Stephen Lendman: Remembering Rachel Corrie!

Rachel represented the best of courageous activism. She put her body on the line for justice. She did so, because it matters. She is gone but not forgotten. Ten years ago, on March 16, an Israeli bulldozer driver murdered her in cold blood. She tried stopping a Rafah refugee camp home demolition. Eye witnesses said she climbed atop a giant Caterpillar tractor, designed to destroy homes. They are weapons of mass destruction. Caterpillar is complicit in Israeli crimes. Rachel spoke to the driver. She climbed down, and knelt 10 to 20 meters in front, blocking its path with her body, while she was in clear view. The tractor lurched forward, while activists screamed for it to stop, while the operator pressed on, crushing her to death. Witnesses indicated he did so maliciously, running over her twice, to be sure that she was dead. In legal terms, he was unaccountable. Rachel's family wants justice, so should everyone. The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice supports it. Its mission and guiding principles state: The Foundation continues what Rachel began. It reflects her vision, spirit, and creative energy. It supports building understanding, respect, and appreciation for differences, and promoting cooperation within, and between local and global communities. The foundation encourages and supports grassroots efforts in pursuit of human rights, and social, economic and environmental justice, which we view as prerequisites for world peace, Its guiding principles include: Challenging injustice and resisting oppression, teaching justice and peacemaking skills, advancing human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice for all. Seeking creative ways to achieve these goals, and committing to people and places the way Rachel did, especially those most disadvantaged and repressed. Rachel was 23 when she was murdered. She believed in nonviolent direct action to support the oppressed Palestinians, and it became her life's struggle, doing what is right. What greater sacrifice than that. She said, I'm here for other children, I'm here because I care, I'm here because children everywhere are suffering, and because forty thousand people die each day from hunger. I am here because those people are mostly children, We have got to understand that they dream our dreams, and we dream theirs. We must understand that they are us, and we are them!