Having traveled over the past month in 12 states plus the District of Columbia, given 45 talks and met hundreds of good people (most for the first time), Jessie and I have a few observations. Some of our views were held before, some sharpened, some new. Our talks and conversations emphasize biological diversity, agricultural diversity and human diversity (hence by nature opposing colonialism, zionism, imperialism, racism). We also emphasize joint struggle for a more peaceful and sustainable planet. Our work in Palestine exemplifies this global growing power (e.g. http://palestinenature.org).
We still have few more events in California and Florida which you can see at the posted schedule here: https://docs.google.com/
We thought to share with you in bullet points below some observations and some photos:
-The homogeneity in the US is mainly in areas associated with the economy and. consumerism. Streets look and feel the same from coast to coast and in the midd;e of the country
-People on the other hand are still heterogeneous and you encounter all sorts of people: poor, rich, ultra rich, some Middle Class (shrinking), right, left, homeless, ultra religious fundamentalist, atheist, self-sacrificing, etc
-The few US citizens that travel have a more liberal views of the world and ted to be less chauvinistic and self-centered (that is expected)
-There is still a collective amnesia regarding the genocide of natives and of slaves (tens if not hundreds of millions).
-There is little knowledge of how Israel and Zionism damage the US.Few know of the intentional Israeli killings of US citizens (USS Liberty, Rachel Corrie, Shireen Abu Akleh etc) and violations of US law by supporting Israel
--There is increased Zionist infiltration at every level of government and civil society that tries to shape policies in support of Zionist colonization (
-We get asked all the time about why the Palestinian authority is so corrupt and inept and how to change that
-We visited the Israeli Elbit towers along the US-Mexico border, a contract that was given to an Israeli company inspite of the facts that se sellinga) there was other local bidders, 2) It is against US law to give technology to foregcountries that then repackage them and sell them to others - in this case selling it back to the US
-Most US Citizens did not know that their country is violating its own laws for example the Leahy amendment that prohibits the support of countries that persistently violate human rights. Israel is a state that persistently violates human rights as documented by all human rights organizations (Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, B'Tselem, Physician for Human Rights, Rabbis for Human Rights etc), the UN, the EU and even the US state department! Yet, Congress pressed by the Zionist Lobby gives billions of tax $ to "Israel" every year and denies the treasury billions more by allowing tax deductible donations to the apartheid system (even tax deductible donations to illegal settlers/squatters on Palestinian land and even to the largest terrorist organization in the world (the Israeli military)
Finally we say: people are intrinsically good, generous, & kind. The minority that guide us to wars, racism, conflict, consumerism, habitat destruction, pollution etc. get away with much precisely because the majority remain silent or comliant. It is our collective job to mobilize, to organize, to push for positive action... for a global intifada. Nothing less than the future of earth is at stake.
Join us and stay human
Sincerely
Mazin Qumsiyeh & Jessie Chang
in San Francisco
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