The MTV version of Israel is coming to campus tonight in the form of Israel 360, a way cool presentation with cool facts about Israel!

Tila Tequila might not be there, but we’ll still be able to liven it up by showing you the friendly, funny side of Israel! [Read more →]

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Background
Throughout the spring of 2006, students from the Israel Action Committee and Students for Justice in Palestine at UC Berkeley were filmed while organizing their activities. Many individual members of each group were interviewed by the documentarians, who had said they were making a documentary for the “America at a Crossroads” series about campus activism related to Israel and Palestine. That documentary ended up with the name “Campus Battleground,” airing tonight, Monday Nov 26, on PBS for the first time.

That spring was the first that Students for Justice in Palestine had existed on campus during my time at Cal. At the end of my first year, a group of us had decided to bring the organization back to campus. There are, of course, a few things you learn along the way, intellectually, personally, politically, practically, tactically, etc, even over the course of what is now only about a year and a half, so it is safe to say that the organization, myself included, has matured in all these ways over time. Those differences only become so clear with the ability to refer back to this taped record of the past.

In writing about this documentary, I want to be clear that I am not responding out of anger in opposition to it. I am not angry at all. I want to be clear, though, that I am not wholly comfortable with the way I or the various issues raised in the documentary have been portrayed. I don’t feel that I have been slighted or manipulated, though I do feel that the political message that this documentary advances is not in line with my own political views. I will touch more on this after laying out a few of my main objections.

The Demonization of Religion
No Palestinians
Superficial Understanding of ‘Otherness’
The Jewish-Arab Battlefield

[Read more →]

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The third issue of a-Rab magazine is out. Click on the cover below for the announcement, or here for the table of contents.

Cover art by Katie Miranda.

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My contributions to this issue are:

A short introductory note

Reflect a bit on your politics.

Are you down with Palestine, with the Zapatistas, with activists in Oakland, and even the hunger-strikers at Columbia? Your political spirituality knows no boundaries, right, and you’re down with just about every struggle?

Maybe—it’d be pretty damn sweet, if you were. But down is not a feeling. It’s not something you can be by listening to el-Sheikh Imam at your apartment on Friday nights or to Gil Scot Heron while riding the bus. It doesn’t even happen when you wear Guevara on your sleeve or a kuffiyeh around your neck.

A piece on Michael Downing’s plan to keep maps of Muslim communities in Los Angeles, based on a brief he presented to Congress:

“Law enforcement and its advocates must also avoid name-calling exchanges with political jihadists, opting instead to engage them professionally on specific issues.”

These are the words of Michael P. Downing, the Commanding Officer in the Counter-Terrorism Intelligence Bureau in the Los Angeles Police Department, to the Committee on Homeland Security on October 30, 2007, regarding his plan to plot the areas Muslims have settled in Los Angeles.

One might wonder what exactly it is to to call somebody a “political jihadist,” if not a part of a so-called “name-calling exchange.” Downing, in a moment of rhetorical brilliance, appears to have himself coined the term, bringing together the stigma of jihad with something vaguely “political.” In doing so, however, he has made explicit what commentators have been saying for years regarding ideas of security in American political discourse–that “security” in our present lexicon is inevitably linked to one’s political orientation, rather than a disposition towards violent action. Explained as proactive security measures, Downing’s proposals, too, are vaguely “political.”

Please distribute this link, and make sure to send submissions in by the end of December if you would like to be in the next issue of the a-Rab magazine (January/February). If you have any questions or would like to discuss article ideas, drop a line at yaman@a-rab.net.

Tags: Journal by yaman
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On Wednesday evening, the ASUC Senate, in a vote of 11-7-2, narrowly passed SB75, a resolution “affirming the US-Israel relationship.” Among other things, the resolution suggested that the “relationship” between the US and Israel was based on “shared ideals” including “commitments to freedom, equality, and tolerance for all people.” The resolution, void of any mention whatsoever of the occupation of Palestinian land and of the actual nature of that mystical “relationship,” further stipulated that the ASUC Senate supports a “diplomatic relationship” while it does not support any “specific policies” of Israel.

Some Senators rushed through the bill to celebrate Halloween. Scary, huh?

While the resolution was heard for about two hours, it would be a mistake to say that the issue was discussed comprehensively. It was disheartening to see many senators itching to get out of their seats so they could drop by the various Halloween parties that were happening around campus–it was even worse to see those who didn’t care to pay due attention to the issue at hand decide to vote yes rather than to abstain. One gets the impression that there is a general sense of apathy on one side of the senate chambers, a sense which, besides being irresponsible for any elected official, also seems to imply that some senators don’t recognize the gravity of their decisions. If not for them personally, then for others on campus, in the wider community, and around the world.

Out of Berkeley on Wednesday night, the imagined progressive capital of the US, the ASUC Senate passed a regressive and reckless resolution that ignored the realities of the US-Israel relationship. That relationship is not about “shared ideals,” but about the billions of dollars in aid and military supplies that go from the United States to Israel every year. Click to continue reading…

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