Monday, May 30, 2011

How Green Is the Jewish National Fund? by Sylvia Schwarz http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/schwarz290511.html

Colonizers, for all their vaunted "superiority" of their "modern" agricultural methods, often failed at their own projects. Still, their condescension to the colonized knows no end. Jesse Benjamin's essay "Orwell's 'Green Patrol' and the Relentless Racialized Illogic of Ethnic Cleansing in the Name of Environmentalism" shows stark examples of the distain in which indigenous peoples are held by their colonizers. As we read this eBook, similarities between the ethnic cleansings in Israel and in the Americas begin to stand out.

Coya White Hat-Artichoker sums them up in her "First Nations-Palestinian Solidarity Statement": "As a First Nations person, I believe I can call genocide when I see it."The ethnic cleansing of Palestine, begun in the early part of the 20th century, continues today. Photographic evidence of that is seen in "Canada Park: Canadian Complicity in a War Crime" by Ismail Zayid. His article reminds us of the fact that this project of ethnic cleansing is a multinational enterprise: contributions to the JNF are tax deductible in 50 countries around the world.  

The JNF may not be a friend of environmentalists, but it is certainly a friend of accountants in service of the rich looking for tax savings.The JNF has been thus far successful in leading people around the world to believe they are part of a grand scheme to "redeem the land" and to "make the desert bloom." But, for how long will it be able to continue ethnic cleansing while posing as a tax-exempt Green charity? There is now a new campaign, Stop the JNF, to challenge the fund's propaganda, including its greenwashing.

No comments:

Post a Comment