Michael Moore’s Letter to President Arafat in “Stupid White Men”
Dear
President Arafat, Sorry. That’s the kind of humour that has kept me relegated to appearing only on basic cable in America (Channel 64, right after the Indian language station in New York City). I have the key to your success. I know how you can unilaterally end the killing on both sides – and, as a bonus, wind up with a Palestinian state!” I know, you’re thinking, “Hey, who is this guy?” And you’re right. |
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But hear me out. I want to propose something so revolutionary that it will flip out every Israeli right-winger and send every Israeli peacenik running to your side.
My proposal is not a new idea. It involves no armies, no money, and no UN resolutions. It’s dirt cheap. It has been tried many times, in many countries – AND IT HAS NEVER FAILED. It demands no hatred, and requires no weapons. In fact, it is all about no weapons.
It’s called mass non-violent civil disobedience. It worked for Martin Luther King Jr. – his non-violent movement brought an abrupt end to legal segregation in America. It worked for Gandhi – he and his fellow Indians brought the British Empire to it’s knees without firing a shot. It worked for Nelson Mandela – he and the African National Congress brought about an end to Apartheid with no violent revolution.
If it worked for them, trust me, it can work for you.
Sure, you can still win through violence. The Vietnamese proved that they could whip the mightiest country on earth. And look at us – we spent eight years picking off Redcoats, and got ourselves a big country out of all the shooting!
So killing does work, I guess. The only problem is, after the killing stops you’re a little messed in the head, and it takes a while before you learn to put down your guns (225 years later and we still haven’t learned).
But if you’d like to try the non-violent approach, you not only get to see fewer people die – you get your own country in the end!
Here’s how it works:
1. Just sit your ass down. That’s it. It’s simple. You just lay your bodies down – often just a few thousand in the middle of the road will do – and don’t move and don’t fight back when they try to drag you away.
Instead of Israel always shutting down the borders to Gaza and the West Bank, you shut them down. Just march peacefully up to the checkpoint and then sit down. No Israelis will be able to get to their settlements. No Israelis will be able to transport goods and natural resources from your land into Israel. There is no Israeli vehicle I know of that can drive over mounds of thousands of people (not even a pair of snow tires will do the job!). Of course, they may try, and a number of your people may be injured or killed. Still, don’t move. Just sit. The world will be watching – especially if you embrace the wonderful world of public relations, and alert the media to your plans. (Trust me, CNN will take your call.) And you’ll end up with far fewer dead Palestinians than you yield under your current plan.
2. Call a general strike. Refuse to work for the Israelis. Their economy is based on the near-slave labour you provide them. Don’t do it anymore. Who will do all their shitwork for them if Palestinians won’t? Other Israelis? I don’t think so! They need you and your willingness to break your backs for them for substandard wages. Watch how quickly a deal is struck once every single Arab refuses to go to work. Of course, they’ll try to break you. They will cut off your water, your roads, your food – but you must stand firm. Stockpile, then strike non-violently, and never give in. They will.
A few years back, over a million Israelis attended a Peace Now in Tel Aviv. That was an amazing sight. It also means that you, the Palestinians, have a million Jewish allies – a third of the country – in the nation you know as your enemy. A million of your “enemies” will come to your aid if you protest in a non-violent way. Try it! Between your people and theirs, you will outnumber those in Israel who want to drive you into the sea.
Unfortunately I know your inclination is to keep drawing blood. You think this will bring you liberation. It will not. It will turn you into those who are now killing you. And if you haven’t figured out one thing about the Israelis by now, you’d better get a clue – they ain’t goin’ anywhere. For God’s sake, man - they had six million of their people massacred by the most advanced civilisation on earth. Do you think they’re going to let a few stones and car bombs get in the way of their own survival? They live in a world where they’re isolated and all alone. They won’t quit until you or the rest of the earth annihilates every last one of them. Is that what you want? Every last Jew wiped from the face of the planet? If it is, then you need serious help – and you’re gonna have to get past me before you touch another one of their children.
But if, as I suspect, you would prefer peace and quiet to constant war and displacement, then you must lay down all arms, lay down your bodies in the middle of the road and then… just wait. Yes, the Israelis will beat many of you people. They will drag your women by the hair, they will set dogs on you, they may even get out the firehoses (and other tricks they’ve learned from us Americans). YOU MUST NOT FIGHT BACK! Trust me, when the pictures of your suffering at the hands of these brutes go out across the world, there will be such an outcry that the Israeli government will be unable to continue it’s oppression.
Well, there you go. If you want, I will come and join you in your non-violent protest. It’s the least I can do after helping finance the bullets and bombs that have killed your people.
Yours,
Michael Moore
I have personally sent an appeal to Michael Moore to join the P10K Force and we are awaiting his response - Ken O'Keefe