NOTE: THIS IS TRULY UNDEDITED. FOR GOOD REASON. THIS IS AN ARCHIVED SITE, QUITE DATED. PLEASE GLANCE AT http://oxtogrind.org/archive/628 before reading through what’s below.

The BDS Party
Dedicated to Gene St. Onge and Paul Larudee et al.
by The Ox

“Yesterday my wife and I had dinner at the home of a some close friends who are Jewish. Three other Jewish couples were also present, two of whom, frequent visitors to Israel, mentioned that they were planning a trip to the country this summer. During the whole evening, there was no mention at all of the Israeli raid. It was as if we were all at the zoo looking at the tiger exhibit, and everyone was talking about rabbits.” — Dave Lindorff, from his http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff06022010.html

“We wouldn’t have marched with placards to protest the crematoria. We would have done something else, right Papi?” — The author’s ten-year-old son

“Give Me A Break!” was what moved me to contact Jan St. Onge… whose husband had been captured by the Israeli military in the recent attack on the IHH Flotilla. Our whole household roared in front of the tube when — for a reporter — she rebutted some idiotic Israeli explanation of events with that line.

From http://www.zcommunications.org/has-israel-declared-war-on-the-internat ional-community-by-pablo-ouziel (an article on the attack), check out Pablo Ouziel’s lines:

“The world has failed to defend the Palestinians for years, but yesterday Israel made a geopolitical turn by declaring war on the citizens of the world. It made all of us Palestinian, and now it is the responsibility of our governments to respond. Will the nations of the international community defend the rights of their citizens as well as the rights of the Palestinians? Will the siege on Gaza end, and those who have repeatedly broken international law, committed war crimes and crimes against humanity be tried and punished?”

Well, we’ve seen Obama’s tepid response, the UN’s equally weak response. Certain world leaders, expectedly, had harsher words for Israel, took some significant action… but they were in the minority, among the nations that count.

No, not too many citizens of the world will be becoming Palestinians any time soon. Not without a push from new quarters. [Pause.] That’s where I come in.

Look, before I get started… readers should acknowledge on their own that if nations haven’t risen on behalf of Palestinians to date, they aren’t about to do so now*. The biz about protecting their own, well,… as long as Israel doesn’t make a habit of attacking the citizens of other nations… this will pass. But… like I said… this is where I come in.

*Well over half the people I talk to never heard of Sabra and Shatila, and the other half hardly care. I mean, they blink about it about as much as they blink about the Gulf of Mexico whilst right in the midst of our Holocaust of the Gulf.

I recommend that — for starters — readers be truthful about Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown, the two guaranteed contenders for the upcoming California gubernatorial contest. In terms of the Palestinians. As in… THEY’RE NOT GOING TO LIFT A FINGER ON BEHALF OF THE PALESTINIANS, EITHER ONE OF THEM. Not going to criticize the U.N. or Obama on that count either, of course. In that sense they’re enemies of the Palestinians, enablers of state terrorism. Guarantors of the status quo. Slated to occupy an office which could be used for our purposes. To wield power which could give us shelter, could stop The Holocaust.

Why would anyone involved in the BDS Movement support either careerist? Because there are other important issues that must be addressed? I say no, that’s not so! No, because BDS should be intimately associated with our dependence on oil and wars, and our ecocidal embrace of Uranium Syndrome. And much more, I might add, though that’s quite enough. I submit that we ought to use BDS concerns as our point of departure for everything, and branch out from there. Now. Why? Because it’s as good as using anything else for a point of departure. And because there’s an enormous degree of urgency demanded of us with the world’s present focus. THERE IS A WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY AT THE MOMENT WHICH WILL NOT COME AGAIN.

Let’s get a BDS Governor in office, and see what happens. Y’know — or maybe you don’t — if a Governor of California has her/his head, heart and soul in a healthy place WONDERS can be accomplished in terms of DIVESTMENT vis-a-vis the University of California Regents… over which the Guv wields incredible influence. Once Divestment becomes respectable via the Guv’s office, boycott and sanctions action — as per the Global BDS Movement — can become much more likely, effective. And if that turns out to be the case respecting Israel’s abominations, well… there’s a chance we might be able to preserve a world worth living in ‘cross the board. [To be elaborated on, upon request.]

PLEASE do not get us bogged down with HOW we’re going to accomplish this — admittedly — Don Quixote goal. Not before you invite me to speak with you and your loved ones in a leisurely setting… a setting which allows for more than sound bites. A milieu which encourages deep dialogue, unlike what’s typically afforded at conferences and summits and traditional Q&As which follow lectures… all of which (as a rule) have insane — unnecessary, self-imposed — temporal parameters, guaranteeing that top/down discussion dominates, precluding all sorts of needed nooks and crannies in rushed dialogue. PLEASE EXTEND AN INVITATION TO ME.

I will do this thing. So help me God, I will do this thing. I will leave my lovely family which I do not want to do, and go on the road, door-to-door, incessantly for the next six months… and help — with your help — and create a watershed in history in California. Which will create positive ripples that will range across the nation and the world. And people will overcome their resignation, apathy, ignorance, cynicism and atomization. [Pause.] And feel their power.

Gimme a break? Give us shelter.

“Oh, a storm is threat’ning/My very life today/If I don’t get some shelter/Oh yeah, I’m gonna fade away.”

Contact Richard Martin Oxman at 831-688-8038 or at tosca.2010@yahoo.com or at impelus@gmail.com ASAP. At any hour, but — please — at your earliest convenience.

RESPONSIBILITY AND SELF-ENLIIGHTENED INTEREST

Special note added the day of posting (today), the morning of June 2, 2010 (Sylvie’s birthday): There is such a thing as responsibility. First of all, to set the scene, take in Norman F’s very important blah blah at http://www.zcommunications.org/israel-is-a-lunatic-state-by-norman-fin kelstein. Following that, consider Antonio Machado’s lines

“Form your letters carefully and well.
Making things carefully
Is more important than making them.”

It is not enough to protest. We must “protest” carefully, paying close attention to details which follow a new paradigm. Not just go through the motions… so that we can say we protested. In fact, “protest” is not enough, we must change things… carefully.

What I am obliged to add to the above is two-fold. One, it’s not just Israel that’s a lunatic state. Ditto for the U.S.A. Unquestionably. For we enable Israel, the vast majority of citizens conveniently turning a blind eye to Current Day Holocausts (like the ongoing horror in Gaza), or actually cheer leading abominations, gratefully contributing their tax money as per the dictates of career politicians. And so — being sane — WE have a responsibility. [Pause.] For even if one chalks up the above to differences in opinion, there are many matters like The Current Holocaust in the Gulf of Mexico (among others), which are not bringing about so much as a blink from our citizenry, which either remains willfully ignorant of (the most important) facts related to the unprecedented Gulf catastrophe, or cavalierly gives the nod to resignation and cynicism, caving to the supremely suicidal notion that we cannot make a difference. This is insane. And I challenge anyone to challenge me on that point. Short of that, I expect readers to honor the responsibility which is clearly theirs. Which sanity demands. We can and should do something immediately. [Not just out of compassion for others either; our jobs and health are contingent upon all this.] I have a plan for doing so. And the very least that readers can do is to engage me in dialogue about it. With the idea of moving on something immediately which we can call our Beautiful Day in the Sun.