April 26, 2009. This morning the Israeli police descended upon the homes of political activists, members of the feminist movement New Profile, which acts for the civil-ization of society in Israel and against the undue influence of the military in the life of the country. (Jewish Peace News)
You see, there can be no linear line to these days, to the telling of these events, to the sadnesses, the wrong choices,--fire that Professor, banish that speaker, call them antiSemites, particularly the Jewish ones, put them on the S.H.I.T list so we can flush them and their ideas away, but little by little the wall is cracking, more and more are finding the strength to speak out, to find ways to travel to Gaza, to the West Bank, to see for themselves, to carry the images, the news out of the walled in places and many are women. And as the police rushed into the homes of the New Profile women in Israel, they were laying the basis for new coalitions, for others who had stayed on the sidelines to see how fragile a democracy can become right under your eyes, as you are looking the other way, as you are watching the parades and walking in the past, past familiar pains. Whatever it takes, you say, to keep Jews safe,but little by little more and more Jews will become endangered--first it is the peace activists, then the reporters who try to map the movements of the military, of the police, then the dissenters, then those who do not take oaths of allegiance and here I see Rosa, waiting through out this tumble of words, waiting her turn to tell how she is part of this all--her words--Freedom only for the supporters of government, only for the members of the party--however numerous these may be--is no freedom at all. Freedom is always the freedom of the dissenter. Rosa writing from her prisons, from her "unfreedoms" as she calls them in a 1918 letter, her crime opposing the first world war, her disbelief in nationalisms--calling on German young men not to slaughter French young men, Rosa soon to be smashed in the face with the end of a rifle, and then shot in the heart, dumped in a canal, from which now her image emerges, dripping with urban waters, her little book, Letters from Prison, being republished in Tel Aviv and Ramallah, last month, two centers opening in her name in these cities, her Jewish voice once again in the air and all the histories looking on, at each other. "About six months after Israel's attorney general publicly announced an effort to criminalize dissent, state authorities have upped the ante in their "war"--as the daily Ha'aretz called it last September--against Israel's youth and against the broad grassroots movement of young Israelis who avoid serving their compulsory time in the military... On 26 April, a day before Israel's Memorial Day, Israeli police produced an absurd piece of political theatre...As if facing down dangerous organized criminals, they raided the homes of six activists in different parts of Israel, who were then detained for interrogation...computers confiscated, the arrested told they could not communicate with other members of the community for 30 days. Among those arrested: Analeen Kish, aged 70, ceramics artist, daughter of a family of the "Righteous Among Nations"; Miriam Hadar, age 51, editor and translator; Amir Givol, resident of Jerusalem; Sergei Sandler, resident of Beer Sheva and Roni Barkan, resident of Tel Aviv. The police edict, Do Not Speak of these events for 30 days, has been transformed into endless speaking about New Profile, about what these raids mean, about the police violence against subsequent protesters, (see youtube video, New Profile Demonstration in Israel, 30-4-09, 17:30, Tel Aviv, yisraelpnm), all over the Internet we are speaking, organizing, in Israel, in New York City, where ever peace activist feminists gather, Jewish and non-Jewish, the discussion will go on. In Rosa's month.
New Profile speaks: "The militarization of Israeli society harms the sacred principles of democracy, freedom of speech and political freedom. For people who thought that only Israeli-Arabs were being framed for criminal political activity, this morning was proof that none of us can be sure of the permission to express ourselves freely regarding the failings of Israel's society and regime." From Jewish Peace News, April 27, 2009, 4:55pm
(Read all of Rosa Luxemburg's "Letters from Prison" on the free Luxemburg Internet Archives)
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