Nation States

When the genocide in Gaza began last October I put a Palestinian flag in my window. I have had the flag for a couple of decades, bought at an international craft and unity fair, never putting it to use in any way. After a couple of days I felt silly and pretentious, and took the flag down. No one noticed it anyway, but it focused my attention on the debacle in Gaza, and it made me think about my perceptions, beliefs and how I could help.

There isn’t much I can do. Write this blog, donate some money (I don’t have much), show up for events, write to various political leaders, government entities, news media, talk to people.

I went to the tent encampment at the University of Wisconsin earlier this month, where there were Palestinian flags in abundance, and numerous people were wearing keffiyehs, the Arab and Palestinian scarf. I pictured myself wearing one, and once again felt silly and pretentious. And, I would have looked silly and pretentious.

Prone to self-reflection, I wondered why I was so shy about wearing cultural attire in solidarity with the oppressed. It just isn’t me. It would be like wearing a uniform, to me at least, and I have been averse to uniforms of any kind. It would mean identifying with a group, or mass, and my inclination is to disidentify as a personal spiritual path, becoming nobody. Not A nobody, but nobody, no one in particular – no "race," no nationality, no gender, and no religion, though my inclination is to Buddhism as a practice. I'm not a veteran either, except at the VA. I don’t get up in the morning and say "What a great day to be heterosexual." Or a "white" man, a man, an "American" or even a Buddhist. Buddha consciousness appeals to me, and it would be nice to attain that state, but it is a state of being, not an identity. I at least have the sense to know that I don’t reach that state by ever more identifying as a Buddhist, as in "Boy, I’m really, really, really a Buddhist today!"

I don’t say this to anyone - it's not the time - but I don't believe in a Palestinian state. I don’t believe in the State of Israel either. I don’t believe in the United States of America. They are all nation states. In the case of Palestine, it is a potential state, a small state, but a state nonetheless. Before the encroachment of Zionism there was no state at all, though the British empire seized the land as its own colony, or "protectorate." Before British protection the region lived in relative peace as part of the Ottoman Empire. Then came World War I - the supposed Great War. Great, I suppose, in an ironic sense, or maybe great for profiteers and politicians.

Once Britain had Palestine defined as something distinct and theirs, it was all the easier to give it away as they saw fit, which they did after World War II, granting it to the created settler state of Israel. Little did they know they were creating the ultimate nation state, a monstrous combination of conceited religion, ethnicity, military rapaciousness, and lust for power and land. Beware anyone else, especially those nearby, but as we are seeing in places like UCLA, perceived enemies anywhere on the planet.

To the British it was an act of killing two birds with one stone – getting rid of Jews and creating a wedge in the Middle East from which they could, along with the U.S. and other European powers, arm to the teeth and maintain power (hegemony) in the region. Nation states could band together against other nation states, build up their own armies and fight others, carefully choosing weaker opponents to obliterate - such as Iraq and Afghanistan in our case - and the stateless Palestinians in the case of Israel. We have since taken up the mantle of sponsor of Israel, having the guns and money that European countries can't afford. Or don't need to afford, having us to foot all bills

It is totally evil, but these nation states show neither scruple nor hesitation when it comes to genocide and destruction. Veterans of all these phony wars should be evidence enough of the folly of endless nation state carnage. We just had Memorial Day in the U.S., somber remembrances, patriotic parades, music, fireworks (of course), flags at half-staff, members of the services in dress blues doing 21 gun salutes, and Forrest Gump actor Gary Sinise posing as a celebrity spokesman for those who served, because he acted like a wounded soldier in a comedy-fantasy movie. I don’t use the word sheesh very often, but sheesh!

So the nation state of Russia invaded the smaller nation state of Ukraine early last year. Israel is still invading the non-existent nation state of Gaza since last October. The U.S. is supporting and arming the smaller nation state of Ukraine, but supporting and arming the larger and uninhibited nation state of Israel in its genocide of the stateless people of Gaza.

We also have chosen to call the nation state of China our enemy, or adversary. It is kind of hapless. China is a very big, very powerful nation state, with a large army, powerful navy, and nuclear weapons. We don’t have a draft anymore, and young people are not flocking to enlistment centers, but what the heck, we’re a nation state, and preparing for and threatening war is what nation states do. For now. If we want to save our conglomeration of nation states maybe we could stop waging war on nature, and instead declare war on climate change. 

It is not going to happen. Wars are about destruction, mayhem and mass murder. Where’s the fun in saving the planet?

Interestingly enough, the nation state of "America" hasn’t seen fit to bomb or invade the smaller and poverty stricken nation state of North Korea, which used to be united with its ethnic brother South Korea, in pre-nation state, pre-World War II, where large nation states brought everyone in on the carnage. North Korea has nuclear weapons, so never mind. It is too unpredictable and unmanageable, and we can just posture semi-aggressively and hope for the best. Such is the great wisdom of the most powerful nation state on Earth, by our own definition, us, the narcissism center of the Universe, America. What’s on TV tonight? Let’s call out for pizza! 

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Here's a song. Here's another. Jimi Hendrix, my favorite.

Distractions

PBS, like NPR, is struggling to attract new and younger tuners-in. Both are publicly-supported but corporate and donor dependent, and younger people have many options to choose from in news and entertainment. PBS and NPR began in the 1970s, when a public option to commercial and corporate media was a growing public demand, and when government spending was seen as a public benefit.

It didn't used to be this way, but both networks are feverishly appealing to listeners and viewers for money. Minions at Wisconsin Public Radio have even gone so far as falsely saying the "public" in public radio is members of the public who donate. It actually means publicly supported - the public-at-large, represented through taxation and government spending at the national and state level.

I don't listen or watch either much anymore. NPR, in its desperation to attract young people, is attempting to make it anchors and reporters more appealing by having them be more informal and chummy, greeting each other with "Hey." For me it is a cue to turn the radio off. 

PBS's NewsHour, while not as obnoxious, has become somewhat like local TV news, friendly, superficial and boring. Both networks have become not worth my time.

A perfect example of PBS's trend is a show I tuned into last night, GZERO World With Ian Bremmer. The subject at hand was the Gaza protests at college and university campuses around the country. Instead of delving into why students are protesting - the U.S. sponsorship of Israel's bombing, starvation and mass murder - the discussion instead did the usual establishmentarian distraction of false equivalency of protesters versus supposed uncomfortable Jewish students who are victims of "antisemitism." The canard of antisemitism is very likely an AIPAC motivated changing the subject tactic, the real meaning being anyone who criticizes Israel is an antisemite. 

And so it goes. We have been building up to this predicament for a long time. In the simplistic world of Trump versus Biden we can indulge in escapism, focusing on periphery. It won't be for much longer.

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Some Recent Posts Elsewhere

Some of my favorite writing is in off-the-cuff comments to various news sites I visit. I never know if they will even make it into print, but when they do it can be gratifying and sometimes great fun. My most recent attempt made it into the New York Times, and had the most positive recommendations of any, 503 so far.

The View Within Israel Turns Bleak   

John Hamilton 

Madison, Wisconsin 

May 16

This of course won't last. I follow the simple Buddhist principle of impermanence. Anything that has a beginning has an end. For example, I had a beginning. I was born in 1945, three years before the granting of statehood to the settler state of Israel. Impermanence has been pretty obvious to me for many years, more so every day.

Our infinite-growth economic system also had a beginning. The established belief, especially among politicians and corporate executives and owners, is that it can indeed grow forever. To the rest of us it is becoming more obvious every day that it can't. When growth runs out, the system ends. With that end, among other things, will be the end of our sponsorship of Israel, and all the perfidy that it entails.

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Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin Calls On Samuel Alito To Recuse From Jan. 6 Cases

John Hamilton

I am old enough to remember when an upside down flag was used to protest the Vietnam War, nukes, civil rights abuses, corporate malfeasance and environmental crimes. Now it is seen as "patriotic" by a certain backward element in this country.

What I would like to see more of among our intelligentsia and punditocracy is a questioning of why it is so important to this backward element to overthrow democracy. It is really a hysteria, a feverish desire to be in power, and all the better if it is illegitimate. Various former members of the Trump cabinet, such as William Barr, say Trump is unfit to hold office, but endorse him over Biden.

These former Trump loyalists say things like Democrats in power would be a national disaster, the end of America, and such like. They never say just what would be so disastrous, but instead monger fear of said unsaid disaster. We have a Democrat in power now, and so far no disaster, except in Palestine, but Republicans don't care about that. Here's a song: Here's another. 

Alito, Thomas, Kavanaugh, Roberts Barrett and Gorsuch should recuse themselves from ALL cases that come before the court. They are all tainted by dishonest and/or antidemocratic behavior before, during and after their nominations to the Supreme Court. Heh. They can stay on the Court, just can't hear any cases or make any decisions. Instead of black robes they can wear clown outfits. No noisemakers. Big shoes will be standard attire.

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Rep. Lauren Boebert Ridiculed For Attending Trump's Trial, But Not Her Son's

This won't last. The "Republican" party has been in a long downward slide, beginning with the ascendancy of Richard Nixon to the vice presidency in 1953. It went from a conservative approach to governance to a grandstanding, demagogic, scapegoating, corporate-serving, corrupt and antidemocratic gang of pretenders. It was a long downward slide, but it has likely reached its bottom.

It of course has reached its candidate bottom with Donald Trump, former and possible future president. Trump would seem to be finished, but Joe Biden is giving him a lifeline by running for reelection. Biden, a typical "centrist" president, fully backs the genocide in Gaza, pretending to criticize while offering more weapons and money.

I don't think either Trump or Biden will be their party's candidate by November 5 for health and legal reasons, but I may be inappropriately optimistic. Boebert will be gone too.

John Hamilton

Day five of the pro-Palestine encampment at Library Mall

To:editor@dailycardinal.com
Mon, May 6 at 12:47 PM

Hello

I quit Facebook and have been blocked from Twitter since 2019 for referring to Trump by his ancestral name Drumpf, so email is my remaining option. I was reading the article about antisemitic chalkings in today's edition, and found a common error that happens in much of the mass communications media - equating opposition to Israel and its actions to antisemitism. 

I suppose it can be called a trope, or a meme, but the accusation of antisemitism is wielded as a cudgel to denigrate critics of Israel, and is a handy accusation in general. The term Semite actually includes many peoples of the Mideast, and thanks to the history of meddling in the region by the U.S. government through invasions, assassinations, overthrows and gun-running over many decades, it is the USA that is the world's worst antisemite. It could be argued that our client Israel is the second worst, in one of history's greatest ironies.

I was surprised to see support for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, though they are certainly as legitimate as the state of Israel, a gifted entity that has expanded its gift over the decades through settlement, displacement and conquer. Hamas is, like it or not, the legal governing body of Gaza, designated a terrorist organization by the central designator of terrorism, the ruling regime of the United States of America. Whatever heinous behavior they commit pales in comparison with the occupier, the government of Israel.

I don't read the Daily Cardinal very often, though I should. Student journalists often do better work than their paid counterparts in commercial media. I listen to the Cardinal Call on WORT on Tuesdays, and enjoy it greatly. Best of luck in the future. These are interesting and dangerous times.

John Hamilton 

Madison

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Here's a song. This song is for Genocide Joe and his controller Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Last Place To Look For Solutions

A news story yesterday in the New York Times quoted Cindy McCain, director of the World Food Program, as saying that northern Gaza has descended into full-blown famine, and that it is spreading south. In other words, the genocide is nearing completion. With our help.

This is part of a pattern. Our president, Joe Biden, has lied and euphemized about the carnage in Gaza since October 7 of last year, and eagerly sent Israel billions more in money and weaponry. He excuses the genocide with the crude excuse "Israel has the right to self-defense." When starving families sitting in their apartments are bombed and buried under rubble it counts as legitimate self-defense in the Genocide Joe calculus.

Students at colleges and universities across the country are demonstrating in support of the Palestinians and shaming their administrations for their investments in Israel. Our corporate media cover this, but frame it in terms of lawlessness and "anti-Semitism." In media parlance this is known as a "narrative." A mob attacked student protesters with clubs and metal pipes at UCLA on Thursday, but the LA Times described the mob as "counter-demonstrators." I suspect that when it is found out just who these attackers are it will be something much more ominous.

The most well-known protest is going on at Columbia University in New York City, where students are being vilified, beaten and arrested by police, and expelled from school. This follows months of university presidents being bullied by Congressional committees about supposed anti-Semitism, and the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson coming to the Columbia campus to insult and denigrate the students, all for purposes other than addressing anything real about Gaza, genocide, freedom of speech or the right to freely assemble.

Here in Madison, home of the University of Wisconsin’s main campus, students are camped out at the Library Mall, similar to the student protesters at Columbia. Campus police and sheriff’s deputies broke up the encampment Wednesday, arresting 34 students and professors, similar to what is going on in New York. 

The encampment resumed two hours later, and the tents are back, being given a temporary suspension of police involvement while "negotiations" are being pursued. It has been a huge embarrassment for the university chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and her bureaucratic bunglers, and most importantly is unpopular.

I stopped by the encampment Friday, talked with a few students, took some pictures, and listened to an eloquent speech by a Palestinian imam from Milwaukee, Sheikh Rami Bleibel. It was a relaxing, sunny day, and the students were casually engaged in conversations and study for final exams. There was one non-student decked out in "patriotic" regalia of the MAGA kind, wandering around the crowd seeking attention or trouble, but being completely ignored. I followed him for a few minutes, just to see what he was up to. He left after parading through the area, full of swagger to the end, but no one paid him any attention. Had it been UCLA it would not have been one guy, they would have been bigger, and with weapons.

I spent four months in Los Angeles in 1968, a last fling before going into the U.S. Army. Hitchhiking was pretty common in those days, and one night I got bored with what I was doing with friends in Northridge and tried my luck hitchhiking back to the apartment we lived in. I got ticketed by a cop for being off the curb when I was hitchhiking. There was no curb on that part of the street, but all the arresting officer needed was an excuse. I looked like a hippie, and that was enough. When I protested that there was no curb the cop made it clear that this was non-negotiable. 

I had to go to court in nearby Van Nuys a couple of weeks later to pay a fine, around $25, if I remember right. Not long after that I returned to Illinois to embark on a three-year indenture to the U.S. military. Heh. I hitchhiked a few times while in the Army, once from Fort Monmouth to D.C. and later in Germany. No police ever stopped me.

It didn’t seem like it at the time, but looking back on it, I was lucky. The cop was looking for trouble. I remember him saying how surprised he was that I was polite, and I suppose it was due to the fact that I was from out-of-state that I just kind of went with the flow. Had I not been polite, who knows how it would have turned out.

What I have learned since then is that California police, and especially in Los Angeles, are in general the most brutal and corrupt in the country, though many other places are catching up. Student protests are an opportunity to practice their skills and get in a bit of sadism. All with impunity, as bureaucrats in higher education desperately try to do what they think will help them keep their jobs. Career outweighs any consideration of ethics, morality or common decency. Serve power at all times, however illegitimate.

What we have is a genocide nearing its dénouement, and the money, weapons and political sponsor, us, doing whatever possible to provide propaganda cover and bullying of dissenters. Members of Congress who question our support for Israel are being threatened and having primary election challenges, their opponents sponsored by AIPAC, the American Israel Political Affairs Committee.

Genocide Joe Biden needs to toe the line with the Israeli genocide, lest he find AIPAC turn its support to deranged criminal sociopath Donald Trump. Politicians routinely sell their souls to the Devil, in metaphorical terms, so Biden is not unique. What may be a bit unique, though, is how transparently phony his complicity with Israel’s genocide is, and how silly he looks pretending he is concerned about the Palestinians when he so eagerly sends Israel more money and weapons, repeatedly.

As I have said before, this will not end well for anyone. It certainly won’t end well for the Palestinians, who face the deaths of millions from indiscriminate bombing, starvation, and from the pending and meaningless attack on Rafah. It won’t end well for Joe Biden, who from my perspective will not be the "Democratic" candidate for president by November 5, election day. It won’t end well for the university presidents who chose career over competence and decency. 

And it won't end well for the United States of America, a nation that has abandoned its role as the champion of human rights and respect for any kind of rule of law. We, along with Israel, are becoming a world pariah. This all comes at a time when climate change is kicking into high gear, and the worldwide infinite-growth industrial behemoth is about to face finitude. As global Capitalism finally reaches its day of reckoning, the last place people on this planet look to for solutions will be the gone mad U.S. of A.

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Here's a song. Original version.  John Lennon. Hans Wilhelm explains Karma. Allen Ginsberg. Buffalo Springfield. David Bowie.

A fresh perspective on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Professors nationwide are supporting their students in their protests against the genocide in Gaza.