Resolving Israel/Palestine: philosophically
There is no point my pretending that what I write here will make any difference. But there are two things we can draw from moral philosophy that I believe are relevant to the current war in the Gaza Strip. The aim of this article is to think through the conflict neutrally and reasonably using the tools of political philosophy.
Impartially speaking, what we’re aiming to balance are the autonomy claims made by a tide of autonomous agents. Having an historic connection to a land obviously gives someone a claim to that land. However those actually living there have much stronger claims. Security and livelihood also strengthen an autonomy claim. What I think is interesting about thinking impartially in this way is that there is no necessary derivation from these autonomy claims of a requirement for a unitary state.
The German peoples needed a Germany; the Italian peoples needed an Italy; the Greek peoples needed a Greece. And, of course, the Jews needed a homeland. The problem with such a perspective, what some cultural theorists would call a binary perspective, is that it doesn’t settle competing autonomy claims over a disputed territory. The history of political self-determination is littered with the consequences of disputed realms: Northern Ireland, Kashmir and Israel being three bloody examples.
continue reading… »
Top Stories and Blog Review – 11th January 2008
Nationwide
Prince Harry is in bother again.
Brown courts Cameron and Milburn is back.
Primark employs illegal immigrants at less than half min wage (allegedly).
Parents of dead climber go to retrieve his body.
International
Hamas Rocket Chief is killed.
EU Gas Monitors deployed in Ukraine.
France bans advertising of mobile phones to children.
Hamas leader blames Israel shock.
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Jennie Rigg
Andy Worthington soberly marks seven years of Gitmo.
Strange Frontier posts approvingly (albeit slightly swearily) about the Atheist Bus Campaign. Wardman Wire has a contrasting post.
Peter Black, AM likens the current Labour administration to John Major’s Tories (Spitting Image version)
Helen Duffet fangirls Darwin, and wonders what sort of a blogger he would have been (little does she know he also fanboys her work at LDV!)
Stephen Glenn and Septicisle have photo posts about the Gaza rallies.
UK Polling Report has two posts about the YouGov Euro poll.
Quick links to stuff that amused me: sexy Vince picture on political betting shock; Sunny has a fanboy even more shock; Alex Wilcock putting his Liberal boot in to the Apple Corporation YAY; and The Honourable Lady Mark is an international success (I think I may faint).
And finally, for those of you who just can’t get enough links, the 69th Carnival of Feminists is up at This is What a Feminist Blogs Like.
Betraying sex workers
In any discussion that takes place these days about prostitution and other forms of sex work it’s virtually guaranteed that at some point in the debate either the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) or the International Union of Sex Workers (IUSW), or indeed both, will be cited by someone as being the authentic voice of those working in the industry.
Whenever those of us who are opposed to legalisation or across the board decriminalisation air our views, we’re invariably shouted down and accused of not listening to what prostitutes themselves want: “Go and talk to the IUSW” we’re told: “they represent prostitutes: they know what they’re talking about.”
The IUSW in particular seems to be working hard just lately to raise its profile, and has managed to garner support from Feminist Fightback among others. But then, as the IUSW is a recognised branch of the GMB, one of Britain’s biggest trade unions, it’s not hard to see why a left-wing, rights-orientated group like Feminist Fightback would be drawn to them.
After all, there’s no doubt that women working in prostitution suffer some of the worst abuses and are some of the most vulnerable women in society, so if there’s a trade union group out there that can offer them support and representation, then what could be wrong with that?
But as this discussion over at the F Word showed recently, the reality is more complicated. continue reading… »
Craig Murray fights the lawyers
In July last year I highlighted that legal firm Schillings was trying to prevent former Uzbekistan ambassador Craig Murray from publishing his book, ‘The Catholic Orangemen of Togo and Other Conflicts’. In December, the Observer’s Pendennis reported:
The manuscript has not yet been made public, but it is thought that Spicer’s objections must involve revisiting the time Murray told a parliamentary committee he felt he’d been “set up” by Spicer, who was “extremely difficult to pin down and shifty”.
…
Murray, who had his first book published despite an attempt at censorship by the Foreign Office, says he will not be put off. He plans to post it on the internet in its original form. “There are now 122 electronic copies safe in 27 different jurisdictions, all to hit the net,” he tells me. “In the modern age, you can’t suppress the truth as you could when a few printing presses were the only means of mass communication. I have also started up Atholl publishing to produce copies myself for sale, primarily through Amazon.”
That day is tomorrow, Monday. So spread the word.
Today’s London march for Palestine
Well, wow, is all I can say. I think over 50,000 – 70,000 people attended today’s march in London against the fighting in Gaza. Impressive, considering it was so cold I couldn’t feel my hands half the time.
This pic was taken once I was back safely in a coffeeshop. More pictures below the fold.
Blog coverage: septicisle and Jamie Sport have commentary and pics.
More: fridgemagnet, bigbluemeanie, lenin’s tomb,
Update: more coverage now also at: harpymarx, The Daily (Maybe), Though Cowards Flinch, Socialist Unity and I.R.
Aren’t markets evil?
A few days ago I posted a comment on LC in which I suggested that most people who make money do so dishonestly – in other words, bankers aren’t a species apart, more like typical capitalists – and I named three people who I thought had made their money in an open and honest way. I was quickly picked up on one of the names, who turned out not to be as squeaky-clean as I had thought.
I was more interested, though, in the behaviour of the dog in the night. Not one of the free-marketeers who comment so copiously here cared to offer another name of a successful entrepreneur who had made their pile transparently and cleanly.
Free-marketeers love to tell us that every time a transaction takes place, that because the parties are willing to agree to the price, that price must therefore be fair.
continue reading… »
Top Stories and Blog Review – 10th Jan
Nationwide
‘Squeeze the rich’ mantra is back in fashion
Osborne wants loan scheme for businesses
Poles call for anti-hate crime action
UK economy ‘now at 28-year low’
UK has led efforts for Gaza ceasefire
International
Thousands protest at Israel’s assault on Gaza
International plan hatched to reinstall Fatah
Global outlook worsens for output and jobs
Israel, Hamas brush off cease-fire resolution
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Sunny
No blog review today, just a video…
Top Stories and Blog Review – 10th Jan
Nationwide
‘Squeeze the rich’ mantra is back in fashion
Osborne wants loan scheme for businesses
Poles call for anti-hate crime action
UK economy ‘now at 28-year low’
UK has led efforts for Gaza ceasefire
International
Thousands protest at Israel’s assault on Gaza
International plan hatched to reinstall Fatah
Global outlook worsens for output and jobs
Security Council calls for cease-fire in Gaza
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Sunny
No blog review today, just a video…
Gender anti-fascism and the fourth wave
People have been asking to write about men and feminism, and today, when I read our own Cath Eliot’s latest article on sexual bullying of girls at school, it all clicked into place.
Because of course, Cath is right. School is where it all starts. School is where girls learn to be sexually frightened of men. School is where girls learn that their bodies are objects of desire over which they do not automatically get sovereignty. And the fact that people are sitting up and taking this seriously can only be applauded.
But Cath’s article only tells a part of the truth, and sometimes a half-truth can be cripplingly misleading.
continue reading… »
Gaza: an end to whataboutery
The tragic situation in Gaza is a very serious issue. But there is another place where a cessation of hostilities would do no harm – and could even help too. How about a cessation of ‘whatabouttery’ on the internet?
Yes, we mean you. If you can only see the humanity of one side and never the other, one side of the history, and one side of the suffering. If everything you say is to point the finger of blame at the baddies and exonerate the goodies. If you haven’t had a new point to make for five, ten or sixty years.
You are not part of the solution; you are part of the problem.
- if you are ordering pizza for the Israeli Defence Force,
- waving Hamas flags on peace rallies
- organising boycotts, blame and ostracism
- if you think that bombing Gaza will bring peace
- if you think Hamas are a bunch of valiant freedom fighters
- if all you can do is quote SWP or Conservative Friends of Israel talking points…
Peace is difficult because it will come when Palestinians and Israelis recognise the essential truth – that their peace and security is mutually inter-dependent.
That’s difficult for those at the centre of the conflict. But what’s your excuse?
Ever stop and wonder if you’re making it worse? Well, you are
Why not think before you post? Why not give peace a chance instead of just cheering one side?
Whatabout taking a few weeks off?
Please feel free to sign below and/or distribute it with the words changed.
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