This afternoon, as I was making my way to the Westbahnhof- to catch a train, when I decided to take a minor detour to Stephansplatz and it was there that I came across a small white tent erected at the cross-section of The Graben and Kärtnerstrasse. This tent was a multimedia informational space created to disseminate a pro-Palestinian perspective on the current war in/on The Gaza Strip. As it is in my nature to constantly take in minutia of stimuli and process what I observe in relation to the context of current events I began visually recording and reflecting on what I saw here:

After I made this recording I noticed a woman (apparently associated with the white tent) was observing me and she began to photograph me with her mobile phone, as if to document my presence there, or to make an attempt to provoke me. I was not provoked, but rather bemused and I sensed that she was uneasy with how I was observing and photographing the dynamics of the white tent protest. In an attempt to allay any concerns I approached the lady and gave her my business card telling her that I was just blogging my observations.
In our brief conversation I discovered that in fact she was not very comfortable with me photographing their protest / demonstration. I politely pointed out to her that she (and the white tent protestors) were in a public space and I had every right to photograph this event. (Why else would you set up a tent in the busiest part of Vienna and not expect to be photographed!) She acknowledged that I had every right to photograph their protest/demonstration, but somehow I felt she still was uncertain about me.
In further dialogue I came to the realization that she thought I was Jewish, I literally asked her if she thought I was a Mossad agent. (As if Mossad would send an agent to Vienna to document their protest/demonstration). Full disclaimer: I am not officially, nor culturally Jewish, nor am I an Israeli, which, by default would disqualify me to be a Mossad agent.

[In all fairness, this woman also thought I was Iranian. I guess she did not know where to place me in her mental model of people and cultures. I could have pointed out to her that “”the Jews trace their heritage in Iran to the Babylonian Exile of the 6th century BC and, like the Armenians, have retained their ethnic, linguistic, and religious identity.”* SOURCE: Wikipedia.

The reason I share this anecdote above, regarding the woman who mistaken me for being Jewish, reminds me that we are perpetually surrounded by prejudice. We seem to be in a constant state of evaluating others (out of context) and making judgments based upon information that is either based on false perceptions or incomplete evidence. Do we REALLY know what is going on in Gaza? Is our mediated perception of what is happening enough for us to pass judgment that one side is to blame? Do we need to place blame on one party alone? Certainly not! What is happening in Gaza is a problem we ALL have a stake in. WE ARE ALL TO BLAME as we continue to live in a world that is unjustly, unevenly developed. My thoughts, prayers and support go out to all those who have experience a loss and are suffering because of this current war. I pray that all those involved will come back to their senses and end this war soon!

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 17th, 2009 at 20:46 and is filed under B L I T Z - Thoughts, CURRENT EVENTS.