“Kan du fatte det, perker!”

Hvordan er det at være ung dansker af anden etnisk baggrund og gøre brug af sin grundlovssikrede ret til at demonstrere, f.eks. mod Israels krig i Gaza? Her et et bud:

Via Modkraft, der også nævner et andet eksempel politiets provokerende, truende og formentlig dybt ulovlige adfærd:

Den anden episode drejer sig om 17-årige Camilla Christiansen fra København, der efter at være blevet anholdt oplevede at blive kaldt »landsforræder« af en betjent. Udtalelsen falder, da hun forklarer betjenten, at hendes koran-halssmykke skyldes interesse for islam, en religion den unge pige overvejer at konvertere til.

Den 17-årige pige deltager den 10. januar i en moddemonstration på Rådhuspladsen i København vendt mod en pro-israelsk demonstration. Hun anholdes senere samme dag, da nogle betjente mener at kunne genkende hende fra en episode tidligere på dagen, hvor det kom til noget skubberi mellem unge dansk-palæstinensiske demonstranter og politi.

Da betjentene har anholdt hende, placerer de hende på gulvet mellem sæderne i mandskabsvognen. Siddende her med hænderne bundet med strips på ryggen, spørger en af betjentene hende, hvor hendes mor og far er.

– Min mor er derhjemme, min far kender jeg ikke, svarer hun, hvorefter politimanden siger:

– Det er derfor, din mor ikke kan opdrage dig ordentligt. Er du dansker?

følge Camilla Christiansen spørger politimanden formentlig til hendes etniske oprindelse, fordi hun har mørkt hår og går i følgeskab med to dansk-palæstinensiske piger, der begge bærer muslimsk hovedtørklæde.

Hun svarer »ja« til spørgsmålet, hvilket får politimanden til at spørge til den kæde, hun bærer om halsen:

– Hvis du er dansker, hvorfor har du så Koranen hængende om halsen?

– Fordi jeg interesserer mig for islam, svarer Camilla Christiansen, der aldrig tidligere har været anholdt.
Svaret får betjenten til at kalde hende for »landsforræder«, en bemærkning som ifølge Camilla Christiansen får de øvrige politifolk til at grine.

Fascister i det danske politi? Quelle surprise. Jeg siger velbekomme.

Link: Betjent: »Sæt dig ned perker!

Gaza: Hvem har ansvaret?

Et gennemgående argument fra folk, der forsvarer Israels ret til at invadere Gaza og gøre stort set bare, hvad der passer dem i den forbindelse (og med 1200 døde, heraf mere end 400 børn, har de ikke lagt mange bånd på sig selv), er, at det er nødvendigt for at knuse Hamas og i øvrigt er det Hamas, der har tvunget dem til at agere på den måde ved deres raketangreb, som kun viser, at Israel lige så godt kunne have ladet være med at ophæve besættelsen af Gaza for et par år siden.

Alle disse argumenter er falske – besættelsen af Gaza er aldrig ophørt, og de seneste ugers omfattende invasion har tydeligvis ikke været i stand til at standse hverken det ene eller det andet raketangreb. Få siger det bedre end den israelske journalist og kommentator Gideon Levy, her i et svar til forfatteren A. B. Yehoshua:

It is as if the mighty, including you, have succumbed to a great and terrible conflagration that has consumed any remnant of a moral backbone.

You, too, esteemed author, have fallen prey to the wretched wave that has inundated, stupefied, blinded and brainwashed us. You’re actually justifying the most brutal war Israel has ever fought and in so doing are complacent in the fraud that the “occupation of Gaza is over” and justifying mass killings by evoking the alibi that Hamas “deliberately mingles between its fighters and the civilian population.” You are judging a helpless people denied a government and army – which includes a fundamentalist movement using improper means to fight for a just cause, namely the end of the occupation – in the same way you judge a regional power, which considers itself humanitarian and democratic but which has shown itself to be a brutal and cruel conqueror. As an Israeli, I cannot admonish their leaders while our hands are covered in blood, nor do I want to judge Israel and the Palestinians the same way you have.

The residents of Gaza have never had ownership of “their own piece of land,” as you have claimed. We left Gaza because of our own interests and needs, and then we imprisoned them. We cut the territory off from the rest of the world and the occupied West Bank, and did not permit them to construct an air or sea port. We control their population registrar and their currency – and having their own military is out of the question – and then you argue that the occupation is over? We have crushed their livelihood, besieged them for two years, and you claim they “have expelled the Israeli occupation”? The occupation of Gaza has simply taken on a new form: a fence instead of settlements. The jailers stand guard on the outside instead of the inside.

And no, I do not know “very well,” as you wrote, that we don’t mean to kill children. When one employs tanks, artillery and planes in such a densely populated place one cannot avoid killing children. I understand that Israeli propaganda has cleared your conscience, but it has not cleared mine or that of most of the world. Outcomes, not intentions, are what count – and those have been horrendous.

Gideon Levy er en af de meget få israelske kommentatorer, der tør gå mod strømmen og vise sit eget lands politik frem for, hvad den er – et nådesløst, langsomt og brutalt folkemord.  Måske klarsynet skyldes, at han som journalist ligesom kollegaen Amira Hass netop har specialiseret sig i forholdene i de besatte områder. I hvert fald er han altid et oplysende bekendtskab – således også her.

Dagens citat: KABOBfest

Kalash skriver, kort og godt:

The occupier could easily put an end to the violence perpetrated by Palestinians if it were to grant them freedom and basic civil rights.

Dette betyder dog ikke, fortsætter Fayyad, at han og de andre amerikanske palæstinensere, som skriver KABOBfest, er uvidende om diverse fejl og mangler hos den palæstinensiske modstand mod Israel, som den eksisterer i dag:

We fully support the concept but have differing views on the tactics being used. Many of our readers understand enough to justify their own contempt or support for such organizations, but most Americans can’t even comprehend the concept of Palestinian resistance – all they see are images that remind them of Hollywood terrorists. Dazed and confused, they have many questions…

Israel needs to end the occupation. Over the years – and particularly after being chosen by the people in free elections – Hamas has shown a consistent willingness to negotiate which has never been taken advantage of; it is doing everything it can. Nonetheless, its representatives need to do so with grace. Their defiance is understandable, as is their frustration; political expediency is obviously not their forte. But if they want to be taken seriously, they need to be less aggressive when speaking to the world. Of course, toning down the religious rhetoric would also facilitate their acceptance… and those boring speeches, read in the same monotonous tone, accompanied by the notorious waving finger we’ve come to know and hate, could use a change. They have a long way to go as a political organization, but one thing is certain: presently, Hamas has no reason to recognize Israel’s right to exist, especially not while it continues to kill Palestinians and make life miserable for the ones they spare.

Læs hele indlægget og bliv lidt klogere på Hamas’ rolle og mange (eksil-)palæstinenseres syn på dem.

Link: Hamas – What’s the Problem?

Al Jazeera udsender billeddækning af krigen i Gaza under Creative Commons-licens

Al Jazeera og Creative Commons fortæller i en fælles pressemeddelelse, at Al Jazeera har besluttet at oprette en pulje af videoer i TV-kvalitet, der er tilgængelige for offentligheden under en ren “Attribution”-licens, der indebærer, at man må redigere filmene som man vil og udsende dem både kommercielt og ikke-kommercielt – den eneste betingelse er, at man skal angive Al Jazeera som kilde.

I pressemeddelelsen hedder det bl.a.:

Al Jazeera Network today announced the world’s first repository of broadcast-quality video footage released under the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution license. Select Al Jazeera video footage – at this time, footage of the War in Gaza – will be available for free to be downloaded, shared, remixed, subtitled and eventually rebroadcasted by users and TV stations across the world with acknowledgement to Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera will release its exclusive Arabic and English coverage produced by the Network’s correspondents and crews in the Gaza Strip online at http://cc.aljazeera.net. The ongoing war and crisis in Gaza, together with the scarcity of news footage available, make the repository a key resource for anyone producing content about the current situation.

Mohamed Nanabhay, who headed New Media at Al Jazeera and launched the project, stated: “As one of the only international broadcasters in Gaza, our coverage of the war has been unsurpassed. The launch of Al Jazeera’s Creative Commons Repository means that our Gaza footage will be made available under the most permissive Creative Commons license (CC-BY). With the flexibility of the license, we expect to introduce our outstanding coverage to an even wider audience across the world. This means that news outlets, filmmakers and bloggers will be able to easily share, remix, and reuse our footage.”

Lawrence Lessig – founder of the Creative Commons organization and Professor of Law at Stanford University – stated: “Al Jazeera is teaching an important lesson about how free speech gets built and supported. By providing a free resource for the world, the network is encouraging wider debate, and a richer understanding.”

I praksis betyder det, at publikum vil få meget lettere adgang til den del af Al Jazeeras udsendelser, der placeres i Creative Commons-‘puljen’, og at videoer herfra kan bruges af alverdens TV-stationer – som af hensyn til konkurrencen måske vil føle sig tvunget til at følge trop.

I første omgang betyder det i praksis også, at offentligheden vil få meget lettere adgang til billeder af krigen i Gaza – forhåbentlig vil TV-stationer som DR og TV2 tage imod tilbuddet, når nu de ikke selv har journalister i området.

Læs også:

Al Jazeera Creative Commons Repository
Al Jazeera Announces Launch of Free Footage Under Creative Commons License
Al Jazeera Launches Creative Commons Repository

Via Boing Boing.

Kære arabiske masser: Tag den lidt med ro

Fayyad på KABOBfest har fået nok af de mange arabiske solidaritetsdemonstrationer med Gaza og palæstinenserne og opfordrer folk i den arabiske verden til at få orden på deres eget hus først i stedet for at bruge Gaza som alibi for følgagtighed og passivitet i det daglige:

Palestine appreciates your gestures of solidarity. But cut it out.

You are in no position to help us out, your speeches and demonstrations from rebellious gulf to the roaring ocean have never accomplished anything, so stop pretending that you are, or trying to.

You probably care, thank you, but you got your own issues to deal with, and frankly, stop using Palestine (albeit on a rhetorical level only) as an escape from facing your own issues.

You got more skeletons in your closet than a Halloween haunted house.

Almost all of you live under brutal dictatorships that treat you like shit; no rights, no dignity, and no freedoms. We live under brutal occupation that murders us by the thousands and robs our lands, rights, and freedoms.

But we know it. We resist. And for that we are more alive than you are. Through it all, we kept our dignity.

If you really want to do us favors, or help us, do yourselves a favor first. Clean up your house; rise up against injustices in your country. If not for yourselves, do it for us to show us that you’re masters of your own words and destinies.

Before you start enlisting in delusional programs to fight Israel with a volunteer army that will end up handing your names to your secrete police, and before you call on your governments to “open the gate for Jihad,” think about what your government stands for, whose interest it has at heart, and how many reform efforts it neutralized by letting you take to the streets one Friday afternoon to vent your anger against the Zionist enemy, only to be at your food, tea, shisha, or qatt gatherings by 5 pm.

True, we have our own share of corruption and dictatorship, at the first opportunity for people to choose, power-hungry, corrupt leaders turned against the choice of the people, and the people’s choice committed crimes and indulged in corruption when they had their chance, but it has not been easy for either of them, and we are under no illusions, we are not as presumptuous as to the point of going out in mass protests calling for the liberation of the people of Syria, Jordan, Egypt, or Saudi.

Please, clean your house up, and until then, don’t crowd the airwaves with your pointless drama, we got a case to make to the world.

Link: Dear Arabs, Just Chill Out

Israelsk historiker: Krigen i Gaza er en katastrofe

Avi Shlaim er professor i historie ved universitetet i Oxford og har altid været loyal overfor staten Israel, i hvis hær han gjorde tjeneste i 60erne.

Besættelsen af Gaza og Vestbredden og især den sidste tids angreb har dog fået filmen til at knække, skriver han i The Guardian:

The only way to make sense of Israel’s senseless war in Gaza is through understanding the historical context. Establishing the state of Israel in May 1948 involved a monumental injustice to the Palestinians. British officials bitterly resented American partisanship on behalf of the infant state. On 2 June 1948, Sir John Troutbeck wrote to the foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, that the Americans were responsible for the creation of a gangster state headed by “an utterly unscrupulous set of leaders”. I used to think that this judgment was too harsh but Israel’s vicious assault on the people of Gaza, and the Bush administration’s complicity in this assault, have reopened the question.

I write as someone who served loyally in the Israeli army in the mid-1960s and who has never questioned the legitimacy of the state of Israel within its pre-1967 borders. What I utterly reject is the Zionist colonial project beyond the Green Line. The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the June 1967 war had very little to do with security and everything to do with territorial expansionism. The aim was to establish Greater Israel through permanent political, economic and military control over the Palestinian territories. And the result has been one of the most prolonged and brutal military occupations of modern times.

Link: How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe

Israelsk kvinde: Denne krig er ikke i mit navn, ikke for min sikkerhed

Nedenunder følger en erklæring skrevet af Nomika Zion, medstifter af kibbutzen Migvan, programleder i Van Leer Jerusalem-centret og indbygger i Sderot, den by i Israel, som er hårdest ramt af Hamas’ Qassam-raketter.

Brevet er oversat til engelsk af aktivisten Assaf Oron og er oprindelig bragt på Daily Kos. Det bringes her i sin helhed, fordi det giver plads for en stemme, der ikke høres meget i mediebilledet. Kommentarer i [kantede paranteser] er indsat af oversætteren.

Sderot War Diary

Nomika Zion, Sderot, 8.1.09

“I talk with Sderot people and everyone’s cheeks are rosy again”, boasted Fuad on the war’s second day [Fuad is Benjamin Ben Eliezer, a long-time centrist Labor minister – Assaf]. “The heavier the blow we deliver – the more our hearts widen”.

Hey Fuad, not everyone. Even if I was the only one around Sderot feeling differently – and I am not – my voice should be heard.

Not in my name and not for me you went to war. The current bloodbath in Gaza is not in my name and not for my security. Destroyed homes, bombed schools, thousands of new refugees – are not in my name and not for my security. In Gaza there is no time for burial ceremonies now, the dead are put in refrigerators in twos, because there is no room. Here their bodies lay, policemen, children, and our nimble reporters play acrobatically with Hasbara strategies in view of “the images that speak for themselves”. Pray tell me, what is there to “explain”? [Hasbara literally means “explanation” – Assaf] What is there to explain?

I got myself neither security nor quiet from this war. After such an essential calm, that helped all of us heal emotionally and mentally and experience some sanity again [Nomika is referring here to the first 5 months of cease-fire, which were observed by both sides – Assaf] – our leaders have brought us back to the same wounded, anxiety-ridden place. To the same humiliating, terrified sprinting to shelter.

Don’t mistake me. Hamas is an evil, terrible terror organization. Not just for us. First and foremost to its own citizens. But beyond that wretched leadership there are human beings. With hard labor, ordinary people on both sides build small bridges of human gestures. This is what the Kol Aher, a group of people from Sderot and elsewhere on the Gaza border of which I am a member, has been doing. We have tried to lay down a human route to the hearts of our neighbors. While we have won a five-month calm, they continued to suffer under the siege. A young man told us he does not wish to marry and have kids, because in Gaza there is no future for children. A single airplane bomb drowns these human gestures in depths of blood and despair.

Qassams scare me. Since the war started, I almost didn’t dare cross the street. But even more frightening is the monolithic tone in our public sphere and our media, the unbreachable wall of jingoism. It scares me when my Kol Aher colleague is assaulted by other Sderotis, as he is interviewed and criticizes the war – and later receives anonymous phone threats and is afraid to return to his car. It scares me how little room there is for another voice, and how difficult it is to express it here. I am willing to pay the price of social isolation, but not the price of fear.

It scares me to see my city light up, celebrate and put up flags, and cheerleader squads hand out flowers on the streets, and people honk in glee at every one-ton bomb dropped on our neighbors. It scares me to hear the resident who happily admits that he has never been to a concert, but IDF’s bombing of Gaza is the best music he has ever heard. I am scared by the smug reporter interviewing him, who doesn’t challenge him even one bit.

It scares me that under the screen of Orwellian words, and the children’s corpses blurred on TV as a public service to us, we are losing the human ability to see the other side, to feel, to be shocked, to feel empathy. Under the codename ‘Hamas’, the media has created for us a huge dark demon with no face, no body and no voice. A million and a half people with no name.

A deep, dark stream of violence flows into the veins of Israeli society like a deadly disease, and it gets stronger from war to war. It has no smell and no shape, but we feel it very clearly here. It is a type of euphoria and trigger-happiness and joy of revenge and power-drunkenness and love of Mars, and the burial of the noble Jewish commandment: “when your enemy falls – do not celebrate”. Our morality is so polluted, so soiled now that it seems no washing will be able to remove the stains. Our democracy is so fragile, that you have to weigh every word in order to safeguard yourself.

The first time I felt the state is really protecting me, was when they got the ceasefire. I am not responsible for Hamas, and therefore I ask our own leaders: have you turned every stone in order to continue the calm? To extend the ceasefire? To use it to get a long-term agreement? To resolve the border-crossing and siege issues before they blow the whole thing up? Have you gone to the ends of the world looking for the right mediators? And why did you wave away, unblinkingly, the French ceasefire initiative after the war started? And why do you keep rejecting, to this very moment, every possible offer of negotiations? Do you think we have not reached our maximum Qassam quota here, that we can stand some more? That we have not yet reached the quota of killed Palestinian children that the world can stomach?

And who guarantees that Hamas can be toppled? Haven’t we tried this trick elsewhere? And who will come in its place? Global fundamentalist organizations? Al Qaeda? And how, from the heaps of rubble and hunger and cold and dead bodies, will moderate voices of peace grow? Where are you leading us? What future are you promising us here in Sderot?

And how much longer will you hang on our backs the tired old “backpack of lies” [cultural reference to a well-known book of 1948 war anecdotes – Assaf]: “there’s no one to talk with”, “it is a no-choice war”, “let the IDF finish the ‘job’”, “one good blow and we finish them”, “let’s topple the Hamas” and “who doesn’t want peace?”. The lies of brute force and the idiocy of even more brute force – your only guide for resolving the region’s problems.

And how come every hasty interview with a Kol Aher member, always begins and ends with the disdainful punch line by the reporter: “Don’t you think you are being naive?” How come the option of dialogue and negotiation and agreements and understandings, even with the worst of our enemies, has become a synonym for naivete, while the option of brute-force and war is always a wise, rational, ultimate one? Eight year of senseless cycle of bloodshed haven’t taught us anything about the futility of brute force? The IDF has slammed and shot and assassinated and razed and hit and missed and bombed – and what have we gotten in return? A rhetorical question, ain’t it.

It is extremely hard to live in Sderot nowadays. At night, the IDF pounds infrastructure and human beings, and our home walls shudder. By morning, we get Qassams – more sophisticated ones each time. A person going to work in the morning, does not know whether their home will be found standing by evening. At midday, we bury the best of our sons, who have paid with their lives for yet another “just” war. In the evening, after many difficulties, we manage to make contact with our desperate friends in Gaza. They have no electricity, no water, no gas, no food, nowhere to hide. And only the words of N., the 14-year-old whose school was bombed and whose classmate was killed, don’t leave my head. She writes us in perfect English, an email that her mom somehow managed to send:

“Help us, we are human beings after all”

No, Fuad, my cheeks are not rosy, they are not. A ton of Cast Lead is weighing on my heart, and my heart cannot contain it.

(translated from Hebrew by Assaf Oron)

Link: A Sderot Woman Speaks Out against Gaza Operation (via Lenin’s Tomb).

Død, dødekult og himmelråbende uvidenhed

Er Danmark i virkeligheden et provinsielt lorteland, et uvidende, tilbagestående bondesamfund, befolket af bønder, der er kommet til penge og blevet kræmmere, men stadig i hjertet er overbevist om, at livet er, som vor mor altid sagde det var, og at verden ender for enden af Lars Pæsens mark, og det ganske uanset, hvad alle de fine herrer fra Aarhus eller Kiöbenhawn mon finder på at sige?

Måske ikke, trods alt. Men det kan være svært at forestille sig et sted, hvor politiske positioner i den grad indtages og fastholdes uden nogen som helst viden om eller kendskab til det område, der dog er positionens genstand.

Et godt eksempel er klimaområdet, hvor forbløffende mange beslutter sig for det ene eller det andet uden så meget som at skele til de tilgængelige og forholdsvis let forståelige fakta i sagen.

På samme måde har jeg svært ved at forestille mig nogen steder, hvor den “borgerlige” fløj helt så kritikløst og ureflekteret sluger den israelske propaganda i sagen om den igangværende offensiv mod Gaza og endda selv supplerer denne propaganda med deres helt egne “kulturelle” indsigt i konfliktens og palæstinensernes natur, tilsyneladende helt uden nogen som helst historisk, kulturhistorisk, religionshistorisk eller for den sags skyld almenmenneskelig indsigt.

Et godt eksempel på det sidste er gårsdagens leder i 180 grader, der efter en vis formel beklagelse af den israelske brutalitet lægger skylden for de seneste rædsler på palæstinenserne, nærmere bestemt på den angivelige “dødskult” i det palæstinensiske samfund.

Hvordan det? Jo, palæstinenserne ærer deres døde, og de ærer de mennesker, der giver deres liv i kampen mod israelerne, som “martyrer”. Og på grund af denne “dødskult” sætter palæstinenserne altså sig selv op for de israelske angreb, lægger så at sige selv deres spædbørn under de frembrusende israelske tanks; eller, som lederskribenten i 180 grader udtrykker det:

Mens unge israelere drømmer om at blive iværksættere, og har rollemodeller i de iværksættere, der er nået på Nasdaq-indekset, drømmer store dele af den palæstinensiske ungdom i stedet om at blive martyrer, og har deres rollemodeller i de islamiske terrorister, som allerede har opgivet deres liv i kampen mod Israel.

Og her der det så, kæden i mine øjne hopper af. Der er krig, og de unge palæstinenseres land er besat af en tilsyneladende ganske brutal besættelsesmagt. Hvis modstandsfolk vækker beundring, kan det kun være svært at forstå, hvis vi samtidig vælger at være døve og blinde for vor egen historie.

Hvad siger vi f.eks. om de ganske få unge mænd, der blev dræbt under forsvaret af Danmark den 9. april 1940?

“De gav deres liv”. Og dem, der døde eller blev henrettet under modstandskampen? “De gav deres liv”, siger vi, som regel i beundring. Den italienske partisansang “Bella Ciao” handler om en ung mand, der går i døden med vidt åbne øjne og genopstår gennem de blomster, der spirer på hans grav.

Mindeparken i Århus indeholder navnene på tusinder af sydslesvigere, der faldt i 1. Verdenskrig. Det næste skridt, som ikke er den danske nationale tradition fremmed heller, er at håbe på at få lov til at være blandt de faldne, de heldige, der får lov at give deres liv for Fædrelandet. Dette er ikke nødvendigvis defaitisme á la “de levende skal misunde de døde”, men en dyrkelse af ofret og offerviljen.

Slår man op i en sangbog fra den danske nationalromantiske tradition, 1848 og 1864 og alt det dér, slår denne holdning én i møde fra sang efter sang, side op og side ned.

Den samme tankegang gennemsyrer den kristne martyrdyrkelse, hvilket kunne give sig absurde og nærmest komiske udslag: Under det mauriske herredømme i Spanien var straffen for blasfemi som regel døden (som den også var det i Danmark under Christian d. 4.).  I en periode havde man store problemer med “pseudomartyrer”: Ufordragelige kristne, som henvendte sig til den lokale dommer, udspyede de mest hårrejsende fornærmelser mod profeten og islam, som de kunne finde på, i håb om at få lov til at dø for deres tro og måske en dag blive helgenkåret. Begge håb blev dog i reglen gjort til skamme, det var naturligvis meget klogere at ignorere dem og bede de kristnes biskop om selv at få styr på sine tropper.

I Indien finder man en nationalistisk dyrkelse af den unge marxist Bhagat Singh, der gav sit liv i kampen mod englænderne, måske en slags pendant til den unge danske digter Morten Nielsen, der i hvert fald i min ungdom indgik i den officielle kanon over unge modstandsfolk, der gav deres liv i kampen for Danmark, og hvis eksempel man bør lægge sig på sinde. Under 1. Verdenskrig holdt man i England deciderede propaganda-vaudeviller, hvis formål var at få de unge mænd fra publikum til at melde sig, og hvor man også lagde vægt på det ærefulde i at give sit liv for sit land.

Digteren Rudyard Kipling deltog selv i hverve-shows med flag over det hele, hvilket vendte sig til sorg, da hans egen svagtseende søn ikke kom tilbage fra slaget om Loos. Han kunne dog trøste sig med, at hans søn havde givet sit liv som en mand, “lots of people are in our position, and it’s something to have bred a man”.

Mere generelt og mere rimeligt findes en sådan “dødskult” vel overalt, hvor man overhovedet har en forestilling om at arbejde eller kæmpe for noget, der er større end én selv. Vi mennesker er her kun på lånt tid, og vi kan alle sammen gå hen og dø den dag i morgen – vi kan håbe og tro, det kommer til at forholde sig anderledes, men vi har ingen “ret” til, at det skal forholde sig anderledes.  Hvis der er noget af blivende værdi, som vi gerne vil gøre for vores verden, vores land, vores gud eller vores børn, må vi altså hellere se at komme i gang nu, for ellers kan det let være for sent. I morgen kommer måske ikke.

Og hvis der er noget af blivende værdi, som vi kan gøre for vores verden, vores land, vores gud eller vores børn, som kræver, at vi selv giver eller risikerer vores liv, er der så nødvendigvis tale om en “dødskult”? Næppe – og det er da heller ikke den officielle linje, når vi taler  om de unge mænd, der desværre ganske meningsløst ofrer deres liv i Afghanistan.

Snarere er der tale om, at der er ting, vi anser for større end os selv, og at det kan være nødvendigt at sætte os selv ind som indsats. Men dette er en almenmenneskelig erfaring. Den egentlige  tragedie i Mellemøstkonflikten er måske snarere, at Israel efterhånden har begået så mange forbrydelser mod den palæstinensiske civilbefolkning, at hadet til Israel for mange bliver større end den enkeltes eget liv. Men måske vi skulle vente, til vi selv har set vores far, mor, søster og bror myrdet for de indkommende bomber, før vi dømmer dem for det.

Og lad os, for nu at slutte hvor jeg begyndte, som nation begynde at tænke før vi taler, så vi ikke kommer til at spilde mere af vores tid og kostbare opmærksomhed på uvidende idioter som 180 graders lederskribent.