Gestures

I wrote the following piece in response to what I thought was an important insight by Edward Said in respect to making a gesture, to those with whom you have an argument or conflict. A gesture  shows that we consider those with whom we have a disagreement as people worthy of being communicated with and not simply dismissed or ignored. Edward Said is not the only thinker to discuss the ethical significance of gestures. George Herbert Mead has provided us with a nuanced and important discussion of the significance of gestures as, social activity which solicit responses and ultimately lead to mutual recognition. I think Emmanuel Levinas also has much to teach us in regards to this issue. 

Of course for some people who may read this piece of writing there may be a tendency to indulge in oversimplification: 'If only those people would make gestures perhaps we could move forward'. However the point of this piece is to argue that we all need to  try to walk in the shoes of the other. We all need to walk that difficult path towards recognizing  our common humanity despite our differences and to recognize them in us and us in them. This is the challenge and ultimately if we want a better world we must face and understand this. My piece of writing is written with this in mind.

The following piece, titled: Importance of gestures, appeared in the Sunday New Straits Times, Learning Curve Section, January 4, 2015, page 10.

Importance of gestures

'In my last column to appear in Learning Curve I referred to the writings of Hannah Arendt and specifically engaged with her critique of evil and its relationship to thoughtlessness.[1] Thoughtlessness according to Arendt may lie at the root of our wrong doing and this insight I think is truly worth close reflection and discussion given our current difficulty in coming to grips with our current global travails.

In this article I would like to continue a little on this theme and expand it by drawing your attention to a brief but very perceptive comment by Edward Said made at a talk he gave for the Burkle Forum Series of talks at the UCLA International Institute: February 20, 2003.[2] Edward Said who passed away September 25, 2003 was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and an independent member of the Palestinian National Council. He is famous as the author of numerous books including: ‘The Question of Palestine’, ‘Orientalism’ and ‘Culture and Imperialism’ among many other writings.

The talk that Said gave at the UCLA International Institute was attended by around 1800 people at the time. During his speech he ‘cited as human rights violations the frequent Israeli military strikes in Palestinian territories’ an issue which we all know sadly has not ceased.[3] However it was his comment in regards to his friend the ‘famed Israeli conductor’ Daniel Barenboim that I want to draw to your attention. Edward Said discusses the power of the ‘gesture’ and provides us with an important insight into gestures their moral significance and their basis in reflective and thoughtful engagement. I will quote Said in full. Edward Said writes:

‘My friend Daniel Barenboim — the Israeli-born musician with whom I co-sponsor music seminars between Israeli and Palestinian students — is most exceptional. He is exceptional because he understands what no Israeli politician understands: Much more important than fighting over who is right and who is wrong is the need for a gesture — a gesture of compassion, a gesture of acknowledgment and responsibility. No Israeli leader has ever, ever, made a gesture of this sort toward the Palestinians. Not one. None. Not one gesture saying, “We are responsible for what happened” in 1948 and afterward, the way the Poles have said, for example, about what they did to the Jews. Even the Japanese have acknowledged what they did to the Chinese.

One of the qualities that distinguishes Barenboim is that he was curious to see who we Palestinians were. Like so many Israelis, he grew up never meeting a Palestinian. But then he wanted to see us, to meet us. Not for the Palestinians’ sake, but for his own. He wanted to understand because we occupy the same land. He wanted to look honestly at the whole picture.

What is missing, therefore, from the whole Israeli-Palestinian conflict is someone on the political level like Barenboim who provides a compassionate, universalizing view of the whole—someone like Nelson Mandela who will say “we can find a way of living together, each in our own manner, as equals, despite the past.” The starting point of this future, though, is not a plan but a gesture—a gesture of responsibility for the past.’[4]

What struck me when I read Said’s words were several things.

Firstly, as indicated above, he draws our attention to the significance of a ‘gesture’. The gesture in Said’s eloquent example indicates a taking of responsibility, a thoughtfulness and desire to understand. The ‘gesture’ in Said’s description was not some grand plan, but rather something more basic and yet, seemingly for many people, incredibly hard to do. Secondly, Said reminds us that recognizing the ‘Other’ in any conflict is a critical part of the journey to moral responsibility and acknowledgment. These virtues are important if we are to avoid dehumanising those whom we are in conflict with. Finally, Said points out the importance of compassion to the gesture. Taking responsibility, acknowledging others and exercising that most fundamental of human capacities: our capacity for compassion, are the central components that inform the gesture. It takes thoughtfulness, moral seriousness and a sense of empathy for decency to prevail and the beginnings of this may lie in the importance of the ‘gesture’ so eloquently described by Edward Said. 

Said’s words struck me as an elaboration on the insight and theme of thoughtfulness which I had discussed in my previous column. In many ways Said’s work provides a critical example of the kind of thoughtfulness which can inform a balanced and sensitive perspective on the current problems of our world. Edward Said in his writings and approach to politics demonstrated a level of thoughtfulness and moral seriousness which is an important touchstone in a world were moral clarity, acknowledgment, responsibility and compassion are so desperately needed. Said reminds us of ‘the need for a gesture’ a simple recognition and acknowledgement of the Other which can provide the basis for mutual engagement. From the gesture much can grow and take root, but without it justice, decency and peace may wither.'

References

[1] Hannah Arendt, "Thinking and Moral Considerations," Social Research 38, no. 3 (1971).

[2] Leslie Evans, "1,800 Fill Royce Hall for Edward Said Talk on Palestinian Rights," UCLA International Institute, https://www1.international.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=3266.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Edward Said, "The Missing Gesture," New Perspectives  20, no. 2 (2003)., p.62