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Saturday, January 3, 2009

Wars and Rumors of wars

http://www.last.fm/music/Stevie+Wonder/_/Heaven+Help+Us+All

this won't show up as a hyperlink, so i'll just give you the address to copy and paste.

Zee posted a bit on the ongoing Israeli / Palestinian situation.... he's much more articulate and well informed about these things than i am. i'm just left with the feeling that the more things change the more they remain the same. maybe war is a guy thing. there seems no logic to it, however long and hard i ponder the question. it seems abundantly clear to me that violence only perpetuates more violence. When has it ever ended anything? and yes, i think it really is that simple. just stop the violence. if as much effort was made to get along, as is made to get even, or to get ahead, or to get the advantage.... etc, the world would not be in the state it's in.

i think Stevie Wonder says it very well in the utube clip above. i remember it done by....? Joan Baez? but still the same powerful song, and the images, though not pretty, are, i think, appropriate

7 comments:

lindsaylobe said...

It reminds one of Northern Ireland where the senseless bloodshed continued on until such time as both sides had had enough. Certainlly a peace plan was brokered but no one can recall what single development transpired that led to the ending of hostilities. Both parties had simply had enough of the misery. One day hopefully that will apply to Gaza and it's inhabitants and of the Israel’s whose blood shares a common tribal ancestry.
Best wishes

gfid said...

i guess i'm just feeling cynical, lindsay.... here's hoping you're right. i do a song by a canadian singer/songwriter, Connie Kaldor, that i love. it's called Mother's Prayer. there's a bridge in it that goes:

"and i don't wanna hear about religions
and boundaries
i don't wanna hear about the ones
who hoard their gold
i don't wanna hear about the might
and the majesty
do the ones who make this madness
have no babies to hold?"

the chorus goes:

"let the wind blow
let the rain come down
may we all be free from harm
free to watch
as the clouds rush by
with our babies
asleep in our arms"

it's my wish for our troubled world

may you find all good things in 2009

susan said...

Most Israeli's come from elsewhere - places where they were ghettoized and badly treated. Zee is correct that the British made some terrible decisions as the Empire wound down. They did a couple of good things like Canada and Australia but between Pakistan and Israel you'd be hard pressed to pick the worst. Ah yes, and then there was Ireland..

I think Jewish people are okay and Israeli's are okay but Likudnicks are some of the craziest sons of b's on the face on the planet.

jozien said...

Thanks for visiting my blog!
Here at your blog, i like it that you bring up these difficult subjects. To me too there is no logic to war . None.
When my son was 6 or 7, he wrote to the old Bush, to send flowers instead of guns. If only....
I try hard to live that suggestion everyday.(not always succesfully).

Zee said...

I really don't know what to say anymore. Some wars or rebellions actually brought peace to lands who initially were oppressed.
It worked out for my home-country (Switzerland) over 700 years ago when they freed themselves of the Austrian Empire.
As for Ghazza - it is a total mess, worse than any other spot I can imagine presently and in the past. (I am not including genocide in Africa, because that seems to be a different issue altogether).
Remember Arafat? He was the Palestinian hero some years ago. He is dead now. One thing he did achieve in his tenure though, before he got senile, is a certain respect for the Palestinian people. A charismatic person like him is long gone.
Now Hamas, who suck in my book, are pounding on Israelis instead. What a futile endeavor. Israel reacts and pounds back with force. An endless circle of violence.

My philosophy is, that only the "stronger" one can negotiate terms of settling unrest, or even achieve peace. In this particular case, Israel holds all the cards.
I probably have to wait until long after I am dead before anything amiable happens between Palestine and Israel.
Maybe I should just shut off the news in the mean time. What good does it do to know misery around the globe if all you can do is to be disgusted.
As you can see, I do not know the answer, but I can tell you this much: I have zero respect of what the Israeli government is doing in Ghazza right now.

gfid said...

su - the whole world-wide colonization theme of the brits seems to have been 'we must rescue the savages of the world by making them conform to our religion, culture and social structure. we know they are savages because we have better weapons than them'. and if what they did in canada is their best, they don't have much going for them. you'd be hard pressed to find a descendent of the original inhabitants here who's very impressed. they were not usually very diplomatic.... and the thing about war is, just like in tennis, BOTH sides have to be doing it, or there's no game.

jozien - send flowers, not guns.... perhaps you have a future statesman!!

zee - yes, it does seem that peace can only be 'enforced' by the stronger party... so if the stronger party doesn't want peace, what hope is there for it? war is much better business than peace, for the money mongers. and they're the strong ones, aren't they? i'm left feeling a baffling mixture of: cynicism, because i'm certain there are very powerful forces that have no desire for peace; and naivete, because i think if people would really try to get along, there would be no wars at all.

Zee said...

you are right Granny-Fiddler!