'This is real democracy'

[danmand]

'This is real democracy'
By Teymoor Nabili in Americas
on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 18:33.

I was presenting the news on Al Jazeera English on Tuesday, as Binyamin Netanyahu was speaking to the US congress in Washington, DC.

We carried the whole speech live, and did a good job, I thought, of presenting a rounded analysis of the content and the implications of Netanyahu's hard-line approach. (And I am still always amazed at how the Israeli press is so much better at critiquing Netanyahu than are the US media.)

Anyway, within the overwhelmingly partisan chamber there was, rather unexpectedly, a heckler. We didn't get to see her, barely even heard her yell "stop the occupation" before she was dragged away.

The cameras remained fixed on Netanyahu and the proud legions of American legislators stood to applaud his stoicism and, it seemed, the men who forcibly removed her.

Netanyahu seamlessly incorporated the moment into his overall narrative:

I take it as a badge of honour [...] that in our free societies you can have protests... you can't have protests in the farcical parliaments in Tehran or Tripoli. This is real democracy!

Out of curiosity I thought I would try to find out what happened to that woman. Not many in the mainstream media bothered to pursue the issue, but it turned out that her name is Rae Abileah, she is a Jewish Israeli activist, and she ended up in hospital and under arrest.

I wonder if this is what Netanyahu meant when he was waxing lyrical about freedom.

 

[groggy]

Probably a reasonable example of democracy for Arab's in Israel.

The sad thing is I'm worried Canada is heading the same way, with the G20 protests, Harper expelling people from rallies for facebook posts and Ford trying to flood community meetings with his supporters.

 

[onthebottom]

You won't often read this from me but I agree with Bibi on this.... I find it hard to believe that Capital security would have harmed her....

OTB

 

[danmand]

You won't often read this from me but I agree with Bibi on this.... I find it hard to believe that Capital security would have harmed her....

OTB

I agree, hard to believe, but the article has a picture of her in hospital. In any event, why should she be arrested; would it not suffice to escort her out of the building?

 

[onthebottom]

I agree, hard to believe, but the article has a picture of her in hospital. In any event, why should she be arrested; would it not suffice to escort her out of the building?

You didn't link to the article so I've not seen that picture, is there an allegation that Capital security did something to put her there?

I have no idea what the laws are governing behavior in the gallery.....

OTB

 

[danmand]

You didn't link to the article so I've not seen that picture, is there an allegation that Capital security did something to put her there?

I have no idea what the laws are governing behavior in the gallery.....

OTB

Sorry, I am multitasking. http://blogs.aljazeera.net/americas/2011/05/25/real-democracy

I am sure there are rules are against yelling and screaming in the galleries; However, the appropriate action would seem to be expelling the offender from the gallery, instead of arresting her.

 

[Aardvark154]

In any event, why should she be arrested; would it not suffice to escort her out of the building?

Umm, because it is a violation of U.S. Code.

 

[danmand]

Umm, because it is a violation of U.S. Code.

Yep, you never met a rule in support of authority you did not like. Shall I say the F word again

 

[Aardvark154]

Yep, you never met a rule in support of authority you did not like. Shall I say the F word again

So you believe police should see clear violations of law (and we are not discussing traveling 10 km/h over the speed limit) and totally ignore them. Further what right do they have to toss you out of the Gallery if you have not violated a law.

 

[danmand]

Further what right do they have to toss you out of the Gallery if you have not violated a law.

Only totalitarian regimes throws people in jail for heckling politicians.

 

[fuji]

I think Israel has more journalist per square km than any other place on earth. The reason being that it's the only place in the Middle East that press freedoms are guaranteed.

I agree in a democracy you have a right to protest--but you do not have a right to shout someone down so that they cannot be heard. Netanyahoo also has a right to be heard.

 

[Aardvark154]

Only totalitarian regimes throws people in jail for heckling politicians.

In the nineteenth century the U.S. Capital had its own jail cells.


Peaceful protest and attempting to disrupt a legislative body, or even attempting to prevent political speach are quite different things.

 

[danmand]

I agree in a democracy you have a right to protest--but you do not have a right to shout someone down so that they cannot be heard. Netanyahoo also has a right to be heard.

Of course he has, especially when he has been invited as a guest of the american congress. Nobody here questions that. The issue is that in democracies, dissent is tolerated to a point, and the normal response would be to expell the shouter from the gallery.

Jailing the shouter, if that indeed happened, seems excessive to me.

 

[basketcase]

And Dan cuts and pastes yet another thread about the same topic. Is this 5 or 6 now?

 

[onthebottom]

Here is an interview with her...

http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/201...jamin-netanyahus-tuesday-address-to-congress/

OTB

 

[oldjones]

Probably a reasonable example of democracy for Arab's in Israel.

The sad thing is I'm worried Canada is heading the same way, with the G20 protests, Harper expelling people from rallies for facebook posts and Ford trying to flood community meetings with his supporters.

After all we in TO have a case where somebody's cops broke the arm of a guy who was never charged, and although our TPS know the badge number, name and hotel roomie of the guy, they won't co-operate with the SIU to actually discover whether a cop—a TO cop—breached the rights of, and assaulted a guy who wasn't even protesting. Just taking pictures.

Never mind all the tax-paid memos in Washington 'justifying' torture, or the SEAL Assassin Teams; we don't have anything to crow about here as far as human rights are concerned.

 

[exbrower]

Could someone remind me. What was the disposition of the charges brought against the person who heckled Obama in his State of the Union Address two years ago. You know the one who shouted "you're a liar."

 

[WoodPeckr]

Not much!
Those events are pretty much dismissed as being planted by FAUX or Rove....:eyebrows:

 

[Aardvark154]

Could someone remind me. What was the disposition of the charges brought against the person who heckled Obama in his State of the Union Address two years ago. You know the one who shouted "you're a liar."

Presumably you know that it was a Member of Congress not someone in the Gallery.

The House of Representatives voted a "Resolution of Disapproval" against Representative Wilson's conduct, no other action was taken by the House. In a four-way race last Fall Representative Wilson was reelected by 53 percent of the vote his major challenger received 43 percent of the vote.

 

[Aardvark154]

Here is an interview with her...

Why am I not surprised to learn that she works for "Code Pink."