Rachel Corrie: Invisible no more

Monday, March 13, 2006

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

Can Seattle liberals be proud about hosting a play on the remarkable Rachel Corrie without being smug? Let's try.

At a time when a supposedly bold New York theater dithered on one play, Vermont's Bread and Puppets Theater gave a Seattle presentation of another work, "Daughter Courage," about the Olympia human rights activist tragically killed by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003. As Seattle P-I art critic Regina Hackett described it, "Daughter Courage" is unabashedly pro-Palestinian. That is certainly a part of exploring Corrie's legacy, as she died trying to alleviate Palestinians' sufferings under an often-brutal occupation. But we don't think she, her family or her supporters can be charged with blindness to the suffering of Israelis, either.

Corrie's critics delight in lamenting her supposed naiveté, as if 23-year-olds all ought to sit on the sidelines awaiting the enlightenment of additional decades. The London play, "My Name is Rachel Corrie," is about the inspiration to be drawn from a caring young person's engagement with the world. In one of its many beautiful lines, the play quotes an e-mail from her worrying mother, Cindy, "Palestinians have really been invisible to me, but you are changing that."

Now, about our Seattle tendency toward smugness. It's hardly criminal for the New York theater to think about balance. And let's remember that many people have tried to learn more from Corrie's life. President Bush's State Department last week included a statement about continuing concerns regarding her death in its annual report on human rights around the world. Pointedly, the remarks were included under a discussion of the international and non-governmental observers' treatment while they are checking alleged human rights violations. That's an appropriate way of looking at Corrie's presence in the Gaza Strip that largely has escaped local notice.

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