At the Bank

By: Lars

May 12 2010

Tags: freedom, Israel, Kurdistan, nationalism, non-violent, Norway, Palestine, popular resistance, the Wall

Category: Uncategorized

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A couple of days ago I watched a movie about death and killing. The setting was Norway 1940-45, during the Nazi occupation of the country where I live. The theme is a very violent form of resisting a very violent occupation. It is about people driven by extreme ideologies: Nazism, patriotism and nationalism. I hope the people who fought, killed, and died for what 65 years later is my freedom, first and foremost did this because they wanted freedom for all people, and not only Norwegians (whatever a Norwegian is).

During the movie we are served phrases like: “I want to fight for my country, on my country’s soil!”, “My country was stolen from me, Sir, and I want it back”, “We shall both die. Only I will die with a smile, because I know we [the Norwegians, I guess] will win”. It disturbs me. Is my freedom founded on nationalism? Am I free, because someone claimed that they loved Norwegians, and the Norwegian King (who at the time really was Danish), and where willing to die and kill for this? I choose to believe that the persons who resisted the Nazi- occupation of Norway didn’t exclusively care about Norwegians. Still some of the language and the quotes, which are based on the protagonist’s own memoirs, say something about a nationalism which I don’t understand.

In one of the last scenes of the movie, when Norway is liberated, and the Germans either have gone home, been arrested, or killed, the main character is alone in a room draped with the biggest Norwegian flag I have ever seen. Honestly, if I that scene was presented to me out of its context, I would immediately think it was a movie about Norwegian neo- Nazis.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t believe in nations. I don’t believe in nationalism. I believe in groups of people having different cultures, different languages, and sort of different needs. I don’t believe these groups need their own state to ensure these needs, and their culture. I have several times the last years observed nationalism in many ways. I have seen a Palestinian nationalism being used to fight the horrible occupation of the West Bank. Palestinians fighting for their own country. For their right to govern themselves. Palestinians fighting for a just and free Palestinian state. I have seen, and met, Israelis who use their nationalism to deny Palestinian refugees their right to return to Israel, where they fled from in 1948. I have observed an Israeli nationalism excluding 20% of all Israeli citizens in many ways (20% of the population in Israel are in fact Palestinians, and are for example experiencing that the state plays a big role in the “judification” of East-Jerusalem, to change the geopolitical status of the city ). I have witnessed an Israeli nationalism mixed with religion, making Israel a Jewish state, based on laws that exclude other religious groups (the Lutheran church in Israel is for instance not recognized as faith community, and doesn’t enjoy the rights of other bigger faith communities in Israel). The religious nationalists also claims that only Jews have a historical right to live in the West Bank (referred to as Judea and Samaria by the religious extremists). I have experienced that nationalism is used to create an “us and them” image of the world. An image that I reject.

Earlier I have seen nationalism in the autonomous region of Kurdistan in Iraq being used to build a state. School children there are shouting “Love live Kurdistan! Long live the Kurds!” at the start of a school day. The Kurds have been oppressed in many ways in Iraq, and I fully understand their wish for a Kurdish state, including the Kurdish areas in Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq, but that says more about those countries, and their excluding forms of nationalism. Doesn’t it?

I didn’t go to the occupied West Bank, to show solidarity with the Palestinians in their struggle for a Palestinian state. I didn’t leave an occupied people to go home and advocate for a Palestinian state. There is no doubt that the Palestinians have every right to have their own state that includes the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, but this is not anything I can, or will advocate for. I advocate for freedom and justice for all. I advocate for peace with justice. In a way I couldn’t care less about if it is a one state-, or two state s solution that will be the outcome of the occupation, as long as it is just solution. But in a way I care. Simply because a Palestinian state in the occupied territories would mean that the Israeli Jewish state would continue to exist in its very problematic nature.

Even though the history of Israel is highly disturbing, and holds stories about ethnic cleansing (such as the village of Deir Yassin), no one can deny the Israelis their right to live on this small piece of land that is the state of Israel. But we shall crave that it is done in co- existence. I don’t think any state that is funded on a specific religion (not even Norway that is a Christian country by constitution) is equipped with laws suited to fight injustice in every way, and to treat people as what people are; human beings. No more, no less. I know for a fact that Israel is not equipped with laws that in an efficient way fights racism. This is not only because Israel is a Jewish state, but also because it is governed by extreme right wing politicians. This is why I personally see a one state- solution, with a free, just and secular state as the ideal outcome of all these years of occupation. But that is for the Israelis and the Palestinians to choose. Not me.

Back to the movie and the endless killing: As a humanistic Christian, it pains me to think of all the lives that ended in a brutal way when the country I live in was liberated from the Nazis. As a pacifist you get these questions: Do you really believe that WW2 would have been won without weapons? What would I as a pacifist do if my freedom was robbed from me, by a brutal and racist regime? Short answers: No. And I would probably print newspapers for the resistance movement.

I mean, if we all had respect for human lives, there would be no wars, and no reason for resisting violently. If we all lived our lives with a deep respect for all that lives, there would be no wars, no occupations, and no oppression. If we all lived our lives as Mahatma Gandhi our world would look different. It would be a better place (maybe full of insects though). Whether or not WW2 would had been won by Gandhi, or if a Europe full of Gandhis would have prevented the genocide against the Jews is a hypothetical question. Even though I am pretty sure that a Norway full of Gandhis would make the country harder to occupy, and more important; it would spare human lives. Also, it might have created scenes like in the photo above, which is from a non-violent protest against the Wall in Bil’in, close to Ramallah, that is met by a very high level of violence by the Israeli occupying force (protesters have been killed in this particular demonstration that has been held every Friday the last five years). I’ll write more about how I experienced Bil’in later.

I admire the Palestinians for their commitment to the non- violent way of protesting against the occupation. I am fully aware that most of you in fact are not aware of all the thousands of Palestinians that are engaged in the non- violent, Popular Committee- based protest groups across the occupied territories. Simply because it is not something that comes up in the media often enough. This is the popular Palestinian way to resist the occupation. Non- violent protests.

To summarize: I watched a movie that gave my own freedom a bittersweet taste. I do believe that nationalism can be used in a way to create something good, and to motivate people to fight for a certain cause. But I don’t think it is a constructive approach to a conflict. Freedom and justice is much more important. This goes for Norway, Palestine, Israel, Kurdistan and probably every other country in the world. Acknowledging that killing was a necessary evil to ensure my freedom is also hard to accept, just as it is hard to accept anyone’s use of violence, either it’s Palestinians, Kurds or Israelis. Nationalism creates a space between people, and  that certain space makes violence seem like a more legitimate mean to fight for something that is important to this specific group. It creates “Us and them”. I reject it, as we are all humans.

May 17th is the national day in Norway, and we celebrate it with Norwegian flags, very nationalistic songs and parades. I do enjoy the day. Mostly because of the food and the cheerful people. But secretly I laugh of it. Because we’re not celebrating Norway, or Norway’s independence from Sweden. We’re celebrating our freedom. I couldn’t care less if I had a Swedish passport.