My month of travel, the tough week of school, and my lack of sleep caught up to as I woke up Thursday morning with a loud cough.
From 10:30 to 3:30pm I worked on and finished my trabajo for Teoría del Estado. The text covered the theories of Machiavelli, Kant, Montesquie, Rawls, and Rousseau.
In class, we went over the trabajo but I was feeling quite sick. Estructura Social Contemporanea was interesting and once it was over, I was happy it was the weekend.
All throughout the week, I had seen signs advertising an anti-Israel protest. There had been propaganda movie screenings about the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. I decided to see if the protest was still going on, so I swung by the cathedral. I could hear lots of shouting and as I turned onto Gran Via de Colón, I saw a protest of several hundred people with Palestinian flags and signs with the swastika and Star of David together. Having seen Auschwitz-Birkenau and now this in the course of the same week was quite a juxtaposition. In no way am I mocking the deaths of the dead Palestinian civilians, and I still have restrained myself from engaging in more vocal debate through facebook or letters to the editor, but 1000 deaths, in what is a appropriate and if anything, limited response, to persistent terrorist actions is not a genocide and in no way should ever be linked to the Holocaust. I feel that Israel has lost the media war and protests like these are responses to emotions, rather than rational dialogue and action. True peace and progress comes from taking a step back, considering all of the available options, and with compromise on BOTH sides, creating an effective plan of action. I also find it ironic, and if not further emphasizing the double standard within the international community, that there are not such protests and fervent calls for international intervention in places like Darfur.
Back home I made my last box of fresh pasta and then spent 3 hours working on my RA application for next year. Being an RA next year would give me the opportunity to come full circle with my undergraduate college experience.
I was so glad it was the weekend. I have a lot of work to do and my health is not 100% but I'll do my best!
No comments:
Post a Comment