New Media

From my Op Ed in today’s Province, “Canadians must demand Hamas gives up its violence against Israel”

I stand in solidarity with Israel in this week where IDF jets have dropped bombs killing hundreds.

I have no regrets.

Terrorism must be fought. Fascism must be confronted. And in Israel’s fight against Hamas, there is no place for nuance. If you support democracy and peace for both Palestinians and Israelis, Hamas has to go.

Read the rest here.

Also, once again Terry Glavin provides an outstanding analysis of the portrayal of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the media and how it compares with the facts on the ground.

Hoping for a more peaceful 2009, for both the people on both sides of this conflict.

In 2008 Currents has garnered a steadily-growing readership for its coverage of a range of topics, from current events and politics to the environment social media and tech trends — all things that I have a deep interest in, even if I don’t always have the time to give each topic the attention it deserves every week. I’m grateful for all of your comments and looking forward to an even better 2009

Here’s are some of the highlights of the year gone by:

January. For no particular reason, I set out to become the most searchable Vancouver blogger and come pretty close to achieving it before setting off the Vancouver Blogger Nerd Fight, in which I choose not to run.

February: At Vancouver’s premier blogging conference, Northern Voice, I meet the guy who makes this blog possible.

March. One Thousand Stories, a documentary about my friend and gifted Vancouver-based writer Kevin Spenst’s literary adventure wins the Paul and Ben Film Festival for best short film. Here’s an interview I did with Kevin after his victory.

April. On the political front, the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee starts enjoying some success in its goal of helping Canadians understand why we need to be involved in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, on the social media scene, Hummingbird604 (then known at the time as a Student of the Environment) provides a blog-inspiring mantra and social media consultant Monica Hamburg gives me a lesson in crowdsourcing.

May. I wander around the world-class UBC Museum of Anthropology and make a video. Also, some people do actually pay me to write for them, and I finally cobbled together some tips for copywriters on my WRITEIMAGE blog.

June. I write about the Great Firewall of China and ponder Vancouver’s success in creating a more environmentally sustainable transportation model.

July. I explore whether us bloggers can and should attempt to provide better web security for our readers when large corporations and public organizations are falling down on that job. Also, Omar Khadr gives me an ethical conundrum and a very bad headache.

August. My preference for more discrete breast-feeding habits for mothers in public spaces makes me a bit of a caveman. On the plus side, I’m told I can now pick my nose and scratch my scrotum in public with no social consequences. I have yet to test out this theory.

September. Dedicated and hard-hitting journalist and author Terry Glavin reminds us again why we must stick to the mission in Afghanistan and ignore the heckles of so-called “peaceniks” who would abandon millions of Afghans to the predations of murderous thugs.

October. A little teaser for the present Israeli-Palestinian conflict plays out on video outside a Vancouver liquor store. Also, I celebrate that it’s time for change in Obama’s adopted hometown (well, before he moved into the White House).

November. Vancouver’s new mayor Gregor Robertson takes on homelessness, just in time, before the cold weather really hits. I have a Super Cool Weekend in Vancouver. Jihadi terrorists bring tragedy to Mumbai, though getting a certain local blogger to express solidarity with the victims against the barbarians is a little like pulling teeth.

December. Currents wins a runner-up award for Best Politics Site or Blog from Miss604’s Best of 604 Awards after a hard, bare-knuckles blogging campaign. A cold winter snap descends on Vancouver. Meanwhile, there’s a political crisis in Ottawa. Vancouver’s indie media tries to work with the Olympics, sparked by Dave Olson and Raincity Studios’ open letter to VANOC, with some excellent commentary on the situation by the OlyBLOG. And just as the year is about to end, I protest for democracy and peace for the Israelis and Palestinians against a bunch of Canadians who don’t seem to really understand what it’s going to take for both sides to get there.

Those are the highlights. Looking forward to a great 2009.

Those were my words at the downtown Vancouver counter-protest in solidarity with Israel, complete with a star-of-David T-shirt, against the ones shouting “Viva Intifada”, as video-recorded by social media man on the scene Kris Krug, (Anti-Israeli Protest). Clearly, the other side is far more concerned with making excuses for Hamas’ violence to truly want peace for both sides of the conflict. Some other highlights at the protest:

1. Sean Orr and I trading accusations of supporting fascists, until we realized who each other were. Afterwards, deciding to grab a coffee sometime to discuss our political ideas and things webby. I’ve got quite a bit of respect for the guy since his and Krug’s bit of genuine heroism the other day in the dark side-streets of Gastown. I must confess I find Orr’s alignment with the pro-Hamas crowd disconcerting and not particularly consistent with his standing up for justice on the streets of Vancouver. Perhaps I’ll end up winning him over to my side some day.

2. Friend Adam Carroll, who pointed out the “We Are All Hamas” signs in the crowd. Nice touch.
*CORRECTION: Late Monday night, on reviewing the video of the event taken by Krug, I couldn’t find the “We Are All Hamas” signs in the crowd. On checking with Carroll, who had gotten in amongst the pro-Palestinian protesters, he corrected my faulty recollection of our conversation, noting that there was no actual signage to that effect, although some members of the group were definitely chanting that phrase, “We Are All Hamas”. My apologies for the error in this post and if it is repeated elsewhere. However, I would submit that the phrase, whether the statement is on signage or shouted out loud, shows a disturbing affiliation with what is a recognized terrorist group.

Also, his pure deadpan comment as the wind and hail whipped up to a frenzy that destroyed my umbrella: “It seems that G-d has delivered his verdict on this protest.”

3. The other counter-protesters. Good thing someone thought to bring some Israeli flags. There weren’t very many of us, but we did the best job we could to make some noise and get some much-appreciated attention from the media.

4. After the protest, I ended up talking with some of the “Viva Intifada” crowd. One of them, a Lebanese-born Canadian, explained his take on current events in Gaza. Suffice to say, we didn’t agree, but it did highlight the reality that in the peaceful dominion of Canada, we have an easier time talking over the issues. This really gets to the heart of the problem: for a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Israelis need a partner who can negotiate a peace agreement in good faith. For now, that’s not Hamas.

It’s tough for the Jewish state to negotiate peace with a group that has in its founding charter:

…the Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realisation of Allah’s promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said:

“The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.

The Palestinians won’t realize their dream of national self-determination until they replace the thugs with real leaders who can do more than call for a campaign of suicide bombings. Canadians like the ones I saw today who support Hamas with slogans ought to be ashamed.

By the way, much thanks to my friend Terry Glavin for a mention in his own excellent analysis, Israel, Gaza and the ‘Left.

I’ll be heading to a counter-protest at the US Consulate in downtown Vancouver tomorrow at noon (1075 West Pender, near Thurlow). I’m really hoping somebody else has organized something, since I only found out about a protest against “Israeli War Crimes” on Sunday night through a lucky Google search. I expect my last-minute efforts to organize a counter-demonstration in solidarity with Israel via social media apps like Facebook and Twitter will generate a token presence, but you never know.

Just to be clear, if the protest organized by a wide range of Palestinian, Arab and socialist(???) organizations were there to promote the cause of peace in the Middle East, I’d be marching with them. But that’s not why they’re going to be there. The language of the press releases and other promotions for their demonstration make clear that they consider any Israeli military response to rockets fired from Gaza a war crime. (If you MUST read their agit-prop, here it is. Just remember to take a shower afterwards).

The unjustness and stupidity of this position become clear when one considers the likely response of the Canadian government if, let’s say, residents of the Twassen First Nation started raining mortar shells and missiles on Kitsilano and West Point Grey. Governments of United Nations member states are obligated to defend their citizens from foreign aggression, and Israel is no different.

I’ll be there to represent Canadians who want to see real peace in the Middle East (and by extension, a more peaceful planet), with Israeli Jews and Palestinians both free to pursue their national dreams without violence. This requires:

1. The Palestinian people must reject the failed leadership of Hamas and turn to other leaders who are willing to pursue peaceful coexistence with Israel. This doesn’t have to be a violent revolution. The multi-colored revolutions of the Eastern European states point to what is possible, if the will is there.
2. A zero-tolerance policy for aggression by extremist groups, enforced by both the Palestinian and Israeli populations and the international community.
3. An end to the subtle back-door diplomacy approach of the international community to the peacemaking process. Given that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is cited as the cause of so much international terror and conflict outside the Middle East, it seems strange that the world at large devotes less resources to solving the problem than, say, promoting the Olympics.

In the holy land that gave us the tradition of Christmas and its aura of peace and goodwill, the fight is on… again.

Seems that Hamas’ rocket squads couldn’t wait to start some holiday-season fireworks. Mind you, they’ve been firing rockets pretty much since Israel handed Gaza over to the Palestinians in 2005, so one could look at it as an unusually long pre-New Year’s celebration.

Israel unleashed its own holiday fireworks unleashed today. There’s the messages from the usual suspects in response. I did like the Vatican’s statement (BBC), even if I believe that it is ultimately off-base, since the only practical response to fascists armed to the teeth is to kill as many of them as you can before they get a chance to kill you.

REV FEDERICO LOMBARDI, VATICAN SPOKESMAN
“Hamas is a prisoner to a logic of hate, Israel to a logic of faith in force as the best response to hate.
“One must continue to search for a different way out, even if that may seem impossible.”

It certainly sounds nice, anyway.