Response to Chants at Demo

I would agree with you on the "Down, down Israel" chant. To refer to Israel is to refer to the entire population--some of which have explicitly expressed their trepidation at the IDF's behavior--is obviously counter-productive as it generalizes the actions of Israel's economic and military elite (the true culprits) to include the blessing of all citizens. Certainly, an acquiescent public is, to some degree, guilty of their representatives' crimes, but it seems to me much more beneficial to educate this public instead of incensing them. However, the "Down, down Sharon" chant is, in my opinion, very warranted. He is one of the main decision-makers in the ongoing atrocities in Palestine and needs to be held accountable--along with many others (and not all are from Israel). As far as the media's depiction of the protest, I don't see a lot of value in being too concerned about that. In this climate of "with us, or against us" conflicts are being analyzed within the media in a rather binary fashion. Obviously, things are much more complicated than a "position A or position B" mindset would indicate. We can hope people think and construct our own actions to educate people to comprehend the world outside of Bush's two-dimensional framework. I am from America, so I can't really comment on the Independent's linking of the Palestine Solidarity Movement and the IRA. Matty

Created By: Matthew Darcy