Why I joined this fast thing.
So I signed up for the Fast for Gaza, despite the fact that their understanding of teh intertubes is kind of awful. Anyway, today is the first fast day, and I thought I’d explain here why I signed up and why I’m fasting.
To be clear, I do not think that Israel’s policy or actions in Gaza have constituted any kind of illegal acts. I think at worst they constitute stupid policy. Of the four statements listed on the fast web page, I definitely agree with #1 and #4, probably disagree with #3 and probably agree with #2. So why am I doing it?
Dick Gregory (whose politics I don’t follow, but whose views on fasting I do) wrote in his memoirs that one feature of a political fast was that every time he thought about food, or somebody who knew about his fasting thought about food, they would think about the reason behind the fast as well. Regardless of one’s position on the blockade in Gaza, and mine certainly isn’t thoroughly worked out yet, I think it’s a helpful thought experiment, once a month, to force myself to consider the blockade by abstaining from one of the things cut off by it.
Finally, a legal services organization on topic that seems interesting (but whose policies I don’t always agree with: see, inter alia, my note on illegality above) is Gisha. Their web site has a good deal more information on the issue than I can imagine wanting to read.