating into what could become a torrent of support for Palestinian rights. On March 30 international organizers plan The Great March on Jerusalem into Israel across the borders of Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. I plan to be there to photograph. I hope to be part of the larger movement for human rights and accountability to international law. With your help I can achieve this.
Gaza, 2010
Airfare is roughly $1300, accommodations, food and local transport will cost me approximately $1400, photo equipment and supplies another $500, and miscellaneous about $300 for a grand total of $3500. I’d deeply appreciate any sort of contribution, large or small, whether money, airline ticket benefits, equipment (photographic or computer) and prayers. I welcome your suggestions about making this journey. You could also help by organizing a showing of my up to date slide shows or photo exhibitions.
Checks can be made out to me, Skip Schiel, mailed to 9 Sacramento St, Cambridge MA, 02138 USA, or you can use PayPal on my website, teeksaphoto.org. I’m not able to offer you a tax deduction.
Thank you so much for your support.
—Skip
Dr. Mona Al Farra, Gaza, 2009
Kalandia Checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem, Ramadan, blocked from attending Friday prayers at the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, 2009
You might want to visit these internet sites to view and read what I’ve done over the past 9 years on this project.
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.
For community access TV stations and others who might wish to download our new movie and broadcast it—other distributors and venues as well. You can now download the movie at no charge thru PEG Media. (However, you must be registered.) Please consider forwarding this to your local station.
In Eyewitness Gaza, Skip conveys his personal observations on events in Gaza, the complexities and consequences of action and reaction at the military and governmental level and its affects on real people. The video graphically depicts the emotional as well as physical affects of violence and offers hope in statements from young people about their commitment to non-violence. Sadly, it also describes how opponents of a peaceful approach discourage such actions. It is a compelling insight into the situation in Gaza.
—Joan Raducha, American Friends Service Committee, Madison Wisconsin
Detail For Show: Eyewitness Gaza
Description:
Eyewitness Gaza shows an accurate view of current life in Gaza, through the lens of photographer Skip Schiel. His photographs and reflections on many trips to Gaza show the unique position Gazans are in: under siege, under occupation, constantly threatened by attacks from Israel and their own political factions, with little awareness or concern by the rest of the world.
Central to “Eyewitness Gaza” are Gazan youth. How do they survive a siege and marginalizing by the world community? Through events in Palestine such as the Gaza Youth Break Out movement, and to the most recent manifestations of violent and nonviolent transformation of “Arab Spring”, Schiel and his camera chronicle a community trying to rebuild itself.
Type of Show: Specials
Target Viewing Market: National (US)
State of Production and/or Target State or Province: New Hampshire
PegMedia.org is a media transfer site for PEG (Public, Education, Government) community television stations and producers of media for these stations. This site is an easy way for producers to make their programming known and available to many stations simultaneously and, at the same time, to give stations a wide variety of programming from which to choose.
The stations who use PegMedia for content cover tens of millions of cabled homes and represent more than 50% of the total cable viewership in the US, giving producers a very large potential audience.
We welcome producers who are PEG stations, independent producers, musicians, and documentary and film makers, in a wide variety of genre.
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.
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.
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.
Today, May 31, 2011, marks the first anniversary of the Mavi Marmara humanitarian aid convoy debacle, 9 killed, many injured when Israel attacked an assortment of ships and boats largely organized by a humanitarian Turkish organization. I intend to mark that anniversary—and another, 50 years after the Freedom Bus Rides to the South—with a blog entry I’ve been working very hard on. It will compare the 2 Freedom Rides—buses and boats. Both were relentless, one staffed mainly by youth, required much courage, were thought at the time to be futile, stupid, and unnecessarily provocative and dangerous. One was later acknowledged as pivotal to bringing justice. I’m convinced the other, the Gaza Freedom Boats, will likewise be honored as a major step toward justice for the Palestinians.
The segregated South
Gaza City, November 2010
“Freedom bus” in flames, near Forsyth and Son Grocery, 6 miles southwest of Anniston, Alabama, May 14, 1961—caption from Arsenault’s Freedom Riders
The boat Dignity, crushed by Israelis while attempting to enter Gaza waters (Photo by Hassan Bahsoun)
Hedy Epstein
John Lewis, now a US Congressman from Georgia
One afternoon, near the end of the first summer, when I went to the village to get a shoe from the cobbler’s, I was seized and put into jail, because, as I have elsewhere related, I did not pay a tax to, or recognize the authority of, the State which buys and sells men, women, and children, like cattle, at the door of its senate-house. I had gone down to the woods for other purposes. But, wherever a man goes, men will pursue and paw him with their dirty institutions, and, if they can, constrain him to belong to their desperate odd-fellow society. It is true, I might have resisted forcibly with more or less effect, might have run “amok” against society; but I preferred that society should run “amok” against me, it being the desperate party. However, I was released the next day, obtained my mended shoe, and returned to the woods in season to get my dinner of huckleberries on Fair Haven Hill.
—Henry David Thoreau
With the recent 50th anniversary of the Freedom Riders and the brilliant movie narrating its story, I am not the first to notice the parallel between bus riders to the segregated South and Freedom Sailors to besieged Gaza. The renowned writer and activist, Alice Walker, whom I quote in my title, followed by the activist, former Colonel Ann Wright, wrote and spoke about the parallels. I’d like to explore those parallels further.
To summarize:
Bus
Boat
Purpose
Justice for black Americans, test national laws prohibiting segregation of interstate bus terminals, immediate desegregation of public transport facilities
Justice for Palestinians, test international laws and UN resolutions, immediate end of siege
Method
Ride public buses into the south, practice non-violence
Ride boats and ships thru international waters into Gaza, practice non-violence
Participants
Mostly young people, mixed skin color
Diverse group including Jews, holocaust survivors, journalists, artists, activists, etc
Threats
Incarceration, injury, death
Same
Fortitude
Unrelenting
Same
Protection from other authorities
Initially none, especially local, eventually national
None to date, except for international law and public outcry
Outcome
Desegregation of public transport facilities, Black voting rights, litigation against abusive authority, massive change in the country concerning racism
Short term: no change. Long term: unknown, depends a great deal on citizen involvement, the mass movement—riding the boats, contributing money, advocating legislation—which could foster Palestinian freedom and self determination, along with litigation against abusive authority
Beginning in 1961 hundreds of people, often from universities and churches, most under the age of 30, rode buses into the South to test the Interstate Commerce Commission laws integrating terminals for interstate travelers*. (Please see notes below for each asterisk.) The riders suffered, not only at the hands of mobs in collusion with local police, but because of the opprobrium heaped upon them by doubters, skeptics, racists, and the indifferent. Thru their courage they helped bring racial justice to this nation.
Beginning in 2008 a group of people borrowed, rented, and purchased small boats to enter international waters off Gaza and then Gazan waters itself to deliver humanitarian aid and break the Israeli-imposed siege on Gaza, the siege notably breaking international and humanitarian law. The Freedom Boat Sailors tested international laws prohibiting piracy and kidnapping on the high seas—and perhaps more importantly they challenged the indifference of the international community to the horrors of Gazan life. They seek to provoke awareness and willingness to take action about a long enduring and not intractable injustice.
Joan Trumpauer Mulholland
Ku Klux Klasmen beat black bystander George Webb in a back corridor of the Birmingham Trailways bus station, May 14, 1961…The photographer, Tommy Langston, was assaulted by Klansmen moments after the photograph was taken. (Photo by Thomas Langston, Birmingham Post-Herald, Bettmann-CORBIS)—caption from Arsenault’s Freedom Riders
James Peck on a hospital gurney after white men beat him in Birmingham Alabama, 1961
Freedom Riders Julia Aaron and David Dennis, with National Guardsmen, on the first freedom bus to Mississippi, May 24, 1961. (Photo by Bruce Davidson, Magnum)—caption from Arsenault’s Freedom Riders
Palestinians greeting one of the first Freedom Boats, 2008
Jeff Halper, on the first Freedom Boat
Vik Arrigoni landing in Gaza City, October 29, 2008 (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa, Files)
During the Freedom Rides, more than 1500 citizens of Montgomery were trapped inside a church attending a mass meeting addressed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, James Farmer, and other Freedom Movement leaders. A mob of more than 3,000 threatened to set the church afire. King beseeched the US administration headed by President John F Kennedy for protection. Kennedy and his brother, Attorney General Robert J Kennedy, responded by ordering in marshals which then pushed the Alabama governor, John Patterson, to call out the National Guard to guarantee the safety of the entrapped Blacks.
Can we imagine an equivalent response from the current Obama administration if its aid were sought? In fact, we might inquire, where do the weapons used by the Israeli military originate? Answer is easy, many from the USA. Who supports in the United Nations by vetoing Security Council resolutions Israeli impunity? Can we imagine the international community arising to demand justice, peace, reconciliation, and security for all parties in that region?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama, May 2011
From June thru September 1961 nearly 450 riders relentlessly pursued their vision. 75% were male, the same percentage were under 30 years old, and the Riders were divided evenly between black and white. More than 60 different Freedom Rides traveled South, many passing thru Jackson Mississippi where most Riders were arrested and thrown into the notorious Mississippi State Penitentiary (“Parchman Farm”) prison. As Diane Nash, one of the organizers, said in 1961, “If we allowed the Freedom Ride to stop after so much violence had been inflicted, the message would have been sent that they can stop a nonviolent campaign by inflicting massive violence.”
Wave after wave rode the Freedom Buses, despite the violence, despite the lack of support, despite the condemnatory media and legislators, despite the seeming insanity of motive, likelihood of injury or death, and impossibility of success. Much as the Freedom Boat Sailors today relentlessly continue their journeys to ultimate Gaza freedom.
Eventually states implemented the ICC rulings, and a form of partial justice came to African-Americans in 1965 when Congress enacted the Voting Right Act. (**)
President Lyndon Baines Johnson giving Dr. Martin Luther King
a pen as he signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Original Freedom Riders (Journey of Reconciliation), April 10, 1947, Worth Randle, Wally Nelson, Ernest Bromley, Jim Peck, Igal Roodensko, Bayard Rustin, Joseph Felmet, George Houser, and Andrews Johnson (Swarthmore College Peace Collection)
Huwaida Arraf on the Liberty, one of the first Freedom Boat Sailors to enter Gaza, throwing 37 roses into the water to commemorate the 37 US Navy sailors killed in an Israeli attack during 1967—the only military attack on the United States not resulting in a military response, let alone an investigation.
For a short period the Freedom Sailors partially succeeded in at least entering Gaza. Israel—an unusually wise decision by this troubled nation—allowed the first 5 or so boats on successive missions to enter Gaza. Besides humanitarian aid they brought witnesses like the Israeli Jewish activist, scholar, and writer, Jeff Halper; Israeli journalist Amira Hass; holocaust survivors like Hedy Epstein; former and current legislators like Cynthia McKinney; journalists; doctors; nurses; teachers; and other humanitarian workers and witnesses.
In 2009 Israel slammed the portal shut on the Freedom Boat Sailors, ramming boats, confiscating cargo and equipment, and arresting and detaining personnel. This climaxed—so far—one year ago: May 31, 2010, when Israel attacked a massive non-violent humanitarian aid convoy (often termed a flotilla which to me suggests military action) in international waters carrying 680 passengers from 37 countries and 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid worth 20 million US dollars. Israeli commandos murdered 9 Turkish citizens, 5 shot point-blank in the head by multiple rounds. Many passengers were injured, as well as 7 Israeli commandos. Illegal by international law, immoral by humanitarian standards, strategically counter productive because of the publicity. After confiscating virtually all media equipment, Israel attempted to manipulate the evidence to prove it was their personnel, heavily armed and trained to violently impose their power, who were mercilessly attacked by violent agents on the ships. Some of these so-called “terrorists” used kitchen knives, hammers, and similar tools found on board against commandos with M-16 machine guns.
Mavi Marmara loading for its trip to Gaza, May 2010
Inge Neefs, from Belgium, attempted to enter Gaza on one of the boats attacked by Israel, now in Gaza working with the International Solidarity Movement after entering thru Egypt
The lead ship, the Mavi Marmara, will long be remembered thru its connection with this attack as the names Greyhound and Trailways live on in their connection with the Freedom Bus Riders. More importantly, as we now honor the Freedom Bus Riders (***), we will ultimately, I am convinced, honor the Gaza Freedom Sailors for their role in bringing justice with peace to a troubled Holy Land.
This July another convoy will attempt entry to Gaza. A boat filled mostly with people from the US joins the convoy. It’s name, The Audacity of Hope.
Representative John Lewis, a Freedom Ride participant, and Charlotte Riley-Webb, an artist. (Photo by Mickey Welsh/Montgomery Advertiser, via Associated Pres)
Get on board, little children Get on board, little children.
Get on board, little children, Let’s fight for human rights.
Can’t you see that mob a-comin’, Comin’ ’round the bend.
If you fight for freedom, They’ll try to do you in.
* In December 1960, Boynton v. Virginia expanded the Morgan decision, outlawing segregated waiting rooms, lunch counters, and restroom facilities for interstate passengers. However, both rulings were largely ignored in the Deep South.
** In September 1961, bowing to pressure from the Attorney General and the civil rights movement, the ICC issued the necessary orders, and the new policies went into effect on November 1, 1961, a full six years after the ruling in Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company. After the new ICC rule took effect, passengers were permitted to sit wherever they pleased on interstate buses and trains, “white” and “colored” signs came down in the terminals, separate drinking fountains, toilets, and waiting rooms were consolidated, and the lunch counters began serving people regardless of race.
*** In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Rides, Oprah Winfrey invited all living Freedom Riders to join her for a special program celebrating their legacy. The episode aired on May 4, 2011.
In conjunction with the taping of the Oprah Show, a Conference/Reunion of Freedom Riders was held in Chicago April 28 — May 2, 2011.
Award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson (Wounded Knee, Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, The Murder of Emmett Till), director of Freedom Riders
On May 19-21, 2011, the Freedom Rides were commemorated in Montgomery Alabama at the new Freedom Ride museum in the old Greyhound Bus terminal where some of the violence took place.
On May 22-26, 2011, the arrival of the Freedom Rides in Jackson, Mississippi were commemorated with a 50th Anniversary Reunion and Conference in Jackson.
International Solidarity Movement (ISM) supporting Palestinian leaders—into the Israeli-declared Buffer Zone, where Israel has injured and killed many people, December 2010
The Hiroshima Dome, one of the few buildings that survived the atomic attack on August 6, 1945 and the creation of the Peace Park
Peace Crane, in the tradition of the young Japanese girl, Sadako, irradiated, surviving the initial blast, folding cranes to protect children from death, finally succumbing to her injuries
Lotus blossom, Hiroshima Peace Park, August 6, 1995, the lotus is a Buddhist symbol of compassion and enlightenment
A series from my earlier writing, not always directly about Palestine-Israel, this an attempt to understand and express my journey of discovery that continues to enthrall and mystify me.
Originally written for the New England Yearly Meeting sessions (Quaker) keynote presentation on August 6, 2005 (revised February 2010)
(This version is expanded from what I presented at Bryant College in Smithfield RI.)
…resistance as spectacle has cut loose from its origins in genuine civil disobedience and is becoming more symbolic than real. Colorful demonstrations and weekend marches are fun and vital, but alone they are not powerful enough to stop wars. Wars will be stopped only when soldiers refuse to fight, when workers refuse to load weapons onto ships and aircraft, when people boycott the economic outposts of Empire that are strung across the globe.
—Arundhati Roy
Rosa Parksarrestedduring the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr on his way to the Birmingham Alabama jail, 1958. Photo by Charles Moore
Dorothy Day arrested and jailed at age 75 protesting with Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers supporting grape workers in California. Age 20 she was arrested with a group of suffragists who were demonstrating at the White House in favor of giving women the right to vote. Photo by Bob Fitch
John Pendleton arrested at the Pentagon for blockading the doors, Slaughter of the Innocents action to end war, 1980 c.
Puppet of Oscar Romaro by Bread & Puppet Theater, 1992 c.
Now Jesus from the gospel of Luke. Then about Hiroshima, the conclusion of this series.
Now as He drew near, He saw the city (Jerusalem) and wept over it. Saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace. But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side. And level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it.
—Luke, 19: 41-45
One of the fathers of atomic weaponry, Robert Oppenheimer, said while watching the desert explosion of the first bomb, blasphemously named Trinity,
If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one…Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of worlds.
He was quoting the Bhagavad Gita, the sacred Hindu text.
As most of us realize, today [August 6, 2005, the day I delivered this keynote] is the 60th anniversary of the United State bombing Hiroshima, killing some 140,000 people outright, mostly civilians, innocents, and another 40,000 or so in the following year. Three days later this nation dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing upwards of 70,000 people. More than one-third million cremated bodies are enshrined in the Hiroshima Peace Park sanctuary. This follows the vicious fire bombing of Tokyo and other Japanese cities, and Dresden and other German cities. We must commemorate this particular atrocity—this series of horrific terroristic attacks on innocent people— and look deeply at its horror, grieve for the victims which include citizens of our own country who might persist in not only denying the reality of the event, but professing a willingness to develop and use weapons of mass destruction. We must understand their motivation, rationale, and actions and their consequences—and take appropriate action. Yearly Meeting’s Peace and Social Concerns Committee and I invite you into this commemoration following my presentation. Which is very simple. Look deeply into your own hearts to disclose what happened, what you and we can learn from it, and what next steps we shall all take, individually and collectively to move toward a better world.
From Unforgettable Fire, Pictures Drawn by Atomic Bomb Survivors, Edited by Nippon Hoso Shuppan Kyokai, 1977
We are not helpless in the face of possible catastrophe, but we must all understand the picture, and move toward changing it. We could join the Mayors for Peace campaign initiated by the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It now numbers some 60 US mayors, including the mayor of Cambridge. Or we could encourage our legislators to reverse the drift toward war, partly by demanding that the US join most of the enlightened global community by ratifying various treaties and agreements that work toward abolishing war. Or we could reflect on and retell the story of Sadako, five years old when bombed in Hiroshima, using the Japanese origami tradition of paper cranes to call for no more killing, no war, let children ripen into wise adults. Or we could remain a few more minutes together in a joint effort to remember some of our past and commit to move toward a better world.
Sadako Sasaki Memorial in the Peace Park, Hiroshima, August 6, 1995
This week at New England Yearly Meeting sessions our observance of the atomic bombing can take several forms: drawing shadows on the ground to mark the lives of those whose lives ended in shadows on pavement and walls, the intense light carving memory into concrete; a photo exhibit and videos and other materials; a petition; a candle light procession to the Bryant campus pond [the site of our sessions and this keynote], and finally that all important profound silence. Perhaps during the silence you can each commit to one action this coming year that will move our nation toward a higher civilization, one truly honoring the sacred in all beings by burying the weapons of war and living in peace based on justice.
Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist monks praying at the Hiroshima Dome, the end of a 9 month pilgrimage for peace and life, 1994-1995
This end image is from the first edition of John Hersey’s revealing book, Hiroshima, first published in 1948 in the New Yorker, then, with this illustration, two years later by Bantam. I quote from the book about the illustration:
When Geoffrey Biggs, a master of shadow and light technique in art, brought in his startling illustration for the cover of Hiroshima, everybody wanted to know: “Where’d you get those people…why those two?”
Biggs said he thought back to that August morning in a certain big industrial city and he imagined how universally terrifying that situation was, how it could strike fear into anybody’s bones. “And I just drew two perfectly ordinary people—like you and me—and had them portray alarm, anxiety, and yet wild hope for survival as they run from man-made disaster in a big city—a city like yours or mine.
So, let the quiet begin here and flow out thru the doors into the world, first the near world of Byrant College, then the larger world, not a silence of resignation, despair, heartlessness, but a powerful silence of resilience, fortitude, wisdom and compassion, out from our comfortable benches and into the needy world.
