Carr’s look at this new creation sent shivers down my spine.  Although, come to think of it, with the JEHT’s foundation closing and horrors in Gaza, why stop at local policing gone wild?  How about “Surprise!  We fried your innocent cousin!”  Or maybe a show about Gaza, I can see it now: “You soooo thought your house was going to be here when you got back, didn’t you?”

Now there’s some good television.

• ICE Raids hit the Bay Area a day after May Day, including scaring the shit kids at Berkeley schools
• After the exchange with Eden last week about transgender youth, I thought I’d plug this amazing, indepth interview series that NPR is doing right now on trans youth.
• Joseph Gindi gave one of the best talks I’ve heard in awhile about Israel, Palestine, and why ethnic nationalism strikes a discordant note in the goal of achieving true democracy at the Righteous Indignation conference. What I appreciated most about this panel was not that the ideas were new, but how much the panelists strived to use language that moved beyond the rhetoric we all often fall prey to that divides people.
• Police brutality in Philadephia has raised alarms, particularly because the vicious beating of three Black men, Brian Hall, 23, Pete Hopkins,19, and Dwayne Duches, 24, was caught on tape by FOX helicopters. Folks in the media world always say, that when it comes to talking about race and racism in the U.S. media and larger public domain, documentation is paramount.
• Before I headed to the RI conference, I had the pleasure of joining JVoices contributors’ Robin Washington and Rabbi Capers Funnye at the Be’chol Lashon think tank, which you can read a bit about in the Forward and JTA. On a personal note, it was BEYOND refreshing to be in a room with folks whose perspective on Jewish life was not limited to the U.S. mainstream-dominated narrative of intermarriage or continuity, but rather the breadth of Jewish life in Global Jewry. I should also say, a hearty mazel tov to Alysa Stanton for being the first African-American female to receive her semicha as a reform Rabbi in the next two weeks!
• And I’ll round this out by plugging a really great fact sheet on “Jews from the Middle East,” written by Sephardic scholar Ilise Cohen and up on Jewish Voice for Peace’s site. This sheet gives a much broader perspective on Jewish global migration, and the impact of the founding of Israel on Sephardi and Mizrahi communities. “Of a total Israeli population of 7 million, over 2.5 million (35-40%) are Mizrahim, about 1 million (15%) are Russian immigrants who came in the last 20 years, about 1.4 million (20%) are Palestinian Israelis, 154,000 (2.2%) are Ethiopian, and about 2 million (25-30%) are Ashkenazi Jews and others. This means 55-60% of the Israeli population is ‘non-white’; together, Mizrahim and Palestinian Israelis form a majority. Knowledge of these demographics has the potential to change the perception and treatment of these marginalized communities. Despite being the majority Jewish population in Israel, Mizrahim are represented in small numbers in the Israeli Parliament and in elite positions such as professorships. Many still live in poor ‘development towns,’ agricultural Moshavim, or urban peripheries such as South Tel Aviv that receive fewer municipal funds than more central and majority-Ashkenazi Jewish cities, towns, and Kibbutzim.”
• Oh, and of course I can’t leave out the conversion controversy sparked by the Israeli Rabbinate, could I? Some I’ve talked to actually see this as a “good sign” in the long-term, believing that the Supreme Court would totally strike the religious ruling down, further separating religion from rule of the state. While I commend this wishful thinking, this doesn’t change what, again, Gindi stated out so well, which is the inevitable and inherent tension, particularly amongst Jews in the U.S. who believe so strongly in a secular democratic state, still holding onto the idea that ethnic nationalism in Israel is OK–and not just OK, but possible to have along with a “true” full, and robust democracy for all of Israel’s citizens? Yeah, the irony is apparent, no? Saying a country is for a particular set of people, and yet being a “democracy for all” does seem problematic, no?

Many interpreted the story as a social or political commentary, particularly in the wake of McCarthyism, when neighbors suspected each other of being secret Communists. In his essay published in Play It Again, Sam: Retakes on Remakes, Robert Eberwein points to the different zeitgeists of the original film and the ’78 remake, and suggests a meaningful distinction between the symbolism of the “pod people” in the first film–with their implication of being swept up by some diabolical mass movement and losing free moral agency–and those in the second film, which “concentrated on conformity and surrendering the capacity to feel”.

This year, 2007, brings us the special effects remake. Without even seeing The Invasion, the first thing we notice is that “Body Snatchers” has been dropped from the title. That’s because there are no pods or “pod people” anymore. The alien pandemic now strikes in the form of an illness that renders its victim unconscious to his or her former self, and yet walking, talking, and ruthlessly coordinating the infection of more humans.

The film has also been updated to reflect the current world security situation and the violence reported via television and radio news every day. We are reminded, at the beginning of the movie, that suicide bombs exploding in the Middle East are causing massive casualties, and there are diplomatic standoffs in North Korea. We also see a Russian and Czech diplomat sniping at each other at a dinner party. These sorts of concerns contrast with the relatively peaceful, domestic lives of the well-to-do, white American protagonists.

After the alien sickness descends and turns people into mindless automatons, the world situation flips upside down. The U.S. city portrayed in the film becomes the scene of riots and general lawlessness because of the infected pursuing the uninfected. The police are the first to cross over, and when they show up it is only to drag someone off to forcibly infect them, so no one is able to call for help. But everywhere else on Earth (if the television reports are to be trusted), infected people have installed an instantaneous and permanent peace with each other.

The difference could be explained with some midrashic effort. Perhaps the infected journalists deliberately painted a rosy picture of other countries, or perhaps it is possible for peace to be waged when only the highest government officials are infected with a virus that takes the form of mutual cooperation. But the film does not offer such explanations. What we actually see is a violent West and a peaceful East. And this is portrayed as an unacceptable, unnatural flip.

There are layers of “otherness” in the film. One sort is nationality. We (Americans) eat breakfast with our families in nice clean kitchens; they (foreigners in the Eastern hemisphere) blow each other up. The other sort is the infection. We (humans) are unique, special, emotive; they (infected half-aliens) barely have what we would call “lifelikeness” in a doll. These two sorts of otherness are interwoven in the following way: Normal humans are vulnerable and must endure daily life with a measure of fear. The infected humans lack this fear. Ironically, the humans fear losing their fear. Their vulnerability defines them; because of it, they exist and have identity. What they are ultimately most vulnerable to is the loss of their vulnerability. This vulnerability is also a peculiarly American theme, where, in the expected order of things, people from other countries are expected to actually be vulnerable and occasionally blow each other up, while Americans are only expected to feel vulnerable as part of their civic duty.

If McCarthyism was an interpretation for the 1950s, and social conformism was an interpretation for the 1970s, then a cultivated xenophobia in the name of self-preservation is an interpretation for 2007. Ever since the US suffered a terrorist attack, many have felt that the government and the media have tried to flash-freeze and cultivate fear in us. Six years later, the same enduring fear has started to become part of our culture and our very identity as Americans. Look how different regions respond to the alien invasion in the movie: the Middle East becomes quiet, Asia has peace treaties, but a continuous riot is launched in the name of catching the last remaining uninfected humans in the metropolitan United States and forcing them to be peaceful like everyone else on the planet. The horror! Run, don’t walk!

The aliens invaded. They came to bring peace. Peace stole our American identity.

Spoiler Alert

At the end of the film, a cure is found for the infected people who awake from their sleepwalking, and life returns to normal. The protagonists once again make breakfast in their nice clean kitchen while listening to news reports of people in other countries blowing each other up. The clear implication is that things are right-side-up again. Humanity is human again and causing itself grief. But if it is better to have this vulnerability to suffering, we must ask: better for whom?

The past few weeks, I’ve heard a lot about 2012, which marks the end of the Mayan calendar. The prophecy is explained in different ways. Some way it’s the end of the world. The Mayans say it marks a new beginning, which is very different than saying it’s the end of the world, but it’s also saying that there is going to be a change. The theories on how much change, and how drastic that change will be, vary. Will we all bomb each other to death? Will we find ourselves in the collapse of capitalism, living in a post-industrial age? Will we find ourselves living in a totally new climate thanks to how badly we treat the environment and global warming? I’m not usually a person who is affected by stories about the apocalypse, or that the world as we know it is going to end. But, let me tell you, watching Giuliani take the lead in this presidential race makes me have to stop and think even more about all this talk of 2012.

And if that wasn’t enough, reading this week’s Forward article on Giuliani stacking his campaign with Mideast Hawks definitely didn’t ease my mind.

The former New York City mayor announced last week that he had assembled a team of foreign policy advisers featuring several prominent neoconservatives, including one of the movement’s founders, Norman Podhoretz. In addition to being an unwavering supporter of the war against Iraq, Podhoretz, a former editor of Commentary magazine, has grabbed headlines in recent months as one of most vocal proponents of American military action against Iran.

We’re already in some serious trouble. And while everyone is so sure that thanks to the Bush Administration’s unilateral acts of aggression, militarism, imperialism and war throughout the world, there’s no way a republican will win, I’m not so sure people should be banking on that. Here’s the thing–most people throughout the country do not know the horrible politician that Giuliani was in New York. They see him as a hero, not only post 9-11, but also because of what has long been dubbed by the media and the upper middle-class as Giuliani’s “success” in “cleaning up the city.” While this is typically discussed as a positive thing in the media, what it really meant was that Giuliani created police task forces that stopped and frisked thousands of Black and Latino men just because they were Black and Latino thanks to racist police profiling; pushed the homeless out of the city; as “fat old jewish guy”states so well, Giuliani’s overall “terrorization of poor working class and minority families through his various “get tough” initiatives in child welfare.” And that’s only the beginning.

Some good news is that firefighters are publicly debunking the post 9-11 myth that Giuliani was a hero for the city.

They argue that Giuliani’s administration failed to provide adequate radios for first-responders at the World Trade Center. And they remain angry at his decision to speed the removal of the enormous pile of rubble at ground zero, cutting back the size of the group searching for remains.

“He’s not a leader. He is running on 9/11, and it’s all a fallacy,” says Jim Riches, the father of a Sept. 11 victim and a deputy New York fire chief, in the video.

The International Association of Fire Fighters produced the 13-minute video and is distributing it to its 280,000 members, to the media, and online.

I can already hear someone saying that we wouldn’t necessarily be better off with a democrat, and I agree I’m not interested in another Bill Clinton centrist democrat if that’s what electing a democrat means. But that’s not what we’re looking at in the democratic party this time. At least not yet.

But seriously, we need to be watching, and more importantly, stopping Giuliani from winning this election. I don’t think I’m exaggerating, or stating hyperbole, when I say that our very lives depend on it.

They were unarmed.
What makes these cops think this is acceptable? Not a rhetorical question.

Sunday Leslie and I go to the vigil at Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica, where the two survivors are being treated. Leslie and I always try to show up. Since we moved to Queens three years ago, whenever protest or resistance gathers in Queens, we feel especially bound to show up. Today we seem to be practically the only white people who feel that way–we are almost it for whiteness, aside from the paparazzi. (Just in case you’re wondering are Jews white, on Sunday in front of Mary Immaculate the answer was SOME YES VERY.)

A crowd of maybe 300. The usual chants. The expected rage, such that when one elected official said “we’re not going to be angry� the response was furious.

The Jewish piece? At one point someone shouts, when the Jews get a ticket they burn down Williamsburg.1 Someone else calls shame on those African Americans sitting in church instead of out in protest: if it were the Jews they wouldn’t be in synagogue, he yells.

Jews as positive, if resented, role model.

The Jews stand up for themselves.

The Jews don’t do business as usual when their community is under assault.

The point is not whether this vision of Jews is accurate. Is it prevalent?

The point is how do we build solidarity beyond our own communities? If we stand up for all Jews we ARE standing up for all races and ethnicities. But why not go all the way: if we stand up for anyone we stand for everyone. The point is how do we remember and act on the primary wisdom of the labor movement: an injury to one is an injury to all.

BTW Michael Richards might claim to “adhere to Jewish philosophyâ€?–but who wants him? Don’t we have enough real Jewish shondes? In this vein I confess I would like to know why people like Richards and Mel Gibson think alcohol or rage is an excuse or explanation for the vitriol that pours out of them with hardly any provocation. Aren’t they just revealing who they are?

– Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz

1 Referring to an incident in 2004, when a 75-year old Satmar cited for driving while talking on a cell phone, refused to cooperate and so was arrested instead of getting a ticket. Onlookers set fires in protest.

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The following are two videos documenting the police brutality of Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a UCLA student, who was repeatedly stunned with a Taser and then taken into custody when he did not exit the CLICC Lab in Powell Library in what was deemed a “timely manner” by UCLA police. The first video is decent media coverage and the second video is a six-minute video caught by a student’s phone of the violence that occurred, showing the police’s beyond excessive force and violence of Tabatabainejad who can be heard audibly screaming loudly in pain as he was stunned several times with a Taser, each time for three to five seconds.

(Click on image)
Each time after he was stunned he was repeatedly demanded to stand up and stop fighting, and was told that if he did not do so he would “get Tased again.” Thus, the police continued to taser him as he was unable to stand. When students attempted to get the police to stop they were told they would be tasered as well.

As typical of these situations and most often in which it isn’t documented and police get away with charging people with assault or inciting a riot, rather then them being pinned with police brutality, police are trying to say that Tabatabainejad was trying to incite students. The video footage and all of the eyewitness confirmed that he was not encouraging resistance, and he repeatedly told the officers he was not fighting and would leave.

In the video you can hear him saying that he said he would leave and later, “Here’s your Patriot Act, here’s your f—ing abuse of power.”

And he’s absolutely right.

And you can also be sure that if this wasn’t caught on film, this would never have gotten coverage.

As someone who does ID work, this video is testimant to the real larger issues entangled in this issue of the proliferation of the idea of safety in an ID, of the myth of voter fraud, of the false notions of security perpetuated post 9/11, of the ways in which the military industrial complex and prison industrial complex collide, of the violence perpetuated in this so-called “war on terrorism,” of the right wings campaign of “freedom,” i.e. the maintenance of white supremacy and the white-nation state, the surveillance and brutality of people of color and immigrants in our nation, our communities our streets, and our schools.

This is the violence of the police state that so many in the US live under caught on film.

Watch it. Learn from it. Understand the implications of the time we are living in. Understand that racism and xenophobia cannot be taken out of this, that the fact that he was a person of color, a person who would be perceived as of arab descent and potentially an immigrant (I am not sure if he is or not) informs how the police responded and used this kind of violence–that this was central to what drove the police to do what they most often get away with doing, which is not just profiling but violently beating and arresting people of color and then charging them with a crime, and then, get angry. And act. Demand accountability.

University of California, Los Angeles Police Department
Chief of Police, Karl T. Ross
310-825-1633 kross@ucpd.ucla.edu

601 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1364
(310) 825-1491

crossposted from jewschool