Antony Loewenstein in Australia has an excellent roundup of issues and analysis related to Durban II. He quotes Chris Hedges on US crimes of racism, (I’d add that some suggest US resistance to the conference has as much to do with its eagerness to avoid African American claims for reparations, as the Israel issue), Gideon Levy on the invidious comparison between the Holocaust and the Israeli occupation (more on that shortly); and the one Iranian’s view on the absurdity of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lecturing the rest of the world on human rights.

I talked yesterday about Cotler, the well known Canadian human rights lawyer who apparently suffers from what IF Stone once called the “moral schizophrenia” that occurs when Jews are asked to support in Israel exactly that which we oppose elsewhere.

I found my notes on what he said yesterday, and remembered why it was so painful to hear him on a panel and in a conference from which Palestinian voices had been excluded. Of course, much of what he said was true, and he is an inspiring speaker. But is there room for Palestinians at this table?

The pain of these people…… reminded of how they personify the struggle against racism. We are meeting at one of the most historic moments of remembrance and reminder, in terms of all these things occurring at one at the same time. We are meeting in the aftermath of the 60th anniversary of the genocide convention… On the 15th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. the worst thing is because that genocide was predictable and preventable and could have been prevented, not only the horror of the genocide, was the horror that it was preventable. We have entered on the 6th anniversary of the genocide by attrition of Darfur.

The United Nations which had the responsibility to end the genocide and protect the innocent. If we are going to bring about change, we have to speak openly and honestly, the institution where the genocide consitution was mocked. The UN is repeating its mocking response to real, on the ground genocide.

This evening is Yom Ha Shoah, reminding us of things too terrible to believe,
- first enduring lesson of holocaust, srebrenica, darfur, rwanda, occurred because of state sanctioned to hate. this teaching of contempt and the demonizing of the other is where it all begins. these are the catastrophic effects of racism.

I was glad I went to the Yom Ha Shoah last night. As has been said ad infinitum, Jewish suffering gets used and exploited to justify all manner of things. But that doesn’t mean the Israel-Palestine justice movement should then ignore Jewish suffering with a collective eye role. Quite the opposite.

Besides the specificity of understanding anti-Jewish oppression as part of the unfolding story of Zionism, (and frankly, it’s not always clear to me anti-occupation activists do, and I’m not talking about Palestinians)….

We must make space for all the genocides and all the traumas. The profound multi-generational fractures, the almost genetic fear of being hunted, the damage done to us individually and collectively, the resilience and desperate need to hold onto and cherish our cultures…these are just some of the things all of us who have experienced such mass violence have in common, whether Native American, African American, Jewish or Palestinian.

I refuse to enter peace and justice work leaving my own family’s unspeakable suffering at the door. It informs me daily. It’s inextricably connected to who I am and how I see the world. And so no one else should either.

The Holocaust simply has to stop being the only horror in the room, just as anti-semitism has to cease being the only discrimination that matters. Those of us in this movement need to reframe the space so we can all be present, and we can all learn from each other, and we can all lift each other up. That should be obvious.

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