Thursday, April 29, 2010

UC Berkeley Student Senate and the Dangerous Politics of Neutrality

http://www.kaosenlared.net/noticia/universidad-california-berkeley-israel-peligrosa-politica-neutralidad

Early this morning, the University of California Berkeley’s student senate voted 13 – 5 (with one abstention) to override the veto of a bill calling on the University to divest from General Electric and United Technologies, two U.S. companies supplying helicopters and weapons to Israel. Fourteen votes were needed to override the student government president’s veto; the bill failed. A similar action at UC San Diego was tabled (read: it will be killed, too).

Just like that. In the face of the overwhelming facts presented about the 2008-09 Israeli aggression on Gaza and of unbearable life under occupation, UCB’s senate unfortunately took the moral low ground, the road of indifference and shame well-traveled by all U.S. politicians. A road that equates ‘neutrality’ with allowing U.S. companies to support racist occupation and equip Israel with the bullets and bombs needed to cut down Palestinians. A nausea-inducing road that insists that any hint of criticism of Israel means that you hate Jews.

To those who voted for divestment, I must admit, it took courage. I imagine that it’s not very often that the Israeli consul general and the rest of the AIPAC (the main U.S. pro-Israel lobby) make a visit to a university in order to exert pressure. As AIPAC campus brainwasher Jonathan Kessler [1] remarked shortly after the initial passing of the bill in March, “we’re going to make sure that pro-Israel students take over the student government and reverse the vote… This is how AIPAC operates in our nation’s capital. This is how AIPAC must operate on our nation’s campuses.”

(No doubt student government president Will Smelko had already been primed long before he delivered his veto, blocking divestment, claiming that there wasn’t enough “debate on the topic”. He chose to ignore over 6 hours of democratic debate held prior to the initial passing of the bill.)

The students who supported divestment also had to listen to a psychotic ex-IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) soldier – “The IDF always takes care of Palestinians!” - and a sprinkling of over-privileged JAPs (Jewish American Princesses) – “I feel scared now”. No amount of presentation of facts during last night’s 4-hour debate (not including two prior all-night debates) could keep Israel supporters from tying divestment to hate-attacks on Jews. Though the bill targeted U.S. companies who supported the Israeli occupation of Palestine, throughout the night I cringed at the interpretation offered by divestment opponents that no bombs and weapons for the occupation meant that the Nazis would come out of their closets and round up Berkeley’s Jews. Does San Francisco contemplating the sanctioning of Arizona because of that state’s racist policy against immigrants mean that people will start attacking white people on the BART? Ok, maybe it’s not exactly the same thing, but the point is, hate crimes and racism will exist even if G.E. and United Technology go out of business. Supporting the racist occupation of Palestine and the murder of Palestinians only facilitates blind and bigoted racist attacks on pro-Israel supporters.

How many times in America do we hear the same argument raised again and again when talking about the Israel-Palestine conflict, that “we just don’t have enough information”? Those senators who voted against the bill out of a sense of ‘neutrality’ are just as guilty as those paid to whitewash the crimes of Israeli occupation. Their quick path to the halls of success in the U.S. Congress is polished with the blood of Palestinians.

But, for those of us who refuse to ignore injustice, who can’t help but dry-heave when the occupation of Palestine is viewed as a ‘safety measure for Jews’, who can see through the double-speak, our work was never easy, and never will be. So there is no point in hanging up the towel now. After supporters of divestment left the MLK center, distraught over the outcome, one man addressed the crowd and reminded us about that the first time students pushed for divestment from Apartheid South Africa, they failed. The second time, the National Guard was called out. And the third time, they won.

We are winning.

[1] http://www.muzzlewatch.com/2010/04/07/aipac-well-take-over-the-uc-berkeley-student-government/