Dignity for Palestinians and Burning Sacred Flags
Alex Lotorto
Issue date: 1/29/09 Section: Op/Ed
In response to Adam Yu's pieces last week, "The case for Israel's defense" and "Our Sacred Flag," I would like to have a coming-out. In the last two years, I have come to identify as an anarchist and humanist. In a sound byte, anarchism is a way of life that manifests participatory democracy, mutualism, and consent by replacing coercion, hierarchy, and domination. Humanism is love, defense, and solidarity for human beings regardless of identity or origin.
Now that I'm out and proud, I would like to propose a radical shift: for peace, justice, equality, and environmental sustainability everywhere, for everyone. With our current power relationships, it is 'radical' to believe that these things can exist all at the same time. Today's academic, political, and economic elites, like many of us at Muhlenberg, render these principles inaccessible or impossible. We privileged few find it remarkably convenient that governments, lobbies, and corporations exist as we're trained how to use them to our benefit. My hat is off to anyone who thinks otherwise.
Among many things that are completely incompatible with my proposal is the ideology of nationalism. In the name of national identity, governments are formed. Certainly, we can agree that both 'government' and 'nation' are not synonymous with the people who live within their arbitrary borders. Every system that concentrates decision-making power in the hands of the few must be defended with violence and other types of coercion.
Now in an overview, both the United States of America and Israel are nation-states that were colonized without the consent or cooperation of the people who were living there before. Pretty flags, borders, governments, hierarchies, parties, pledges, anthems, and portraits were drawn up predominately by authoritarian old white men to beautify the violence and resource hoarding they needed to establish their power.
Forgive me for being short on a complex history, but I have to move onto burning flags. Flags stand for governments, not people. It says in the Pledge, "to the republic, for which it stands." Therefore, someone who sees their government as despotic, undemocratic, and destroying "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" ought to burn their flag! After all, the US government remains the greatest purveyor of violence in the world. Why would I ever want to pledge allegiance to its criminal politicians? I'd rather burn the flag they hide behind, among other things.
Now that I'm out and proud, I would like to propose a radical shift: for peace, justice, equality, and environmental sustainability everywhere, for everyone. With our current power relationships, it is 'radical' to believe that these things can exist all at the same time. Today's academic, political, and economic elites, like many of us at Muhlenberg, render these principles inaccessible or impossible. We privileged few find it remarkably convenient that governments, lobbies, and corporations exist as we're trained how to use them to our benefit. My hat is off to anyone who thinks otherwise.
Among many things that are completely incompatible with my proposal is the ideology of nationalism. In the name of national identity, governments are formed. Certainly, we can agree that both 'government' and 'nation' are not synonymous with the people who live within their arbitrary borders. Every system that concentrates decision-making power in the hands of the few must be defended with violence and other types of coercion.
Now in an overview, both the United States of America and Israel are nation-states that were colonized without the consent or cooperation of the people who were living there before. Pretty flags, borders, governments, hierarchies, parties, pledges, anthems, and portraits were drawn up predominately by authoritarian old white men to beautify the violence and resource hoarding they needed to establish their power.
Forgive me for being short on a complex history, but I have to move onto burning flags. Flags stand for governments, not people. It says in the Pledge, "to the republic, for which it stands." Therefore, someone who sees their government as despotic, undemocratic, and destroying "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" ought to burn their flag! After all, the US government remains the greatest purveyor of violence in the world. Why would I ever want to pledge allegiance to its criminal politicians? I'd rather burn the flag they hide behind, among other things.