Gaza — Wake Up, People. Wake up!
By Bock Jan 7th, 2009 | Category: Bock rant, war, world
What the fuck?
Do you realise what’s happening here?
Do you realise that one and a half million people are trapped behind a gigantic wall and they can’t escape, because soldiers won’t let them?
Do you realise that one of the world’s mightiest military machines, a nuclear power, is pounding the life out of them?
Do you realise that the sewers are blown up and their streets are running with shit and blood? Do you realise they have no water? Do you realise they have no food? Do you realise they have no electricity? Do you realise people are dying in the streets with their arms and legs torn off because the ambulances are being bombed and can’t reach them?
Do you realise tanks are blowing up schools? Do you realise 14-year-olds are having heart attacks?
What the fuck is wrong here? Are you asleep?
Wake up.
Torture your politicians. Live in their ears. Piss them off. Shout this crime to the heavens.
This is a fucking disgrace. Wake up.
Look at what they’re doing.
Wake up. They’re murdering children. Old people. Women. They’re bombing them from the skies. They’re blasting them with tanks.
They’re calling them terrorists and they’re killing them. Old women and little children. They’re calling them terrorists and they’re exterminating them like vermin.
Wake the fuck up and look at what’s going on here.
Be angry. Be very fucking angry. This is a war crime and it’s happening in your living room in front of you on the news.
You’re not blind. Look at what they’re doing to the people in the Gaza ghetto. Look at it.
Stand up and be fucking angry.
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Also on Bock:
Gaza — 40 Killed in Israeli Tank Attack on School
Gaza — Israel Firebombs Civilians
Gaza Today
Gaza — The Ghetto Slaughter Begins
Gazastan, Israeli Ghettos and the New Apartheid
Israel Murders 200 People in Gaza
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Elsewhere:
Great post Bock…what IS it going to take for people to wake up?
just when i get complacent about this, i wonder how i would feel if in 1982 the UK had shelled Dundalk, then rolled in blowing up schools.
In the same measure however, im enraged about the Mumbai attacks…..and what Mugabe is doing to Zimbabwe….and the Burmese junta are doing….and no amount of Western raged has helped in those cases either. You feel nullified.
great post bock.
I found the same reaction when america were slaughtering women and children in iraq. a lot of people would fire back at you about all the american companys here in ireland and what if they pulled out. oh I forgot to mention that britain also invaded iraq. do you have an opinion on the french presidents attempts in the last few days to get a ceasefire. thanks bock and enjoy your day in london next week. great city.
bock; I too feel crippled with anxiety about the situation in Gaza.
I have veered from extreme anger to extreme sadness.
I have looked at it from the Historical/Political/Geographical/Financial/Human perspective, and have ended up with nothing but a very hollow feeling.
As an average nobody, all my impulses are DO SOMETHING, but what can anyone do ?
I keep a light burning, in a little glass lantern, as a miniscule gesture to myself that the fire burning inside those poor palestinian people will never go out…..thats all i do.
I watched the live debate of the U.N. Security Council last night…..I saw no hope there.
Interestingly to me, on the day Obama was elected, my youngest daughter aged 20 said to me, “I don’t get what everyone sees as so historic here, There is no guarantee whatsoever that he will change anything just because he is black” At the time I thought, have I raised such a cynical child ?
As this murderous assault has continued, my children (all grown up) have asked many questions and added their thoughts to many discussions, I only realised in the past few days of just how much they know about the culture and civilisation of the Arab world, and for that I am very grateful.
One of the comments on your site was “if it happened in Europe”
It did happen in Europe…Bosnia and Kosovo, televised racism, apartheid, genocide.
Its not “somewhere else” its in our hearts, its in our minds, its unbearable.
Israel is a 40 min flight from Crete, not so faraway.
We can demonstrate, chant, send letters, hold placards….but every minute we do more people are being slaughtered.
From my own human perspective, I am just struggling to get a handle on such extreme emotions I am experiencing, so that I can get through a day and pay my bills…..and keep on wondering….what can I do ?
I too wish you a great day in London, as my “kids” have grown up, the pure joy and buzz of spending time with them has gotten bigger and bigger.
I once met a man in England, a South African of Eastern European Jewish extraction. His parents had made their home in South Africa after the war. In the 1960s and 1970s his parents saw nothing wrong with keeping the ‘kaffirs’ in their place, and this man came to despise them for it. He left them.
It’s time to boycott Israel, as we did South Africa, but also to give our vocal support to those in Israel who oppose their government’s actions.
Shalom.
Good man, Bock
For anyone around the Limerick area, there’s a vigil this Saturday, 10th, outside Penneys at 3.30pm
You know, I’m as saddened as I am infuriated. All I can do is try to make my one year old son laugh as much as possible, in the hope I can offer him more than those who have had thier chances torn from them by this madness.
stand up and do what?
Magic, you can stand up and, as Bock said, live in your politician’s ear until they summon the Israeli ambassador in, threaten sanctions, lobby the UN, the EU, use all possible international efforts to stop this bloody thing
sanctions?
what’s ireland going to do? stop buying herbs from israel? that’ll scare the shit out of them.
they bombed a UN school. i don’t think they’re going to listen to joe costello.
Magic – did you read my comment? Ireland is part of the EU, the UN. Sanctions and boycotts, as you seem to know, need to be wideranging in order to be effective. So the idea would be EU or UN sanctions. Worked against that other apartheid regime
Or if you prefer, you can just shrug your shoulders, tune in to Family Guy and forget about it. Or have you a more constructive suggestion?
Magicbastarder — I think you should just go back to bed. It would probably be the most positive contribution you could make.
sorry, i didn’t realise ireland were ignoring the situation until i ask my politicians to get involved. i’m sure they’ll bust their balls once they hear from me.
bock, what have you done? maybe i could take a lead from that.
I wouldn’t dream of telling you what to do. Why don’t you try apathy?
don’t knock apathy; it beats blogging about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slacktivism
“I wouldn’t dream of telling you what to do.”
“Wake the fuck up and look at what’s going on here.
Be angry. Be very fucking angry. This is a war crime and it’s happening in your living room in front of you on the news.
You’re not blind. Look at what they’re doing to the people in the Gaza ghetto. Look at it.
Stand up and be fucking angry.”
now you have me confused.
Good. That’s better than being asleep.
“stand up and do what?”
Fight untill you hear the bell.
Bock, I might be wrong on this but does the Palestinian Territory of Rafah within the Gaza strip not border with Egypt offering a viable route for supplies, humanitarian aid and a ready escape from the conflict. Why have Egypt and others not used this route to alleviate and evacuate more people?
Also it is strange that Gaza is the focal point for Israeli and Hamas wrath but yet the West Bank areas under the control of Palestinian Authority are relatively untouched.
Israel controls all crossings, including Rafah. It also controls sea approaches. That’s what makes Gaza a prison.
The second part of your question deserves a post all of its own and I’ll try to come back with something on that another time.
Check out the following in answer to some of your questions Pheasant:
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n01/roy_01_.html
and
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/07/gaza-israel-palestine
pheasantfukker; don’t labour under any illusions about Egypt being of any humanitarian support to Gaza, Egypt is the “diplomatic ally” of the U.S. recieving 2 bil $ a year, Israel is the “military ally” recieving 3 bil $ plus per year.
Soldiers in the Israeli army, including reservists, who have refused to go into Gaza recieve an automatic jail sentence.
There are many testimonials of ex soldiers who have stated that they were “ordered to fire on children”
But that does’nt lead to “what to do” ?
Onasmallisland; Whereas I applaud and respect your willingness to do “something rather than nothing”
I would have to somewhat agree with “magicbastard” that the proposals made by Onasmallisland would be ineffectual.
Nobody can “live in a politicians ear” and even if one could, then said politician has to travel up the foodchain to “live in someone elses ear”
The UN security council can’t even get it together.
A congressman in the US democratic senate to-day brought up the issue of “illegal use of certain weaponary, and the US’s legal obligation as supplier of said weaponary to implement the law’s governing sale and use”
That I believe is a constructive path among others for the cessation to this assault.
The continued use of anti-personnel and anti armour weaponary against civilian targets is one that should focus the european courts of human rights and the UN security council on the maniacs using them.
Garner together relevant facts and present them to the Minister of Justice……would appreciate feedback on that, I am willing to have a go ? anyone else ?
hag of beara; just a thank you for link to gaurdian article by Avi Shlaim, really brilliant.
Coming in via email.
Hope it’s ok to post, Bock:
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Please sign (and forward to friends) the following petition to suspend the EU-Israel Trade Agreement:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Suspend-EU-Israel-Trade-Agreement
BOYCOTT ISRAELI GOODS
Excellent list of Israeli goods to boycott at:
http://www.boycottisraeligoods.org/modules11748.php
————————————–
I’m appalled. I’m very, very, angry. Like others, the best I can think of is boycott.
(I’m showing in Preview as Anonymous, I should come up as ‘Nora’)
“stand up and do what?”
–magicbastarder
Sorry to have to tell you, but that’s the attitude that has many of the world’s biggest problems the way they are.
“A congressman in the US democratic senate to-day brought up the issue of “illegal use of certain weaponary, and the US’s legal obligation as supplier of said weaponary to implement the law’s governing sale and use”
–stleger norma
I think that’s Kucinich? — US law prohibits them selling or giving weapons that are likely to be used for aggression — I don’t have the correct wording. But they’ve been ignoring that vis a vis Israel for years.
Letter is here:
http://incontiguousbrick.wordpress.com/2009/01/07/letter-from-congressman-dennis-kucinich-to-condoleezza-rice/
Well their’s fuck all I can do about it except shout and rant, so I’m going to a protest to tonight to shout and rant in unison with others. They more peole shouting, the louder the noise.
La Craic
I posted info about boycott, if you’re interested, but I think it’s in moderation.
Just read the Guardian article.Brilliant piece that sums it all up.And shameful to realise that the EU gives support to that Zionist gangster state.When it attacks Iran which given the Zionists track record is a certainty we will see another humanitarian and economic disaster for the world.Lets just hope the air defence system Russia has given the Iranians will do its job.Those missiles may be all that stand between the world and disaster.
-Nora
Sorry, but where did you post it?
Just after stleger norma’s shorter one and before my comment to ‘magicbastarder’. It’s telling me “Your comment is awaiting moderation” — probably because there are about three links in it.
Nora — Comment now released. These links are really screwing up the system.
Should I be making more effort with Tinyurl?
Or would it make a difference?
I’ll ease the restrictions a bit and take a chance on more spam. See if that makes a difference.
Hamas were right when they said they’d make Gaza a graveyard if Israel entered….the only problem it’s a graveyard for their own people, that they are totally responsible for, “PERIOD”!
I blame Hamas entirely for the plight of the Palestinians/Gazans, no one else. They were elected by their people falsely on promises of bettering their lives. All they’ve done since is launch rockets on to the Israeli’s land. What did they think was going to be the response, “Hand-clapping”? Don’t any-one bring up other History, this is now the present tense & it is Hamas that provoked their Military Giant of a neighbour into taking the present action. No-one likes to see suffering especially to innocent men, women & children. But it is Hamas who started this round of madness & it is Hamas who could end it, “FULL STOP”!
Do you now? And did Hamas put all those people into the Gaza Strip?
The agreed time for the ceasefire agreed to for “humanitarian corridor” to day began at 12 midday.
At 12.30 the Israeli airforce dropped 20 white phosphorous bombs on E. Jabilya in Gaza.
Bock has described in great detail the effect of these bombs.
The Israeli military might have ignored the “humanitarian corridor”
The Israeli military might have ignored the U.N. resolution for a ceasefire passed last night.
Who are the “terrorists” ?