The Jew, the Racist, the Zionist-Who is the real enemy?

Many times we have come across these terms being intermittently used to describe the oppressor who continues to aggravate the Palestinian plight. But who then is the actual culprit? Is it the average Jew who celebrates Hanukkah and reads the Talmud? Or is it the Zionist who champions the cause of a separate Jewish state in both the legislative and operational levels? Or can it be the plain old Racist who has a bone to pick with anyone categorized as "The Other"?

To find out let’s have a look at a simple experiment carried out by a set of actors who stage a pre-scripted scenario. The experiment carried out which is in many ways is similar to Augusto Boal's Forum Theatre aims to measure the degree of reaction it stirs up in the unsuspecting persons visiting a gas pump in a Jewish neighbourhood.





I have forever campaigned for justice to be meted out to the Palestinians which they very well deserve, and I have always opined that the actual problem lies in racism and not in religion! Racism leads to Zionism and Zionism does not lead up to Judaism!

It is an unfortunate coincidence that the average Jew in Israel is brainwashed with a racist ideology which is in principle contradictory to the teachings of their scriptures. The educational curriculum, legislations passed and Religion is used as scapegoats by extremist elements in both camps to further the Arab-Israeli divide. The solution to the 60 year old conflict lies in having empathy and understanding towards the other and to respect the differences which are an intrinsic part of the values for which we stand for. Majority of the folks who happend to be caught up in this experiment looked beyond the rhetoric and connected humanely to the issue at hand. John F. Kennedy was right when he said:

Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.

“Everyone shall taste death. And only on the Day of Resurrection shall you be paid your wages in full. And whoever is removed away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise, he indeed is successful. The life of this world is only the enjoyment of deception (a deceiving thing).” (Al-Qur’an 3:185)

Open Letter to President Elect Barack Obama by Dr.Mahatir Mohomad.

Each New Year begins with hope and this year is no different. New Year resolutions are made and broken, so are the hopes of people. Barack Obama the most popular symbol of hope this time around is silently counting his steps to the White House. The expectation for change lingers on in a typical year baptized with the blood of innocent people. We can only HOPE that he does not prove himself to be The Typical American President that the world had seen in the recent past.

This is an email I came across which may or may have not originated by the said author. However, the points made stand true and will prove to be critical factors in distinguishing the revolutionary president elect from being a Revolutionary President!

January 1, 2009

Dear Mr. President,

I did not vote for you in the Presidential Election because I am Malaysian. But I consider myself one of your constituents because what you do or say will affect me and my country as well.
I welcome your promise for change. Certainly your country, the United States of America needs a lot of changes.

That is because America and Americans have become the most hated people in the world. Even Europeans dislike your arrogance. Yet you were once admired and liked because you freed a lot of countries from conquest and subjugation. It is the custom on New Year's day for people to make resolutions. You must have listed your good resolutions already. But may I politely suggest that you also resolve to do the following in pursuit of Change.

1) Stop killing people. The United States is too fond of killing people in order to achieve its objectives. You call it war, but today's wars are not about professional soldiers fighting and killing each other. It is about killing people, ordinary innocent people by the hundreds of thousands. Whole countries will be devastated.

War is primitive, the cavemen's way of dealing with a problem. Stop your arms build up and your planning for future wars.

2) Stop indiscriminate support of Israeli killers with your money and your weapons. The planes and the bombs killing the people of Gaza are from you.

3) Stop applying sanctions against countries which cannot do the same against you. In Iraq your sanctions killed 500,000 children through depriving them of medicine and food. Others were born deformed.
What have you achieved with this cruelty? Nothing except the hatred of the victims and right-thinking people.

4) Stop your scientists and researchers from inventing new and more diabolical weapons to kill more people more efficiently.

5) Stop your arms manufacturers from producing them. Stop your sales of arms to the world. It is blood money that you earn. It is un-Christian.

6) Stop trying to democratize all the countries of the world. Democracy may work for the United States but it does not always work for other countries. Don't kill people because they are not democratic. Your crusade to democratize countries has killed more people than the authoritarian Governments which you overthrew. And you have not succeeded anyway.

7) Stop the casinos which you call financial institutions. Stop hedge funds, derivatives and currency trading. Stop banks from lending non-existent money by the billions. Regulate and supervise your banks. Jail the miscreants who made profits from abusing the system.

8) Sign the Kyoto Protocol and other international agreements.

9) Show respect for the United Nations.

I have many other resolutions for change which I think you should consider and undertake. But I think you have enough on your plate for this 2009th year of the Christian Era.
If you can do only a few of what I suggest, you will be remembered by the world as a great leader. Then the United States will again be the most admired nation. Your embassies will be able to take down the high fences and razor-wire coils that surround them. May I wish you a Happy New Year and a great Presidency.

Yours Sincerely,
Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad
(Former Prime Minister of Malaysia)

I would like to quote the very words of the third president of the United States of America

“In matters of taste, swim with the current. In matters of Principle, stand like a rock!”
- Thomas Jefferson:

Is American foreign policy a matter of taste? Or a matter of principle? Only time will tell……..