Saturday, July 7, 2018

My response to Israel Shamir's Essay called "Keep Babies Out"


Israel Shamir is a witty, clever man. He's very well read, fluent in many languages, well traveled and a prolific . Possibly Shamir is a "genious."

I hate to see such talent used to twist reality in order to punch down at those most unable to defend themselves, like dead three year old refugees, or three year old Guatemalans representing themselves in a US immigration court.

I've only once had a piece published in an important outlet, about the taxi business in the Guardian in 2014. ( I'm a veteran taxi driver with hundreds of thousands of New York City miles under the wheel.) I beg the reader's indulgence as I presume to punch up on these pages.

I am also a veteran of over ten years as a child protection front line worker. This piece by Shamir had to grab my attention.

Shamir was inspired by the recent media uproar over the forced separation of asylum seeking refugees from their children at the Texas - Mexico border. What bothered him the most was the use of photographs by the masters of discourse, photographs of crying babies that were published with the aim of manipulating the emotions of millions. Shamir hates being manipulated while he manipulates with untruths and appeals to euro supremacist fears of a white minority homeland. 

Shamir writes: "The sight of dead babies will not convince me to do something against common sense, for it is manipulation. In politics, I want a Socratic discussion, not emotional persuasion. If you can’t persuade me by words, do not try to do that with pictures. However, they try and often succeed."

A Socratic discussion would be based on facts.

Shamir says: "there is a childishly simple way to avoid separation and incarceration: do not cross the Rio Grande without a visa."

Towards the end of his piece Shamir admits that there's a lot of economic  unfairness in the payment balances between the Third World and the First and he urges that this imbalance be redressed. Presto, no more need for Central Americans to cross the Rio Grande. The fact that these folk are fleeing violence that exists now and is generated by US intervention won't sway this Socratic Thinker, nor  the utopianism of the remedy he posits.

Shamir goes after the father of three year old Alan Kurdi. The photo of the boy's lifeless body washed up on a Turkish beach went viral and became a major issue in Canada's  2015 election."Do you remember the picture of a poor drowned Syrian boy on the seashore? This picture moved a million Afghans, Iraqis, Gypsies and even some Syrians to Europe. Indeed it is terrible, that the drowned child’s father endangered 7 of his family for no valid reason. He lived in safe and prosperous Turkey for a few years; he preferred to go Canada; Canadians refused him a visa, so he sailed the dangerous Mediterranean Sea and lost all his family. Awful; but why this personal tragedy should influence any decision beyond caution: do not sail the sea in unseaworthy vessels. It is better to live in Turkey as 80 million people do than to die at sea.."


What Shamir omits telling us is that most Syrian refugees in Turkey receive no assistance whatever, and most Syrian refugee children receive no formal education. Young Kurdi's father had brought his family back to Syria when it appeared safe to do so but ISIS returned to the attack, driving the family back to Turkey. The family has relatives in Canada but because the Turkish government refused them exit visas Canada rejected their applications for asylum. Three members of the family perished in those Turkish waters and the beach was described as "looking like a children's graveyard."


Shamir tries to get away with asserting that those who care about the events in the US want to abolish the borders for selfish reasons of exploiting cheap labor and those who support Trump's actions and rhetoric (like Sheldon Adelson) are pro US working class. "Open borders" is not the issue, Due process for asylum seekers is the issue.


Shamir gets around to saying that those Americans who demonstrate concerm for the Central American refugee children cannot be sincere because they do not care about Palestinians. There are millions of good hearted but painfully ignorant Americans who are nevertheless incensed by Donald Trump's kidnapping thousands of refugee children. If you hold Shamir's argument to a mirror you could conclude that he doesn't really give a fig about Palestinians. 



Eugene Weixel is a septuagenarian retired New York taxi driver and emergency child protective worker and a veteran anti war GI.

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