BlackMan Time

Archive for August, 2006

I was having business drinks/eats in a London city bar/restaurant with four white associates earlier this week and somehow found myself in a debate whether Britain’s predominantly white population was really racist or not. Or whether they were just victims of their own history and traditions.

What sparked this off were the incidents where British police had shot and killed one Brazilian man they mistook for a terrorist, shot and injured an East End Muslim who was reported to have pulled a gun on the police which later turned out to be a lie the police and newspapers fabricated

One associate was adamant that maybe the white British police were not racist at all and that some Black people may act in a way which throws the finger of suspicion on them and their race.

The conversation meandered until we switched and for some reason started to talk about pork and how in a warm climate country it quickly goes off and is filled with maggots and worms after only a couple days. I agreed with this because I had actually seen this myself. I contributed this to the conversation and was listening to the response from the others.

Just then an elder white man came near our table and apparently overheard the conversation. He could not have heard everything clearly but he decided to join the debate, uninvited. His first input was to say that I was talking rubbish! He kept repeating this, increasing the volume with each repetition.

I pretended he wasn’t there and we continued our conversation. It seemed like the man’s intention was to provoke an argument but I wasn’t in the mood for arguing with him. In thought I was actually more in the mood for kicking him down – the image of literally kicking racism into touch came into mind! However, I felt the best way to avoid this happening was to ignore him. My associates took a different approach.

One got up and went immediately for the manager. Simultaneously, another tried to reason with the man, whom I assumed was being affected by the amount of alcohol he had drunk. It’s amazing to see how these actions happened without a word being spoken among anyone. And, in a while, the first associate returned with the manager who escorted the man out of that part of the restaurant.

It was ironic that only a few moments before we were debating whether Britain was racist or not and then up pops a native British white to seemingly slant the theory! It was a case of life imitating art or reality just manifesting itself. Either way the spectre of racism, prejudice and bias against people (and ideas) different to indigenous culture, does not show any signs of disappearing overnight. After all how realistic is it to expect hundreds of years of British bigotry can be wiped so easily?

And that is where we came in…

In the blue corner is “liar” number one, George W. Bush who wants you to believe that Hezbollah was defeated after withstanding one month of bombing by the Israeli army.

Obviously Israeli military aficionado pretty much uttered the same thought as Bush.

In the red corner is Hezbollah (or Hizbollah if you prefer), Lebanon’s version of the ANC, or Ireland’s IRA, who are basically indigenous people fighting to retain control of their land. They had primitive weapons, yet for one month until a UN ceasefire was brokered, they were able to stave off the mighty Israeli army, one of the most sophisticated in the world.

On the eve of the ceasefire, while Israel was declaring victory and boasting how they had crippled their enemy, Hezbollah fired 250 rockets into Israel, the highest number fired in a day during the conflict. By any stretch that doesn’t sound like a crippled army at all…

Obviously, it suits anti-Hezbollah supporters to pretend that the group was defeated. It is not good for the Israeli army to admit their military might could not stop such an “inferior” yet surprisingly resilient and determined Hezbollah. But calling Hezbollah terrorists and demonising them in the way that Bush, Israel and others have done, is not only misleading but also criminal.

Israel deployed over 10,000 men and fired all the bombs they could muster. But when the dust cleared their foray into Lebanon achieved nothing, apart from the killing of 1,100 innocent people, causing over $2billion damage to buildings.

If their intention was to disarm Hezbollah they failed. If their intention was to bring about Hezbollah surrender, they failed. If they hoped to turn public opinion against Hezbollah, once again they failed.

Despite all this reality Israel (backed by America) still say they defeated Hezbollah and cite the fact that they have successfully invaded Lebanon and regained acres of Lebanese land, as the reason for their success.

Maybe this is what one would expect from colonial powers, for whom capturing other people’s land is like a trophy. But when you are a giant Goliath and you fight a dwarf David who not only hits back but do so with much more force that when they first started, then you have not defeated that opponent.

Thus, to walk around telling everyone you have defeated that David is at best delusional. At worse, it’s just pure fantasy.

But, I guess, that’s the way politics works!

The Jewish community want to castrate Mel Gibson for his remarks disparaging them. Jews have labelled Mel an anti-Semite for a series of drunken remarks.

Some of Gibson’s fiercest Hollywood critics have gone as far as taking full page ads in various big time publications to denounce him, calling on others to boycott his films and to never work with him.

I think the whole thing: their action, their reactionary viewpoint, is totally pathetic.

When Gibson made the remarks he was under the influence of alcohol. While this does not excuse his indiscretion, there are very few people whose tongue does not get loose after they’ve been drinking. Consequently he said things which, under normal circumstances, he would have kept quiet about, even if they were on his mind.

One of the things which Mel is reported to have done, while he was being arrested by US police, was to give his opinion that all the world’s wars were begun by those of Hebrew extraction. In view of the current situation in the Middle East, where Israel has totally overacted over the capture of two soldiers by Hezbollah fighters, I doubt if any reasonable person can argue in that particular case.

Bombing The Powerless

Israel will no doubt explain their reasons for bombing and killing defenceless children, women and old people. Additionally, they will explain why it is necessary to destroy with their high tech bombs and technology (supplied by America and Britain), Lebanon and its surrounding areas. But they have not done a good job explaining how with all this dazzling array of sophisticated weaponry, they cannot seem to kill or capture any top rank Hezbollah commanders, let alone injure the foot soldiers.

The point of this piece is that is that it has become fashionable for the Jewish community to strangle, castrate, mutilate, kill, decapitate (insert your favourite means of mass destruction here) other people, but if anyone remotely highlight their questionable deeds, they are quick to label them anti-Semite.

I do not hate any race, colour or creed. I certainly do not hate Jewish people. But I am bemused by the double standards they perpetuate, largely because as a large powerful united community, they can. Who can tolerate the intolerable when the intolerant’s intoleration is widely accepted? That’s the question…

As for Mel Gibson I suspect he will be alright. In Hollywood, even when facing the direst circumstances, it is money that talks. And he has made a lot of Jewish people rich with the profits of his films. Despite all that’s being said this will be a key factor in his rehabilitation back into the hearts of those who are calling for his castration.

The controversy may even help his next film Apocalypto attain great box office success, just like his The Passion Of Christ did…