Dumb justice
by David Golin
I drove over the weekend to have coffee and cake with a friend who lives just off of Emek Refaim, a trendy Jerusalem street that runs parallel to Bethlehem Road through the city's crowded southern neighborhoods. Since it was the Sabbath, the usually bustling thoroughfare and its recently renovated sidewalks were bathed in a velvet quiet, with most of its popular restaurants and coffee cafes closed for the weekly day of rest.
The lack of shoppers and cafe patrons turned the street into a temporary driver's paradise. Although I didn't have to fight the usual crush of cars, I still slowed down a bit as I drove past the Hillel coffee house. I couldn't help but pause for a second to recall the terrorist explosion that wrecked the establishment less than one year ago. I heard the Sept. 9 blast while sitting in my apartment, as I did the much louder explosion this past Feb. 22 that ripped apart a city bus just one block from my home near the entrance to the Emek Refaim neighborhood.
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posted by High Volume Sales Rep @ 7/23/2004
3 Comments
3 Comments:
Just a quick note to say that I found it sad to see the "Dumb Justice" article in a journal about coffee which I hoped was essentially a politically neutral topic. A major part of my personal enjoyment of the coffee world is based upon communicating with people from diverse backgrounds who are brought together by a commonly shared interest/passion that surpass their cultural differences, religious beliefs etc.
There are two sides to every story and the one-sided nature of the article you put up on the site is of a type with generally partisan US coverage of the conflict in the Middle East. I have no personal axe to grind about the tragic Israeli-Palestinian conflict but articles like this are part of the problem of mutual incomprehension not the solution. I would be extremely surprised if a similar article about Palestinian suffering was included in the interests of balance e.g. how many safe, flourishing coffee shops are there in the Occupied Territories? This lack of balance is a real shame for anyone that believes in the democratic ideal of informed public debate which is an essential prerequisite for constructing non-violent alternatives to political conflicts.
I take exception to the commenter's assertion that a journal about coffee should be politically neutral. The fact is that politics is intertwined with coffee and coffee is intertwined with politics. The two just go hand in hand. Like coffee and cream. We all may have differences but I am not sure how our common love of coffee enables us to surpass these differences. I say we can still communicate from our our identities without the need to surpass them.
My point about the politics of coffee was perhaps badly expressed. There *are* political questions associated with the history and present state of coffee production ranging from slavery to labour exploitation. However, the "Dumb Justice" article starts with a brief mention of coffee and then goes off on a thinly veiled partisan rant so the coffee/cream analogy doesn't fit here - more like a size 14 foot being squeezed into a ballerina's booties.
Communication beyond rigid pre-existing identities is *exactly* what the Middle East needs to avoid its current bloody impasse so I stand by my assertion that the article is part of the problem not the solution.
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