From: Letwin, Michael
Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 1:17 PM
To: ALAA MEMBERS
Cc: 1199 Members
Subject: RE: UAW Press Release in Support of Thompson/Gandhi’s birthday
As stated below, Gandhi did oppose Zionism, which he viewed as terrorism allied with the colonial powers. For both India and Palestine, he opposed partition and instead advocated one democratic state with equal rights for all — a belief with growing support today among Palestinians and Jews.
That’s hardly the same thing as “anti-Semitism.”
————
‘THE JEWS’, BY GANDHI – FROM HARIJAN, NOVEMBER 26, 1938
Several letters have been received by me asking me to declare my views about the Arab-Jew question in Palestine and the persecution of the Jews in Germany. It is not without hesitation that I venture to offer my views on this very difficult question.
My sympathies are all with the Jews. I have known them intimately in South Africa. Some of them became life-long companions. Through these friends I came to learn much of their age-long persecution. They have been the untouchables of Christianity. The parallel between their treatment by Christians and the treatment of untouchables by Hindus is very close. Religious sanction has been invoked in both cases for the justification of the inhuman treatment meted out to them. Apart from the friendships, therefore, there is the more common universal reason for my sympathy for the Jews.
But my sympathy does not blind me to the requirements of justice. The cry for the national home for the Jews does not make much appeal to me. The sanction for it is sought in the Bible and the tenacity with which the Jews have hankered after return to Palestine. Why should they not, like other peoples of the earth, make that country their home where they are born and where they earn their livelihood?
Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French. It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs. What is going on in Palestine today cannot be justified by any moral code of conduct. The mandates have no sanction but that of the last war. Surely it would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine can be restored to the Jews partly or wholly as their national home.
The nobler course would be to insist on a just treatment of the Jews wherever they are born and bred.
http://www.gandhiserve.org/information/writings_online/articles/gandhi_jews_palestine.html#%27The%20Jews%27,%20by%20Gandhi%20-%20From%20Harijan,%20November%2026,%201938 <http://www.gandhiserve.org/information/writings_online/articles/gandhi_jews_palestine.html>
————
Jews and Palestine, by Gandhi – From Harijan, July 21, 1946
I do believe that the Jews have been cruelly wronged by the world. “Ghetto” is, so far as I am aware, the name given to Jewish locations in many parts of Europe. But for their heartless persecution, probably no question of return to Palestine would ever have arisen. The world should have been their home, if only for the sake of their distinguished contribution to it.
But, in my opinion, they have erred grievously in seeking to impose themselves on Palestine with the aid of America and Britain and now with the aid of naked terrorism.
http://www.gandhiserve.org/information/writings_online/articles/gandhi_jews_palestine.html#Jews%20and%20Palestine,%20by%20Gandhi%20-%20From%20Harijan,%20July%2021,%201946 <http://www.gandhiserve.org/information/writings_online/articles/gandhi_jews_palestine.html>
________________________________
From: T.
Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 1:09 PM
To: ALAA MEMBERS
Cc: 1199 Members
Subject: RE: UAW Press Release in Support of Thompson/Gandhi’s birthday
Yes I am, I am also a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist, and a Jew. When Gandhi was asked if he was a Hindu.
________________________________
From: P.
Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 12:44 PM
To: ALAA MEMBERS
Cc: 1199 Members
Subject: RE: UAW Press Release in Support of Thompson/Gandhi’s birthday
Orwell disliked Gandhi precisely because he was a saint.
________________________________
From: O.
Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 12:42 PM
To: ALAA MEMBERS
Cc: 1199 Members
Subject: RE: UAW Press Release in Support of Thompson/Gandhi’s birthday
how did i take anything out of context.he said the jews should have offerred themselves to the butchers knife. sounds like mass suicide. then he said as it is, they succumbed.as it is is like saying see i was right. what surprises me is that you do not recognize how cold and insensitive and cruel the statement is. perhaps all the slaves should have committed suicide to show the horrors of slavery and arouse the the world and all the russians in the gulag.to gandhi only death is heroic but people trying to survive a terrible situation is not heroic.it was not only after the war that gandhi suggested mass suicide but during the war also. gandhis statement certainly smacks of antisemitism.it is worthwhile to have all these dead jews so the world would know about hitler- a good trade off. orwells article basicly said he was no saint but for a politician there was a clean smell about him.
________________________________
From: A.
Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 11:36 AM
To: ALAA MEMBERS
Cc: 1199 Members
Subject: RE: UAW Press Release in Support of Thompson/Gandhi’s birthday
I think it is absolutely incredible the amount of badgering and belittling that we spew on our own email lists. I am constantly disappointed by how terribly we treat our own colleagues by hiding behind our computer screens.
I took your invitation to look up the quote myself, and I am completely unsurprised to find out that other sources would say you took that quote out of context.
From Wikipedia:
* Hitler killed five million Jews. It is the greatest crime of our time. But the Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs. As it is, they succumbed anyway in their millions.
* The Life of Mahatma Gandhi (1950) by Louis Fischer. The quote is in the the context of Gandhi’s argument to his biographer that collective suicide would have been a heroic response that would have “aroused the world and the people of Germany to Hitler’s violence”.
With that, I will quote “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” – Plato
Keep fighting your hard battles, my fantastic, brilliant, hardworking colleagues – I just hope those battles aren’t between one another.
________________________________
From: O.
Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 11:26 AM
To: ALAA MEMBERS
Cc: 1199 Members
Subject: RE: UAW Press Release in Support of Thompson/Gandhi’s birthday
if you look up under jews and ghandi and scroll down you will see a statement by george orwell.this was well known in the 50s and 60s but political correctness has since taken over. they left it out of the movie.
________________________________
From: S.
Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 11:07 AM
To: ALAA MEMBERS
Cc: 1199 Members
Subject: RE: UAW Press Release in Support of Thompson/Gandhi’s birthday
I think that statement deserves some citation
________________________________
From: O.
Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 10:50 AM
To: ALAA MEMBERS
Cc: 1199 Members
Subject: RE: UAW Press Release in Support of Thompson/Gandhi’s birthday
let me tell you what else gandhi said. he was asked about the nazi persecution of the jews. he said the jews should commit mass suicide.after the war was over and 6 million were dead, he said see i was right.
________________________________
From: K.
Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 4:39 PM
To: Albro, George; ALAA MEMBERS
Cc: 1199 Members
Subject: RE: UAW Press Release in Support of Thompson/Gandhi’s birthday
Most people are probably familiar with this quote but for anyone who isn’t, it bears repeating:
When asked what he thought of Western civilization Gandhi replied, “It would be a good idea.”
________________________________
From: Albro, George
Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 3:27 PM
To: ALAA MEMBERS
Cc: 1199 Members
Subject: FW: UAW Press Release in Support of Thompson
Attached is the UAW press release announcing the endorsement of Bill Thompson for Mayor.
Despite Bloomberg, NYC’s richest man, spending over $65 million so far (on his way to over $100 million), approximately 50% of voters want someone else as Mayor. Voters are angry over Bloomberg (and his billionaire media allies) overturning term limits without a referendum. As more and more people get to know Thompson, and they see there is a progressive alternative, this race will tighten up considerably.
While Thompson will never be able to spend as much as Bloomberg, there is one weapon which we have that can give him enough to forcefully compete. When an opponent (like Bloomberg) does not participate in its system, the NYC campaign finance board provides public matching funds of 8.5 to 1 for all contributions up to $175 from NYC residents. Thus a contribution of $10 equals $95, while a maximum matchable contribution of $175 equals $1487!
So if you want to help make the Mayor’s race a more equal fight and keep Bloomberg from buying another election, participate in the same people’s power that got Obama elected. Go to “Thompson2009.com” and make a contribution today. Game On!
George
________________________________
From: Scott Sommer [SSommer@uaw.net]
Sent: Friday, October 02, 2009 11:14 AM
Subject: UAW Press Release in Support of Thompson
FYI…on behalf of Director Madore we issued this press releases today. I believe other unions supporting Thompson are issuing press releases as well today as it is the one year anniversary of Bloomberg calling for the overturning of the term limits law because only HE could save the City.
Scott
PS It is also the 140th anniversary of Gandhi’s birth — do something non-violent and radical to celebrate! Have a nice weekend.
===========================
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