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Title: Rachel was bulldozed to death, but her words are a spur to action
Source:
The Guardian
URL Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1587540,00.html
Published: Oct 7, 2005
Author: Cindy and Craig Corrie
Post Date: 2005-10-07 20:01:20 by Eoghan
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Keywords: bulldozed, Rachel, death,
Views: 191
Comments: 23
It is disturbing to see our daughter played on stage, but it drives home the impact she has had since her killing in Gaza When our daughter Rachel Corrie was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza strip on March 16 2003, an immediate impulse was to get her words out to the world. She had been working in Rafah with a nonviolent resistance organisation, the International Solidarity Movement, trying to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes and wells. Her emails home had had a powerful impact on our family, making us think about the situation in the Middle East in ways we had never done before. Without a direct connection to Israel and Palestine, we had not understood the devastating nature of the Palestinians' situation. Coming from the US, our allegiance and empathy had always been with the people of Israel. After Rachel died we realised that her words were having a similar effect on others whose lives were being changed, as ours have been - not just by Rachel's death, but by the window her writing provided on the Palestinian experience and by her call to action. Earlier this year, when a play created entirely from Rachel's emails and journals first opened in London, we saw in a very immediate way the impact that Rachel's words can have on others. Theatre can reach people in a different and deeper place than reading a news article or listening to a speech: there is an emotional aspect that for some people can be more long-lasting and motivating. Theatre humanises; all art humanises. It takes us away from the merely logical and rational. In the Israel-Palestine conflict there is often a very logical calculus of death and war - and you must step out of the constructs of that logic in order to construct a logic for peace. The play, My Name Is Rachel Corrie, is not just about how Rachel died, even if that is why she is known and remembered. It also illuminates her humanity, tracing her evolution from typical teenage self-exploration through to her search for a political voice. The play includes some of her writing that might be considered uncomplimentary to us, and even to her. Far better that, though, than being a symbol of one dimension. It is disconcerting, but also comforting, to watch an actor who looks much like Rachel - Megan Dodds - play our daughter on stage. In the opening scene, when Rachel awakens in her messy bedroom, the resemblance is almost too much. But Megan lives Rachel's words in ways that are sometimes familiar but also sometimes surprising, so that we learn from her what Rachel may have been thinking. At several points in the play, Megan enacts receiving emails from us - real emails that we actually sent to Rachel. We had never before imagined our daughter's reactions to receiving our messages until we saw them on stage. Rachel was a real human being. Sometimes, when people idealise her, we feel vulnerable for her. Knowing the complete human being, would they feel the same? Through My Name is Rachel Corrie, people can know a more complete Rachel. Clearly, our daughter has become a positive symbol for people. Her story and her words seem to motivate others to do something, not just sit and talk about the world's situation in their living rooms and feel unhappy. The weekend after Rachel was killed, we discussed with old friends what we should do. We needed to find a response. In some ways we may have been more fortunate than other parents who have lost children, for the response in our situation was apparent. With her efforts to educate and to build permanent connections with Palestinians in Rafah, Rachel provided us with a path. In an email from Rachel to her friend Todd, she tells him 10 times over that he must come to Gaza. "Come here!", she repeats over and over. That is what Rachel would have wanted us to do, too: to try to carry on what she started. We recently spent time in the US with members of the family who were behind the wall of the home Rachel stood to protect. For a month we ate, played and travelled with 15-month-old Sama. What future does she have, living in what now amounts to a mass prison in Gaza? The recent disengagement may provide some relief for Gazans at the most obvious level. But it is hard not to contrast the media coverage afforded to the Israeli settlers' leaving, with that given to the many Palestinian families who have lost their homes to demolition in Gaza. What has been happening in the West Bank under cover of the disengagement - the building of the wall and the expansion of settlements - is also very worrying. And when the Israeli prime minister's close aide Dov Weisglass said that the real intent of the Gaza disengagement was to place the peace process in formaldehyde, we have to take him at his word. We must keep insisting on a peace process and work towards a viable Palestinian state that will benefit Palestinians, Israelis and the rest of the world. Meanwhile, we are still asking our government for a US-led investigation into Rachel's killing. The US state department is on record saying that the report of the Israeli military police does not reflect an investigation that was "thorough, credible and transparent", despite that being promised to President Bush by Ariel Sharon. In March we initiated a lawsuit against the Israel Defence Force and the government of Israel, to seek justice for Rachel and also information. We still would like to know what happened on March 16 2003, and why the international eyewitness reports differ so radically from the statements of the soldiers involved. Unfortunately, the Israeli parliament, counter to international law, has passed retroactive legislation making it impossible for most Palestinians and others to file suit against the IDF for injury that occurred in the occupied territories after September 2000. In the US we have taken legal action against Caterpillar Inc, which manufactured the D-9R bulldozer which killed Rachel. Under existing US law, corporations can be, and are being, held responsible when they knowingly continue to provide goods and services that are used in a pattern of human-rights violations. The month before she was killed, Rachel wrote the following in an email to us: "I look forward to seeing more and more people willing to resist the direction the world is moving in, a direction where our personal experiences are irrelevant, that we are defective, that our communities are not important, that we are powerless, that our future is determined, and that the highest level of humanity is expressed through what we choose to buy at the mall." Action has already flowed from her words. · My Name Is Rachel Corrie is at the Royal Court Theatre in London from October 11 to 29. Box office 020 7565 5000 rachelsmessage@the-corries.com
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#1. To: Eoghan (#0)
Let's see, it is against the law to boycott goods from (only) Israel, as I recall. Is it against the law to sell goods to Israel if they use them "in a pattern of human-rights violations"? Should be interesting to find out.
It's the boycott that has Israelis worried, and not a State declaration of official policy. Simply by the evil internet and word of mouth people will start look for the 729 on the barcodes.
Do I have that right?
No, I think you're referring to The Diaries of Anne Frank...
You are referring to the 'made up' propaganda piece that you're currently spewing here? I suppose you could say that. But she is also the central character in a factual piece as well.
And the US Army NEVER made a documentary and printed pamphlets capturing for history what the Nazis did. And THOUSANDS of returning vets from WWII are just plain bald-faced liars about when they saw. I hear you. We all hear you.
I'm gonna copy you're style of indenting, that really makes the "from" stand out...
"A functioning police state needs no police." - William S. Burroughs
Kinda like those dingbat 'human shields' that Sadam Hussein invited in just before the (legal) Iraq war!
{{{chuckle}}}
It's Piss on Rachel Corrie's Grave Day This is offensive.
"A functioning police state needs no police." - William S. Burroughs
No wonder my cat kept vomiting...
"A functioning police state needs no police." - William S. Burroughs
Yep, Zionists and their "Christian" marionettes do give each other Ghoul House Awards...any Nobel Prizes in the future? BTW, even your Israeli Supreme Court outlawed 'human sheilds' although by Talmudic Law, they weren't human. Just bad press. Apparently, Saddam didn't have a chance vote on that one, so I have no idea what you're babbling about.
man, you are so full of shit. i don't how much longer i can shovel.
... When Corrie died more than a year ago, it was no great stretch to suspect that she and others who converged on Israel's territories knowingly supported terrorists. There was certainly no proof and it was just as difficult to figure out any hard connection. ... The raid on Rafah brings new facts to light indicating that Corrie and other ISM members had to know they were aiding and abetting terrorists, if they were not participating in terrorism themselves. ... 90 weapons-smuggling tunnels were constructed between the Egyptian border and Rafah. At least some of these tunnels were known to end underneath the homes in Rafah. With 90 tunnels running underneath Rafah, there must have been lots of suspicious activity. Corrie and her friends would have had to be blind not to notice.
Why do you hate female students?
"A functioning police state needs no police." - William S. Burroughs
is 90 a more magic number than 19?
"A functioning police state needs no police." - William S. Burroughs
Yep, with IDF and Mossad monitoring every square meter, unbelivable...
10, as in October seems to be the magic number...or a curse depending on your perspective. OCT 24 may be an interesting one this year. We'll see.
thought y'all might want to have some fun with this one.
Little Green Footballs?? ROFLMAO!! Dear gawd man.. what a dupe you are if you buy into that propaganda BS..LOL
No, not much fun. Rachel was the quintessential, naive, stupid person. She assumed that the rules prevalent in America would apply to her in Israel. IMO, there's a good chance the bulldozer driver didn't even see her; and if he did, it was incumbent upon her to get out of the way. How fucking stupid do you have to be to stand in the way of an approaching bulldozer. She didn't think it would stop? Well, too effing bad,that's her arrogance kicking in. Next time, boys and girls, when in a foreign country and the bulldozers come your way, run and seek shelter.
"I want the American people to know that our dreams are gone, our work was in vain. There will be no future for our children and our grandchildren in the new Iraq. The future is for the clerics. This is not the democracy we dreamed of. "--Dr. Raja Kuzai
next time, boys and girls, STAY HOME. these guys are playing for keeps. unfortunately, Rachel's naivety got her killed.
In the US we have taken legal action against Caterpillar Inc, Every country seeks to shelter it's citizens and soldiers from lawsuits. Put your money where your mouth is MrCorrie, US soldiers are protected from Iraqi law...what's the diff? In fact, even US civilians are exempt from any criminal prosecution by Iraqis even when actual crimes are identified. Go ahead and sue; that's the ticket. Feel better yet? Why Caterpillar? Why not the US treasury and Congress just in case the Bulldozer was bought with US aid? Poor schmucks. No one deserves to lose a daughter.
"I want the American people to know that our dreams are gone, our work was in vain. There will be no future for our children and our grandchildren in the new Iraq. The future is for the clerics. This is not the democracy we dreamed of. "--Dr. Raja Kuzai
In the US we have taken legal action against Caterpillar Inc, which manufactured the D-9R bulldozer which killed Rachel. Under existing US law, corporations can be, and are being, held responsible when they knowingly continue to provide goods and services that are used in a pattern of human-rights violations.
One if by land, two if by sea...how many if they are already here?
#2. To: robin (#1)
“kol Yisrael areivim zeh b’zeh"
#3. To: Eoghan (#0)
When our daughter Rachel Corrie was ..
Isn't this 'Rachel' person the central character is some sort of 'made up' propaganda piece?
#4. To: _Jim (#3)
“kol Yisrael areivim zeh b’zeh"
#5. To: _Jim (#3)
Isn't this 'Rachel' person the central character is some sort of 'made up' propaganda piece?
#6. To: Eoghan (#4)
Oh, you're right.
#7. To: _Jim (#6)
#8. To: Eoghan (#0)
It ocurred to be where I saw his now - it was the:
"Winner of the 2003 Moonbat Pancake Competition -
Not to treat this subject lightly or anything, but I thought this was award was particularly humorous.
Rachel Corrie"
#9. To: Eoghan (#4)
No, I think you're referring to The Diaries of Anne Frank...
#10. To: _Jim, Eoghan, starwind (#8)
#11. To: All (#10)
But the truth is she hated her own country and did everything in her power to support anti-jewish thugs and criminals in palestine.
#12. To: _Jim (#8)
“kol Yisrael areivim zeh b’zeh"
#13. To: _Jim (#8)
Kinda like those dingbat 'human shields' that Sadam Hussein invited in just before the (legal) Iraq war!
#14. To: Dakmar (#10)
I found an ununbelieveable piece ... the leading intro starts like this:
Maybe, just maybe, Rachel Corrie knowingly aided and abetted cold-blooded murderers.
Ununbelieveable ...
#15. To: _Jim (#14)
#16. To: _Jim (#14)
#17. To: _Jim (#14)
With 90 tunnels running underneath Rafah, there must have been lots of suspicious activity. Corrie and her friends would have had to be blind not to notice.
“kol Yisrael areivim zeh b’zeh"
#18. To: Dakmar (#16)
“kol Yisrael areivim zeh b’zeh"
#19. To: bluegrass, Bayonne, tom007, Brian S, Moldi_Box, JRadcliffe, Red Jones, RickyJ, secret_squirrel, swarthyguy, timetobuildaboat, wbales (#18)
#20. To: _Jim (#14)
#21. To: christine (#19)
#22. To: swarthyguy (#21)
Next time, boys and girls, when in a foreign country and the bulldozers come your way, run and seek shelter.
#23. To: christine (#22)
retroactive legislation making it impossible for most Palestinians and others to file suit against the IDF for injury that occurred in the occupied territories after September 2000.
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