For context, I agree with the basic philosophical premise. I'm a Jew, but Israel is a repressive apartheid state, and while it had a right to defend itself, it's approach in Gaza absolutely meets the internationally accepted definition of genocide. The positions of individual Jews and Israelis are on a wide spectrum, but it's also not controversial to say that as far as the current Israeli leadership, this genocide is not an accident, not even from a lack of care. It is absolutely within their goals and desires to have all Palestenians eliminated from the territory administrated by Israel, and they're going as far as they can without losing the international support of the United States.
With all of that said, I have no idea what PEN has to do with this. If they are endorsing it, they should stop. If they're funding it, they should stop. If they're invested in organizations directly supporting the Israeli government, they should stop.
But if all they are is "an organization in the US", then their tax dollars are going to fund the genocide. And every single American taxpayer is equally complicit here, which is to say not at all. People SHOULD be fighting for change, and advocating for it. But not through empty speeches or statements. Statements from PEN do not protect or save the rights of Palestinians.
I also think this is meaningfully different from the BLM era when protestors stated that silence is violence, and a lack of a statement is a tacit rejection of the movement. BLM was/is about an inherently American problem of systemic racism. White Americans benefit from systemic racism through no action of their own, so acknowledging it and at least making an effort to get woke to it (the original meaning of the term) is at least a necessary step to choosing to helping to dismantle it. American Corporations do play a part in that.
But on Israel/Palestine, I just think these moves do not help the cause.
Yeah, you're right, this letter doesn't give a lot of context, and honestly I'm only knowledgeable about the context because my wife is a writer and has judged awards for them in the past/we have a lot of friends in NYC lit circles.
One of the major things that pushed things over the edge for writers affiliated with PEN is they were platforming Mayim Bialik [1]. They're an organization founded around free speech and protecting writers and they hadn't made any statements about the journalists killed in Gaza. For an organization that is often virtue signaling for (progressive) political causes their silence was pretty loud for many writers that interact with them as literary community members. They had even canceled events that featured stories of Palestinians due to not wanting to stir controversy. And then they go and platform Bialik and I think a lot of people just turned on them in frustration at that point.
For context, I agree with the basic philosophical premise. I'm a Jew, but Israel is a repressive apartheid state, and while it had a right to defend itself, it's approach in Gaza absolutely meets the internationally accepted definition of genocide. The positions of individual Jews and Israelis are on a wide spectrum, but it's also not controversial to say that as far as the current Israeli leadership, this genocide is not an accident, not even from a lack of care. It is absolutely within their goals and desires to have all Palestenians eliminated from the territory administrated by Israel, and they're going as far as they can without losing the international support of the United States.
With all of that said, I have no idea what PEN has to do with this. If they are endorsing it, they should stop. If they're funding it, they should stop. If they're invested in organizations directly supporting the Israeli government, they should stop.
But if all they are is "an organization in the US", then their tax dollars are going to fund the genocide. And every single American taxpayer is equally complicit here, which is to say not at all. People SHOULD be fighting for change, and advocating for it. But not through empty speeches or statements. Statements from PEN do not protect or save the rights of Palestinians.
I also think this is meaningfully different from the BLM era when protestors stated that silence is violence, and a lack of a statement is a tacit rejection of the movement. BLM was/is about an inherently American problem of systemic racism. White Americans benefit from systemic racism through no action of their own, so acknowledging it and at least making an effort to get woke to it (the original meaning of the term) is at least a necessary step to choosing to helping to dismantle it. American Corporations do play a part in that.
But on Israel/Palestine, I just think these moves do not help the cause.
[0] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VEF-Hrg8wN7WHiSljqwd9IqH...