i was just watching a show about political activism and it highlighted the case of rachel corrie and made me think about how much she was prepared to put on the line, and how whilst i like to whine a lot, i actually do very little.

i mean i haven't done absolutely nothing, i've particularly done things around green issues etc, but i've never done anything that showed that sort of commitment. i'm going to have a few months spare in between courses next year, so im seriously considering looking into doing something for that time.

soi guess my question is what sort of activism have you been involved in, and how did you feel about? (cos one of the problems i fequently find is that idisagree with groups i have belonged to) what sort of things to you think are worth doing?

yeah, rachel corrie.

but one way you can convince yourself not to do anything is to compare yourself to outstanding achievers, or martyrs, or both. Emma Goldman accomplished a lot. natably she was jailed for providing birth control info to teenagers. why?

too bad about rachel corrie. it had to be indymedia.org she was there for, too.

it wasn't indymedia she was with, she wasnt a journalist, she was an activist acting as a human shield for an organisation that came out of the whole affiar looking pretty bad, i just cant remember their name.

whats your thing with emma goldman? and you didnt say what, if any, activism you did

whos rachel corrie
was she copkilled?

I think it was solidarity. palestine solidarity or whatever. I can ask my roommate another time, he's asleep right now.

no, she was bulldozed by the IDF. google it!
Well I guess technically they're cops of sorts, but not the kind you're thinking about.

oh wow
international solidarity movement
thats crazy

I sort of embarrassed because I've heard her name numerous times in passing, and never really bothered to find out who she was.

I just looked at a website dedicated to her memory, Rachel Corrie Memorial Website and I am in awe at her passion for a good cause, and her willingness to sacrifice herself for it.

Like most people, I'm not involved in any sort of activism myself. I do fundraising for charities, but that's as close as I get to doing anything remotely altruistic.

graphic photos/memorial for rachel corrie by palestinian organization

i don't understand, didn't the bulldozer driver see her bright orange vest?

find a local infoshop in your area, they'll be able to gear you toward events/rallies/volunteer groups that you could get in with. likely you'll have your pick between various issues/topics to get active. hell, even volunteering at a soup kitchen is at least something. (and rewarding, imo, though depressing)

i'm hoping to eventually go to palestine myself for similar reasons, i have a roommate as well as a friend who have spent months there and intend to go back as soon as their finances make it possible.

The following account is from Joe Carr, an ISM activist from Kansas City, Missouri, who used the assumed name of Joseph Smith during his time in Gaza.

"[Between 13:00 and 13:30, activists] noticed that two Israeli Army bulldozers and one tank [had] entered onto Palestinian civilian property near the border and [were] demolishing farmland and other already damaged structures. The military machine was severely threatening near-by homes, so the 3 activists went up onto the roof of one home, and then called for others to come.

"[Between 13:30 and 14:00], I arrived, and one of the three activists at[sic] the house joined me on the ground ... [W]e began to disrupt the work of the bulldozers ... At this point, Rachel and the two other activists joined us ... Rachel and a British activist were wearing jackets that were fluorescent orange and had reflective stripping [sic] ... [Between 14:00 and 15:00], Rachel and two other activists began interfering with the other bulldozer, which was attempting to destroy grass and other plants on what used to be farmland. They stood and sat in its path, and though it would drive very close to them, and even move the earth on which they were sitting, it always stopped in time to avoid injuring them ... [Between 15:00 and 16:00], one bulldozer pushed Will, an American activist, up against a pile of barbed wire. Fortunately, the bulldozer stopped and withdrew just in time to avoid injuring him seriously, but we had to dig him out of the rubble, and unhook his clothing from the wire. The tank approached to see if he was ok. One soldier stuck his head out of the tank to see, and he looked quite shocked and dumbfounded, but said nothing ...

Corrie immediately after being injured

"[Between 16:45 and 17:00], [o]ne bulldozer, serial number 949623, began to work near the house of a physician who is a friend of ours ... Rachel sat down in the pathway of the bulldozer ... [It] continued driving forward headed straight for Rachel. When it got so close that it was moving the earth beneath her, she climbed onto the pile of rubble being pushed by the bulldozer. She got so high onto it that she was at eye-level with the cab of the bulldozer ... Despite this, he continued forward, which pulled her legs into the pile of rubble, and pulled her down out of view of the driver ... We ran towards him, and waved our arms and shouted, one activist with the megaphone. But [he] continued forward, until Rachel was underneath the central section of the bulldozer ... Despite the obviousness of her position, the bulldozer began to reverse, without lifting its blade, and drug [sic] the blade over her body again. He continued to reverse until he was on the boarder [sic] strip, about 100 meters away, and left her crushed body in the sand. Three activists ran to her and began administering first-responder medical treatment ... She said, "My back is broken!" but nothing else ..."[6]

Joe Smith said: "Rachel had two options. When the bulldozer started to dig in the dirt pile, the pile started to move, and she could have rolled sideways quickly or fallen backwards to avoid being hit. But Rachel leaned forward to climb to the top of the dirt pile. The bulldozer's digging drew her downward, and its driver could not see her anymore. So without lifting the scoop, he turned backward and she was already underneath the blade."[7]

Rachel Corrie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Furthermore:

"Smith says that the photo of Corrie "standing with megaphone" is ascribed to the time period 2pm-4pm. In addition, during this period, Smith notes that the bulldozer "always stopped in time to avoid injuring them."

At the time of Corrie's death (5pm), Smith describes Corrie as "sitting, with arms waving" (no megaphone), and another colleague holding the megaphone from a distance.

Additionally, one key point that Smith does not mention is that the bulldozers shown in the two photos are different types. The later photo is a bulldozer with much smaller windows, and hence reduced visibility."

http://www.honestreporting.com/artic..._Continued.asp

Rachel Corrie was an idiot. Screw her.

did you have another user name before this by any chance?

__________________
How many of you believe in telekinesis? Raise my hands.

i hate jews!

do you think ironhills is a jew?

__________________
How many of you believe in telekinesis? Raise my hands.

Tough luck, kittycat. Next ploy!

Tougher luck. She's not even pro-Israel.

And now for her next trick, herekitty will refute an eyewitness. Right?

what would you have personally done different?!

you can't blame corrie for the spin that the ism put on the affair after her death. maybe she's an idiot for martyring herself, like maybe emily davison was

oh please. there are only so many people like you that frequent kr (and post in N & P) and lots of them have disappeared so it's not like this is a "ploy"; it's a perfectly reasonable question.

I was mostly just joking with faga but I don't give a damn if you're a jew or a zionist or a fucking alien from outer space. you were still out of line.

you're such an idiot. I'm not trying to get into an argument over the details of corrie's death, I just think you should refrain from making statements like "r.c. was an idiot, screw her". Lots of people are idiots and lots of people die in accidents that could have been prevented, do you say "screw them" too? I hardly think so, it's obvious you have an agenda here whether you're aware of it or not.

__________________
How many of you believe in telekinesis? Raise my hands.

Wow, look at that agenda. Who exactly are these "people like me"?

I'll bet they really aren't like me, or your response would have been more polished, and if you were really going for "perfectly reasonable", I don't think you would have gone for Bad Debate Tactics 101.

Yes, I noticed you were "joking". It was a way of buying time.

That's very ethical of you. My only "agenda" here is being pissed off that an hysteric responsible for their own death is being set up as a martyr by certain people who have chosen to use that death to further their own political agenda.

Look to your own motives. The only thing obvious here is your own past history on this forum.