rachel's words and "the israel lobby"

Via Baraka's new blog, Make Chai, Not War, I am reminded that Thursday was the anniversary of Rachel Corrie's death in Rafah in 2003. Corrie, 23, was an activist from Olympia (an hour's drive from where I grew up) and was part of an International Solidarity Movement delegation acting as human shields in order to stop house demolitions. Three years ago, she died when an Israeli army bulldozer ran over her and crushed her to death.

Corrie's story has been in the news again recently because the New York Theater Workshop postponed the planned US debut of the play "My Name is Rachel Corrie"--based on her writings--after some leaders in the Jewish community raised objections to the performance. The New York theater community has responded by staging a number of public readings of her words and a discussion of censorship and the arts, as this Village Voice article explains. I might attend the gathering at Riverside Church on Wednesday. For more information, see rachelswords.org, or read Corrie's emails from Gaza from the Guardian's archive, such as this one to her mother on 27 February, 2003:

...I'm witnessing this chronic, insidious genocide and I'm really scared, and questioning my fundamental belief in the goodness of human nature. This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop. I don't think it's an extremist thing to do anymore. I still really want to dance around to Pat Benatar and have boyfriends and make comics for my coworkers. But I also want this to stop. Disbelief and horror is what I feel. Disappointment. I am disappointed that this is the base reality of our world and that we, in fact, participate in it. This is not at all what I asked for when I came into this world. This is not at all what the people here asked for when they came into this world. This is not the world you and Dad wanted me to come into when you decided to have me. This is not what I meant when I looked at Capital Lake and said: "This is the wide world and I'm coming to it." I did not mean that I was coming into a world where I could live a comfortable life and possibly, with no effort at all, exist in complete unawareness of my participation in genocide.More big explosions somewhere in the distance outside.

When I come back from Palestine, I probably will have nightmares and constantly feel guilty for not being here, but I can channel that into more work. Coming here is one of the better things I've ever done. So when I sound crazy, or if the Israeli military should break with their racist tendency not to injure white people, please pin the reason squarely on the fact that I am in the midst of a genocide which I am also indirectly supporting, and for which my government is largely responsible.

I love you and Dad. Sorry for the diatribe. OK, some strange men next to me just gave me some peas, so I need to eat and thank them.

Rachel

In related matters (via Juan Cole and Chapati Mystery), the LRB features this unsparing piece by IR scholars John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, titled "The Israel Lobby", which discusses (from a v. Realist perspective) the impact of pro-Israel domestic politics on U.S. foreign policy, as well as the recent attacks on academics in Middle East Studies departments. A longer, unedited version is also available at the Kennedy School's website.