Martyrs and Mayhem

Kaled’s suicide speech

“We’ve triad all possible means to end the occupation, with political and peaceful means. Despite it all, Israel continues to build settlements, confiscate land, Judaize Jerusalem and carry out ethnic cleansing. They use their war machine and their political and economic might to force us to accept their solution; that either we accept inferiority of we will be killed. As a martyr, I am not afraid of death. This is how I will overcome their threats and emerge victorious over their military and political force. Let me die as a martyr.”

Said’s suicide speech

“A life without dignity is worthless. Especially when it reminds you, day after day, of humiliation and weakness, and the world watches cowardly, indifferently. If you’re alone, faced with oppression, you have to find a way to stop the injustice. They must understand that if there is no security for us, there will be no security for them either. It’s not about power. Their power doesn’t help them. I tried to deliver this message to them, but I couldn’t find another way. Even worse, they’ve convinced the world and themselves that they are the victims. How can that be? How can the occupier be the victim? If they (Israel) takes the role of oppressor and victim, then I have no other choice but to also be a victim, and a murderer as well.”

Commentary:

In the film, a woman named Suha advises against the use of violence as a legitimate tool for dissent. Suha says that there are many ways to protest, specifically suggesting the use of words/rhetoric to bring about change. The dichotomy between rhetoric and violence is a compelling point. Because where most of us would admonish the use of violence, when words fall on deaf ears, what options remain if conditions are untenable? What solution is acceptable when the misery is now?

I think history speaks for itself. It is not violence that changes the world. Violence may provide a brief respite, but the use of rhetoric has the potential to change the way men think. I would tend to agree with Suha when she admonishes violence in favor of change through ideology and diplomacy. I think the lure of violence is that the abruptness of an emergency suggests that it might provide an equally abrupt change.