"WASHINGTON SCENE":
Black Voices for Peace in Washington put on a good show last Monday, Martin Luther King's Birthday.
For Blacks it was a well put-together and nicely produced program that went on for some 5 hours in a local downtown heart-of-D.C. church.
Lots of enthusiasm, excellent and in some cases remarkably captivating Black community speakers, powerful young voices, a real sense of history and community combined with the legacy of oppression and the awareness of the treachery of contemporary public affairs, including of course the new "war against terrorism" and how it is being used to manipulate and deceive.
From the perspective of the Black community there is a considerable need for such events and such organizations to build Black consciousness and yes "Black Power", in the positive way that term is properly used. And as some of the program was broadcast nationally on C-Span this BVFP inaugural event reached far beyond the few hundred persons in attendance and took on far greater significance. In short, "Thumbs Up" for the Black Americans for taking an important step to further organize and assert themselves, and especially to the primary mover in this Damu Smith.
But when it comes to serious organizing relating specifically to foreign policy and the Middle East, the new focal-point since 11 September and the stimulus behind BVFP, it's unfortunately another story. After literally decades of having hardly any in-depth contact with Middle East issues or Middle East groups and personalities, when it comes to these matters rather than their own community affairs the BVFP people are pretty much babes in the woods, confused and not knowing even who is who... not to mention what it would take to actually get involved in a serious way.
The Blacks may think that it's a big thing for them to be finally calling out loud, and in public, for a "Palestinian Homeland". True, the Black community has been tremendously insecure about going up against American Jews; and there are many historical, political, and cultural reasons to explain today's hesitant and fearful situation. The Administration at Howard University, dependent as they are on Congressional and Corporate hand outs, has been especially careful to hold things in check and keep both students and professors as restrained as possible.
But even so, let's get real here. Everyone including American Presidents has been calling in general unspecific ways for a Palestinian State for some time now; including the current Prime Minister of Israel! The real issues at this point in history are what kind of state with what powers and what limitations, with whom in control, where, and with real or pseudo-imaginary sovereignty -- not to mention the weighty historic issues that now go far beyond Israel and the Palestinians. And in fact for BVFP to simply call in general for a Palestinian State at this time actually fits in quite nicely with the rhetoric of some of the "realistic" and "liberal" political forces that BVFP otherwise excorciates at nearly every turn.
Unknowingly it appears because of all the mistakes, errors, and omissions of the past, BVFP have actually staked out a position which when reduced to slogans is much too little much too late and actually plays into the hands of those they think they are opposing. It is actually a position which can be easily manipulated by George W. and Shimon P. to support the "Oslo Peace Process" or if need be its aftermath as concocted by the same groups and personalities -- call it Peace Process II if you will. In short, otherwise thoughtful and committed Blacks have largely taken a pass all these years when it comes to the Middle East situation, even though they should have been among the first to loudly proclaim "No to American-sponsored Apartheid in the Middle East" just as was said so loudly by so many "No to American-sponsored Apartheid in Africa".
If they were truly thoughtful and courageous about all this at this time in history there are three important positions Black Leaders, working in tandem with Jewish and Arab intellectuals and activists, could and should take. 1) A suspension of all American financial and military support for Israel in view of the outrageous policies Israel continues to pursue against the Palestinian, all facilitated by the U.S. 2) Condemnation of the U.S. veto of Security Council resolutions widely supported by nearly every other country in the world; and insistance on "No More Vetoes". 3) Condemnation of the abuses of political, financial, and media power that the Israel/Jewish lobby is guilty of as it continually attempts to intimidate, frighten, and punish, all who dare to speak up on these crucial issues.
To sum this all up: No More Aid, No More Vetoes, No More Being Pushed Around.
And so it is disheartening to see that BVFP is so behind the curve when it comes to these complex yet vital aspects of the situation in the U.S. regarding the Middle East and Israel. True, they have their hands full with their own community's agenda; and in those areas they are doing some very positive and uplifting work. But when it comes to matters Middle Eastern they have not only been pretty much overlooked by Middle East groups -- Arab and Jewish -- they have also been rather badly mislead by the front groups they have called on and especially by the one that stood them up on Monday.
The Arab and Palestinian representatives in Washington are so miserably incompetent, lazy, and purely self-serving that they should be made to suffer the political fate equivalent to being tarred and feathered and run out of town at high noon. In this particular case the President of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) had promised BVFP to speak and was listed on the program. Now it wasn't a good choice mind you inviting this quisling "client organization" and terribly tarnished speaker; but then BVFP doesn't know any better it seems. Whatever, when they announced the Speaker, Ziad Assali, there was a little confusion unlike anything else during the program. Apparently no one from BVFP had ever even meet Mr. Assali so they didn't know if he was there or not. They asked from the podium for him to come forward and speak; then realized he was a "no show", the only one of the day. And so in the end there was not a single Arab or Palestinian speaker throughout the whole five hour program even at this particularly sensitive and intense time in the area with such heightened U.S. involvement in the affairs of the entire region.
As for Jewish participation, BVFP invited one white Jewish student, himself part of a small local group that has no real following or impact even locally, not to mention nationally. He sat uncomfortably on the podium for a while, a white face in a black sea. There were so many Israeli and Jewish speakers who could have been, and should have been, invited to an affair of this kind. But again, on these important matters BVFP is a babe in the woods needing quickly now to get with it.