← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Petr
Thread ID: 17950 | Posts: 8 | Started: 2005-04-25
2005-04-25 12:21 | User Profile
I[/I]
[url]http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1469015,00.html[/url]
[SIZE=5]Diary of an American martyr inspires a young audience in theatre's hit play[/SIZE]
[B]Mark Townsend
Sunday April 24, 2005
The Observer[/B]
She was the young American with blond hair whose death became an unlikely but powerful political symbol for the troubles of Palestine.
Now Rachel Corrie, crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer in the Gaza Strip two years ago, has caught the imagination of a fresh audience as her life story emerges as one of the most sought-after theatre tickets in the country.
[B]The Royal Court in London announced yesterday that My Name is Rachel Corrie had become one the fastest sell-outs in its 50-year history. Tickets for the play's 24 performances sold out in less than two days, the majority of them bought by one of the youngest audiences the theatre can recall. Actor and director Alan Rickman, whose idea it was to transform Corrie's life into drama, is already looking at taking the play to the US where, unlike in Europe, the 23-year-old's death has generated modest media coverage.[/B]
In Britain in particular, the woman from Olympia, Washington, has become an aspirational figure for young people often seen as apathetic and uninterested in international issues.
Katharine Viner, editor of the Guardian Weekend magazine, co-edited Corrie's writings with Rickman. The diaries form the entire script. Viner said: 'What's been so exciting is how young people have been responding to it. It's not just that they are moved by Rachel's death, but also that they are inspired by her words and actions, that she found a way to be political in a depoliticised age.'
In contrast to the young people who have seen the play and the number of leading literary stars who are expected to attend this week, not a single politician from any of the major parties has watched the production, which began on 7 April.
Ewen Thomson of the Royal Court added: 'It's great that so many young people are coming to the theatre; that is quite rare.'
Rachel's parents, Craig and Cindy, who last week flew to London to watch the play, said: 'It is absolutely fantastic that she has inspired so many young people. The play was wonderful.'
The play's script draws wholly on letters Corrie wrote from as young as nine along with the emails she sent home from Gaza while working for the International Solidarity Movement. Before her death, Corrie had successfully prevented the demolition of Palestinian homes by standing in front them as bulldozers approached.
Her family is attempting to sue Caterpillar for supplying dozens of bulldozers to the Israeli government, which uses them to destroy Palestinian property. Corrie was killed on 16 March 2003 by a Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer. Her father, Craig, said that Caterpillar has contravened US torture laws by allowing its equipment to be used against the Palestinian people and their homes.
'It's immoral but also more to the point it is illegal. They continue to sell bulldozers knowing how they have been used in the past,' Craig said.
2005-04-26 17:29 | User Profile
I'm sure this point has been made before, but I don't count Rachel Corrie as someone we should cheer. I'm fairly certain she was your typical left-wing trust-fund punk, sneering contemptuously at the West, tradition, Christianity and those loathsome "white males," dead or otherwise. And I doubt she would have seen Israel as a manifestation of Jewish supremacism and hypocrisy --- only as some version of white male patriarchy/hegemony/militarism. She certainly displayed the strength of her convictions, but it's the convictions I question. This gal probably would have tossed her own white children under a bulldozer's track-tread if Mumia Abu-Jamal called for her to do it from the driver's cab.
We live in a world where idealistic young white men and women are willing to risk their lives for poor blacks and browns 'round the globe, but wouldn't lift a finger for their own. Since I'm not counting on youth to ever steer from fashion, the task is to make defense of our race the cool thing to do.
2005-04-26 17:48 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Petr][http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1469015,00.html[/url] [SIZE=5]Diary of an American martyr inspires a young audience in theatre's hit play[/SIZE]
Sunday April 24, 2005
The Observer She was the young American with blond hair whose death became an unlikely but powerful political symbol for the troubles of Palestine.
Now Rachel Corrie, crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer in the Gaza Strip two years ago, has caught the imagination of a fresh audience as her life story emerges as one of the most sought-after theatre tickets in the country.[/QUOTE]A look at the cartoon drawn by somebody named Friedman should inform that not all appreciated her sacrifice.
[url]http://www.diamondbackonline.com/News/Diamondback/archives/2003/03/18/cartoon.html[/url]
Would somebody with computer skills that I lack please insert image.
2005-04-26 18:12 | User Profile
[IMG]http://www.diamondbackonline.com/News/Diamondback/archives/2003/03/18/cartoon.html[/IMG]
2005-04-27 01:05 | User Profile
[IMG]http://www.diamondbackonline.com/News/Diamondback/archives/2003/03/18/cartoon.jpg[/IMG]
2005-04-27 01:21 | User Profile
An attachment is more permanent than a link:
2005-04-27 01:59 | User Profile
The Diary of Anita Frankling will probably take the place of that one one of this days.
You know which one I mean, the one that was started with a pencil and ended up with a ball point pen that wasen't around till 1952.
But you know Jews, they are powerfull.....this girls pencil broke and she transported herself into the future in order to get a ball point pen.
2005-04-27 09:25 | User Profile
A look at the cartoon drawn by somebody named Friedman* should inform that not all appreciated her sacrifice. * That sounds pretty damn Kosher to me!