- VICTORIA, BC --
It is long past time for the world to acknowledge that the destruction
of Gaza is the Guernica of our time. All our moral compasses will be set
from this point, as to our attitude in this true holocaust. Not one of
us is exempt; all will be weighed in the balance of our beliefs and actions.
-
- Here is a photograph of the painting with a statement
from Picasso, followed by the present carnage at Gaza [Reuters Jan 12,
2009, url:
- http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5053R720090112]:
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- "What do you think an artist is? An imbecile who
has only eyes if he is a painter, or ears if he is a musician, or a lyre
in every chamber of his heart if he is a poet, or even, if he is a boxer,
just his muscles? Far, far from it: at the same time he is also a political
being constantly aware of the heartbreak- ing, passionate, or delightful
things that happen in the world, shaping himself completely in their image.
How could it be possible to feel no interest in other people, and with
a cool indifference to detach yourself from the very life which they bring
to you so abundantly? No, painting is not done to decorate apartments.
It is an instrument of war." Pablo Picasso
-
-
- "In 1937 Pablo Picasso painted Guernica, a mural,
as the centerpiece for the Spanish Pavilion of the World's Fair in Paris.
It is a bitter irony that Guernica, the most lasting monument of the exposition,
is the Twentieth century's most enduring symbol of the horrors of war and
the inhumane use of technology. It is a portent for the terrors of the
next decade. The painting is based on the events of April 27, 1937, when
the German air force, in support of the Fascist forces led by Generalissimo
Francisco Franco, carried out a bombing raid on the Basque village of Guernica
in northern Spain.
-
- "At that time such a massive bombing campaign was
unprecedented. The hamlet was pounded with high-explosive and incendiary
bombs for over three hours. The non-combatant townspeople including women
and children were indiscriminately cut-down as they fled their crumbling
buildings. The town of Guernica burned for three days leaving sixteen hundred
civilians killed or wounded in its smoldering remains.
-
- "The Fascist planners of the bombing campaign knew
that Guernica had no strategic value as a military target, but it was a
cultural and religious center for Basque identity. The devastation was
intended to terrorize the population and break the spirit of the Basque
resistance. In effect it was intended to "shock and awe" the
Basques into submission. The bombing of Guernica was a sensation in the
world press. The Times of London called it the arch-symbol of Fascist barbarity."
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- From
- http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/ARTH200/guernica.html,
one in a series from the website devoted to http://www.arts.adelaide.edu.au/personal/DHart/ResponsesToWar/index.html
- Responses to War created by David Hart of the University
of Adelaide.
-
- That the above description could be applied to the present
horrors in Gaza with virtually no differences is condemnation enough for
Israel to stand trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
-
- Let us substitute Gaza for Guernica and Palestinian for
Basque and see the eerie parallels:
-
- "The Fascist planners of the bombing campaign
knew that Gaza had no strategic value as a military target, but it was
a cultural and religious center for Palestinian identity. The devastation
was intended to terrorize the population and break the spirit of the Palestinian
resistance. In effect it was intended to "shock and awe" the
Palestinians into submission."
-
- That this massacre is made by the same people who scream
"Holocaust!" about themselves is of course the supreme irony,
and --from a Christian point of view-- the greatest self-incrimination
and sin. Sin. Well, there's a word!
-
- Our idea of sin derives from the Greek word harmartia,
which means to 'miss the mark," something we cannot fault those precision
Israeli bombers for. They locate and hit schools, hospitals, children's
shelters, and UN aid stations. Any and all humanitarian relief points are
now suitable targets.
-
- An Israeli friend of mine told me this was a common joke
there twenty years ago:
- "Why does Israel need expensive spy satellites?"
- "So we can spot Palestinian kids picking up
stones to throw at our tanks!"
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- For me, at nearly 66, it brings to mind all the black
and white documentaries I watched as a child, often at rallies and memorials
we attended with my father's business partners, Sam Windstrauch and Sam
Silberstein, two real Jews who had no interest in Zionism, nor did Albert
Einstein, no matter how often he was asked to support "Israel Bond
Drives".
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- Now the murderers are strangely transposed: the old black
and white movies of the Nazis destroying Guernica or taking the Warsaw
ghetto have morphed into full-colour TV journalists documenting Israel's
"Defense" Forces [IDF] taking Gaza, exactly as was done sixty
years ago.
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- The formerly abused become present abuser and use the
same tactics: enclose the victims, cut off food, water, and fuel; bomb
and shell one and all, set them fleeing in vain. Then move in and use all
the newest weapons to maximize their deaths at minimal IDF losses. To date,
it seems that goal is a kill ration of 100:1 or better, if possible.
-
- As we step into the Ninth Circle of Hell, please note
the IDF's weapons and tanks are the best that money can buy and the USA
supply, in fact, pays for with the billions of dollars of "foreign
aid" it generously gives to Israel every year. If the US gave its
own citizens as much as it gives to Israel, each man, woman, and child
would receive more than US$ 33,000.00 a year. Let me know when you got
your cheque, as I have yet to get mine.
-
- "Is it an irresponsible overstatement to associate
the treatment of Palestinians with this criminalized Nazi record of collective
atrocity? [Holocaust] I think not."
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- Richard Falk, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for
Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and international law
authority at Princeton University, 2009
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- This much is certain: all these killers are true to their
leaders, such as Bush, who told us that "I listened to the voices...and
acted. I am the Decider." Some leader! Some decisions!
-
- Can anyone see Christ in anything that comes out from
Bush, or from any ZIonazi spokesperson? "For it is not what goes into
a man that makes him unclean, but what proceeds from his mouth!" warned
Jeshua, 2000 years ago. Nothing's changed.
-
- In the US of A and Canada, self-righteous "Christian"
evangelicals aligned with Zionazis defame Him for a fictitious "security"
which cannot ever be, for there can never be peace without justice.
-
- In truth, they are not Christians. They, along with the
Zionazis, are the new murderous Pharisees of our era, if we have eyes that
truly see, and unstopped ears to hear the screams of agony in Gaza, the
Guernica of our time.
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