Pain and hope in the Middle East: an interview with Barbara Lubin

By SASHA RETFORD

Amid piles of rubbish, a silver sparkle radiates from a half-standing, bullet-ridden house. But this is not a beacon of hope for the Palestinian refugees in the demolished camp of Jenin. It is the remains of a wheelchair that belonged to a young disabled Palestinian killed earlier this year during the Israeli invasion and destruction of the camp. People in the community told the Israelis of the disabled man trapped upstairs, but the soldiers continued to shoot at the house. The mangled piece of metal, dangling from the window in the hot desert sun, remains as a memorial of a day Jenin's Palestinian refugees will never forget.

“I get less and less shocked [at Israeli violence] as time goes on,” said Barbara Lubin, co-founder of the Middle Eastern Children’s Alliance (MECA) and frequent visitor to the Palestinian territories. “But I think, maybe the most shocking was going to Jenin.”

In Modesto for a slideshow presentation at the Church of the Brethren on August 10, Lubin shared with this reporter her recollections of her trip to the Occupied Palestinian Territories earlier this summer. Later that evening her photos would reinforce the somber stories she told.

Lubin has been witnessing Palestinian home demolitions and community destruction for years. During this visit she went to the West Bank town of Nablus. She was saddened to find that a beautiful community park was deserted. MECA helped build it, complete with a huge playground and wheelchair access. A local woman told her the children were no longer allowed to play at the park. After spending three years of her life fundraising for this park, Lubin wanted to know why. "Up there on the hill," the woman recounted, “Jewish settlers shoot at the children and have killed and injured many of them.”

During this last trip Lubin helped the two young Palestinian girls who starred in the Academy Award nominated film Promises return to their home in Dheisheh, a refugee camp the West Bank.

A sudden Israeli curfew kept them there. Lubin and MECA board member Osha Neumann were forced to stay in MECA’s guesthouse, built earlier with funds raised by a group of dancers from Dheisheh called IBDAA, which means ‘making something out of nothing.’ Here they witnessed first hand the effects of the Israeli presence in the West Bank.

“I was there when they demolished these homes [in Dheisheh],” Lubin recalled, “Each family was given a white tent by the U.N. Most families down there have 8, 10, 12 children -- and that was it. The home that their family had lived in for many, many, many years is gone and they only had the chance to get a few things out before they [the Israelis] came in.”

Lubin noted the earthmovers used to demolish these homes bore the name ‘Caterpillar,’ an American manufacturer. “We are very involved as American taxpayers,” Lubin said, “We are ultimately responsible for everything that is going on there.”

But many Americans, even those in the peace movement, have been reluctant to touch the issue, Lubin said. She says there has been a tremendous amount of pressure from the Zionist community to label people who speak out against Israel as anti-Semitic or ‘self-hating Jews.’

Lubin protests: "[It is] no more anti-Semitic to criticize the state of Israel than it is anti-American to criticize the policies of the United States. We have an obligation to do both.”

Lubin understands the difficulties surrounding this issue. Growing up in a right-wing Zionist household, her family never questioned the policies of Israel. And even though she was involved with the other peace and justice issues in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and South Africa, she never spoke up about Israel and Palestine.

But in 1982, Lubin took another look. A group of Lebanese and Palestine students from San Francisco State University approached Lubin, newly elected to the Board of Education in Berkeley. It was hard for Lubin to believe the information they offered, since it clashed with what she was told growing up.

At the beginning of the Intifada in 1987, Lubin organized a delegation of United States elected officials to travel to Palestine. It was a trip that changed her life.

“I recognized immediately that this [situation] was a very bad thing for Jewish people,” Lubin explained. “It is only going to make people hate us and I think that’s what’s happening .... It’s never good for a people to oppress another people.”

On returning home, Lubin decided to take action. At that time there were very few people working on the issue of Palestinian and Israeli relations. She co-founded the Middle Eastern Children’s Alliance with her partner Howard Levine in May 1988. MECA serves as a support group for Palestinian children and works towards justice for all peoples through education.

MECA began to send delegations to see the reality first hand. “Once you go over there and see it,” Barbara explained, “you can do nothing but understand that this is wrong.” About 30 delegations have gone over the years.

Although many people continue to avoid this issue, Americans are beginning to comprehend what has been going on in the Occupied Palestinian Territories for the last 54 years. MECA has helped raise awareness, Lubin said, but so have the Internet, the rise in terrifying suicide bombings, and groups such as the International Solidarity Movement, youth that have traveled and lived in solidarity amongst Palestinians in an effort to decrease violence and create increased consciousness.

Much of the weight rests upon Americans’ shoulders to influence our government’s politics. Lubin believes if America stopped funding Israel, stopped sending $6 billion of tax-payers’ dollars a year along with Apache helicopters, tanks, weapons, and F-16 fighters, Israel would be forced to end the occupation.

“[The conflict] is not about Arabs. It’s not about Jews. It’s not about Muslims and Christians. It’s not about any of that,” Lubin stated. “It’s about U.S. interests in the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy and imperialism.”

Jews and Arabs have lived together, conducting business and creating friendships, for thousands of years, Lubin said. Though she acknowledges racism did exist in Israel, Lubin says the coming of the Zionist state created the violence we are witnessing today.

“I think we should stop funding Israel tomorrow,” Lubin declared, “I think we should stop funding Egypt. We should not fund any government that does not abide by international law and human rights’ law.”

Lubin holds on to a sliver of hope. She recalled a night in San Francisco, spent dining with writers and activists, including the famous beat poet Alan Ginsberg. After a depressing political discussion about Rwanda and then Palestine, Lubin made the mistake of asking Ginsberg, “Where’s the hope?”

“(Ginsberg) jumped up, picked up the table [and] threw it,” Lubin recalls. “All the food was all over the floor and he yells, ‘Fuck hope. That is a luxury people in this country wait to have. It’s not about being hopeful. It’s not about having hope. It’s about doing the right thing to make the world a better place for everyone.'”

“If there is something hopeful,” Lubin said, “it has been the WTO [World Trade Organization] movement of young people. The fact that they will get out there and mix it up with the cops and close down those meetings [is hopeful]. It’s not about Bush or any of them. It’s about those corporations. They’re killing us.”

DOR earns continuing respect

By TINA ARNOPOLE DRISKILL

“I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no person should witness. Gas chambers built by learned engineers. Children poisoned by educated physicians. Infants killed by trained nurses. Women and babies shot and killed by high school and college graduates. So I’m suspicious of education. My request is: help your students to be human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, or educated Eichmanns. Reading and writing and spelling and history and arithmetic are only important if they serve to make our students human.”                                                                                    — Anonymous

                                                                        from Haim Ginott’s Between Teacher and Child

When Sharon Froba went to the Modesto High School English Department to propose bringing “the worlds of the classroom and the community together” by asking real people “to speak honestly about what they have experienced and suffered because of the intolerance of others,” not one of her many colleagues challenged the concept.

Froba’s brainchild was born out of the diverse 115 member Respect for All committee which met in January, 1998 to adopt the Modesto City Schools Tolerance Policy following a district appeal made in 1997 by one gay youth and his family over unjust treatment at Beyer High School.

On October 14, 1998, MHS celebrated our community diversity with the first Day of Respect, fashioned largely upon previous programs conducted by the Modesto Peace/Life Center aided by P/L DOR committee members Kay Barnes, John Lucas, Jim Higgs and Renaldo Raeheim.

“I consider Kay Barnes a partner in the development and ongoing success of Day of Respect,” says Froba. “After the first year (1998) Kay and I worked alone. Kay does all the scheduling of speakers in the classrooms, and I do most of the recruiting and calling.”

Froba, now retired since June, had concerns about the continuation of the successful program. She had been told by an administrator that there needed to be an on-campus coordinator, despite the fact that she had volunteered to remain active as the event chair. There also was talk during the spring and over the summer of changing the format to a one day auditorium presentation limited to no more than 3 presenters.

Not only did colleague Cheryl Gaebe step up to take over the helm of the program on campus, but on August 30 the entire MHS English Department voted unanimously to see it continue in its traditional format on October 23. “Without her willingness to be the liaison between MHS and me, there would probably not be a DOR this year,” Froba explains.

“I’m really grateful that through letters in The Modesto Bee and personal contacts, the message is clear that (people throughout the community) want the program to continue as originally conceived,” says Froba.

“I know it has been life-changing for some,” she relates. An example: gay speakers have told her their high school days would have been so much better, if they’d had this kind of opportunity.” Other presenters have received letters from students telling how deeply their stories have moved them, bringing tears to the eyes of speakers and students alike.

DOR has become a model for events at Beyer, Johansen and Downey High Schools, as well as at Sonora High School, two schools in Fresno and Southport Elementary School in West Sacramento. Froba has spoken at many conferences, distributed numerous DOR information packets and won awards for the innovative and life-affirming program.

English departments at the various high schools participate by preparing students with newspaper articles about discrimination and vocabulary lessons relating the subject. School-wide assemblies are held on the Monday of DOR week to create enthusiasm and set a tone. On the day of the event up to 3 speakers are assigned to each English classroom and tell their stories to students at each period. Each teacher does a follow-up activity after the event, issues raised by the speakers are discussed and students are encouraged to share their own experiences with discrimination. Students usually write letters of appreciation to those who spoke, as well.

“As I look back over my twenty-five years of teaching, the most rewarding times occurred when I was vulnerable, not stoic; when I got close, not distant; when I listened, rather than taught; and when I moved the heart, not the brain. On the Day of Respect...volunteers have the opportunity to do that,” Froba encourages.

ACTION: Modesto High School presents its 5th annual Day Of Respect Wednesday, October 23. If you have a story or personal experience with prejudice, know someone else who does or wish to volunteer at MHS or at a later event at another school, call 521-7265.

Cuba: why the embargo?

By JOHN LUCAS

I recently returned from Cuba, a country isolated and vilified by the United States Government for over four decades. I found the Cuban people to be warm, friendly, and proud of their country. Cubans still like and respect Americans, even though our government has enforced a stricter economic embargo on them than any other country in the world. The ones who suffer the most from this are the children, the elderly, and people with illnesses. The embargo restricts the sale of medicines and foods from the United States to Cuba, travel by American citizens (unless with a licensed group), or any type of commerce with the nation. Americans who are caught breaking the embargo face fines and criminal charges.

The embargo began in 1960 after Fidel Castro and his revolutionary army overthrew the brutal Batista dictatorship (Batista was supported by the United States Government). Even though Castro himself was not Marxist at first, he sought to have a fair and more equitable distribution of Cuban wealth. This lead to problems with people of wealth. Many people who had done well under the Batista regime fled Cuba for the United States. The US Government opposed the Castro government’s nationalization of US companies and holdings in Cuba. The Cold War mentality at the time led to the attitude that Cuba was either with us or against us.

The wedge between the two nations grew even wider in 1961 after the failed attempt to topple the government of Cuba by a CIA sponsored invasion called the Bay of Pigs. Cuba couldn’t take a non-aligned or socialist path, especially given their close proximity to US. Cuba felt pushed to align with the Soviet Union and Eastern Block nations. In 1962 Cuba was found allowing the Soviet Union to place nuclear missiles in Cuba. This led to the Cuban Missile Crisis which drove the US and the Soviet Union to brink of nuclear war. The Soviet Union withdrew their missiles to end the crisis. As part of the deal, the US would later dismantle nuclear missiles on the Turkish-Soviet Union border.

The Cold War ended over a decade ago with the Soviet Union’s break-up. Today we trade with these former communist nations, as well as China, Vietnam, Burma etc., nations that do not fit into our definition of a democracy. Why not Cuba? Why continue a policy that punishes the children, elderly, and sick of Cuba?

Rather than loosening the embargo since the break-up of the Socialist Economic Block, the US has made it even more restrictive, further tightening the noose around Cuba’s neck. The Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 restricts any ship stopping in Cuba from visiting the United States for six months. The Helms-Burton Act of 1996 puts further pressure on the entire international community not to trade with, give credits, or make loans to Cuba.. The message to other nations is clear: trade with Cuba and risk losing trade with the United States. These measures were meant to further isolate Cuba from the world economic community and cause more misery for the Cuban people.

One member of our group, a lawyer, was interested in how the laws and criminal justice system functions in Cuba. An impromptu meeting was set up between a few of us, a judge, and lawyers. After the meeting, we discussed about life in Cuba, and the embargo came up. I was surprised that the lawyers knew the continuing claim made in our country that the Castro government blames shortages and the economic situation in Cuba on the US embargo. One of the lawyers made the very obvious point: why not lift the embargo so the Cuban government cannot use it as an excuse any longer? If the embargo is not hurting the Cuban people, then prove it and lift it.

The current policy of punishing 11 million people is immoral and senseless. We would have very few trading partners if we applied the same standards to other governments that we apply to Cuba’s government. We are the only superpower left. Hurting children, elderly, and ill people should not be used to topple a government we don’t like. These are the actions of a bully, not a superpower.

The author is president of the Modesto Peace/Life Center Board.

“If You Love Them, Set Them Free”

By ELAINE GORMAN

The title above has been one of my favorite Sting lyrics, and it is certainly appropriate when it comes to books. Thanks to a great idea that became a website, www.BookCrossing.com, there are over 30,000 books roaming the U.S.

Like many people, I “ditch” books in airports, hotels, and restaurants, when I travel. But BookCrossing members are encouraged to clean out their bookshelves and leave books around their hometowns. This means picking the books that you really enjoyed or from which you have received inspiration, and leaving them to be picked up by strangers.

I first heard about BookCrossing from the magazine Utne Reader. Ron Hornbaker and his software company sponsor the website, which has about 39,000 members worldwide, double the number of members since I joined in mid-July, with almost 400 new members joining daily. Besides the U.S., books have been “released” in countries all over the world, including Paraguay, the Gambia, and South Korea.

The website offers an on-line newsletter, Members Forum, contests, and BookCrossing merchandise. These folks are statistic freaks, and you can look up lots of information including where books have been released, which books are most commonly “released” or “caught,” who has released the most books, who has found the most books. Currently in Modesto, there are 25 books “in the wild,” or books waiting to be retrieved and registered on-line. Books have been left at post offices, restaurants, the Stanislaus county jury room, Graceada Park, doctors offices, and movie theaters.

Of course, not everyone who finds a released book will register it at BookCrossing. In fact, of the 20 books I have set free, only one has been registered, and that has been a book I left in Twain Harte. I have never found a book either, but if the other 28 Modestans who are registered with BookCrossing continue to leave books, I hope to find one soon. Especially leave books by Nevada Barr, John Irving, nature writers, and Latin American authors. Leave them at Deva’s or the State Theater for me. And if I ever make it to Antarctica or Nova Scotia, I can look forward to catching some books there.

ACTION: Go to your bookshelves and choose books that have special meaning for you and that you think others will enjoy. Contact BookCrossing (www.BookCrossing.com) and set those books free.

Civil rights denied during Bush’s Stockton visit

By FRED HERMAN

It was described as sort of a love-in.

George Dubya bestowed blessings on Stockton - especially on Simon, Monteith and Pombo - and Stockton reciprocated by radiating love and approval of invading Iraq, global warming and GOP politicians.

But a funny thing happened August 23 on the way to two non-forums - a civic auditorium packed with hand-picked fans given free tickets and the airport’s Spanos Jet Center, where folks in suits and high heels left a $1,000-a-plate luncheon with jammed goodie bags:

Protesters came by the hundreds - and hundreds ain’t half bad for what was called the Port City’s first ever mass protest. Signs urged Bush not to invade, linked him to Simon and crime everywhere, proposed peace on the docks and maybe controls on Big Corporate Pollution.

You might have missed it if you relied on Sacramento TV. Indeed, two of three Sac stations and the Modesto paper mentioned no discord at all - except for a brief shot of Medea Benjamin being evicted from the aud in a “No War in Iraq” t-shirt.

If you were paranoid, you’d think the same forces that placed buses and trucks so Da Prez would see no unpleasantness upon emerging from Air Force One or his limo also issued some gag order.

A Stockton Record account did admit dissent. One TV station had a few long crowd shots.

A Record editorial led the cheers this way:

“One-hundred years from now Aug. 23, 2002, will be a red-letter day. The visit of President Bush will be remembered:

“* For its historic nature (the first sitting president to actually speak in Stockton).

“* For its excellence (every resident should take pride in the quality of the events at the Stockton Memorial Civic Auditorium and the Spanos Jet Center).

“* For its enthusiastic patriotism (the president was impressed with residential exuberance and he said so).

“Friday won’t be remembered for Bay Area-imported protesters — and it shouldn’t be. It won’t be remembered as a Simon fund-raiser — it probably won’t matter. There weren’t that many demonstrators anyway... It will be remembered for transcending politics, for its sense of national pride, for capturing history. Stockton put its best face forward.

“At the Civic, those on hand to greet the president were part of an old-fashioned party filled with flag waving, patriotic songs, cheering, standing ovations, civic and national pride. The staid old building was transformed for a day into a sea of red, white and blue.

“All contributed to make it a day to remember, the day the president came to town and we wowed him almost as much as he wowed us. When they write this chapter of Stockton’s history, it will be with a reverence for the office of America’s chief executive and a reverence for those who made his short stay such a special one.”

Ahem! One hates to rain on so lavish a parade, but journalistic ethics demand setting a few fine points straight:

Those bay area protesters, for example: There may have been a few. After all, my kids and I and a quarter million others marched in San Francisco in the Vietnam era. But a great majority seemed to be from nearer to here.

“Transcending politics?” “Residential exuberance?” Well, George ...

Stockton law enforcement did stifle civil liberties, the free speech that still is hailed in some journalistic circles.

A fellow Modesto ex-newsie, who attended such events a time or three during a misspent activist youth, found a kinder, gentler officer than before, but resented confining protesters by screening off public areas.

She was aghast as sheriff’s deputies - led by a lieutenant named Huber - sought to bar protesters with signs ... “but those without signs may stay.” When this didn’t fly, Huber compromised and let signs stay - if the sticks on which they were mounted were removed.

“Ya gotta be kiddin’,” I said to Huber. “Do you really think that our side will attack your armed guys with sticks the width of rulers?” Huber insisted he thought just that. KQED radio picked up the dialog.

“How do they get away with this in Stockton?” asked my colleague, one of seven imported Modesto troublemakers.

A retired Modesto civil servant said it was the first time his “civil rights were so blatantly violated. Bush really doesn’t want to hear any opinion but his own.” He “felt excitement over the numbers that turned out. We had a right to be at the doors (where Bush spoke) and not to be marginalized.”

A worker in Modesto local government:

“I think it’s important that people know how many of us were there and not all imports from the bay area. A little old lady stood next to me most of the morning and families brought children. I was impressed at how peaceful people were even with the civil rights conflict. Yes, some were vehement and assertive but still peaceful.

“Probably the biggest issue was the way we were hidden from the President. How can he know public opinion if we are out of view and papers call us ‘dozens’? I’ve known this was happening but to be personally involved brings a deeper realization of how manipulated we are.”

A retired computer nerd and his wife, a Modesto teacher, offered:

“We were encouraged people came from other locales. A good turnout for a weekday. We liked hearing the longshoremen’s side.

“There was a broad range of complaints: Environmental issues, the threat of war, sanctions, interference with labor negotiations, funding cuts for family planning, support for Israel, corporate crime, energy policy, support for Saudis, the War on Some Drugs, immigration, institutionalized racism (profiling), deconstruction of the Constitution, etc. Seems like this administration has something everyone can hate - so how do his popularity figures stay so high?”

A worker for Modesto’s homeless:

“The sheriff’s staff tried to follow Secret Service directions and direct us to what they called ‘The Cage’ but when confronted with the fact they were violating our right to protest, they backed off and let us continue. I believe they tried several other times to ‘cage’ us at the prompting of the SS, but they didn’t take the issue to the pepper spray stage, and they could have.”

(Note 1. There was a media presence, and they remember Portland and Seattle. Note 2. The American Civil Liberties Union has been notified, not with any expectation of these actions being retroactively reversed.)

“I asked an officer if I could stand with other ‘non-protesters’ if I put down my sign and he said yes. I could see in his eyes that he was questioning his own answer and the directions he’d been given by the SS. He allowed me and the rest of the crowd to pass.

“I was overwhelmed by the numbers of all ages and walks of life with the same goal - peace. It felt very empowering stand my ground and have the powers that be respect that to some extent. This newbie protester is ready to go again!”