"Trump must remember that there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties and this is the only way to return the prisoners," Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP, referring to the hostages. He added, "The language of threats has no value and further complicates matters."
I recall President Theodore Roosevelt, the architect of U.S. imperialism, explained his strategy as "speak softly and carry a big stick." Now that we are ruled by small stick energy we boast and bluster on the world stage. Does the language of threats have no value? Probably not at the negotiating table where Hamas and Israel are poised on the brink of Phase 2 of their ceasefire agreement.
But, 47 and the elongated muskrat and their ilk think the language of threats plays well at home.
Speaking of threats, my friend and fellow organizer Bruce Gagnon received a threat from my alma mater yesterday. A resident of Brunswick, Maine where Bowdoin College is located, Bruce had local police at his door yesterday with a document promising to arrest him for criminal trespass if he sets foot on campus for the next 12 months. Here in a blog post he explains why his entirely nonviolent support for the recent student encampment led to Bowdoin enlisting local police to threaten him.
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It's not a threat it's a promise when I say that I joined fellow Bowdoin alumni in boycotting the college's big fundraising day that's coming up, and have sent letters to a slew of administrators explaining why. Their refusal to address the Bowdoin Solidarity Referendum results nine months after its passage is shameful. Their persecution of students of conscience and the college's failure to live up to its oft vaunted commitment to pursue "the Common Good" is hypocritical.
A senior who was suspended for participating in the peaceful occupation of a student union that is supposed to be open 24/7 for student use but was instead locked down by college security forces told the Portland Press Herald what she thought was behind Bowdoin's cowardice:
[Oliva Kenney] characterized the college’s response as “pre-anticipatory obedience” to the Trump administration.
"I do believe that the college is concerned about how the Trump administration will react to colleges that have demonstrated any form of sympathy to Palestine protesters, but what they’re doing, really, is ceding to fascism before the true consequences of fascism have even descended upon them.”
Some community supporters have expressed disappointment that the students didn't hold out for longer than five days. It can be challenging to put yourself in the shoes of someone whose family has invested around a quarter of a million dollars in your degree only to be suspended, kicked out of your dorm and off the meal plan, and barred from attending classes -- all of which were paid for in advance.
Do Bowdoin students have the support of their parents? Some do, some don't. One thing I can say for sure: most of these families have deep pockets and probably a lawyer or two in the mix. Will the college ultimately get away with trampling their progeny's access to education they paid for in defense of an indefensible genocide and ethno-state? Color me doubtful.
I'm joining other alumni, including parents, in withholding donations to Bowdoin until they see their way clear to walking the walk, not just talking the talk, of "the Common Good." Estate planners may need to revise some decisions previously made.
Zionists continue bombing Lebanon, gobbling up land in Syria, and shooting at children in Gaza and the West Bank. In fact, violence in the West Bank has ramped up significantly during the "ceasefire" in Gaza with
Creating Israel was a mistake, but the Anglo-American imperialists who did so to create a permanently Western-aligned entity in occupied Palestine thought they had a big stick. They were wrong in thinking that indigenous Palestinians would cede to fascism with pre-anticipatory obedience (I'm excepting Palestinian Authority quislings here).
Gazans and Palestinians in the West Bank won't back down, and neither will their supporters. Free Palestine!
