Yasser Arafat died at 75

[stryder144]

[quote author=coltrane link=board=17;threadid=9973;start=0#msg90465 date=1100234953]
...when he was younger, much like Malcolm X before he came back from Mecca.
[/quote]

Nice! Not many people (white) would have said that. Well put. Whenever anyone asks me why I hold Malcolm X in such high esteem, the first thing I mention is that it takes a lot of courage and integrity to publicly acknowledge that you have changed your views, even though in the past you strongly shouted those views for all to hear. Not to mention, for a drop-out he was one of the most well-read and articulate individuals of the 20th Century.

Cheers

[Compunuts]

[quote author=Stuart link=board=17;threadid=9973;start=0#msg90495 date=1100320780]
That's odd, because through patience, and loyalty to the crown, Canada was given freedom. We never needed to fight the Brits for our freedom.[/quote]
Technically, Canada is owned by the Queen. So is Australia. It's just that Canada and Australia are autonomous regions.

I'm just saying that it's a poor analogy.

May be. It's just the closeset I could think of right now. If you have a better explaination, I'd love to hear that so I could learn.

[Ashcrow]

[quote author=kavarogep link=board=17;threadid=9973;start=0#msg90472 date=1100276031]
Remind me, what exactly did he achieve? How did his actions make the Palestinian people's life better?
[/quote]

He gave them a voice. He notified the world of Sharon's shoot first and blame others later policies. He let talked about how soldiers would stand at the Gaza line and shoot into their settlements.

Let's face it, he was a terrorist leader. While I support the Palestinians' struggle for freedom and their land, I denounce their methods.

Most people do support the Palestinians in their struggle for peace and freedom but a lot of people don't make the distinction between the people and the terrorists. For instance, Michagan isn't a terrorist state because the Unibomber lived and was educated there and did a lot of terrible things. Nor do we look at people of middle eastern decent as terrorists just because they may have lived in the same country as one or even fought for the same point (through a civilized mean). There was Arafat and the Palastinians and then there is the milatant terrorist group Humas ... they are not the same.

[GhostDawg]

After returning from Mecca, Malcolm X just had a different view point of whites, but his motive was always the same for the civil rights of black americans.

Apparently the guy pocketed 300 million USD or there about because of his corrupt nature - now I agree with his cause, but I can't stand corrupt people.

[cloverm]

[quote author=Lovechild link=board=17;threadid=9973;start=#msg90587 date=1100733665]
Apparently the guy pocketed 300 million USD or there about because of his corrupt nature - now I agree with his cause, but I can't stand corrupt people.
[/quote]

So true. Or how will blowing up people on the bus or in a pizza shop will help any cause. Even if him or his organization wasn't directly behind those suicide bombings he didn't do anything to stop them.

[quote author=cloverm link=board=17;threadid=9973;start=0#msg90589 date=1100735963]
[quote author=Lovechild link=board=17;threadid=9973;start=#msg90587 date=1100733665]
Apparently the guy pocketed 300 million USD or there about because of his corrupt nature - now I agree with his cause, but I can't stand corrupt people.
[/quote]

So true. Or how will blowing up people on the bus or in a pizza shop will help any cause. Even if him or his organization wasn't directly behind those suicide bombings he didn't do anything to stop them.
[/quote]

Agreed, but given the choice between being cheap slave labor made scapegoats by the invaders of my home and being a suicide bomber.. I think I will pick the latter in protest, there I said it. I would have liked Arafat opt for peaceful nonecooperation (gandhi style), but he didn't, I think that would have been far more effective.. blowing up innocent people isn't particularly moral or etical, but innocent is a debatable standard.

But we wil never know, now I'm interested in looking at what happens, who will replace Arafat, and will the corruption go largely unnoticed like before?

[cloverm]

[quote author=Lovechild link=board=17;threadid=9973;start=#msg90591 date=1100741335]
peaceful nonecooperation (gandhi style)
[/quote]

I like that approach a lot better. And it did work. They got rid of the British. Though the British had a home to go back to after leaving India. It's a lot more complicated with the Jews. The Palestinians want to get rid of them, but where are they supposed to go? Perhaps they should have carved a nice chunk out of Germany and make that Isreal after WWII. The Germans were responsible for the Holocaust, they should suffer for it not the Palestinians, right?