Home Desktop backgrounds About Attaboy the Archives Links elsewhere Photography Essays & writings Contact info Portfolio
Attaboy.ca

October 2, 2000 — 5 PM

Violence spirals out of control

Violence spirals out of control [full-motion video; you'll need RealPlayer to watch] in the Middle East. Meanwhile, on the street outside my university office in downtown Montreal, an emotional group of student protesters fills up the pavement outside the school, yelling "Down, down Israel."

As I am watching, my Jewish co-worker remarks that the Palestinian student group at Concordia, who doubtless organized the protest, receives funding from Hamas. Hamas is the "Islamic resistance movement" labelled by most Western journalists as terrorists. Pardon me; I shouldn't try and sound too objective, because I agree with that assessment.

The student protestors have signs that say, "How many children did Israel kill today?" Yes, this is definitely going to bring about peace. But then, considering they are also yelling, "Justice before peace," the group doesn't seem particularly keen on stopping the violence.

Popping back into my head was a National Post editorial, from several days ago, in which the writer revealed his suspicions that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is "a shrewd nationalist who is just going through the motions of diplomacy."

It's a warm, sunny day in Montreal today, yet the world seems strangely dark, inhabited by an uninviting chill.

Comments

Previously: Well, I discovered yesterday that

Subsequently: Another day, another web site

October 2000
the Archives
Home