drew dellinger - planetize the movement

The Poetry Spot (PTM Newsletter, Dec. 2008)

Ancient Remnants

A shattered stone statue
Some old copper coins
Strange ornaments of blackened silver
Several broken bronze vessels
Were unearthed
In a desert
And people say that centuries ago
Here where there is only a desert
A city was once settled
And a thought strikes me:
Even today, at a party
A gathering
When I come face to face with you
For one second
Just for one moment
The warmth of your body
The fleeting chance of meeting our eyes
The shine of your red bindiya
The rustle of your clothes
The fragrance of your hair
And sometimes, unintentionally
A tiny flower of touch
And then again, that unending desert
That desert where once
A city had flourished.

(From Anthems of Resistance: A Celebration of Progressive Urdu Poetry, by Ali Husain Mir & Raza Mir. IndiaInk, 2006.)

Drew's Poetic "Memo to Obama" in Current Tikkun Magazine

For the new issue of Tikkun magazine, the editors "asked writers representing the breadth of the spiritual progressive movement to write memos to our new president...Together, these memos reflect the hopes and aspirations of what might be called the Religious and Spiritual Left in the U.S. at the beginning of 2009."

You can read Drew's "Memo to Obama" on p. 47.

Tim Wise on Israel and Palestine

Some of you might be interested in the writings of Tim Wise.

Several years ago I heard an amazing lecture by Wise, who is probably the most important white anti-racist activist of our time. Wise, who is Jewish, gave are very powerful and interesting critique of white supremacy, racism, and colonialism in the founding of Israel, and in Zionism.

About seven years ago I participated in a sit-in at the Federal Building in Oakland, and was arrested along with a couple dozen others demanding an end to U.S. funding of Israel's military.

What would Dr. King say about U.S. tax dollars funding White Phosphorus bombs and the killing of children and other civilians in Gaza? Probably the same thing he would say about bus bombings, rocket attacks, anti-Semitism, and the whole circle of violence in the Middle East and elsewhere: It is tragic, immoral, and it has to stop.

What is happening is Gaza right now is truly heart-breaking. My prayers are with all the people of Israel and Palestine.

Here are some links to Tim Wise and some of his essays on Israel and Palestine and Zionism.


http://www.timwise.org/

http://www.lipmagazine.org/~timwise/nationalismoffools.html

http://www.lipmagazine.org/~timwise/statespeopletoo.html

http://www.lipmagazine.org/~timwise/fraudfitforaking.html