Reply #31: The politics of hate and exclusion [View All]

One of the people scheduled to speak at the rally is Ronnie Kasrils. He recently gave a speech to the South African parliament on the 40th anniversary of the 1967 war.

Some highlights:

"Fortress Israel, a militarist aggressive state, defends a stolen land that belonged to another people."

"Therein lies the fundamental cause of the conflict -- lest anyone remains unclear. It stems from the Zionist world view -- its belief in a perpetual anti-Semitism that requires that Jewish people around the world -- a faith group -- should have a national home of their own."

Much of the rest of the speech involves cherry-picking out of context quotations to support his assertion that Israel was the aggressor in the 1967 war and was not acting in self-defense. (And some other selective quotes regarding Zionism generally)

I don't know that I share your confidence that there will be no hate or exclusion coming from any of the speakers at that rally.

I guess it depends on what your definitions of hate and exclusion are.