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NEWS & LETTERS, March 2004Youth columnIsrael's 'refuseniks' break new groundby Brown Douglas When you even try to scratch the surface of the multi-faceted problems--theoretical and practical--of Israel/Palestine, you are barraged with the negativity and hopelessness that surrounds the topic. But in all negativity, there is a hope for forward movement, and that hope is imbedded within the human Subject to overcome the contradictions and prove that "freedom is the essence of man," like Karl Marx said. 1,248 is the magic number. That is the number of Israelis, most of them young, that so far have in one way or another refused to serve the murderous occupation that is wreaking havoc on the hearts and minds, not to mention lives and homes, of all Israeli and Palestinian society, and the world. These Israelis have spawned the refusenik movement, a movement that only shows signs of growing stronger despite the repression coming from within the Israeli ruling class, and the fact that most refuseniks find themselves sentenced to military prison for sometimes undetermined sentences. SELECTIVE REFUSAL This is a unique movement that can’t be put in any specific pre-existing category of conscientious objection. The overwhelming majority of the refuseniks claim no ideology of pacifism or religious belief against military service. One of the most well organized refusenik-support organizations, YESH GVUL (There is a limit!), describes this uniquely Israeli movement that "stresses the right and duty of every soldier to scrutinize the orders he receives, and reject duties he finds morally or politically repugnant. "Unlike pacifism or conscientious objection, selective refusal recognizes circumstances when force is legitimate, as in defense against external aggression, or in pursuit of national liberation from foreign tyranny. But it rejects the abuse of military might for unworthy ends, such as wars of aggression, or violent subjugation of a civilian population." The range of groups is broad, from SHMINISTIM (high school) youth refuseniks, to self-described feminist women and men of New Profile, to Courage to Refuse which was founded by officers and soldiers (some of them highly decorated) of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). One would be hard pressed to find a sector of Israeli society that doesn’t contain an element of resistance to occupation. DISCUSSION IS BLOCKED Finding hope in the human Subject isn’t very popular these days, especially when you talk about Israel/Palestine. In a recent forum on the University of Memphis campus two speakers gave their view of the underlying problems blocking the way to peace, and the crowd of about 200 erupted and basically left no room for anyone’s opinion to be heard. Only one person tried to ask about forces that could point the way towards a solution. The attempted answer was quickly subsumed by screaming accusations from the audience, reinforcing everyone’s fears and disillusionment towards the situation. Why is the reaching out for a new reality and new answers to old questions so many times just a mere footnote? It seems to me that something lacking in the discussion is the idea that humanity can break from an endless cycle of violence, repression, and terror. Because we sometimes blind ourselves to the new, it’s common to get caught up in easy solutions, like "it’s Zionism’s fault" (most of the time not even knowing what exactly Zionism is), or even a non-solution like "it’s always been like this and will continue because it’s all about religion, or opposing civilizations, or East vs. West." Said another way, we’re pretty good at finding things to criticize but not the other side of that coin, pointing towards a solution by using our solidarity and creativity. The refuseniks are, on the other hand, through their highly spontaneous and idealistic actions, saying that there is a way forward. But saying that all "valid" resistance is embedded in them would be missing the point because, of course, you have a whole generation of Palestinian youth showing broad resistance to occupation. Also not to be ignored are the young resisters from the U.S. and other countries, like Rachel Corrie, who put their lives on the line to put an international face on self-determination. We can’t separate any of these forces from the ideas that are imbedded in the resisters' activity. The second negation, the forward movement that begins by saying no to an oppressive situation is the only way to advance the struggle against all forms of oppression. If we can start using those ideas as the jumping-off point of our solidarity with the refuseniks, maybe we can forge a movement that challenges all of the half-way houses and the "roadmaps" to end up with full, real freedom. Support the refuseniks at yeshgvul.org. |
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