Tunisia, Egypt, and Israel

S P R I N G 2 0 1 1 W W W. T I K K U N . O R G T I K K U N 5 Tunisia, Egypt, and Israel EDITORIALS BY RABBI MICHAEL LERNER I tshouldcomeasnosurprisethatTikkunandother progressive Jewish voices welcomed the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings for democracy as they unfolded in late JanuaryandearlyFebruary:theJewishpeoplehaverootsin the Bible’s story of the Israelite rebellion against Pharaoh and his oppressive regime—a story repeated each year at Passover celebration and in weekly readings of the Torah— so it is understandable that many of us are naturally inclined to oppose every system of oppression. Our own story inspires us to oppose overt oppression by dictatorial or fundamentalist regimes likethoseinChina,Tibet,Syria,Myanmar,Iran,SaudiArabia,and Sudan; oppression by regimes such as the United States, Iraq, Afghanistan, Mexico, and dozens of other countries that use tortureandperpetratethesystematicdenialofhumanrights;and more subtle forms of institutional oppression such as the everexpanding U.S. prison system and the operations of global capitalism (just as we once challenged the oppression of Sovietstylecommunism ). Asthisissueofthemagazinegoestopress(inearlyFebruary,at a moment when it is still unclear whether the actual outcome of the struggle will be a genuine transformation or a perpetuation of theexistingorderundersomeothersetofrepressivereplacements for Mubarak from the same human-rights and democracydenying group of elites that has ruled Egypt for the past fifty years), we want to acknowledge the legitimacy of worries that, even if the current uprising turns into a successful revolution, the Egyptian regime could be replaced by another system of Islamic fundamentalistoppression.Butwealsowanttopointoutthatthe Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt long ago abandoned its most vicious, violent, anti-Semitic, and anti-democratic terrorist extremistsandforthepastseveraldecadeshasbeenoperatingasa pro-democracyandanti-torturevoiceintheIslamicworld. Still, there is certainly no guarantee that the new regime that emerges to replace Mubarak will not tilt in ways that are oppressive, anti-Semitic, or anti-Israel. This option for reactionarypoliticsisalwaysabigriskwithdemocracy. We support democracy even when its outcomes may be offensivetoourvalues(e.g.,there-electionofGeorgeW.Bush,the recent victory of right-wing extremists in the 2010 U.S. congressionalelections ,orthequitepossibleright-wingvictoriesin2012), because we believe that so long as free speech, free press and media, freedom of assembly, jury trials, and free elections are in place, even in their money-drenched forms in the United States today, it will always be possible for people to learn from their mistakesandusethesedemocraticprocessestorectifythosemistakes . PartofwhatpeoplefearmighthappeninEgyptistheplausible consequence of the United States and Israel’s approach to the Muslim world, an approach that can best be summed up as a strategy of domination. The United States imposed the Shah on Iran, tried to support him when popular forces challenged him, and then found that all the repression in the world was not sufficienttosilencetheoutrageoftheIranianpeopleafterdecades of Western-backed torture and violence by U.S.-trained and -equipped “security forces.” The wide-ranging anger at Israel in Islamic lands is in good part an outcome of Israel’s treatment of thePalestinianpeopleforthepastsixty-twoyears.Theangerinthe streetsofCairoatbeingshotatandgassedbyweaponsmadeinthe United States and supplied to the Mubarak regime was predictable. And if some Egyptians would like to see the peace treaty with Israel abrogated, it is not because they actually seek a warwithIsraelbutbecausethattreatysymbolizedthecorruptdeal withtheUnitedStatesinwhichtheMubarakregimereceivedtens of billions of dollars in U.S. aid (thanks to the influence of the Christian Zionists and AIPAC) in exchange for doing Israel’s dirty work in containing Hamas in Gaza. Ordinary Egyptians watched allthatmoneygotothemilitaryandtograftfortheEgyptianelites. It’s an ethically corrupt and pragmatically stupid strategy to supportrepressiveregimesinthehopesofkeepingthelidonpopular discontent—it simply never works for any length of time. Israelcouldbesafeifitswitchedfromastrategyofdominationtoa new spirit of generosity toward the Palestinian people, and the United States could be safe from Islamic extremists if it announced a new approach to foreign policy based on a Global Marshall Plan such as the one advocated by the Network of Spiritual Progressives (spiritualprogressives.org/GMP). Our task as Americans is to help our fellow Americans feel safe to switch Egyptian demonstrators in Cairo’s Tahrir Square seek human rights and democracy to replace the Mubarak-led military dictatorship in February 2011. The peaceful demonstrators were brutally attacked by Mubarak-inspired thugs and plainclothes members of the Mubarak security forces. CREATIVE COMMONS/NASSER NOURI 6 T I K K U N W W W. T I K K U N . O R G S P R I N...