Good afternoon.
We gather here today against the will of our governments and in solidarity with people far removed from us. Earlier this week, thousands of personal devices exploded in Lebanon, leaving more than thirty dead and three thousand injured. This terrorist attack was orchestrated by the Mossad to stoke tension with Hezbollah, perhaps to provoke a regional conflict. To detonate explosives amongst a citizenry is a gross violation of international law. The leaders of Israel are a Zionist terrorist organisation; they are vile, evil war criminals. Their humanity is lost, and they bring shame to their heritage. It would do the Likud government well to read the Torah and recognize that harmony with their God is harmony with peace; for, Shalom is one of His sacred names. They would do well to recall the words of Hillel the Elder who said, “That which is hateful to you do not do to another; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is its interpretation. Go study.”
Words cannot express the rage I feel at the tampering of personal technology to enact such terror. Of the new provocations thus far used not only by Israel but also by Russia and Ukraine, rigging pagers and radios as explosives introduces an avenue in engagement as grotesque as drone warfare or AI-guided missiles. These weapons systems are intimate in their indiscriminate targeting of human life. Imagine that everyone here carries an explosive. Each of us could be a threat to our friends, our families, our coworkers. Imagine your phone rings and you do not know if it is your mother or the Mossad calling. That is what Lebanon experiences this week.
It’s disgusting. There is no civility in the depraved nature of the ongoing conflicts worldwide, conflicts in which we, the Western population, are all complicit. We know there is terrible violence unfolding on every front. We have seen the photos. We have witnessed the murder, the graves, the shattered bodies, and the explosions. We have seen things on live streams that the news never publishes. War has invaded our most personal spaces. It is unprecedented. Our age is the first in Earth’s history to wield such power and impotence at once. We can see across the globe like an omniscient oracle and can do anything about what we see there. We feel helpless.
So, we have gathered here today to feel less helpless. We are fortunate to have a community, to look around ourselves now and see good, like-minded folk. Our governments would have us be ignorant of the suffering that serves their interests, but we are not ignorant. These are not the people’s wars, but we must witness them and challenge our leaders' complacency and cruelty because we are the People. The information age has ensured our intelligence. There is nothing hidden from us anymore. There is only disinformation, and that is easily overcome with community and reason.
Despite our helplessness, I believe we are powerful. We are witnesses. Our power is our capacity to see what is happening and to educate others. Our power is our capacity as Western citizens to hold our leaders accountable for their warmongering. To divest from our banks investing in the military-industrial complex. To boycott our corporations and their charities that support foreign militaries. To consider how our communities uphold the systems that aid in the murder of innocents. To overcome. This is our power.
The revelations of these wars have been overwhelming as we have recognized that the problem is vast and the history so complex. It is beyond our capacity as individuals to effect change. So, we have gathered today as social animals because together, we are not helpless. It is our service to the Earth, to our fellow animals, that we work for peace. Look around and know that the faces present here are the community of the future, the peacemakers. You are the future. If you feel helpless, follow your community. The people united can never be divided.
In closing, I want to paraphrase from a monologue as relevant today as it was in 1940:
“Technology has brought us closer together. The very nature of our inventions cries out for the goodness in us, cries out for universal brotherhood. Thus, I say do not despair. The misery now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress, but the hate of men will pass, and dictators die. And the power they took from the people will return to the people. You, the people, have the power; the power to create community, the power to create happiness. You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. In the name of peace, let us use that power, let us all unite. Let us work to free the world, to do away with national borders, to do away with capital, with hate and intolerance. Let us work for a world of reason; a world in which science and community lead all to happiness. In the name of peace, let us all unite.”
Thank you.