A pointed description of the current situation was
provided by Israeli analyst Ehud Ya'ari last week, when he recalled
the story of Gulliver, the giant whom the tiny people of Lilliput
tied up with thin strings until, contrary to the laws of physics, he
could not make use of his unparalleled force.
The world super power decided that it would suit it
now to conquer Iraq, divide it to cantons, as done in Yugoslavia,
and subject it to the rule of drug gangs, as in Yugoslavia and
Afghanistan.
And what can the tiny people do when this is what
the giant decides? They demonstrate, first in small groups and then
millions all over the world. They send human shields to Baghdad.
This only makes the giant laugh. Ari Fleisher, the white house
spokesman, was quick to clarify that these are Saddam's hostages and
the U.S. will view their deaths as "collateral damage". And anybody
knows that the U.S. is capable of that.
Suddenly the UN rose up. "UM-SHMUM", as it is
referred to in Israel, "half of whose delegates are from illiterate
countries", forgot apparently that its only job is to rubber-stamp
U.S. moves. Ari Fleisher explained that the U.S. involves the UN as
long as it is convenient to do so. When it doesn't have the
patience, it uses NATO, like in Kosovo. But nothing would prevent it
from going alone. This week, at the Azores, Bush issued the "last
ultimatum" to the UN.
It appears that all the Lilliputians managed to do
so far is to delay the giant for a few months. But these months were
crucial. Today the Lilliputians are no longer tiny people. It
started with thousands of small organizations, scattered around the
globe and communicating over the Internet - organizations which are
connected by a shared sense that if things go on like this, the
human race will destroy itself. From Seattle to Durban, from
environmental and social issues to matters of equal rights, a new
force was formed, organized and trained in non-violent struggle
aimed at exercising democracy. This force has managed in the past
months to attract the hearts and minds of the majority of the people
of the world to the only way that offers hope - a way based on basic
human values and the principles of international law. The
governments of Europe were dragged along by their people. As
Kissinger explained to CNN on Sunday, unable to hide his contempt,
"Schroeder simply had no choice". Europe's new force is not in the
military, but in democracy. Unlike the U.S., Britain and Spain, many
European governments are now acting according to the will of their
citizens.
Against this power, the U.S. deploys its military
might - the state of the art in the killing sciences. Everything is
ready for war. They have even completed the transfer of D-9
bulldozers that the U.S. bought from Israel to implement in Baghdad
the lessons of Jenin [1].
This week, the Israeli army demonstrated that these bulldozers are
an effective solution also for the problem of human shields, when
one of them crushed to death Rachel Corrie, a 23 year old student
from Olympia, Washington, who tried to delay the demolition of a
house in Gaza.
And yet, the U.S. has already lost the battle. So
far, U.S. power could count on on its total control of public
consciousness in large parts of the world. In its past wars, the
millions of Lilliputians sat glued to their TV sets and watched the
propaganda broadcasts, identical on all channels. They watched and
believed that the war is for sublime values of peace and justice.
Now as well, obedient spokesmen explain that Saddam is Hitler and
the Iraqi children must be saved from him. But who is listening? Now
the truth is exposed - the U.S. is perceived as a gangster that does
whatever he feels like. In the past, the U.S. committed its crimes
to the sounds of cheers of the majority of the Western society. It
has lost this majority. The change that has occurred in the world
can no longer be reversed.
