January 17, 2005

Outrage: Protestors in Berkeley Declare Themselves in Favor of Terrorism

An anti-terror demonstration was disrupted yesterday by those with opposing viewpoints. The Israeli news site Arutz Sheva describes it:

Arabs Attack U.S. Anti-Terror March

San Francisco, California police were braced for more violence Monday following yesterday’s violent attack by Arabs and other anti-Zionists who charged into a crowd of 500 anti-terror protestors.

Fists flew as the pro-Israel group gathered in Berkeley and heard speakers denounce terrorism. More than 200 anti-Israel demonstrators yelled taunts at the crowd until several of them tried to break up the anti-terror rally while waving Palestinian flags and covering their faces, posing as would-be Arab terrorists.

“Two, four, six, weight, we are martyrs, we can’t wait,” several of them chanted as they charged the crowd. Riot police separated the two sides after several fights broke out. One man was arrested for assault as “emotions were high,” according to a police sergeant.

Among the anti-Israeli crowd were many Arabs, including Cairo-born Essam Maghoub, who said, “We are here to make sure these people are ashamed of themselves. They [Israelis] stole our land, raped our women, destroyed our olive trees and destroyed our homes.”

The rally featured the bombed-out bus number 19 that Arab suicide terrorists bombed in Jerusalem last year, killing 11 people and injuring 45. The same bus is to stand in San Francisco at a similar rally Monday afternoon, which is Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in the United States. The holiday is in memory of Dr. King, who was assassinated during a non-violence demonstration which characterized his struggle against segregation.

“They attempted to disrupt the rally through the same kinds of intimidation and indiscriminate violence that are the hallmarks of our 21st century scourge, global terrorism,” said David Meir-Levi who was the master-of-ceremonies at the Berkeley rally.

The San Mateo Times has a somewhat more innocuous-sounding account of the event:

Israeli and Palestinian activists clash in Berkeley

BERKELEY Emotions ran high Sunday as hundreds of Palestinian and Israeli activists clashed over the presence of a bombed-out bus from Jerusalem where 11 people died.

Berkeley police cited one person for battery after activists’ angry shouts erupted into a brief shoving match, said police spokesman Joe Okies.

About 45 officers broke up the 10-minute disturbance and stood between the opposing groups with their batons drawn.

Tensions ran high throughout the three-hour event.

A crowd estimated at 500 people gathered at Martin Luther King Jr. Park at the Berkeley Civic Center, listening to speakers condemn worldwide terrorism.

Organizers of the event said the twisted metal wreckage of the bus, blown up by a suicide bomber in January 2004, was being shown to remind people how terrorism harms innocent people going about their daily lives.

So this was a peaceful demonstration, the purpose of which was to condemn terrorism.

But pro-Palestinian activists, who numbered about 200, gathered across the street in protest, arguing the bus doesn’t tell the whole story of the Middle East conflict in which innocent Palestinians have also been killed.

They lined up along Martin Luther King Jr. Way holding signs with the names and shadowy outlines of Palestinian civilians who have died in the conflict.

At one corner of the park, about a dozen vocal activists shouted across the street at one another, trading insults and angry words.

“Black, red, green and white. We’re Palestinians. We’re here to fight,” chanted several men wearing kuffiyehs, the traditional headdress of Palestinians.

Regardless what the counter-protesters are called, or what their rationale is, they were declaring themselves as being in favor of terrorism, specifically in favor of the targeting of civilians on a bus for murder. One wonders if those who support blowing up busses carrying civilians, also support the actions of Al-Qaeda on 9-11.

Hot New Weblog Covers Developments in Conservative Filmmaking

It’s Libertas, from the Co-Directors of the Liberty Film Festival, Govindini Murty & Jason Apuzzo. From their site-launching post:

We shopped the project around to several prestige indie/art-house companies. Although we were unknowns at the time (we still are!) we were received warmly, and several companies actually read the screenplay – getting back to us with unusual rapidity. Theyd loved what wed done! They loved the basic concept of the story, felt it had a great mood and atmosphere. And they might be willing to take our project on, under certain … conditions.

What were the conditions? First of all, the terrorists in the story were not quite sympathetic enough. We would need to brighten them up a bit, make their motivations more understandable. After all, maybe these people have a point! We were also told that we were courting trouble by featuring so many non-white characters, including the female lead. Hard to market non-white people to indie filmgoers, we were told. You know, indie filmgoers are very upscale type people. So wed need to lighten-up the cast, too.

...the male lead in our story – the one who funds the terrorists – is actually depicted as sexy, urbane and charismatic, before he meets his inevitabl e end. Yeah, but thats the point, said the exec. Why kill him off?

Before reading the script, an exec at a different company asked me whether the story had anything to do with 9/11. Not specifically, I replied. Good, he said. We dont DO 9/11, right now.

And on it went.

I was learning something at this point, something Id already seen in film school but was now seeing up-close in the professional film industry – where snap decisions determine what sort of entertainment all of us will enjoy (or despise) for years to come. Hollywood was going to ignore 9/11 away, spin-it around, massage it, do plastic surgery on it, make it seem not so bad. Hollywood was going to do PR work on the central event of our time.

It would be one thing if mainstream films were just reminding us of the costs of war and urging us to be cautious. But the film industry is currently taking a lemming-like approach of pretending that terrorists are lovely reasonable people, ignoring that they like to blow up school-busses and cut off heads, and would like very much to nuke us. That needs our full attention.