When I heard last semester that kids were organizing an anti-war group on campus, I breathed a sigh of relief. I felt like it was happening the way it should, with protests and banners, the youth of the nation rising up in rebellion against infringements on our freedom. I was excited to get behind the cause, glad there remained a generation of politically conscious college students willing to risk their degrees for the betterment of their country. I skipped class to be a part of the protest held before the Student Union.
From a distance, the megaphones sounded like they might actually be galvanizing the masses. For a minute I thought I might finally want to be involved. Instead, I found myself inching further and further away from the bunch the more I heard. I was never a fan of group mentality, especially when the core speakers are less than inspiring and thoroughly dogmatic. But honestly, it was their mention of Israel in the same breath as the “oppressive” United States that really nudged me away.
My stance on Israel has been somewhat unorthodox. I’ve been convinced that it is the life of a people that makes a land, not the other way around. But I’ve also heard enough to know that the situation in the Middle East is endlessly complicated, and blamelessly circumstantial. In Israel there is a history of constant attacks, post-Holocaust implications, and the targeting of civilians in public places. There is also the grief of the Palestinian people to consider, whose children have been taught to die as young martyrs, who are economically and politically distraught, who are distracted by a never-ending battle for which there is no victor. So I was appalled when the vogue among liberal-minded college students was to antagonize the state of Israel as an emblem of unilateral aggression, akin to the unjustified invasion of Iraq by the U.S.
But all this, intelligent reader, is neither here nor there. Peace in the Middle East is a pipe dream propagated by empty talks during the Clinton administration. Today, the discussion is even more meaningless and a waste of time for American citizens in an anti-war group. To achieve any headway, we must focus on the state of the war we’re currently in, as well as the sorry state our apathy has left the country in. We have elected an irresponsible administration twice, giving our President plenty of time to lie, invade, and wave his guns like a drunken cowboy. We have seen the inaction after Katrina, the painful split within our own political and social framework, and images of beheadings on YouTube and CNN. After all this, discussing the problem in the Middle East is like treating a sprained ankle while one is having a heart attack.
What I expected, and what we desperately need from a campus anti-war action group, is some focused action. Members seem to be constantly mulling over their stance on non-violence, approach and activities, and the group’s position on the Middle East. To be fair, everyone seems to be in it for his or her own reasons. You have the activist UBSASers, the rabid liberals, the poets and artists, the indie/punk kids, and everybody else who’s awake enough to be mad. So what are we Jewish kids who want a better America supposed to do?
Feel uncomfortable, for one thing. Some choose to align themselves with the anti-liberal veterans who shout at the hippie circles from a few yards away. This is a shame. As for me, I found a niche halfway between the kids with drums and the guys in fatigues. I sincerely hope the anti-war coalition hones in on the issues at hand, which are necessarily regarding the United States, its decisions, and its leadership. Just because Conservative Republicans happen to support Israel for their own political (and unsettlingly, religious) reasons does not mean liberals should be different and antagonize it out of spite. This is the same type of blind regurgitation we’re trying to resist. With more information and a focused agenda, we can uphold the American ideals we’ve been rolling our eyes over since elementary school—that bit about freedom and liberty and justice for all, regardless of race, religion, or international orientation. That is, after all, the only way to avoid any further fracture, and the only way to legitimately call for some semblance of peace.
