Manipulated Narratives

Noun: Narrative:

A representation of a particular situation or process in such a way as reflect or conform to an overarching set of aims or values

Let us reject manipulated narratives

from all sides

for those who label all criticism as wrong

before hearing the complain

engage in a falsity, an apologism, a prejudice

as damaging and sinister as those they seek to criticise.

We must acknowledge only truths that are universal.

We cannot wind the clock back to 1948

nor to 1272BC

nor should we try.

We can do only our best

with each other

with the present.

Perhaps, as Malcolm X encouraged

we might leave religion in the closet

and focus upon that which unites us,

our humanity.

Might we not be better to adopt narratives

which focus on our shared humanity

that seek equality and equivalence?

These might be better narratives to pursue

more balanced

more honest

more responsive

less pre-meditated.

Might they not be better

Than seeking to mould the narrative

to the orthodoxy we wish to preserve 

If your every action is pre-determined

as correct

as justifiable

If the lens through which your every action is viewed

is so tainted and constrained as to obviate criticism

does that not mean

by definition that

all other interpretations must be false?

You would have it so that we cannot speak

and yet you can do so

in secrecy

with suppression orders hiding your identity

whilst your words cut down those who dare comment

and who do not conform to your orthodoxy

your narrative

It is not a manipulated narrative

To hold to account those who are responsible

to call out their wrongdoing

to disagree with orthodoxy 

to expose convenient, political friendships

the convenient omissions

Must we all chant in unison

“Israel has a right to defend itself”

Or “two legs good, four legs bad”

for us to prove our objectivity?

Irrespective of that we witness?

Let us not call disagreement hate

Certainly, to assault, to burn,

is wrong, hateful and impotent

But would you really have us silent?

The words and actions of Netanyahu, Smolitch, G’vir are to be condemned

not because they are Jewish

but because their words are inhumane and immoral and wrong

If the IDF kills 56,000 Palestinians, 

Maim 100,000 more

should we be silent?

or less outraged than the killing of 1,200? 

when children waiting for nutritional supplements

in a malnourished country, blockaded by their “neighbour”

those waiting for water

are bombed and killed

should we be silent

as our political leaders are?

As Paulo Friere said “without the praxis of action words are mere rhetoric“

We should speak out

we must

against those actors

their enablers

their armers

those who accept and appreciate that their dirty work is being done.

We must scream with rage (but not at those worshipping or breaking bread)

all of us

all who believe in humanity.

What is wrong is wrong!

The existence of Israel is not to blame

nor even the arrogance of those colonial powers

whose titles and entitlement led them to believe

that they have the right to take and give the land of others

Those who are to blame are in plain sight

our political masters

who cannot bring themselves to condemn

or to act

Those who wring their hands

whilst investing our funds with the corporate agents of death

buying their weapons

And facilitating and excusing the murderer’s every act

by collusion

memoranda of understanding

and trade deals

Who find risk and lack of character, 

for a 61 year old “stateless” grandmother

without stated reasons

but who shack the hands of and fawn to the architects of death

in the stinking urinal that is the White House.

These truths are undeniable:

1. Israel has a right to exist
2. The Jewish people have a right to self determination
3. Palestine has a right to exist
4. The Palestinian people have a right to self determination
5. With rights come duties and responsibilities, including the right of each sovereign nation to acknowledge and support the existence of all others and to not interfere in their affairs
6. Every person has a right to full citizenship and enjoyment of all civil benefits and responsibilities of the nation in which they are born and in which they live
7. The leader of a nuclear power, who claim the territory of others as their own, who annex or seek the expulsion of populations therefrom, represent an existential threat to Palestinians
8. To support the existence of a free, independent Palestinian State is neither calling for the destruction of Israel nor antisemitic
9. The display of a Palestinian flag, wearing of a keffiyeh or a “Free Palestine” t-shirt is, of itself, no more antisemitic than the display of an Israeli flag, the wearing of a yamaka or an “I stand with Israel” t-shirt is, of itself, Islamophobic
10. Every human life is equal and further:
    1. An Israeli life is equal to and not less nor more valuable than a Palestinian life
    2. A Palestinian life is equal to and not less nor more valuable than an Israeli life
    3. An American life is equal to and not less nor more valuable than any other life
11. Israeli settlements in the occupied territories of Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights are illegal
12. The Holocaust 1932-1945 was very real and resulted in the deliberate and systematic death of over 6 million Jews and hundreds of thousands of communists, political dissenters, Romany, homosexuals, intellectually and physically disabled peoples, Jehovah’s Witnesses and others
13. There are existing laws, in Australian criminal codes, to deal with attacks on places of worship, irrespective of denomination and new or more specific laws are unnecessary 
14. The Balfour declaration supported the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine on the basis that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”
15. In 1947 the UN adopted resolution 181 which purported to divide the colonially constructed British Mandate of Palestine into a separate Jewish and a separate Arab State.
16. In 1948 the Nakba occurred, and 750,000 Arabs were displaced from their homes and from the then State of Israel
17. All Jews are not collectively responsible for the actions of the government of Israel and its military
18. All Palestinians are not collectively responsible for the actions of the government of Gaza and its military
19. It is never “just and moral”, as Bezalel Smotrich has stated, to starve 2 million people, to collectively punish them, no matter the end to be achieved, even if others in the world would (as they are) allow you to do so 
20. You do not fight hate and prejudice by referring to Palestinians (or any human being) as “Barbarians at the gate”