Vilifying Alice Walker Irresponsibly

Vilifying Alice Walker Irresponsibly

by Stephen Lendman

Walker's a Georgia sharecropper family daughter. She's the youngest of eight children. At Atlanta's Spellman College, she was one of Howard Zinn's students.

He taught her and others:

"You can't be neutral on a moving train." 

"(E)vents are already moving in certain deadly directions, and to be neutral means to accept that."

In school during the 1960s, Walker became active in civil rights issues. She addressed others. She's best known for her Pulizer Prize-winning novel, "The Color Purple."

She's written other novels, short stories, children's books, poetry and nonfiction. She taught Gender Studies at Wellesley College. Her classes were America's first.

She's critical of Israeli apartheid. She's forthright saying so. On June 9, 2012, she wrote Yediot Books publisher. She declined its request to publish "The Color of Purple."

"It isn't possible for me to permit this at this time for the following reason:  As you may know, last Fall in South Africa the Russell Tribunal on Palestine met and determined that Israel is guilty of apartheid and persecution of the Palestinian people, both inside Israel and also in the Occupied Territories."  

"The testimony we heard, both from Israelis and Palestinians (I was a jurist), was devastating.  I grew up under American apartheid and this was far worse."  

"Indeed, many South Africans who attended, including Desmond Tutu, felt the Israeli version of these crimes is worse even than what they suffered under the white supremacist regimes that dominated South Africa for so long."

"It is my hope that the non-violent BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement, of which I am part, will have enough of an impact on Israeli civilian society to change the situation."

It hasn't so far. Things go from bad to worse. "We must continue to work on the issue, and to wait," said Walker.

"In faith that a just future can be fashioned from small acts, Alice Walker."

On June 18, 2012, JTA (The Global Jewish News Source) headlined "Walker refuses to authorize Hebrew version of 'The Color Purple.' "

She "cite(d) what she called Israel's 'apartheid.' "

"Walker has intensified her anti-Israel activism in recent years, traveling to the Gaza Strip to advocate on behalf of the Palestinians."

JTA implied doing so is anti-Semitic. It claimed Walker prohibits a Hebrew translation. Haaretz published JTA's distortions. It did so to its discredit. Setting the record straight is long overdue. So far, it's not forthcoming.

Walker's objection was clear. It remains so. Hebrew isn't the issue. She's against publishing her book in Israel.

She has every right to forbid it. She's against publication until Israel changes. She wants no part of colonialism, occupation and apartheid.

JTA was caught red-handed. It changed its original text. It now says Walker won't "allow an Israeli house to publish the book because 'Israel is guilty of apartheid and persecution of the Palestinian people, both inside Israel and also in the Occupied Territories.' "

Too little, too late doesn't wash. Walker expressed her objection clearly. JTA willfully distorted her. Haaretz published its lies without checking.

Israeli policy is longstanding. It's deplorable. It lawlessly occupies Palestine. It spurns core international law principles. It operates extrajudicially. 

It persecutes Palestinians ruthlessly. It mocks democratic rights. Colonialism and apartheid are serious international law breaches. They violate fundamental standards and values.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) calls self-determination "one of the essential principles of contemporary international law." 

All states are obligated to respect it. Colonialism's in clear violation. 

The 1960 Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (the Declaration on Colonialism), condemns "colonialism in all its forms and manifestations."

Israeli settlements are lawless. They're on stolen Palestinian land.

According to the 1973 International Convention for the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (the Apartheid Convention): 

Apartheid is state-sanctioned discriminatory "inhuman" racism. It's "committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them." 

Apartheid's an international crime. The above definition builds on the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). 

The 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court calls apartheid a crime under the Court's jurisdiction. Israel's flagrantly guilty. It remains accountable. 

It's ruthlessly out-of-control. It's been so since 1948. It's occupied Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem lawlessly since 1967. It spurns core international law principles. It shows no signs of change.

Its current government is its worst ever. It reflect fascist harshness, not democracy. It literally gets away with murder and much more. Palestinian self-determination's denied. 

Ruthless occupation substitutes. Longstanding grievances remain unresolved. Israel's unapologetic. Rogue states never admit wrongdoing. They never accept responsibility. They never say they're sorry. 

Israel and America are by far the worst. They menace humanity. They do so ruthlessly.

Alan Dershowitz supports Israel's worst crimes. He does so irresponsibly. Francis Boyle accused him and other Harvard Law professors or endorsing lawlessness.

They're "(un)fit to educate (aspiring) lawyers," he said. They're "a sick joke and a demented fraud."

"Harvard is to Law School as Torture is to Law," he stressed. Its faculty and deans "torture the law."

"Harvard Law School is a Neo-Con cesspool. (F)or the most part, its Faculty and Deans have always been viscerally bigoted and racist against Muslins/Arabs/Asians, and other People of Color." They've been that way since at least 1971 when Boyle attended.

Dershowitz is a notorious bigot. He's a longstanding Islamophobe. He believes in unique Jewish suffering. He's mindless of all others.

He's a committed Zionist/Israeli apologist. He's a self-incriminating war criminal. He supports Israeli crimes of war, against humanity and genocide. 

He's comfortable with torture. He reflects neo-con extremism. He claims only Jewish rights matter. He believes war is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is Strength. He's a menace in his own time. He's a disgrace to his profession and position.

On June 24, he attacked Alice Walker irresponsibly. He did so maliciously. He accused her of "crass bigotry." Haaretz published his viciousness. It demands condemnation.

He denigrated Walker's new book maliciously. It's titled "The Cushion in the Road: Meditation and Wandering as the Whole World Awakens to Being in Harm's Way." 

The New York Times calls Walker "a lavishly gifted writer." Her book revisits past themes. They include racism, Africa, Palestinian solidarity, and other social justice issues.

Dershowitz maligned her. He wrongfully accused her of "tell(ing) half-truths, omit(ting) salient facts, and find(ing) fault with everything Israel does."

She "paints a cartoonishly absurd picture of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

"Worst of all, she opposes peace talks, the two-state solution, and any rational approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

Dershowitz is a serial liar. Distortion, exaggeration, misrepresentation, and willful fabrications adulterate his commentaries. They turn truth on its head.

Walker supports justice. So do other people of conscience. Palestinians are systematically denied. Israel deplores peace and stability. It prioritizes conflict and violence. It denies Palestinians self-determination. 

Don't expect Dershowitz to explain. He disgracefully supports the worst of Israeli lawlessness. He does so shamelessly and unapologetically.

He lied saying Walker "adamantly refused to allow 'The Color of Purple' to be translated into Hebrew" and published. She did no such thing.

He accused her of multiple "half-truths and outright lies." He maliciously lied saying so. Why Haaretz editors published him, they'll have to explain.

He claims Israel's "most strident critics….do not believe many of the bizarre and counter-factual assertions made by Walker."

Millions do worldwide. They say so forthrightly. They document Israeli crimes. They're easily verifiable.

Dershowitz maligned Walker for saying Israel tortures Palestinian children. Evidence proves it incontrovertibly. 

He mocked her saying Israel murdered Rachel Corrie. He misspelled her name "Cory." 

On March 16, 2003, an Israeli bulldozer driver murdered her in cold blood. She tried stopping a Rafah refugee camp home demolition.

Eye witnesses saw her climb atop a giant Caterpillar tractor. They're designed to destroy homes. They're weapons of mass destruction. Rachel spoke to the driver. She climbed down. She knelt 10 - 20 meters in front. She blocked its path with her body. She was in clear view.

The tractor lurched forward. Activists screamed for it to stop. The soldier-operator pressed on. He crushed Rachel to death. He did so maliciously. 

He ran over her twice to be sure she was dead. He remains unaccountable. Rachel's family wants justice. So should everyone.

Dershowitz mocked her death. He vilified Walker for discussing a horrendous crime. It symbolizes Israeli ruthlessness.

He attacked Walker for denouncing Israel's apartheid wall. It's on stolen Palestinian land. It isolates their communities. It separates farmers from their fields. 

It has nothing to do with security. It's land theft writ large. When complete, it'll include over 10% of occupied land. It belongs to Palestine, not Israel.

Dershowitz denigrated Walker for discussing Mavi Mamara assassins. Israeli commandos murdered human rights activists in cold blood. They wounded many more. They remain unaccountable.

He mocked her denunciation of premeditated Gaza attacks. "According to Walker, there has never been a more brutal occupation in the history of the world."

It's by far the worst in modern memory. It reflect police state harshness. It prioritizes state terror. It's like Hitler treated Jews. He mistreated them for 12 years. 

Israeli viciousness exceeds 46 years. The human toll is appalling. Don't expect Dershowitz to explain. His diatribe included more lies. It infests his entire commentary.

He accused Walker of "ignorant rants." He called her "part of the problem, not part of the solution." 

He's mindless of hard truths he spurns. He unapologetically supports the worst of Israeli lawlessness. He vilifies openly discussing it. He's a notorious racist. 

Hopefully wise Harvard Law students avoid his classes. He's a menace in his own time. He teaches law avoidance. He spurns enforcing it responsibly. He threatens freedom in the process.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

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