My latest painting: Tainted Gold – Economy in Debris

Tainted Gold - Economy in Debris; acrylic on canvas with mirror

After 61 years of Nation – Happy Birthday Israel

The Carolingians adhered to the custom of partible inheritance. After the death of Louis the Pious in 840 and a brief period of civil war between his grandsons, the three grandsons agreed in 843 in the Treaty of Verdun to divide the inherited empire in three: the Middle Frankish Kingdom (which would eventually become Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Lorrain, Switzerland, Lombardy and various Departements of France), the East Frankish Kingdom (what was the kernel of the later Holy Roman Empire and much of it evolved into modern Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and the West Frankish Kingdom what is the precursor of modern France. 61 years after the Treaty of Verdun France was still a nation in the becoming, a fact the inhabitants of the region were not really aware of. They were more occupied with the ravages of Viking raiders and the disputes between the dying Carolingian dynasty (the last Carolingian king Louis V died in 987) and the Counter Kings from the Capetian dynasty.

 

1492 the wedding of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon and the subsequent unification of their kingdoms lied the foundation for modern-day Spain and the Spanish Empire. 61 years later their grandson and grandson of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I reached the end of his regency. It is only for three more years that Charles V remains King of Spain and Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Spain is the imperious power in Europe. Its army fights its battles at the rivers Po and Elbe as well as in Mexico and Peru in order to establish a Habsburg world dynasty and to spread the roman-catholic belief. And it is precursor of the excision of heresy as it was before precursor of the excision of Islam in Europe.

 

1547 Grand Duke Ivan IV, better known as Ivan the Terrible, let himself been crowned first “Czar of the whole Rus”. It can be seen as the hour of birth of modern day Russia. 61 years after his coronation Ivan the Terrible was dead as were all of his sons. He had killed one of them in rage, another was stabbed under curious circumstances. Only the third, who was mentally ill, was around to follow him on the throne. Yet, he died shortly after as well and left the young country in Smuta, in the Time of Troubles starting from 1598. It was a time of unrest, civil war and foreign intervention lasting until 1613, until Michail Fjodorowitsh Romanov was elected the next Czar, founding the Romanov dynasty.

 

In 1776 the Declaration of Independence was issued, proclaiming the independence of 13 colonies of Great Britain located along the Atlantic seashore of the North American continent and their formation as a cooperative union. This cooperative union became later known as the United States of America. 61 years after the dispatch of the Declaration of Independence joins Michigan the young state whereas Texas just declared its independence of Mexico. The language in the argument over the question of slavery between the North and the South becomes rougher. And triggered by the economic policy run by President Andrew Jackson, who was replaced by President van Buren in 1836, the USA slid into a major economic crisis in 1837. On May 10, 1837 all banks stopped converting paper money into gold and silver what let to a five year depression period, huge unemployment rates and the permanent insolvency of many banks.

 

It took place in Turin. The monarchy under the rule of King Viktor Emanuel was proclaimed March 17, 1861. Modern day Italy was founded. 61 years later fascist leader Mussolini was named Prime Minister of Italy by the Italian king. Just a few years before Italy had decided to join WWI helping the Alleis. As a token of appreciation they were given in the Treaty of Saint Germaine in 1919 parts formerly belonging to the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Nevertheless, Italy sank after WWI into a deep economic, social and political depression. Even though Italy had fought on the victorious side, the victory had been mutilated by the perfidious allies and Italian politicians of abandonment according to the opinion of the nationalists. What followed were riots and civil war like situations the government couldn’t cope with. The fascist movement that had merged into one party started its Marsh to Rome where the king named Mussolini prime minister. He started the italianisation – the suppression of regionally predominant languages and of the respective cultural idiosyncrasies and the settling of Italians in the new territories.

 

On January 18, 1871 Germany was unified as a modern nation-state, when the German Empire was forged. The Empire was proclaimed at Versailles, France after the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. 61 years later Germany was in the grim grip of the World Economic Crisis. It began in 1929 with the black Thursday and the crash of the NY Stock Exchange. However, in 1932 Germany experienced the climax of the crisis. 6 million jobless lived mostly under the worst and poorest conditions. They were easy prey to the promises of the extreme left and even more so the extreme right. In a parliament made up of many parties with the extremes on either side gaining more and more influence moderate parties had a hard time smiting stable governments. After the land slid like victory of the Nazi party in the elections of 1930 the governments of the Chancellors, succeeding each other in fast rotation, didn’t even possess of a majority in the parliament anymore. 1932 saw three different men in charge: Bruening, von Papen and von Schleicher. It was the end of the Weimar Republic and of the first democracy on German soil. In January 1933 von Papen succeeded in persuading President Hindenburg to proclaim Hitler Reich Chancellor…

 

On Friday May 14, 1948 at midnight the British Mandate for Palestine ran out and the last troops were pulled out of the mandated territory. At four o’clock in the afternoon members of the Jewish Agency gathered at Tel Aviv city museum. Beneath a portrait of the founder of the Zionist movement, Theodor Herzl, David Ben Gurion read out the Declaration of Independence. According to it the formation of the State of Israel took place by virtue of the natural and historical right of the Jewish people and based on the resolution of the UN General Assembly. Eleven minutes later the United States of America in persona of US President Harry S. Truman acknowledged the new state. The Soviet Union did the same May 16.

 

61 years later we end up exactly today (if one uses the Hebrew calendar that notes 5^th of Ijjar as Yom HaAtzma’ut). At that point of time in their history all nations mentioned above were well-fortified. Some were in a economic depression. Some were at the brink of their brightest, most powerful times. Some were at the brink of their darkest, most destructive times. What will historians say about Israel one day?

 

There is a lot to be proud of. Personally, I would name democracy first. The right to choose who is ruling over me and the right to say at a given day in a peaceful but strict manner ‘this far and not a day longer’ is an essential, precious right not common to the region Israel exists in. However, democracy is a demanding flower always in danger to wither. It’s on us to take care it will not become an extinct plant in the Middle East.

 

I would go on naming the things that have been created since the first day. My grandparents came after WWII as youngsters and helped to built up a kibbutz from pebbles and scrambles. They married, had my mother and my uncle and left again to return to Germany for personal reasons. Today, I – who were presented with the nationality by birth but was raised in Germany – play with the idea to make the journey back. Even though I studied the German, the European, the International Law. Even though I have my livelihood here as a physical therapist. Even though I just build up a reputation as an traditional artist and writer in Berlin. Because the State of Israel and the idea behind it has convinced me. (What is still missing is the conviction that the state really needs me and my work and that I can make my living there without living off the state.)

 

I could go on naming things like science and culture etc. But a day like this isn’t just a day to celebrate what has been achieved so far. It is also necessary to look ahead and see what still needs to be done.

 

Democracy is a fine thing. But it is nothing without the equality of all citizens without regard of their sex, their color, their religion, their ancestry. And there are other unsolved questions like the question of religious freedom, the question of Jewish State vs. State of the Jewish people. And last but not least we need peace to prosper, peace with all neighbors and all people around us.

 

So, I congratulate, I wish Happy birthday and from the bottom of my heart I wish security and prosperity for the years to come so that the historians will say one day that at the 61^st birthday Israel stood at the brink of the brightest of times that still laid ahead.

Look At Me

Well, I meant the headline quite literally. Here I am:

Self Portrait (still work in progress) acrylic on canvas 100x160 cm

I am not without reason in a soap bubble with my computer and a marotte. But I won’t tell yet what it will be all about in the end. I hinted at the idea behind the picture in my post ‘When I were to look at the Mirror of Erised’ a few days ago. However, for more information I will wait until I am done and able to post the picture with an explanation. I was just so happy with the portrait part, I wanted to share it.

Israel (WIP) and a Call for Participation in an Art Project

Israel (acrylic and sand on canvas 100×120 cm, still WIP)

For the call for participation in an art project aimed at a better understanding please scroll down to the end of this post. Thank you.

This is what I am working on right now (if a very bad sore throat hadn’t sent me to bed early today). I am sorry that the picture is a bit fussy. Yet, you can still see that I colored the sky already and the sand with the shadow of the beach chair. And you can see the pencil outline of what will soon be the beach chair image. All in all, the new pic is about the image of Israel I have in my mind.

 

Do you know this kind of beach chairs that were invited at the beaches of the Baltic Sea? They are quite sturdy and protect you against all kinds of influences – rain and sun, heavy winds, sandy feet and curious eyes. They are comfortable in their own way, invite for a pause and offer room for storage. But they are as well pretty inflexible and too heavy to move around all the time to adjust them to the fast changing circumstances.

 

The image of such a beach chair I drew is slightly adjusted to the Mediterranean climate. It’s made of wood and not of reed and the fabric will be of lighter colors. But you can still see where the original idea came from.

 

The chair is situated in a beautiful surrounding. The bright, sunny sky and the white sand bring along an air of peace and eternity. The image of the palm tree in the chair as a symbol of a tree of life add to the feel of eternity. Leaves of the palm tree have been chopped of during past time. But this made the trunk only more sturdy. From the heart of the trunk new green grows and the leaves fill every angle of the Israeli world past and present.   

 

But the chair, meant to be a protection by itself, needs to be heavily protected by walls and barbwire. Even these measures can’t prevent the constant pinpricks of Qassam rockets, attacking the nerves of the inhabitants, their property, their health and their lives. If you add the cruelty of suicide bombs and bombs you might have found the reason for the preponderance of military, aggressive thoughts that throw dark shadows onto the paradise. But these shadows are, what the world looks at first as they become darker.

 

OK, this rounds up some of my ideas that brought me to draw this picture exactly as I do. While I do the manual work of giving my thoughts a shape my brain is already working on the next ideas for pictures to ‘One King’s Children’. In my last post I already published the text ‘Dear Mr. PM-To-Be’ I will use for another canvas that will feature as a background the cover of my Israeli passport. For the exhibition/ public reading I will also add a self portrait of me/ Lea.

 

Yet, for what I plan now to be the main piece I want to invite you all to help me. ‘One King’s Children’ has many messages one should think about. But one of the main messages is that it is much harder to live aggressive, inhuman, xenophobic ideas if you can put a normal, perhaps even lovely, loving face to the people on the other side. You think twice if you can lump together and generalize if you have some kind of connection to those affected by the lumping together.

 

Hence, with the Love Letter Building we once had here in Berlin in mind, I want to create a wall of “people you used to hate until you got around to know them” featuring handwritten letters and/ or small artwork (pictures, photos, knitting etc.) giving the common Israeli, Palestinian, Jew or Arab in particular but if you want to the English, American, German, French or whatever you are in general a face and a meaning.

 

All I ask for is a small handwritten message in English (as I and everyone who will see it must be able to know what it says and (bad) English is the language spoken by most in the world) about one thing you think you are. At the end of ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ they say something along the lines: some people are born to be mothers, some people are born to know everything about buttons, some people are born to create clocks… So, what are you born to be? What represents you best?

 

I want only small things you can send me by normal mail as I hope for many people to participate. So if you read this and like the idea, send the message out to your friends inviting them to take part as well. And don’t forget to drop me a line so that I can give you further instructions as where to send your letter.

I Am Not Limited to Words

One King's Children - Acrylic on Canvas

It’s Friday night in Europe and I can report: it’s done. The painting process didn’t took me as long as writing the story of ‘One King’s Children’, of course. But it took me quite a couple of hours to get the politics in the window right or at least right for what I feel.

When I did the ‘Aviva Bear’ as the official Buddy Bear for the Jerusalem tour and later was asked to use the same design for the Israel Bear in the circle of United Buddy Bears Minis the design had to be approved by the Buddy Bear Society and Israel. They asked me to do a Jerusalem motif. Yet, the reason for the bears coming to existance asked for a careful use of symbolism of any kind other than the peace dove.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love the design (and so do the many tourists who still buy it) and wouldn’t do it any different today. But, One King’s Children is a political thriller touching many aspects of the Israel – Palestine/ Hamas conflict on a more personal level. Lea realizes that despite her living her life so far in Germany, she has to take a stand and get her priorities straight as she is already far more involved in the conflict than she has ever admitted to herself. 

And so is it, as I now return with my art to Jerusalem, the motif became more political than that of the bear. My facit: I am satisfied and off to the next picture concerning my/ Lea’s view of her motherland Israel.

Politics and Art – My Way

Work in Progress - One King's Children

What did I do at this weekend? Well, I watched Hertha BSC’s next victory on their way to a possible Bundesliga Championship. I went to the movies with some friends and finished the night with some drinks at Josty’s.

One of my friends has taken things in her hands now when it comes to my art and writing. She is organizing the creation of a good art presentation map of my things. And she is already developing ideas how to promote ‘Eines Koenigs Kinder‘/ “One King’s Children‘.

Once I have realized all ideas connected with the story around the German/ Israeli Lea and Aram with his Hamas background, she plans on a joint exhibition and open reading here in Berlin. She is already at the guest lists – but she doesn’t want to put any pressure on me – nooooo way . Seriously, I am happy she is taking care of me in that way now. Hence, I have to work on the art.

Work in Progress 2 - One King's Children

And that I did mostly this weekend. I transfered the sketch to canvas and started with the colors (arylic, as always). I took two pictures at different times so you can see the progress I did since noon today.

While working on the picture I try to keep up to date of the latest news from the coalition negotiation in Israel and the Hamas/ Fatah negotiation in Egypt. It makes the experience of working on this picture even more emotional, fascinating and unique.

Lea, Aram and David are not ready to settle with easy explanations and solutions in their Middle Eastern problems. Somehow, I have the feeling that we will see their triangle just in a bigger version soon in real politics. I would think it a good thing for them to speak and listen to each other.

And here we go again – my art and my views intermingle. But that’s the way how it should be for me, I guess.

Why I Join the Choir of Those Opposing the Idea of Liebermann for Foreign Minister of Israel for the Sake of Democracy

As long as we had to fight for our freedom, we knew our common aim. Now that we live in freedom we don’t know anymore what we really want. Václav Havel

 

Vaclav Havel is a Czech writer and politician. During the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia he was one of the leading critics of the system. He became heavily involved in the Velvet Revolution in 1989. His readiness to go to jail for his convictions and his engagement in the revolution made him ‘trustable’ for the majority of people in Czechoslovakia and after the separation for the majority of Czech as well. They elected him to be their last mutual and first separated president. Hence, he knows what he is talking of in the quote above.

 

The main subject in Havel’s work is the alienation of today’s people from the so-called Lifeworld (Lebenswelt). The alienation had been provoked by the adoption of science as the supreme authority in an enlightened society; a position once reserved for an unknown higher something. Havel thinks the alienation the root of all problems of today’s humankind. Further, for him life in the former communistic dictatorships displayed the most extreme form of alienation. According to his opinion their on lies build societies in which words lost their meaning gave evidence of that.

 

So, why do I start yet another post on democracy and Israel with a lecture on Havel and his philosophies?

 

Well, because for one thing I believe that the said quote is true for Jews, Israel, freedom and democracy as well. Since the days when Hess, Lilienblum, Smolenski and Pinsker, Herzl, Weizmann and Ben Gurion came to the conclusion that modern day anti-semitism detached from the Christian idea of collective guilt of the Jews and Christian moral limits (by Nietzsche) presented a fundamental threat for the whole people of Jews and formulated the common aim of creation of a state of Israel, the Jews were most feared and redlined for the representation and the advancement of liberal, democratic, enlightened ideas. (They were the ones who also experienced the most advantages from the implementation of these ideas in Europe of the 19^th century.)

 

These ideas were reflected still in the Israeli Declaration of Independence from May 14, 1948:

 

THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

 

But, since we Jews realized the aim to create a state of our own where we could live according to our principles, where we could be able to set a positive example of how to implement the teachings of the past for a better future of all inhabitants, we lost track of what we really wanted. How else could a party like Yisrael Beiteinu with a slogan like “No loyalty, no citizenship”, that implies a deep rooted racism of the Israeli Arab minority, collect one out of every eight voters?

 

Yisrael Beiteinu’ success in the elections and Liebermann’s demand for full sovereignty in the job as Foreign Minister for himself in the coalition negotiations with Likud bring me to my second reason to open this post with Havel. Yisrael Beiteinu and their leader Liebermann became known as the party of immigrants from the former Soviet Union. One million immigrants entered the country only in the 1990’s, making up 1/6^th of the whole population. They have like Havel a past in a communist dictatorship.

 

Havel said that words lost their meaning to the peoples in communist/ socialist dictatorships. One such word was peace that was used on any apt and inapt occasion, meaning in this special circumstance only the conservation of a status quo and the maintenance of the regime. Another such empty word-jacket represents the word democracy. Even though the citizens in all the Eastern bloc states were called to the ballot boxes regularly to do their democratic obligation (and yes, voting was a duty), they had no real choice, no real influence on the voting results and participated only in a huge charade to give the regime a apparent validation.

 

Liebermann’s demands for autonomy in a minister job and for loyalty tests for certain citizens expresses that his understanding of democracy is likewise screwed up. And perhaps we can soon even add his legal philosophy (laws are a nice thing but not for me) to the list of things screwed up as he might face prosecution in the case of money laundering surrounding his daughter. I really don’t think a man like him should become the face representing Israel to the world.

 

Yet, while Liebermann might find his ‘excuse’ in his undemocratic experiences of the past, Likud leader Netanyahu has been raised in the US. Still, he is said to have prevented a success of Livni’s coalition negotiation efforts last year by offering one of his ‘natural allies’ a minister post and money. Well, the Israeli people as a whole might not know what it really wants right now. Netanyahu definitely knows what he wants – power for himself by any, perhaps even undemocratic means.

 

Well, this post might not be as rounded up as the posts before, not to say a bit of raging rambling. However, this is only because I really don’t like where the oldest stable democracy in the Middle East is heading for. I hope that the undemocratic tendencies will fade and we return to the liberal, democratic and enlightened ideas the Jews were once feared for.

Art Attack

Sketch to 'Economy in Ruins'

I said sometimes before that the final idea for the book ‘One King’s Children’ came to me when I worked on a picture. Well, on the left side you can see what the picture will look like. It’s still work in progress and up to now it only exists in my sketchbook. As the name says it is my way to look at the ongoing economic crisis. Stock markets have managed to take economy apart and leave it in ruins. The mechanisms are rather intransparent, the resulting chaos is apparent – just as in the picture. It will take me some time to transfer it onto canvas. This is not just because I have so many other things going on as well – I realized just today that I have to rewrite some part of my book which are closely tied to the new information I read up lately and which I want to cover in some more articles on Israel and the Middle East. I also have another pic in mind I want to realize first.

Sketch to 'One King's Children'

The picture is called just like the book (you can find the link to it on my Front Page) ‘One King’s Children’. It was inspired by a quote of Olmert I read the other day – The peace dove sat already on the windowsill. Well, in my pic it is rather a gargoyle, waiting for some more mischief it can do, sitting on the windowsill. But my window is even though a bit battered already, open for any dove to fly in. In my mind it looks great aready.

OK, that’s all for now. I just thought I should let you know that I am working on some new arty stuff as well and have not lost myself in Middle Eastern and Israel politics completely.

Democracy, Low Turn Out of the 2009 Israel Parliament Elections and Kedima’s Decision to Sit in the Opposition

“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

Winston Churchill

 

The word democracy is derived from the Greek ‘democratia’. It translates “popular government”. It’s good to know the fact but it doesn’t help much as political and social circumstances have changed a lot since Antiquity. What was once understood as ‘people’ is today only a fraction of the whole population. And the territories which need to be governed are multi-fold as large as they were during the days of Antiquity. Hence, today the word is used as a more general term for all forms of government in which the authority emanates from the people and is executed directly or indirectly by it.

 

On the one hand democracy is therefore concerned with government of a people. On the other hand it is concerned with the freedom of every single citizen belonging to the people governed. The freedom is limited by the commitment to the collectivity (state or society) and its laws and orders. Yet, only the system of laws and orders enables every single citizen’s freedoms to evolve. Democracy requires therefore constantly to reach consensus on the degree of freedoms of the single possible and limits to freedoms necessary.

 

“A democrat doesn’t need to believe that the majority will always reach a wise decision. What he should believe in is in the necessity that a majority decision – if wise or not – needs to be respected until the majority reaches another decision.”

Bertrand Russell

 

In a democracy consensus is reached according to the principle of majority, while the rights of the minority needs to be protected. However, modern day territorial states are simply too large and too populated for direct participation of all citizens in all decisions. Furthermore, many decisions if not all today need specific knowledge of the topics at hand which not all people have time to gather in time for a decision. Just like in economy a specialization takes place.

 

Modern democracy is therefore not self-government of the people. It can be realized only as a government of representatives of the people which emerged victorious from general, free, equal and secret elections and which run the affairs of state according to the wish of the respective majority of all citizens. The citizens hold them to account for their work in recurrent elections which can lead to a peaceful change of government if the former minority became the majority meanwhile.

 

“Elections are the concern of the people. The decision is in their hands. If they turn their back to the fire und hence burn their butt, they need to sit on their blisters.”

Abraham Lincoln

 

Hence, a free formation of opinions on political and social questions and on the work of the representatives and elections are fundamental elements of every democracy – yes, democracy, even in its indirect form, is laborious for citizens. Every citizen who does not vote renounces his right to decide on the own future. He must accept the decisions of whose citizens who voted. Thereby he declares himself immature.

 

So, the least thing every citizen should do is to make up his mind and vote. The more fundamental the decisions are, which the future government is expected to decide on in the next legislative period, the more important it becomes to make use of the right to vote. Thus one should think that the constituency of a country like Israel where the government will need to decide on questions of peace and war, on questions of enhancements of electoral law, on questions of involvement or reduction of the influence of religious law (to name just a few) would flock to the ballot boxes at the election day.

 

How is it then that the turn out of the 2009 parliamentary election in Israel was only 65.2%? Even in Germany where life is compared to Israel rather easy, where the political and democratic situation is rather settled and stable and where citizens are called disenchanted with politics the lowest ever turn out was registered in 2005 with 77.7%.

 

There isn’t just one simple answer to this question. I think a couple of reasons accrue which allow Israel’s democracy to become/ stay vulnerable (the list is not meant to be exclusive):

 

Let’s begin by mentioning the endurance test for any democracy where the diversification of the society is far advanced. That’s the case in any immigration nation as well as in many modern societies in general. Integration mustn’t mean that the immigrants/ sub-group forget their linguistic, cultural, religious, regional, social or ethnic origin. Their otherness will at the best enrich the nation and promote it. However, wherever a sub-group sets itself apart from the majority and thumps the acknowledgement of its dissimilarity in political institutions, democracy comes heavily under pressure. A politics directed at the protection of particulate, individual identities collides with the necessity of negotiation and compromise in a democratic decision making process and the principle of the rule of the majority over the minority.

 

Israel is home of the few Arab Israelis who chose to stay and give the new Jewish nation a try. One third of the Jewish population is member of the first generation of Israel. The majority of citizens are immigrants or children of immigrants. Israel has absorbed over the 60+ years of existence hundreds of thousands of people who came from all corners of the world. After the breakup of the Soviet Union alone 1 million immigrants entered the country what means that they make up one sixth of the whole population.

 

It is true that the conflict between Ashkenazim and Sephardim, religious and secular was always smoldering. Yet, the work of developing a new nation, the awareness of a common threat, similar menaces in the countries of origin and a brace in a common language everyone had to learn were helpful in creating a sense of connection and solidarity. One shouldn’t underestimate the importance especially of a common language for the creation of a feeling of affiliation to a nation as a language transports much more than just information. And while I have to confess that my Hebrew is rather rudimentary developed (because I lack the opportunities to use it really) what is really a shame for a citizen of Israel, I think it dangerous that a mainly Russian speaking sub-culture develops which almost appears like an own parallel nation in the nation.

 

The partly missing integration of immigrants becomes even more precarious as many of the immigrants concerned did not come from countries with a lived democratic tradition. Democracy is something what needs to be learnt. If no moves are taken to educate the population in these matters they might either not participate in the political, democratic processes or they might misunderstand them and try to exploit them for their ends. One of the perils of democracy is that it can be overcome by evitable democratic means.

 

Further on I want to address the issue of acceptance of democratic institutions. The shipwreck of the Weimar Republic made clear how important it is that the citizens acknowledge democracy, trust its institutions, accept its methods of peaceful conflict resolution and of political negotiations for compromises and respect the decisions. The more the citizens are ready to give, the more stable a democracy becomes, the easier it can overcome crises of its institutions or economic problems without permanent damage.

 

The article I read in Haaretz about the acceptance of the Knesset and the government was unfortunately taken down before I could save the numbers on my computer. But it stated that the trust in these institutions was as low as it can get. Israelis rather trust in the IDF and the media than in their own parliament and government. It is sad as the citizens have no influence on the military or the press. And it is a bit schizophrenic as the parliament and the government represents the people. Low trust in the parliament means either I don’t trust myself or I haven’t understood democracy.

 

I think the missing trust is partly a reflection of the lack of any (written or unwritten) constitution ensuring the rights and duties of citizens, the system of checks and balances of all political institutions and the principle of a well-fortified democracy.

 

The missing trust finds its reasons in the fragmented multi-party parliaments which give rise to instable multi-party coalitions. The coalitions become depended on the junior partners as small as they might be. Thereby the minority rules over the majority through the backdoor.

 

Furthermore and this is closely connected to the point I made just before, the programmatic profile of the parties becomes ever paler. Election campaigns lack real information. Topics are reduced to catch words. In many ways parties differ from each other only in accents so that voters distinguish them through highlighted personalities. If parties then conduct office patronage and aim only at assurance or gaining of power they become volatile and insubstantial for the voter. Disenchantment of parties and politics is the result which will be boosted through bribe scandals and office haggling.

 

This leads me directly to my last point I planned to mention. I can only expect people to rush to the ballot boxes if I offer them real, distinguishable alternatives to vote from which will stick to their principles and main programmatic points even after the election. This can mean that even larger parties end up in the opposition.

 

In this light a call for a “unity government” or a “national responsibility government” that puts pressure especially on Kadima and its leader Tzipi Livni is questionable. Even though compromise is one of the keywords of democracy I used quite often in this article, a “unity government” of the kind which includes Kedima, Likud and perhaps even Labor is a rotten compromise. It dilutes the differences between the party lines even more and leads in the best case to another period of stagnation until the parties involved fall out again and call for new elections.

 

“Democracy lives on argument, on discussions about the right path to chose. Therefore, the respect of the opinion of the other belongs to it.”

Richard von Weizaecker

 

The existence of an opposition forestalls that the governing coalition identifies itself with the state and declares its interpretation of the public good absolute and solitary valid. Only in permanent struggle of opinions and interests the abundance of arguments will come up which will help to tackle upcoming problems. Hence, a strong opposition only as a counterpart to the governing coalition is able to exercise control, to keep the lust for power of the government at bay and to offer a real alternative to the government program in place. It acts in the hope the constituency will like the alternative better and rewards the stability to the own principles so that the opposition prevails in the next election.

 

Therefore it is to conclude that a decision of Kedima to go into the opposition does not only help the party to find and establish its place in the political system of Israel, to shape its face so to say. It teaches the country a lot about lived democracy and strengthens the political system. It perhaps even helps to improve the level of trust in the political institutions so that the turn out of the next elections will be significantly higher.

 

“Democracy never runs, but it will reach its goals reliable and for sure.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 

Personally, I rather want a strong, democratically chosen leader Tzipi Livni in the long run who knows herself backed by strong support in the public for her two-state-peace policy than to live now with a government incapable of action, in its lead unwilling to compromise for peace and bound to its natural allies on the far right wing not just in any religious question.

Humanitarian Aid for Gaza: Apolitical? Ay or Nay?

‘[…]State Department: Humanitarian aid is apolitical issue

The State Department said on Wednesday that while it has generally tried to avoid criticizing Israel over its treatment of the humanitarian aid issue in Gaza, it believes the current crisis in the embattled territory requires the imminent delivery of as many basic supplies as possible.

When asked whether the U.S. believed that Israel was holding up humanitarian as a tool to secure the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been in Palestinian captivity for two years, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said: “Aid should never be used as a political weapon.”[…]’

 

Haaretz.com, Palestinians to seek $2.8 billion in aid to rebuild Gaza, 25/02/2009

 

I was born in 1975 and grew up in Berlin, East Berlin to be more precise, capital of the German Democratic Republic. Yet, at my home we always listened to RIAS (Radio in the American Sector), the major voice of West Berlin. It wass the music and news broadcasting station with which I grew up with.

 

I remember that every Sunday at noon the program was interrupted. You could hear the sound of the Freedom Bell of Rathaus (city hall) Schoeneberg, a gift made in 1950 by the American people to Berlin. Then a voice spoke the same pledge every week. This pledge for freedom and humanity was burnt in my brain and my heart.

 

“I believe in the indefeasibility and the dignity of every human being. I believe that God gave all people the same right to freedom. I pledge to offer resistance to any offense against freedom and to resist tyranny wherever it may occur.”

 

So much has changed since these days. RIAS Berlin doesn’t exist any longer since there is no American, Russian, French or British sector in Berlin anymore. East and West slowly, very slowly become simple directions again. It will be 20 years this year that the Berlin Wall became a piece of history, 19 years since Germany was reunited and the GDR ceased to exist. But the ringing bell and the pledge is still be broadcasted every Sunday at noon for the world to hear and to remember that freedom and peace are precious goods which will not evolve from itself and which need constant standing up for.

 

For me, the sound of the Freedom bell is and will always be intrinsically tied to the pledge. And while the bell rings normally at every day at noon and at New Year’s Eve at midnight, its sound carries through the Berlin air at days or nights of special world-political importance. It was ringed when the Wall was built and it was ringed when Germany was reunited. And it rang for seven minutes when Berliners remembered the victims of 9/11. Should it ring in our minds as well to remember the suffering and hardship of the people of Gaza?

 

Yes, there is suffering and hardship involved, one can’t deny it. The tears of children and mothers are media-effectively spotlighted so that the world can’t turn a blind eye to them. The pictures affect me, leave me mad and sad and my heart goes out to the people in the pictures and asks immediately ‘How can I help?’. 

 

Pondering this question the first impulse one might feel is to respond to humanitarian need with humanitarian aid. It might seem as easy as this and even the State Department as stated in the article above said that humanitarian aid is completely apolitical. But as always it isn’t as simple as this.

 

Even in the face of natural disasters like earth quakes, floods, droughts, volcano eruptions or hurricanes the world community registers with the precision of a seismograph which nations respond to the needs and the help of whom is accepted or not. It was not without reason that Indonesia e.g. denied the help of the world community to overcome the effects of the South Asian tsunami on Sumatra. And it is a political issue if the USA, Europe or South Korea send rice to North Korea.

 

Humanitarian aid for Gaza is as much a political issue as humanitarian aid is in the examples given above.

 

The Gaza Strip is ruled by Hamas, since they took it over in a bloody coup in 2007. Long before Hamas became generally known to the public through suicide bombings and other attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers. Their charter demands the elimination of the State of Israel and the creation of an Islamic theocracy on the former mandatory territory Palestine between the Mediterranean and Jordan.

 

The United States, the European Union and other Western states along with Israel consider Hamas a terrorist organization. Even after the recent Israeli – Hamas military conflict Hamas claims the right to rearm and breaks the ceasefire by firing Qassam rockets onto Israeli territory. Taking all this in consideration, Hamas can rightly be called a foe of Israel (and vice versa).

 

One might argue that the people of Gaza and Hamas are two different shoes. One might rightly claim that the people of Gaza are used by Hamas (even in the literal sense as protection shields for their deathly operations). But the people of Gaza are conscious of it and allow it to happen as the large support for Hamas in the 2006 election shows.

 

Should you help your foes? Should you allow others to help your foes?

 

In 1945 after WWII came to an end and the world learnt of all the cruelties the German people had committed during the years 1933-1945 four allies occupied Germany. For years the four allies had been the unrelenting enemies of the Germans. Their sons, brothers and fathers had died on the battlefields to rid the world of the German terror. They paid a bitter price. And one should think that they had all reason to make the Germans repay every drop of blood shed and lives lost.

 

I won’t go there to say that this was the way the Russians went mostly. I rather stick to the other examples and return to the Freedom Bell. In order to rebuild Europe’s heart, to make it a peaceful place with stable political conditions (and to create a buffer zone against the Communistic threat of course) the allies allowed the Germans to become their own masters of their future again. They made them create a new state and come up with a Constitution. The Americans even put up the Marshal plan and included West Germany.

 

And once the hardship and suffering of some Germans was dearest as Berlin was under a siege the former enemies sent care parcels to their former foes. The airplanes of the airlift landing on the Berlin airports at minute intervals, keeping a whole city alive and little parachutes made from handkerchiefs, carrying chocolates for the children waiting in the entry lane achieved what no tank, no rifle and no rocket would have ever been able to achieve. Foes became partners and trusted friends in the constant fight for freedom and peace.

 

Yet, the support and the help was never given to the Germans purely out of humanitarian reasons and without any political hindsight. Whatever the Americans, the British, the French or even the Russian ever did in and for Germany was always done after they assessed what was in for them, what advantage the decision would have for them. This should also be the leading question for anyone involved in the decision process dealing with the question: humanitarian aid ay or nay.

 

So, what would be in for Israel?

 

Hamas conducts a politics of stick and carrot. It acts charitable in its territory. It’s not without reason that they stole two shipments of aid from the UN so they could distribute the food and blankets in their own name. They supply food and shelter to the poor, provide medical treatment and education. But they act along the motto ‘He who pays the piper calls the tune.’ They buy the people who are in need with their charitable work. Thereby they are not only able to manipulate the population dependent on them, they also keep hold of the educational monopole thus planting their propaganda firmly into the heads of the next generation.

 

Help given freely by the hands of the Israelis to their foes, with their consent and under their supervision could help to break the dependency which plays into the hands of Hamas. Such an aid is humanitarian, it is highly political and it is of advantage for those in need and for Israel. It might not be able to achieve the same as the chocolate parachutes of the Americans; it won’t turn foes to friends. However, it needs former foes to form a peace treaty as long-term friends are never in need for something alike. Humanitarian aid for Gaza might help to create former foes and future partners for peace.