The Bruce Cockburn concert at the NAC in Ottawa last week was delicious. He played many of his best loved songs and lots of new ones too. A real treat. But while we were listening to him, I couldn’t stop wondering how many people Israel would kill in Gaza that same night. (I found out the next morning). Read more…..
Seeing Cockburn at the NAC was a bit of a nostalgic trip. Cockburn is now 79 (the same age as I am). My wife and I remember first hearing him 50 years ago at an outdoor concert here in Ottawa. He was thrilling back then, as he was at the NAC last weekk.
But all through the marvellous evening, over and over again, some of his most memorable tunes struck me in a new way. I have always loved “Wondering where the lions are” and its evocative first line “Suns’ up, looks OK, the world survives into another day” – and I’m thinking about eternity.” As Cockburn sang I couldn’t help my mind flashing back to images of thousands of Palestinian families in Gaza huddled together in bombed out buildings waiting helplessly for the sun to rise while wondering if eternity was at their door.
I had to hold back my tears while he was singing “Lovers in a dangerous time” . thinking of a now murdered friend – Rana Shubair – a Gazan author and mother of three. Rana had studied English in the USA but returned to Gaza to be with her family. After returning to Gaza, she wrote several books, including “My lover is a freedom fighter” . Her book is much more than a romance novel. It is a glimpse into the love the people of Palestine have for their land. “Beautifully written, with heart“, says the review on Amazon.
The last WhatsApp message I got from her was 2 days after October 7th. “Survived day 2“, she wrote. “But its hell from above – they are cowards.” I never heard from her again, so I assume both Rana and her husband (along with their 3 kids) were among the thousands bombed that first week after October 7.
Cockburn was, among other things, an environmentalist. His “If a tree falls in the forest’ is about the destruction of the world’s forests, unknown and unheeded by rich civilisations who don’t care. His question “if a tree falls in the forest, does anybody hear?” took my mind immediately to a slight reframing of the song “if a baby is killed in Gaza, does anybody hear?“ The answer, in both cases appears to be “NO”. At least not the US government, and apparently not the Canadian one either.
One song wasn’t sung
Cockburn did not sing “If I had a rocket launcher” one of his most “militant” songs. It was inspired by Cockburn’s visit to Guatemalan refugee camps in Mexico and seeing the death and destruction inflicted on helpless people by the US supported counterinsurgency campaign of dictator Efraín Ríos Montt.
“If I Had a Rocket Launcher, some son of a bitch would pay” reflects his agony and frustration at death raining from the sky. The parallels with Gaza today, as Israel drops hundreds of tons of US supplied bombs on Palestinian refugee camps, are stunning. If he had sung “If I had a rocket launcher”, I think I would have launched myself out of my seat and yelled my approval. Would I have been escorted out, or would half the audience also expressed enthusiastic agreement? I don’t know.
By the way, here is what did happen in Gaza while I was at the Cockburn concert
GAZA, Monday, June 3, 2024 (WAFA) – Israeli occupation forces committed four massacres against families in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, resulting in the tragic killing of 40 Palestinians and leaving 150 others injured, according to medical reports.
A regular day’s work, I guess for what Israel calls the “Israeli Defense Forces” (IDF) but which most Palestinians call the “Israeli Occupation Forces” (IOF).
Canada Talks Israel Palestine (CTIP) is the weekly newsletter of Peter Larson, Chair of the Ottawa Forum on Israel/Palestine (OFIP). It aims to promote a serious discussion in Canada about Canada’s response to the complicated and emotional Israel/Palestine issue with a focus on the truth, clear analysis and human rights for all. Readers with different points of view are invited to make comment.
Want to learn more about us? Go to Ottawa Forum on Israel/Palestine.ca
Canada Talks Israel/Palestine 
Beautifully written, Peter! Alex
“The only time it is right to look down at someone is when we are offering our hand to help them get up.” Pope Francis – “Let Us Dream”
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I share your feelings Peter. I go to bed at night wondering how many Palestinians the IDF (what a misnomer that name is) will kill over night. But for Netanyahu and his religious supporters, it is just another day at the office. And It isn’t just the bombs that the US provides; it is also companies like Microsoft that supply the the technology used to kill innocent Palestinian civilians.
I share your agony & frustration at the sheer injustice of this genocide while the world watches allowing it to continue. I sent a email supporting yours urging the Canadian government to do something to stop being complicit in these massacres. Please keep speaking out.The tide is turning very slowly I believe.
you should be careful when you use the word genocide. It was referred to as a result of the holocaust where 65% of Europes Jews and one third of the worlds Jews were annihilated
Hello SE,
Yes – the Holocaust (or Shoa) was a genocide and was the model for the UN definition of “genocide”.
As you know, lots of people, lots of people think the word applies to what Israel is doing in Gaza. (see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_genocide_accusation)
However, I am not stuck on that word – what word do you think is more appropriate to describe what has been happening in Gaza since October 8th?
I didn’t see you at the March for Israel today where about 60% of the Toronto Jewish community came out. Very disappointed you didn’t join us. But then again what do you expect from a virulent antisemite.
Hey there Shelley,
You are being a bit disengenuous. You didn’t really expect me to attend a march for Israel, so you can’t be disappointed and in any event the event was large enough that you wouldn’t have seen me. https://us2.campaign-archive.com/?e=4b43f91cc2&u=a86a04ceef27ecad4ffad1ae5&id=e456ab27fc
I would happily join a march against antisemitism. But I would not join a march in defense of Zionism.
Zionism is the new antisemitism. It makes it easier to hate Jews. Virtually all Jews are Zionists. There is a small minority of Jews who wouldn’t agree with that and they are antisemitic Jews. All very young and naive.
you hate Jews because you hate the Jewish state where any Jew in the worldcan go and automatically become a citizen. . Where else in the world can that happen. Without Israel, an incredibly successful country, there would be many fewer Jews than now. There would have been more slaughter of Jews by people trying to finish Hitlers attempt to kill all the Jews in Europe or the world if he could . In 1939 there were 18,000,000 Jews in the world. Today there are just over 13.5 million, up from 12,00,000 in 1945 thanks to Hitler. Your being an anti Zionist and not a Palestinian makes you the most anti semitic person I know. I am sure you are just jealous of the contribution Jews have made in the world. Palestinians haven’t. Except in Israel where they are politicians, heads of Hospitals, banks, multinational corporations and many NGOs. . In other words, Palestinians living in Israel are the intellectual leaders of the Palestinian people. Israel gave them the opportunity and they took advantage of it.
so Mr. Larson, it is time for you to stop your antisemitic ways.
Hi Shelly,
If Canada had accepted more Jews fleeing the Holocaust in the 1930’s and ’40’s Canada would be a better place today. Instead we refused entry to most, sending some back to their deaths in Europe. Others went to Palestine, displacing the people who lived there. Instead of solving our antisemitism problem, we just pushed the problem elsewhere.
SE: Thanks for calling me young. At 82, I needed that.
The definition of a new word, “genocide”, was motivated by the Holocaust, but the definition does not limit its application to annihilations the size of the Holocaust. The key part of the definition is about the intent of the perpetrator. If their intent is “to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethical, racial or religious group” their acts meet the definition no matter how small the group might be.
The question in Gaza is what the intent of Israel is. They claim that their intent is “only” to destroy Hamas and are trying to protect the civilian population. However, their actions suggest otherwise. They have killed more people than Hamas was believed to have fighters. In connection with the early case where they shot three escaped Israeli hostages, they said that their policy allowed them to shoot at people that they could not see and who were not shooting at them. That policy is not consistent with their stated intent. They use weapons that are bound to destroy many innocent civilians. Some spokesmen have also tried to accuse civilians of working with Hamas and implied that this allows them to kill any civilian.
Their stated goal is impossible to achieve and they must know that. Having an impossible goal allows them to fight forever. If they fight forever using their present methods, they will eventually destroy all those living in Gaza – either directly or by destroying the essentials of life. That would meet the definition of “genocide’.
Having said that, I do not think we should be talking about a word’s definition. Whatever word is used for what is happening, the killing and destruction should be stopped.
Hi Peter. Very moving piece. I would like to think that the audience would have jumped up and yelled approval as well had Mr. Coburn sung that song.
Here is the link to BC’s song: “If I had a rocket launcher”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AG7g0eCtcI
thanks. but it was already embedded in the post.
a very powerful song.
Thanks, Peter. I had wondered about Rana – so sorry to hear this. Please look at today’s Al Jazeera including the news clip with a military strategist. I have written ombuds person and Brodie Fenlon about lack of CBC coverage. Marianna ________________________________
I am not 100% sure that Rana and her family are dead. They could be unconscious or so badly hurt that they can’t respond. The UN says that around 40,000 are known to have been killed, but the final tally could well be a lot higher.
in answer to your question I would say that what the Israelis are doing is self defence
OK. Based on your idea, at what point does self defense become an outright attack? After how many Palestinian deaths, would you say? 100.000? 200.000? Or do you think Israel has the right to “kill them all”? Just asking.
Israel will do what it has to to get the job done. Eliminating Hamas is what they have to do to get the job done. That is going to cost a lot of Palestinian lives and some Jewish lives, but that is reality I am afraid. Do you really not believe that Hamas hides in populated areas. Hamas wants all Jews in the world killed. You probably would support that aim
Hey Shelly,
Do you really believe what you are saying? No, I certainly don’t want to kill all the Jews in the world. i don’t want to kill any Jew. I am opposed to antisemitism. If there is a march here in Ottawa against antisemitism, I would participate. But not if it is really a march in support of the State of Israel.
If you don’t support Israel’s right to exist that makes you antisemitic. It is the Jewish homeland. 45% of the world Jews live in Israel. Hundreds of thousand of Palestinians live there and most don’t want to live anywhere else
Hi Shelly, That is the Zionist ideology. I think it is misplaced, and very destructive.
Dear SE,
Please explain (for all of us who read the postings on this site) what you mean by “get the job done”? What exactly is the job you want done?
When I read your posting, my mind flashed back to the time I spent at the Wannsee museum. This is the building where the Nazi leadership (a war cabinet) met to decide what to do about what they called the “Judenfrage” (Jewish question). Their version of “the Job” was to make Germany “Judenfrei” or free of Jews. They had been trying to achieve this in various ways but had not succeeded.
In a meticulously documented meeting, they decided on an “Endlösung” or final solution. The documents are on display at the museum. Their decision was that all Jews (including people of mixed blood) would be destroyed. As a result of their decision, my maternal grandmother was driven from her home, deported “eastward”m and eventually killed. That was their idea of getting “the job done”. What is yours?
If Shelley is female then I am reminded of a great line from Shakespeare:
Hell hath no fury like a Zioness scorned.
Actually, I have been misspelling his name. It is “Shelly” (Short for Sheldon). My bad.
Mr. Larson,
I saw you recently, you look old
And I hope that you die
And your death will come soon
I’ll follow your casket
By the pale afternoon
And I’ll watch while you’re lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I’ll stand over your grave
‘Til I’m sure that you’re dead
Thanks for reminding us of the powerful lyrics of “Masters ofWar” by bob dylan (aka Zimmerman). I think Dylan would agree that those words, written as the US military was sewing death and destruction in Vietnam, would apply equally well to Israel today.
Bravo! Very well said. Couldn’t have done it more succinctly.
I’m doubtful Dylan would agree with your condemnation of the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians. Isn’t he a supporter of the Zionist entity? And, a long time ago, he was a declared Christian. One never knows with him what his true feelings or thoughts are, however. Are they all just facades?