Interview with Norman Finkelstein

11.22.2008 | Google Video
By Atticus Mullikin – atticusink.com

This is an interview conducted by Atticus Mullikin of Norman Finkelstein in Maastricht. Finkelstein suggests that the Israel-Palestine conflict is among the least controversial in the contemporary world. He argues that a consensus exists among historians on the past, among human rights organizations on the present and among the legal-diplomatic community on the future and how to resolve the conflict. In the second part of the lecture Finkelstein looks at aspects of Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violent resistance.

His focus lies on three key questions: Whom does Gandhi want to reach: the oppressors or the bystanders? How does he want to reach them: through the mind or through the heart?

What needs to be done to reach them: to display suffering or to display dignity? The

ideas brought forward show that Gandhi’s philosophy is replete with gaps and

contradictions. However, it also endows on the fact that the consensus in the

international community for resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict lays the foundation

for a successful application of Gandhi’s strategy. We need only practice what he called

Satyagraha: Hold on to the Truth!

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