In 1981, when I first arrived in Israel, I was about as far to the fundamentalist right as they come. It was just before the withdrawal from Sinai, so I moved down to a makeshift settlement, where I grew tomatoes and fought off Israeli troops so that Sinai would remain part of the Jewish state. In the end, I actually sat in jail for a week, while the final withdrawal took place.
Twenty years later I left Israel, disappointed with the reality behind the Zionist idealism I had as a teen. I had seen the Lebanon War and the eventual withdrawal, the murder of Emil Greenzweig and later the assassination of Rabin—in fact, the only reason I wasn’t at the demonstration where he was shot was that I had to get back to reserve duty the next morning on the Sinai border. I had certainly experienced a political transformation: the Rak lo Netanyahu ("Anyone but Netanyahu") campaign of 1999 was run out of my living room. I had seen a chance for peace, and I had seen that chance shattered. I left five days after Sharon was first elected. I was an arrogant, naïve teen in 1981, when I first arrived in the country, but while I had grown up and exchanged that naïve idealism for a harsh dose of reality, it seemed like too many Israelis had not.
And people on both sides, Israelis and Palestinians, are still waiting for peace …
And people on both sides will still have to wait …
This May the World Economic Forum will be holding a meeting in Sharm ash-Sheikh, a coastal town in the southern Sinai, to foster a new economic vision for the Middle East. Its Chairs include Khalid Abdullah Janahi of the Ithmaar Bank, Kuwaiti industrialist Muhammad Alshaya, the Duke of York in his capacity as the UK Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, and none other than Jimmy Wales, Chair Emeritus of the Wikimedia Foundation.
To quote that old Sesame Street song, "One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn’t belong …" Has Jimmy been asked to attend because of his deep understanding of the cultures and economics of the Middle East, or is it because the organizers think that like Wikipedia, they can edit the history and change things at a whim, without anyone being accountable? Does Jimmy actually think he has what to contribute to this forum, or is he going with the hope that he can edit an article on camels in exchange for a new wife? Is this really about peace and economic prosperity for people who have lived in a never-ending cycle of poverty and violence, or is it about photo opportunities and more chances to name drop with the big shots? Do the children of the refugee camps in Gaza need more Pokemon articles in Arabic, or do they need infrastructure, wise leadership, and a chance for a future?
Over at Wikipedia Review, they are quick to point out how people's lives and reputations can be ruined by hordes of arrogant, naïve Wikipedia idealists, many of them a lot like me when I was eighteen years old. With Jimmy Wales, the snake oil salesman, involving himself in the future of the Middle East, I can only wonder how many more lives will be ruined.
And people on both sides, Israelis and Palestinians, are still waiting for peace …
And people on both sides will still have to wait …
Or to quote Israeli singer Shalom Hanoch: משיח לא בא. משיח גם לא מטלפן.
10 comments:
"One of these things is not like the other..."
HAHAHA, so true!
So Jimbo jumps in where angels fear to tread?
Well, can he do worse than Tony Blair?
well you can let them know what you think:
contact@weforum.org
www.weforum.org
"One of these things is not like the other..."
The fixation on Wales minutia is not like the rest of this compelling post? I'm a little pissed off you'd even tie the two together cognitively, but sure, I guess we can blame the next round of suicide attacks on jimmy wales. Go for it.
Middle east economists want to fix the education gap and understand the potential (yes, it's just a chance not a certainty) for social technology to help solve some of their problems? Well, hand me my smelling salts, Martha; I think I can feel the vapors coming on.
So Wales is suddenly an educator too? Ben, he was trader, and not even a very good one at that, from what I understand. As for social technology, he ran a pornographic website, and when that didn't take off, he added an encyclopedia, but to save money and avoid paying employees he made editing a free for all. What's the lesson there? To improve the economy of the Middle East, don't pay people who work for you?
No, Ben. Asking him to chair a Middle East economic conference is akin to asking him to Chair an international oncological conference because Wikipedia has articles on cancer. The stakes are too high and the benefits too few and far between.
Wales was never an educator, but less-developed countries face specific education hurdles, like lack of money to pay textbook companies, that wikipedia-style writing could (with some work!) help fix.
It's instructive to look at cell phone use in poor countries --they've leapfrogged over the landline period, so they never had to install huge expensive systems of wiring. They might be able to leapfrog over some traditional forms of knowledge dissemination, too.
It's possible this might never come to fruition, just like it's possible all of the world's worst-off places will remain mired in war, poverty, and ignorance. But it's also possible things will improve, and maybe having wales on the panel will point the economic thinking in some useful directions. I certainly don't think it'll fuck the panel over -- it's not like there aren't any middle east experts on there. At worst, jimmy's presence will be neutral.
@ben yates
If I could try to speak for Danny with a cliche, I think it's a case of the blind leading the blind. Danny obviously cares deeply about the fate of the Middle East, and it's unfortunate that the power's that be chose someone who not only knows next to nothing about the Middle East, but is derisive and contemptuous of country's without "Objectivist values." Too much to go into now about what this means, but I for one greatly disagree with you that this is a neutral at best choice. At best, it shows a unfortunate and all too familiar, commitment to failure.
כל הכבוד על הנכונות להעצר במאבק נגד הגירוש. רבים מאוד אז, וגם בגירוש קטיף של 2005, דיברו גבוהה-גבוהה על "מסירות נפש" ונכונות להקריב קורבנות במאבק נגד הגירוש, אך בסופו של יום ברגע האמת מתי-מעט היו מוכנים לעשות זאת בפועל.
זה מוכיח שקורצת מחומר מיוחד, גם אם שינית מאז את עמדותיך.
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