As a young adult, I spent the summer of 1980 in Israel. Reflecting on my experiences there later, I often thought that it was a very strange place going through a particularly difficult time. This was before the
first intifada, after the
Camp David Accord, before the tech boom and capitalism. It was the socialist, almost communist Israel with its citizen soldiers tired of fighting. It did not take much for people to get into arguments in a bus or a ticket line. It felt like everyone lived as if it was their last day on earth. Aside for the collective instinct of survival, really no one seemed to care much about anyone or anything.
There was one beacon of hope that one heard all over the place though - at every coffee shop, restaurant, home:
Voice of Peace - a radio station broadcasting from a ship off the coast of Tel Aviv founded by a crazy peace activist
Abie Nathan determined to change the world. It was a pop/rock music station that every hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and year in year out broadcast a promo to reminded everyone what mattered:
(voices of the Egyptian President
Anwar Al Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister
Menachem Begin)
NO MORE WAR
NO MORE BLOOD SHED(voice of Abie Nathan)
PEACE IS THE WORD!
AND THE VOICE OF PEACE IS THIS STATION 24 HOURS A DAY
It was very hard to listen to Gen. Patraeus’ testimony and I felt very sad while I was laughing at
John Stewart’s take. We desperately need the kind of moral leadership and clarity of thought Voice of Peace provided while still at sea, unfortunately instead we have deafening silence.
PS. You can listen to Voice of Peace tribute programs from
Radius 100 - promos and everything.
(via
This and That)
