rachel corrie: rabble rouser hall of fame

rachel corrie (1979-2003)

born and raised in olympia, and then on to study at evergreen state college, rachel corrie became committed to worldwide peace. she travelled to rafah, a sister city of olympia in the gaza strip, as part of a senior project. there, she engaged in non-violent protests over israel’s demolition of palestinian homes. after 4 months in gaza, rachel was run over by a tank and killed while trying to prevent the demolition of a friend’s home.

rachel’s parents sued the israeli government for one dollar. last august, the israeli government finally rejected the suit, saying that it was an accidental death.  rachel was wearing a bright orange jacket and speaking through a megaphone. 

she didn’t just stand up in the way of bulldozers for life and liberty, she sacrificed her own reputation to do so. even in death, she was villianized as a palestinian sympathizer, and also mocked by anti-war activists. she wasn’t even particularly liked or trusted by most palenstinians. she’s been called “stupid” but kid yoshida thinks she died more honorably than anyone who ever dissed her. besides, most things that people die for can be considered stupid in hindsight. as some news agencies contort the truth and confuse the public, kid yoshida can play along and suppose it was an accident. was it then also an accident when the israeli forces went to rachel’s memorial service and sprayed the mourners with tear gas before chasing them away, ending the memorial? 

rachel’s case wasn’t terribly unique. women, children and other non-war participants are routinely killed in some of the most the senseless and preventable wars on earth. while each new martyr makes the last one forgotten, rachel can never be forgotten. March 16, 2013 marks the 10^th anniversary of her death.

a very extensive collection of rachel corrie information can be found at: http://www.rachelcorrie.org/ and at http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/

is rachel a symbol of futility? consider these quotes:

"I feel like I'm witnessing the systematic destruction of a people's ability to survive. It's horrifying," Corrie tells a reporter. "It takes a while to get what's happening here. People here are trying to maintain their lives, trying to be happy. Sometimes I sit down to dinner with people and I realize there is a massive military machine surrounding us, trying to kill the people I'm having dinner with."

Corrie spent Friday and Saturday nights in the home of Ibrahim and Jindiya al-Shaer in Hai as-Salam. Bulldozers had systematically sheared off one home after another between theirs and the border, leaving the al-Shaer house standing exposed on the front line. The front door was now too dangerous to use, so the family entered and exited their house via a small aperture cut into the rear wall. Corrie had grown close to the family's 17-year-old daughter, Naela, who'd been grazed by shrapnel while sitting on her porch in early January. "We should be inspired by people like you who show that human beings can be kind, brave, generous, beautiful, strong -- even in the most difficult circumstances," Corrie scribbled in Naela's diary. "Follow your dreams, believe in yourself and don't give up. Much love and respect, Rachel from Olympia, Washington." -- an excerpt from Mother Jones 2008 story on Rachel.

"The fact that Rachel Corrie "faded into obscurity" and her actions were futile says far less about her than it does about us. She may have been naive, she may have been duped…She also may have stayed alive by being passive and apathetic. But she didn't. She tried to improve our world. She tried to make a difference. That makes her courageous and admirable in my book. Using her own words, Alan Rickman and Katherine Viner wrote a lovely play about her life -- even an Israeli stage offered to produce it -- but here in the US it is difficult even to find the script anywhere and US theater companies that originally expressed interest in producing it have fled to the hills and have embarrassed themselves trying to dodge questions about why… Anyone who doesn't think there is vast power at work here to control how we Americans view the middle east conflict is far more naive than Rachel Corrie ever was. 

– by “Accotinka” 2007.09.19