WAWA/WeAreWideAwake is my Public Service to America as a muckracker who has journeyed seven times to Israel Palestine since June 2005.
WAWA is dedicated to confronting media and governments that shield the whole
truth.
We who Are Wide
Awake are compelled by the "fierce urgency of Now" [Rev MLK, Jr.] to raise
awareness and promote the human dialogue about many of the crucial issues of our
day: the state of our Union and in protection of democracy, what life is like
under military occupation in Palestine, the Christian EXODUS from the Holy Land,
and spirituality-from a Theologically Liberated Christian Anarchist
POV.
"Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all...and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave...a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils." George Washington's Farewell Address - 1796
"My aim is to agitate & disturb people. I'm not selling bread, I'm selling yeast." Unamuno
"Imagine All the People Sharing All the World." John Lennon
"If enough Christians followed the gospel, they could bring any state to its knees." Father Philip Francis Berrigan
"You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won't back down." Tom Petty
"If I can't dance, it's not my revolution." Emma Goldman
"We have yet to begin to IMAGINE the power and potential of the Internet." Charlie Rose, 2005
Only in Solidarity do "We have it in our power to begin the world again" Tom Paine
"Never doubt that a few, thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
"You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free." John 8:32
DO SOMETHING!
Photo of George shown here and in web site banner courtesy of Debbie Hill, 2000.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that, among these, are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; and, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it. -July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence
February 25, 2009: "To Gaza, With Love" and a Call to ALL who claim to be Christians
Today begins the 40 days known as Lent; a time for Christians to reflect and repent!
The
term "Antichrist" only appears five times in the Bible, but a cult not
based on sound theology has created an urban legend that seeks
Armageddon. The term "Antichrist" never appears in John's Revelation or
Daniel, two disparate works of literature written three centuries apart
and under very different circumstances, yet the Left Behinder's weave
them together.
The
small texts that mention the "Antichrist" were written to attack the
Gnostic understanding of who Christ was. A Gnostic relies on intuition
and not on dogma and doctrine. Gnostic's were most certainly free
spirits and most all of the writings we have about Gnostics, have been
the attacks upon them. That all changed when the Nag Hamadi Library was
translated and published, for what had been deemed heretical by those
in power in the fourth century can now be read in most every language.
Biblical
scholars today agree that many books of the Bible were written by
others in the name of an apostle, for the quickest way to gain
credibility is to trade on another's reputation.
We may never
know if the author who coined the term "Antichrist" was actually the
apostle John who wrote I John and 2 John-the only sources where the
term appears.
John also say's much more:
"Dear Children, ...as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming; even now many have come..."- I John 2:18
"This is how we know who the children of God are not: anyone who does not do right; nor anyone who does not love his brother."-I John 3:10
"If
anyone has material possessions and see's his brother in need but has
no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? ...let us love with
actions and in truth."-I John 3:17
"God is
love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. There is no
fear in love. Perfect love drives out all fear because fear has to do
with punishment." 1 John 4:16,18
The theology promoted in the Left Behind fiction is a theology based on fear and punishment.
The
followers of this heretical theology worship a false god: a punitive
father, who seeks obedience, is patriarchal, demonizes woman, gays,
lesbians, and seek empire on this world and care naught for the
fragility of Mother Nature. They resist what science offers, in
particular they are antichristic in their refusal to see that stem cell
research could lead to actual HEALINGS of diseases, and JC was very big
into healing.
I
cite John 5: 1-6, which in some readings is prefaced with an angel from
heaven, would descend and agitate the waters of the Pool of Bethsaida.
Only the first leper, blind, or invalid who made it into the water
would receive a healing. One day while Jesus was there, he walked by a
man who had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years. Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be healed?” The man answered he had no friends to help him get into the water first. Jesus asked him again, “Do you want to be healed?”
JC is always a gentle man, he never pushed anyone into anything!
The Antichrist theology is the opposite and in the 21st century, these
fundamentalists among are seeking theocracy based on fear of others and
seek empire in this world.
Not at all what JC was about; he was
about liberation from the bondage of corrupt teachers of The Law, that
God loved ALL and the Kingdom of God is NOT of this world.
Antichrists do not have eyes to see that nature is God's primary temple, and war the greatest abomination.
During
the time when the writer of John was writing about the spirit of
antichrist, Gnosticism was still in its evolution and far from the
intricately developed system of the second and third centuries when the
church and its institutional hierarchy became firmly established.
During the time John was writing against the false teachings, the
Gnostics were by and large libertines who denied Christ's humanity.
Some said that Christ only appeared to have a body; others said the
divine Christ joined the man Jesus at his baptism and left him when he
died.
The Gnostics left no testimony in their behalf, so all we
have to go on is what was written against them and the texts that
survived and are now the Nag Hamadi Library. These texts offer no new
information but prove that early Christian's were just as diverse as
Christians today.
The Armageddon groupies believe they will be
lifted out of the misery of the world, and neglect to reflect upon the
antichrist within, which is how centuries of theologians understood the
term. For many, the term anti/against Christ means to be
anti/against his teachings. Christ was ALWAYS pointing to the Father,
saying he only did what the Father wanted, and the prophet Micah summed
it up best:
"What does God require? He has already told you o'man! Be JUST. Be Merciful! And walk humbly with your Lord."-Micah 6:8
The
antichrists take certain scriptural passages literally, and totally
neglect those they do not want to see or hear. Such as, Matthew
12:31-32, Mark 3:28-29, and Luke 12:10 which are simpatico with Gnostic
Thomas saying 44:
Jesus said: "Whoever
blasphemes against the father will be forgiven, whoever blasphemes
against the son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the
Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either on earth or in heaven."
The Holy Spirit, AKA the spirit of God is within all created things.
One should wonder what spirit is driving those that torture and bomb another, for just who would Jesus torture and bomb?
No religion owns God and no church owns Jesus.
Jesus
has been hijacked by the right wing fundamentalists and the time of his
liberation from the Antichrists is NOW. Christ was no Christian, that
term was not even coined until three decades after he walked the earth.
But JC was a social justice radical revolutionary Palestinian devout
Jewish road warrior who challenged the job security of the temple
priests and disturbed the status quo of the Roman Occupying Forces for
teaching subversive ideas such as all people are equal and valuable.
The Antichrists of today, neglect the non-negotiable's that JC commanded
that his followers must do: LOVE, pray for and forgive your enemies,
treat all people the way you want to be treated and remain NONVIOLENT,
even if nailed to a cross.
Christ dealt compassionately with sinners and outcasts, but hypocrites received his wrath.
Compassion,
which is sorrow for the suffering of others, is accompanied by the urge
to help. This should define the Christian attitude.
If there is no compassion within a Christian, then it is the spirit of the Antichrist that rules and I THANK GOD that spirit is alive and vocal in those who are NOT Christian!
To Gaza, With Love By Medea Benjamin Feb. 17, 2009
When I traveled to Gaza last week, everywhere I went, a photo haunted me. I saw it in a brochure called "Gaza will not die" that Hamas gives out to visitors at the border crossing. A poster-sized version was posted outside a makeshift memorial at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. And now that I am back home, the image comes to me when I look at children playing in the park, when I glance at the school across the street, when I go to sleep at night.
It is a photo of a young Palestinian girl who is literally buried alive in the rubble from a bomb blast, with just her head protruding from the ruins. Her eyes are closed, her mouth partially open, as if she were in a deep sleep. Dried blood covers her lips, her cheeks, her hair. Someone with a glove is reaching down to touch her forehead, showing one final gesture of kindness in the midst of such inhumanity.
What was this little girl's name, I wonder. How old was she? Was she sleeping when the bomb hit her home? Did she die a quick death or a slow, agonizing one? Where are her parents, her siblings? How are they faring?
Of the 1,330 Palestinians killed by the Israeli military during the 22-day invasion of Gaza, 437 were children. Let me repeat that: 437 children-each as beautiful and precious as our own.
As a Jew, an American and a mother, I felt compelled to witness, firsthand, what my people and my taxdollars had done during this invasion. Visiting Gaza filled me with unbearable sadness. Unlike the primitive weapons of Hamas, the Israelis had so many sophisticated ways to murder, maim and destroy-unmanned drones, F-16s dropping "smart bombs" that miss, Apache helicopters launching missiles, tanks firing from the ground, ships shelling Gaza from the sea. So many horrific weapons stamped with Made in the USA. While Hamas' attacks on Israeli villages are deplorable, Israel's disproportionate response is unconscionable, with 1,330 Palestinians dead vs. 13 Israelis.
If the invasion was designed to destroy Hamas, it failed miserably. Not only is Hamas still in control, but it retains much popular support. If the invasion was designed as a form of collective punishment, it succeeded, leaving behind a trail of grieving mothers, angry fathers and traumatized children.
To get a sense of the devastation, check out a slide show circulating on the internet called Gaza: Massacre of Children (www.aztlan.net/gaza/gaza_massacre_of_children.php). It should be required viewing for all who supported this invasion of Gaza. Babies charred like shish-kebabs. Limbs chopped off. Features melted from white phosphorus. Faces crying out in pain, gripped by fear, overcome by grief.
Anyone who can view the slides and still repeat the mantra that "Israel has the right to self-defense" or "Hamas brought this upon its own people," or worse yet, "the Israeli military didn't go far enough," does a horrible disservice not only to the Palestinian people, but to humanity.
Compassion, the greatest virtue in all major religions, is the basic human emotion prompted by the suffering of others, and it triggers a desire to alleviate that suffering. True compassion is not circumscribed by one's faith or the nationality of those suffering. It crosses borders; it speaks a universal language; it shares a common spirituality.
Those who have suffered themselves, such as Holocaust victims, are supposed to have the deepest well of compassion.
The Israeli election was in full swing while was I visiting Gaza. As I looked out on the ruins of schools, playgrounds, homes, mosques and clinics, I recalled the words of Benjamin Netanyahu, "No matter how strong the blows that Hamas received from Israel, it's not enough." As I talked to distraught mothers whose children were on life support in a bombed hospital, I thought of the "moderate" woman in the race, Tzipi Livni, who vowed that she would not negotiate with Hamas, insisted that "terror must be fought with force and lots of force" and warned that "if by ending the operation we have yet to achieve deterrence, we will continue until they get the message."
"The message," I can report, has been received. It is a message that Israel is run by war criminals, that the lives of Palestinians mean nothing to them. Even more chilling is the pro-war message sent by the Israeli people with their votes for Netanyahu, Livni and anti-Arab racist Avigdor Lieberman.
How tragic that nation born out of the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust has become a nation that supports the slaughter of Palestinians.
Here in the U.S., Congress ignored the suffering of the Palestinians and pledged its unwavering support for the Israeli state. All but five members out of 535 voted for a resolution justifying the invasion, falsely holding Hamas solely responsible for breaking the ceasefire and praising Israel for facilitating humanitarian aid to Gaza at a time when food supplies were rotting at the closed borders.
One glimmer of hope we found among people in Gaza was the Obama administration. Many were upset that Obama did not speak out during the invasion and that peace envoy George Mitchell, on his first trip to the Middle East, did not visit Gaza or even Syria. But they felt that Mitchell was a good choice and Obama, if given the space by the American people, could play a positive role.
Who can provide that space for Obama? Who can respond to the call for justice from the Palestinian people? Who can counter AIPAC, the powerful lobby that supports Israeli aggression?
An organized, mobilized, coordinated grassroots movement is the critical counterforce, and within that movement, those who have a particularly powerful voice are American Jews. We have the beginnings of a such a counterforce within the American Jewish community. Across the United States, Jews joined marches, sit-ins, die-ins, even chained themselves to Israeli consulates in protest. Jewish groups like J Street and Brit Tzedek v'Shalom lobby for a diplomatic solution. Tikkun organizes for a Jewish spiritual renewal grounded in social justice. The Middle East Children's Alliance and Madre send humanitarian aid to Palestine. Women in Black hold compelling weekly vigils. American Jews for a Just Peace plants olive trees on the West Bank. Jewish Voice for Peace promotes divestment from corporations that profit from occupation. Jews Against the Occupation calls for an end to U.S. aid to Israel.
We need greater coordination among these groups and within the broader movement. And we need more people and more sustained involvement, especially Jewish Americans. In loving memory of our ancestors and for the future of our-and Palestinian-children, more American Jews should speak out and reach out. As Sholom Schwartzbard, a member of Jews Against the Occupation, explained at a New York City protest, "We know from our own history what being sealed behind barbed wire and checkpoints is like, and we know that â??Never Again' means not anyone, not anywhere - or it means nothing at all."
On March 7, I will return to Gaza with a large international delegation, bringing aid but more importantly, pressuring the Israeli, U.S. and Egyptian governments to open the borders and lift the siege. Many members of the delegation are Jews. We will travel in the spirit of tikkun olam, repairing the world, but with a heavy sense of responsibility, shame and yes, compassion. We will never be able to bring back to life the little girl buried in the rubble. But we can-and will--hold her in our hearts as we bring a message from America and a growing number of American Jews: To Gaza, With Love.
For information about joining the trip to Gaza, contact
Medea Benjamin (
) is cofounder of Global Exchange (www.globalexchange.org) and CODEPINK: Women for Peace (www.codepinkalert.org).
"HOPE has two children.The first is ANGER at the way things are. The second is COURAGE to DO SOMETHING about it."-St. Augustine
"He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust." - Aquinas
Everyone has the right to freedom of
opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions
without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and
ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
" In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."-Mother Teresa
“You cannot talk like sane men around a peace table while the atomic bomb itself is ticking beneath it. Do not treat the atomic bomb as a weapon of offense; do not treat it as an instrument of the police. Treat the bomb for what it is: the visible insanity of a civilization that has ceased...to obey the laws of life.”- Lewis Mumford, 1946
The age of warrior kings and of warrior presidents has passed. The nuclear age calls for a different kind of leadership....a leadership of intellect, judgment, tolerance and rationality, a leadership committed to human values, to world peace, and to the improvement of the human condition. The attributes upon which we must draw are the human attributes of compassion and common sense, of intellect and creative imagination, and of empathy and understanding between cultures." - William Fulbright
“Any nation that year after year continues to raise the Defense budget while cutting social programs to the neediest is a nation approaching spiritual death.” - Rev. MLK
Establishment of Israel
"On the day of the termination of the British mandate and on the strength of the United Nations General Assembly declare The State of Israel will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel: it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion it will guarantee freedom of religion [and] conscience and will be faithful to the Charter of the United Nations." - May 14, 1948. The Declaration of the Establishment of Israel
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