*SOUTH AFRICAN ANNIVERSARY*

*DOWN WITH ANTISEMITISM*

*TERROR WAR PROBLEMS*

Eight years ago this Saturday, I felt privileged to be standing just below the Union buildings in Pretoria South Africa to witness and film a century-defining event: the end of white rule in Africa. Tens of thousands of onlookers, many waiting for hours and hours as they had on the voting lines, beamed and cheered and sang as Nelson Mandela was sworn in as the country’s first democratically elected President. The South Africans spoke of it as ” a miracle” but informed onlookers knew that the struggle for majority rule had taken 75 years, with Mandela himself spending 27 years behind bars. He was considered a terrorist who could not be quoted or shown in the press.

The victory of the people of South Africa came about through political activism, diplomatic negotiation, international solidarity, sanctions, pressure, and yes, armed struggle. To the many who draw parallels between Afrikaner imposed apartheid in South Africa and Israeli occupation in Palestine, one also has to also ask about the many differences between these two movements The Israelis may have learned some of the worst lessons from the whites who controlled South Africa — tactics for regulating and controlling people, collective punishments for resisters and the like. What they and the Palestinians have yet to learn are the best lessons — how and why negotiations and peaceful outcomes are the best option, and why truth and reconciliation matter. The South Africans won, and the Palestinians and Israelis are loosing because they haven’t applied these lessons of staying on the moral high ground and building an international coalition to support a democratic outcome.

PARALLELS WITH PALESTINE?

Drawing parallels, I know has limits — Arafat is no Mandela, (even if Sharon sounds and appears like that old crocodile P.W. Botha) and the fractured Palestinian movements lack the coherence and the leadership of South Africa’s ANC, which fought on many levels at once. There was a time in South Africa when young people, the age of those 14 year olds would be suicide bombers who were shot to death in Gaza yesterday — were out, and out of control, committing atrocious “necklacings” and other atrocities against suspected informers. The prisons were packed with young people, and the world media was clucking about the dangers of anarchy and race war. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed before the apocalypse struck, but where are the forces today counseling restraint against Sharon who as late as yesterday was still demononizing Arafat as the “cause” of all Palestinian suffering?

ARAFAT AS CAUSE OF ALL EVIL

A South African editor at TIME, Tony Karon,has scoffed at this Arafat is the root of all evil theory that has become a mantra “By any measure, the situation has the makings of an epic human catastrophe. And to reduce this dismal state of affairs to a mantra about Arafat doing more to rein in terrorism is simply deluded. Few Palestinians would disagree that Arafat is a dismal leader, but it is not his deceit or delusions that are at the root of this conflict. Israelis and Palestinians began talking peace a decade ago, precisely because they recognized the miserable future offered by the dynamic of occupation and resistance in the West Bank and Gaza. It was not about Arafat or Rabin, and certainly not about Bill Clinton. It was about Israelis and Palestinians recognizing the need to find a peaceful means of resolving their mutually exclusive national aspirations, if only because the alternative was to remain locked in a war neither side could win. The collapse of the peace process has left them back where they started, locked into an even deadlier stage of a war neither side can win.”

THE NEW DISPENSATION

At some point, the Afrikaners of South Africa came to realize that peace was the only way out of permanent war. Fortunately, political leaders, not paranoid military men were in command there. Last night, I went to celebration of what South Africans call their new “dispensation” at a dinner near the UN thrown by the South African Consulate in New York An Afrikaner emcee’d the evening and referred to the Consul, a black woman, affectionately as his boss. Peoples who had been at war were now working together. So for those who have no hope of progress, think of what happened in Pretoria less than a decade ago despite all of the predictions among the pundits that a bloodshed and war were inevitable.

Having said all this, and needless, to say, I doubt we will see the media in the US making much of this anniversary, there are still big challenges in South Africa — challenges of inequality, poverty, underdevelopment and AIDS. On this last front, the country’s President Thabo Mbeki has, at long last and after much debate and pressure, shifted his stance towards AIDS drugs and acknowledged what a poor job his government has been doing in communicating what it is doing about AID — which is quite a lot. Government spending has tripled, a plan is in place and drugs are being made available.

THE AIDS POLICY SHIFT

Editorialized the MAIL AND GUARDIAN: “This week’s unexpected Cabinet announcement clearly signals a shift in South Africa’s policy on the treatment of HIV/Aids, and it would be churlish not to praise the government. But it has taken more than two years of relentless pressure, both within and outside the corridors of power, to achieve it, and it is too early to regard the chapter as closed.

Conceptually, the major advances are the government’s admission that there is an Aids crisis in South Africa and that anti-retroviral drugs can be beneficial. These are the first clear statements by a leadership which, deeply tainted by AIDS dissidence, has tended to minimize the epidemic and view anti-retro-virals as deadly poisons.”

MINISTER DOTH PROTEST TOO MUCH

So far so good, but after listening to Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the country’s health minister, go on and on last night about what is being done, and why it is so complex, and why so many people are pressuring the government irresponsibly, one sensed how defensive the government, which has been besieged by AIDS activists and court decisions feels.

She made good points about why powerful retro-virals cannot be dispensed like aspirins and the risks and dangers they pose to patients, but one still felt as if we were being lectured with hostility. Mbeki says his government will now do the right thing, and let’s hope they will. I caught up with Minister as she was leaving and asked her about the role of the press in South Africa. “They are still very, very hostile,” she told me. Why? I asked, is it because they don’t really understand the issues? She nodded, “Yes, they have to be trained, all of them.”

Sadly that attitude does not auger well for better communications even if her extended remarks did touch on many nuances of the issue that media may be oversimplifying.

Respond the Mail and Guardian: “The ultra-nationalist wing of the ANC would have us believe that all activist resistance to this government is ipso facto undemocratic. What has been underscored is the central importance of a vibrant, critical media and non-government sector in bolstering democracy and uplifting South Africa’s people.

“A number of concerns remain, and the new policy will have to be closely monitored. The government is to press on with its Constitutional Court appeal on nevirapine, which can be justified on the grounds that large constitutional issues are at stake. But it must make an unequivocal commitment not to reverse the universal roll-out policy if it wins the case.”

The big news in South Africa today is more spacey: the first African is now in space. Reports the Mail and Guardian: “the Russian Soyuz shuttle taking South African Mark Shuttleworth to the International Space Station (ISS) reached orbit successfully on Thursday, Russian space flight control said.”

FALUN GONG ANNIVERSARY

Shifting across the world, today is also the third anniversary of Falun Gong’s massive appeal in front of the Chinese government’s leadership HQ in Beijing, leading to the banning of the spiritual practice and a conflict that has intensified repression, resulting in the death of thousand of practitioners. Falun Gong’s Information Center marks the date with a release calling it a peaceful effort that spawned the birth of China’s first ever civil rights movement:

“Many government leaders and observers felt the incident was dignified and demonstrated good will. China’s Communist leader, Jiang Zemin, however, formulated very different ideas. In communications made available to the Falun Dafa Information Center and verified by a source inside China, it becomes clear that Jiang seized the opportunity of this event to use Falun Gong as a pawn to launch a political campaign with the purpose of consolidating his power base and advancing his own political ambitions.

“Several prominent Western journalists were present on that day, and reported in detail the passive, quiet nature of the gathering. Multiple photographs and videos of the event confirm their stories. Still, many news organizations continue to repeat Jiang’s regime’s characterization of the event.” A new report out in May will tie China to hacker attacks on Falun Gong websites. Erich Lichblau reports in the Times: “U.S. intelligence officials believe the Chinese military is working to launch wide-scale cyber-attacks on American and Taiwanese computer networks, including Internet-linked military systems considered vulnerable to sabotage, according to a classified CIA report.”

NEGOTIATING THAT MISSION TO JENIN

Israel is still trying to influence/shape the composition and content of the UN Mission dispatched to investigate what happened in the Jenin refugee camp. Israel insists there was no massacre. Amnesty International has documented human rights violations while Palestinian groups have developed dossiers to challenge the Israeli version. While the UN team is scheduled to begin work on Saturday, an Israeli team is on its way to New York to try to influence its focus and parameters in meetings with the UN’s Kofi Anan.

The Palestinans at the UN will be challenging Israel’s maneuver. Efforts to deligitimate the Palestinian Authority as a political entity continue with Israel encouraging Arafat to move his operation out of world view to Gaza, and turn over assassination suspects just convicted by a Palestinian court for another trial in Israel. (Times headline: “Four Palestinians are sentenced by a Palestinian tribunal for the assassination of Israeli tourist minister Rechavam Ze’evi” This has been an Israeli demand.)

In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg let it be known that he does not recognize the Palestinian Authority and intentionally disinvited their mission to a recent party he gave at New York’s Gracie Mansion. Colin Powell meanwhile continues to talk about the needs of the Palestinian people, as he did before Congress yesterday, but does not seem to be mentioning the Palestinian Authority either.

FIGHT ANTI-SEMITISM

A Palestinian friend has circulated an article she said she couldn’t agree more with by Canadian author Naomi Klein from the Guardian condemning the upsurge of virulent and ugly antisemitism in Europe which she says plays into Sharon’s hands:” anyone interested in fighting Le Pen-style fascism or Sharon-style brutality has to confront the reality of antisemitism head-on. The hatred of Jews is a potent political tool in the hands of both the right in Europe and in Israel. For Ariel Sharon, it is the fear of antisemitism, both real and imagined, that is the weapon. Mr. Sharon likes to say that he stands up to terrorists to show he is not afraid. In fact, his policies are driven by fear. His great talent is that he fully understands the depths of Jewish fear of another Holocaust. He knows how to draw parallels between Jewish anxieties about antisemitism and American fears of terrorism, and he is an expert at harnessing all of it for his political ends.

” The primary and familiar fear that Sharon draws on, the one that allows him to disguise all aggressive actions as defensive ones, is the fear that Israel’s neighbors want to drive the Jews into the sea. The secondary fear Sharon manipulates is the fear among Jews in the diaspora that they will eventually be driven to seek a safe haven in Israel. This leads millions of Jews around the world, many of them sickened by Israeli aggression, to shut up and send their checks, a down-payment on future sanctuary.

” The equation is simple: the more fearful Jews are, the more powerfulSharon… Jews outside Israel now find themselves in a tightening vice: the Actions of the country that was supposed to ensure their future safety are making them less safe right now. Sharon is deliberately erasing distinctions between the terms “Jew” and “Israeli”, claiming he is fighting not for Israeli territory but for the survival of the Jewish people. When antisemitism rises at least partly as a result of his actions, it is Sharon who is positioned once again to collect the political dividends.”

ON THE TERROR WAR FRONT

The war in Afghanistan may not be winnable reports England’s Daily Telegraph despite all the upbeat media accounts what we have heard: “-”The Commandant General of the Royal Marines, Maj Gen Robert Fry, has given warning that the conflict in Afghanistan will be extensively drawn out and never completely won militarily.

“The guerrilla tactics used by the al-Qa’eda forces in the Afghan mountains could be defeated only througeffective nation-building, he said.

“”I’m not sure there will ever be a day when victory will be declared and peace will be recognised,” he added. “It’s simply not that sort of situation.”

AGIT PROP SURFACES

Meanwhile the Balochistan Post via the Globalvision News Network reports that “A previously unknown group is spreading hand-written propaganda pamphlets calling for Jihad against Americans and all “infidels” in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The pamphlets include quotations from the holy Qur’aan and plead with Afghans to follow the example of Palestinian suicide bombers to end the “occupation of Jews and Christians”. This sounds like Al Queda may be down — but is far from out.

CNN is reporting that one of the big terror suspects picked up in England has been freed: no evidence. “Attempts by the U.S. to extradite an Algerian pilot it suspected of involvement in the September 11 attacks have failed. A British judge dismissed all eight charges against Lotfi Raissi and added there was no evidence of any terrorist link to the man” On this same theme, one of our readers Benjamin Parke writes:

IN THE EMAIL: THE MOUSSAOUI TRIAL

“In their coverage of Zacarias Moussaoui’s pre-trial hearing, the major papers on April 23rd focused on his inflammatory comments, as well as his request to dismiss the attorneys appointed to represent him, . After reading the transcript of this hearing (http://cryptome.org/usa-v-zm-ht1.htm), it seems to me that what was lost in the reporting was that Mr. Moussaoui was apparently denied a basic legal right in this country –the right to seek counsel.

“No one at the hearing challenged his assertion that he was never asked if he wanted to seek counsel or wanted a court-appointed attorney. Only the Washington Post reports that the money which Moussaoui would use to pay for a lawyer –about $30,000– has been frozen by the government. The Los Angeles Times leaves it to Jonathan Turley, who teaches constitutional law at George Washington University, to point this out in a same-day opinion piece. He goes on to note that this wouldn’t be enough to pay for the representation that this case would require. He doesn’t note, however, that Moussaoui acknowledges this fact, and indeed questions the justice of it. And none of the major papers (WP, LAT, NYT) reports on what Moussaoui therefore intends to do –seek a Muslim lawyer who will work for him pro bono, and/or set up a legal fund. (Didn’t Pres. Clinton have the latter option in Whitewater?)

“I don’t think I would feel comfortable myself having someone on my legal team who gave a couple thousand dollars to George W. Bush in recent years (as Moussaoui’s court-appointed attorney Edward B. MacMahon did, according to opensecrets.org)”.

IN PRAISE OF MY MIDDLE EAST ANALYIS

Tara Krause writes: “I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate your Daily Dissection/Dissention weblogs. I begin my day with it. It sustains me in my self-exile.

“On a personal note, I thank you for your courage and seeming lone voice of dissent on the Israeli carnage. That you speak in cogent and rational fluidity is amazing! The best I do is create art or bark at the moon in ritualistic impotence — that and intensely try to engender a post-tribal sense of ethics and spirituality in my two growing sons. The feeling of anguished rage is so great that for once, I now understand the Buddhist and Kurdish acts of self-immolation.

“Even as I deconstructed my own tribal Jewish identity in the 90s vis-a-vis Zionism and the oppression of Palestinian human rights, I never thought it would come to the point of seeing the mainstream and even left Jewish world so absolutely @!!&^%$?! (forgive me, adjectives escape me right now) dead-wrong on the side of history (forget justice), and so lock-stepped about it. It borders on mass hysteria. I will not even subject my sons to their institutional and community insanity.

“All the more reason to admire your courage: we need your voice. We need to redefine the term self-hating… if the pursuit of staving off genocide and struggling for justice means self-hating, let me wear the label in pride. I think I’ll start a new gyrating version of the horah and chant the term at my next session barking at the moon!

Garth Rogers writes in about my weekly column that discusses and riffs on the letter I received from the “OFFICE OF MESSAGE DEVELOPMENT” which was really a fundraising solicitation: “The survey-contribution scheme is nothing new. It has been going on for years. I think the first one I ever received was from an environmental organization, or was it the ACLU?”

FREELANCERS OF THE WORLD UNITE

The National Writers Union reports that Congressman John Conyers, Jr. Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee will hold a press conferenceto introduce the “Freelance Writers and Artists Protection Act” later today. Says Conyers” “We need to give freelance writers and artists an antitrust exemption so they can collectively bargain with the publishers who have been forcing them to sign contracts of adhesion. Because they are not employees of the publishers, the freelancers do not have the same legal right to unionize and bargain — this bill fixes this problem and makes it easier for them to bargain for their rights…”

THE EYES OF TEXAS

As you may have read, the Saudi Prince Abdullah will be on the Bush ranch in Texas today to air his country’s concerns about US policy in the Middle East. It is expected to be a testy “full and frank” exchange. Unreported so far is that I will be in Texas myself this weekend — no, not at the Ranch, praise be, but in Dallas at the USA Film Festival showing my film WE ARE FAMILY Saturday at 5PM. It is at the Angelika. If you can, you all, drop by and say howdy. This foreign assignment may make it difficult for me to post this weekend. You can still post your comments to me by writing dissector@mediachannel.org