Then-Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-Georgia) speaks at National Election Reform Conference, Nashville, TN, April 9, 2005. (Photo: D.L. Griscom)Cynthia McKinney was the Green Party candidate for President of the United States last year, and I almost voted for her.
Two weeks ago, McKinney, together with Nobel Laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire and other activists, was aboard a ship in international waters waiting for permission to deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, when the Israeli Navy surrounded and illegally threatened them, then boarded and hijacked the ship, and took them to Israel where they were imprisoned.
And they may not be released soon, since according to the Green Party website:
“Ms. McKinney and other Free Gaza 21 members have refused to sign a self-incriminating ‘deportation form’ stating that the Spirit of Humanity was violating the Israeli blockade and trespassing Israeli territorial waters by attempting to deliver supplies to Gaza. In fact, the Spirit of Humanity was in international waters when it was illegally seized by the Israeli navy in an act of piracy.”The response by the U.S. media has mostly been silence, except for Fox News and the Washington Post, both of which mocked McKinney and tacitly blamed her for causing the problem. A balanced article on this dismal affair was published yesterday in the Foreign Policy Journal by Jerremy R. Hammond. Here is an edgier report on Alex Jones' tv show.
And only today we have Joe Biden saying, presumably with the permission of President Obama, that Israel has the right to bomb Iran.
So the Obama administration tacitly accepts Israel's kidnapping of any American who is not a high ranking member of the Democratic or Republican parties (a policy that is outright applauded our so-called mainstream media) and explicitly gives Israel carte blanch to start wars that Americans wouldn't approve of but would inevitably become involved with.
Although it wouldn't have made any difference, I'd sure be a lot happier with myself if I'd cast my vote for Cynthia McKinney last November...
3 comments:
McKinney's back in the U.S. now, but the situation in Gaza is as wretched as ever.
It doesn't really matter who's calling the shots, Israel, the U.S., or some shadowy global policy group, the fact remains that war is still more profitable than peace.
Look at the so-called humanitarian (actually managed inequality) programs in Africa. They raise billions of dollars but the situation on the ground never improves. That's because they can only dream of the trillions that any war profiteer can walk away with.
It doesn't take more than a glance at any history book to realize that war profiteers will happily sacrifice a few, a few hundred, a few thousand, or even a few million people, even their own people, if they can walk away with a few trillions in war profits.
While I applaud the personal sacrifices of those trying to call attention to the situation, any focus on ideology, nationalism, or injustice, needs to be informed with a healthy dose of economics before it can bring about change.
Leave it to Mark Smith to put all the facts together and cut to the heart of the matter.
Thanks, Mark, especially for the good news of my candidate's release.
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