{"id":122134,"date":"2018-11-19T12:02:48","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T12:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=122134"},"modified":"2018-11-18T17:11:11","modified_gmt":"2018-11-18T17:11:11","slug":"on-my-88th-birthday-a-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/11\/on-my-88th-birthday-a-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"On My 88th Birthday: A Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"

13 Nov 2018 – <\/em>I took part in a stirring program here in Berlin earlier this evening in support of three activists from Palestine and Israel who face criminal charges for disrupting a meeting featuring Zionist denials of Israeli crimes against humanity. Two\u00a0of the three who face these charges are Jews born in Israel, and one a Palestinian born in Gaza, whose family was in audience, including his father who was in an Israeli prison for 18 years.<\/p>\n

It was an inspirational event that discussed with depth and insight the obstacles to support for Palestinian rights encountered in Germany because of the persistence of German guilt about the Nazi past. In my remarks I tried to convey the understanding that the only true way to erase that sense of the past is to oppose the ongoing Israeli crimes of states rather than be complicit by choosing to be silent in the face of evil.<\/p>\n

I post a poem that I wrote earlier today, and read at the end of my talk, perhaps a self-indulgent conceit on my part, but I share it here as a way of thanking so many friends near and far who sent me the most moving birthday greetings throughout the day, which made me feel that we who are supporting the Palestinian struggle are part of a growing community that will prevail at some point, and the two peoples now inhabiting Palestine can finally live in peace, and with dignity and equality. All of us agreed that peace can only happen once the apartheid structure of the present Israeli state is fully dismantled and a spirit of true equality for Palestinians and Jews is affirmed and implemented, not only for those living under occupation, but for Palestinians confined to more than 60 refugee camps, to those millions long victimized by involuntary exile, and by the\u00a0Palestinian minority in Israel.<\/p>\n

**************************************<\/p>\n

To be almost 90<\/em>
\nAnd happy<\/em>
\nWith good health<\/em><\/p>\n

Feels criminal<\/em>
\nAmid Satanic happenings<\/em>
\nRaising Images too dark<\/em>
\nTo be real<\/em><\/p>\n

Children in Gaza<\/em>
\nAre shot to death<\/em>
\nFriday after Friday<\/em>
\nBy armed vampires<\/em><\/p>\n

Khashoggi\u2019s murder<\/em>
\nAn unspeakable crime<\/em>
\nYet no more than a problem<\/em>
\nFor hard men of power<\/em><\/p>\n

Events so dark<\/em>
\nAnd so numerous<\/em>
\nCasting shadows<\/em><\/p>\n

Will despair be our fate?<\/em>
\nIs this truly our world?<\/em>
\nAre we even meant to survive?<\/em><\/p>\n

My hope\u2013 to live<\/em>
\nLong enough to shout<\/em>
\nAn everlasting \u2018No\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

And may so affirming<\/em>
\nBecome my last word<\/em>
\nBecome my testament<\/em>
\nOf hope for all beings<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

__________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Richard Falk is a member of the TRANSCEND Network<\/a>, an international relations scholar, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, author, co-author or editor of 40 books, and a speaker and activist on world affairs.\u00a0In 2008, the United Nations Human Rights Council<\/a> (UNHRC) appointed Falk to a six-year term as a United Nations Special Rapporteur<\/a> on “the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories<\/a> occupied since 1967.” Since 2002 he has lived in Santa Barbara, California, and taught at the local campus of the University of California in Global and International Studies, and since 2005 chaired the Board of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. His most recent book is <\/em>Achieving Human Rights (2009).<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 richardfalk.wordpress.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

13 Nov 2018 – I post a poem that I wrote earlier today, and read at the end of my talk, perhaps a self-indulgent conceit on my part, but I share it here as a way of thanking so many friends near and far who sent me the most moving birthday greetings throughout the day, which made me feel that we who are supporting the Palestinian struggle are part of a growing community that will prevail at some point, and the two peoples now inhabiting Palestine can finally live in peace, and with dignity and equality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":122129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcend-members"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}