Norman Finkelstein has pulled out of the coalition that has come together for a peaceful international march on Gaza due to what he sees as a new 'sectarian' agenda that has been 'foisted' on the initiative under the guise of a 'political context'. Not sure what exactly is going on here but Finkelstein's statement on thr matter is reproduced below:
Why I resigned from the Gaza Freedom March coalition
The original consensus of the International Coalition to End the Illegal Siege of Gaza was that we would limit our statement to a pair of uncontroversial, basic and complementary principles that would have the broadest possible appeal: the march to break the siege would be nonviolent and anchored in international law. I agreed with this approach and consequent statement and decided to remove myself from the steering committee in order to invest my full energies in mobilizing for the march.
During the week beginning August 30, 2009 and in a matter of days an entirely new sectarian agenda dubbed “the political context” was foisted on those who originally signed on and worked tirelessly for three months. Because it drags in contentious issues that — however precious to different constituencies — are wholly extraneous to the narrow but critical goal of breaking the siege this new agenda is gratuitously divisive and it is almost certain that it will drastically reduce the potential reach of our original appeal.
It should perhaps be stressed that the point of dispute was not whether one personally supported a particular Palestinian right or strategy to end the occupation. It was whether inclusion in the coalition’s statement of a particular right or strategy was necessary if it was both unrelated to the immediate objective of breaking the siege and dimmed the prospect of a truly mass demonstration. In addition the tactics by which this new agenda was imposed do not bode well for the future of the coalition’s work and will likely move the coalition in an increasingly sectarian direction.
I joined the coalition because I believed that an unprecedented opportunity now exists to mobilize a broad public whereby we could make a substantive and not just symbolic contribution towards breaking the illegal and immoral siege of Gaza and, accordingly, realize a genuine and not just token gesture of solidarity with the people of Gaza. In its present political configuration I no longer believe the coalition can achieve such a goal.
Because I would loathe getting bogged down in a petty and squalid public brawl I will not comment further on this matter unless the sequence of events climaxing in my decision to resign are misrepresented by interested parties. However I would be remiss in my moral obligations were I not humbly to apologize to those who, either coaxed by me or encouraged by my participation, gave selflessly of themselves to make the march a historic event and now feel aggrieved at the abrupt turn of events.
It can only be said in extenuation that I along with many others desperately fought to preserve the ecumenical vision that originally inspired the march but the obstacles thrown in our path ultimately proved insurmountable.
From the Comment Factory
This is what is going on. Its pretty disgraceful of him to try to sabotage the march just because the Palestinians also demanded a voice.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.maxajl.com/?p=1913
It's a terrible shame that Mr. Finkelstein has decided to withdraw, and I think he's made a very bad decision. However, this does not mean we should make harsh judgements of his intentions. He's been a tireless campaigner for Palestinian rights for 25 years, and has chosen to give up his career rather than sacrifice his principles on this issue. We can disagree very strongly with him on this, but he's still our friend, I have no doubt that he sincerely believes that this is for the best.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing to do is to just let this go and move on, so we can avoid any distractions or ugliness and work towards making this march a great success, inshallah.