While the trains run to Buchenwald

GUEST: Adam Roufberg, local human rights activist, peace researcher and radio show host, talks about his recent trip to Switzerland and the West Bank to gather support for Youth, Art & Levante of Palestine.
Adam and I were motivated by the same person, Yonaton Shapira:


Yonaton spoke at Bard College and then on Adam's radio program (along with Tarak Kauff and myself). Yonaton's courage and patient belief in the progress of human rights for Palestinians set an example that is as inspiring as it is impossible to follow. But Adam and I both believe that we can do our part in exposing the illegal and immoral occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, as well as the long standing racist abuse that is part of daily life for millions of Palestinian people.

Gary and I have discussed whether we are spending too much time on Israel. Is it part of what ClassWars and Activist Radio was supposed to accomplish? Is Israeli and US imperialism part of class wars?

Of course, we have taken ClassWars and its radio program in many directions. Even a quick review of this blog, or of our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/classwars shows how many topics we have covered. Palestine, however, is a frequent topic, especially in the last several years. In part it is because I tend know about interesting guests from my work with the Middle East Crisis Response in the Hudson Valley http://www.mideastcrisis.org.

More than my access to potential guests working for human rights in Palestine, however, is the fact that Israel's brutal occupation of Palestine is a microcosm by which we can understand US imperialism in the world. The empire is the antithasis of democracy in its use of racism and militarism to benefit the very few, the criminals who run these invasions and occupations in our name. Israel, like most colonies, embodies the evils of imperialsim with less subterfuge. Looking in the mirror of Israel, we can see our own society, ignorant of what is being done, hopeful that our lives will go on without having to think about other people's suffering. We are the "good Germans" while the trains run to Buchenwald.
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