Porto Alegre (Happy Port) is the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil’s southernmost province, and yet, the city is still subtropical.
It has minorities such as Japanese, Jews, Ukrainians, East Europeans, Palestinians, Syrian, Lebanese, and Poles.
Apparently, this World Social Forum – with an emphasis on Palestine is becoming a minor Internet Cause Célèbre.
I wish nothing but the best for the Palestinians, but the minimum concessions the Palestinians would accept would be more than Israeli is willing to concede. I do not see any of this doing any good.
The Palestinians are in bad situation, but Israel is not goint to commit national suicide to oblige them.
The World Social Forum is running into some problem in Porto Alegre in Brazil.
It was supposed to be major political form about the Palestinian problem. Mondoweiss – a pro-Palestinian site – is reporting that Zionist groups in South America are interfering with the forum.
Brazil’s barbarians at Israel’s gate: South American Israel lobby tries to shut down World Social Forum on Palestine
by Marc H. Ellis on November 3, 2012Whatever the internal squabbling, the outside pressure is worse. It’s being brought to bear on the conference itself. I received this update from the organizers yesterday:
In part they succeed, because now the WSF have lost the Usina do Gasômetro, the place where it would be held.
(… READ MORE)
The Usina do Gasômetro is a cultural center in Porto Alegre, which was converted from a former power plant. Apparently some pressure was made to withdraw the venue. They now have to look for another venue.
Mondoweiss is right that Israel is starting to notice Latin America. Until recently, Latin America has been ignored by everyone. Chile and Brazil, which are now starting to emerge, are making that an impossible luxury.
Porto Alegre has a small Palestinian community. Brazil has somewhere between 10-15 Million Arabs; almost all are Christian, mostly Catholic.
I suppose it would only be natural that Palestinians would try to draw Brazil into the conflict. However, Brazilian Arabs are heavily Lebanese Maronites, descended from Maronite Lebanese Christians who fled waves of Muslim genocide, starting in the 19th century. These are not going to present a fertile ground for pro-Palestinian sympathies. Neither will the Arabs in Brazil who have become Evangelical Christians – and there are many in Brazil.
One should not necessarily equate Arab with pro-Palesitnian viewpoints, especially Christian Arabs in South America.
This does show that, inspite of relatively small numbers, Israel’s community has some clout in South America.
I have no problem with pro-Zionists trying to make their case known; however this strikes me more as trying to suppress the Palestinians from making their case. Rather than presenting the Israeli view, it seems they are trying to stop the Palestinian view. Rather than acting pro-Israel, they are acting anti-Palestinian. This does not strike me as right.
Israel should contend for itself, but not interfere with free speech.
The point here is that South America is becoming a battle ground between Zionists and pro-Palestinian activists. A region of the world which was one ignored is now being contested. I suppose, for the South Americans, it is a step up. They are getting noticed.
This was posted in August 2012 on YouTube
In the end, while the Palestinian cause may seem right, at an initial glance, it has the problem of purpose. What does it propose?
If the end result of Palestinian Liberation is an Islamic state like the Hamas run Gaza, mockingly called Hamastan, then Liberals the world over should flee from the cause.
I am not saying Israel is innocent. Some Israeli actions are appauling; but to favor an Islamic cause is sheer lunacy for Liberals. This is not a native vs. colonial, worker vs. capitalist, contest. Some Liberals cannot shake the old paradigm.
Old paradigms do not apply in the Mideast.
If you want to help the Palestinians, the first thing you must do is shake them of Islam. To free them of the very real settler violence and restore them to a pre-Medieval Mullah driven tyranny is NOT an improvement.
One has to be careful in this cause. The Palestinians look like a people worthy of solidarity; and certainly the Christians among them would be. However, 92% of the Palestinians are Muslim; and more fundamentalist strains are arising among them.
There is no happy solution to this problem, at this point; but while the Israeli treatment of Arabs in Judea and Samaria (what the world calls the West Bank) is harsh – and at times, brutal – one must be careful to make sure that the remedy is not worse than the disease.
Rather than spending money to finance BDS, Liberals might set up legal funds to buy construction permits for Palestinians; and to contest every land siezure in Israeli courts.
This would have the benefits of:
1) Being Legal: Setting up a legal fund is, by definition, legal
2) Avoiding the legal question of boycotting Israel: Boycotting Israel can be illegal in some jurisdictions. The matter of boycotting settlements falls into a gray area. Do you want to be on the wrong end of a lawfare litigation?
3) Forcing Israel to act legally: A people committed to HaTorah (the Law) can sometimes be restrained by appeals to law.
My point here is that the Liberals in the West are not embracing the Palestinian cause with wisdom.
Are the Arabs in Judea and Samaria (what the world calls the West Bank) oppressed?
Absolutely! They have been for a long time.
Would creating a Palestinian government help them?
Not necessarily.
Restoring the Arabs in Judea and Samaria to Islamic rule is not an improvement.
So what should progressives do?
Set up a fund to help Arabs pay for the expenses necessary to get permits.
Set up a fund to help Arabs build once the permits are granted.
Set up a fund to help Arabs leave Islam, which is their chief oppressor.
The Left is out of its mind to be blanket supporting any cause which is tainted with an Islamic flavor.
Any Leftist cause which supports Palestine against Israel while ignoring the greater atrocities in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Iran, etc. is hypocritical.
The idiocy is taking over Latin America
Porto Alegre has a small Palestinian Community. I suppose it would be ridiculous to expect them to sport a pro-Zionist point of view; but it is disturbing that South America is slowly being turned to an anti-Israel viewpoint.
At this point, I do not know what percentage of the Palestinian Community in Porto Alegre is Christian – though overall the vast majority of Arabs in Brazil are Christian.
As an aside, Porto Alegre in found in Rio Grande do Sol which is probably the nicest province in Brazil. Mildly subtropical, with a nice ocean breeze. This conference [A Pro-Palestinian Conference] will be in Brazil’s summer, so one should expect them to have pleasant summer weather, even if the point of the conference is less than noble.
Oct 1, 2018 – Added old cartoon/ad for the 2012 Free Palestine Forum (which was found on internet).
Oct 1, 2018 – Took down old video, which was no longer on line.
This was a South American Arab Dance contest which took place is Porto Alegre, in Southern Brazil, in 2008. I think team from Argentina won.
The point is: This is a major cultural phenomenom in South America.
