Skip to content
  • Image
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Podcasts
  • Email
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Opinion
  • News
  • Features
  • Comment
  • Store
The Arab Daily News

The Arab Daily News

Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem

  • About
    • About
    • Our Writers
    • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
    • Book Store
    • Contact
    • Submit Book Reviews, Press Releases
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Corrections Policy
    • Profile on Ray Hanania
    • Submit Press Release
  • Features
    • Food
    • Book Review
    • Humor
    • Movies
    • Travel
  • Arab Stores Targeted
  • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Heritage America resources
    • Directory
      • Groups & Organizations
      • Mosques, Churches
      • Restaurants
      • 2008 & 2014 Arab Media Directories
    • National Arab Heritage Month
    • Video: Chicago Arab History
    • Video: Photo Array of Chicago Arabs
    • Overview of Arabs in America
    • Hanania standup comedy
    • Arabs on the Titanic
    • Obituaries
  • Podcasts
    • Ray Hanania on Politics Podcast
    • Arab News Ray Hanania Radio
    • Arab Radio Podcast intro
    • Radio Baladi Detroit
  • Hanania on Tiktok
  • Subscribe to eNewsletter
  • Toggle search form
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, unveils a series of multi language videos to help property tax owners recover overpayments. This one is in Arabic
    Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas releases video in Arabic to help recover property tax overpayments American Arabs
  • Amnesty International ... www.Amnesty.org
    Global: Amnesty International calls for universal social protection, as overlapping crises leave hundreds of millions facing disaster American Arabs
  • Anti-Arab anti-peace U.S. Senator Robert Menendez who has led the fight to censor American who criticize the brutality and human rights violations of Israel
    Menendez and Risch condemn Syria’s re-admission to Arab League American Arabs
  • property tax info event
    Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi hosts property Tax workshop for Arab community Activism
  • US Border Notice. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
    AHRC Holds Another “Meet, Greet & Open Conversation” Forum Hosting the US Border Patrol (CBP): Human Rights
  • Ald. Raymond Lopez and Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas receive the American Arab Chamber of Commerce 2021 Action Award from Hassan Nijem for their support of the Arab and Muslim American community,
    County Treasurer Maria Pappas celebrates Arab Heritage Month with business and community leaders Activism
  • Congresswoman Debbie Dingell Wikipedia
    Dingell, Tlaib Introduce Resolution Recognizing Eid al-Fitr Christian & Muslim
  • Ziyad Food item
    Essential recipes and ingredients during Ramadan  American Arabs
  • Vote Yes campaign button, Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Low Arab early voting turnout in important Orland Park elections American Arabs
  • Aziz Shihab, long time Arab American journalist and author.
    A memorial to a great Arab American Journalist, Aziz Shihab American Arabs
  • Piotr Hofmanski, president of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague
    International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued for Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin Civil Rights
  • Orand First Responders candidates Matthew G. Rafferty and William Bonnar Jr.
    Arab Democrats endorse Rafferty and Bonnar in Orland Fire District race American Arabs
  • Paul Vallas addressing the Arab American Democratic Club on Feb. 12, 2023
    AADC releases its endorsements for the April 4, 2023 non-partisan elections American Arabs
  • Arab Democratic Club Feb 12, 2023 Forum & Brunch flier
    Arab Democrats host forum for Chicago and suburban candidates Feb. 12 American Arabs
  • AHRC Executive Director Imad Hamad
    AHRC’s Humanitarian Mission to Lebanon American Arabs

Jane Fonda: Actress, Activist and Muse #StandingRock #Palestine #Gaza #Vietnam #BabyBoomer #health #spirituality

Posted on December 16, 2016September 25, 2018 By Eileen Fleming No Comments on Jane Fonda: Actress, Activist and Muse #StandingRock #Palestine #Gaza #Vietnam #BabyBoomer #health #spirituality
SHARE ...
          
 
  

  • Tweet

Loading

Jane Fonda turns 79 years young this December 21

By Eileen Fleming

Jane Fonda is the muse-meaning source of inspiration for this article but she began to inspire this American baby-boomer in 1971.

I was a junior in high school when Jane Fonda starred in “KLUTE” and inspired me to cut my waist length hair into a ‘Klute shag’ and I wore bangs for decades afterwards.

In the 1980’s I went “for the burn” with “Jane Fonda’s WORKOUT.”

Today at 62 years young, most every day I play- as in dance, lift weights, stretch, flex, tone and practice yoga with Jane Fonda “Prime Time” DVDs created for baby boomers.

 

On April 5, 2005, Random House released Jane Fonda’s autobiography “My Life So Far” which “describes her life as a series of three acts, each thirty years long, and declares that her third ‘act’ will be her most significant, partly because of her commitment to the Christian religion, and that it will determine the things for which she will be remembered.”

Most recently the stand up Fonda wrote Standing Rock Is Greed Vs. Humanity’s Future for Time Magazine online regarding her experience at the standoff at Standing Rock and concluded:

We have to look into the deepest parts of ourselves and ask ourselves are we trying to become the kind of people who will do what we know in the best parts of ourselves, is the right thing to do, not for ourselves alone but for the children’s future, for the polar bears’, the whales, the guerillas and chimps and orangutans, the bees, the coral reefs, the songbirds’ future. We are all interconnected, interdependent, but the fabric of our common tapestry is starting to unravel.

The great hero of Standing Rock, Chief Sitting Bull, understood the white invaders when he said in 1877 ‘… the love of possession is a disease with them.’ 

We must rapidly cure ourselves of this disease or it will take us all down.

 

During the 1960s, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. warned US: “Any nation that year after year continues to raise the Defense budget while cutting social programs to the neediest is a nation approaching spiritual death.”

During the 60s Jane Fonda engaged in political activism in support of Civil Rights and in opposition to the Vietnam War.

Regarding her infamous photo on an anti-aircraft gun that earned her the nickname Hanoi Jane, Fonda explained at her official website:

It happened on my last day in Hanoi. I was exhausted and an emotional wreck after the 2-week visit …

The translator told me that the soldiers wanted to sing me a song. He translated as they sung. It was a song about the day ‘Uncle Ho’ declared their country’s independence in Hanoi’s Ba Dinh Square. I heard these words:

‘All men are created equal; they are given certain rights; among these are life, Liberty and Happiness.’

These are the words Ho pronounced at the historic ceremony. I began to cry and clap. These young men should not be our enemy. They celebrate the same words Americans do. The soldiers asked me to sing for them in return …

I memorized a song called ‘Day Ma Di’, written by anti-war South Vietnamese students. I knew I was slaughtering it, but everyone seemed delighted that I was making the attempt. I finished. Everyone was laughing and clapping, including me …

Here is my best, honest recollection of what happened: someone (I don’t remember who) led me towards the gun, and I sat down, still laughing, still applauding. It all had nothing to do with where I was sitting. I hardly even thought about where I was sitting. The cameras flashed….

It is possible that it was a set up, that the Vietnamese had it all planned. I will never know. But if they did I can’t blame them. The buck stops here. If I was used, I allowed it to happen…a two-minute lapse of sanity that will haunt me forever …

But the photo exists, delivering its message regardless of what I was doing or feeling. I carry this heavy in my heart. I have apologized numerous times for any pain I may have caused servicemen and their families because of this photograph.

 

Regarding Israel Palestine:

In December 2002, Fonda demonstrated with Women in Black against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in front of the residence of the Prime Minister.

In September 2009, Fonda was one of more than 1,500 signatories to a letter protesting the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival’s spotlight on Tel Aviv.

Responding to the blow back attack Fonda wrote, “Expanding the Narrative” from which I excerpt:
I recently signed a letter protesting the Toronto International Film Festival’s decision to showcase and celebrate Tel Aviv. This in the very year when Gaza happened. The decision made the festival a participant in the newly launched campaign to ‘rebrand’ Israel.

Arye Mekel, the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Director General for Cultural Affairs, has said that artists and writers must be enlisted in order to ‘show Israel’s prettier face, so we are not thought of purely in the context of war.’

The protesters felt it was wrong for the much-respected festival to be used in this manner. The role of art, after all, is not to prettify but to expose reality with all its contradictions and complexities.

I signed the letter without reading it carefully enough, without asking myself if some of the wording wouldn’t exacerbate the situation rather than bring about constructive dialogue.

Last week, Rabbi Shlomo Schwartz, director of the Chai Center in Los Angeles, explained to me the meaning of the Hebrew word ‘teshuva’— to fix things you have done incorrectly, not just by never doing them again but by ‘coming with a sincere heart. Words that come from the heart enter the heart.’…

In the hyper-sensitized reality of the region in which any criticism of Israel is swiftly and often unfairly branded as anti-Semitic, it can become counterproductive to inflame rather than explain and this means to hear the narratives of both sides, to articulate the suffering on both sides, not just the Palestinians. By neglecting to do this the letter allowed good people to close their ears and their hearts…

Contrary to the lies that have been circulated, the protest letter was not demonizing Israeli films and filmmakers….

As I said in my recent blog, the greatest ‘re-branding’ of Israel would be to celebrate that country’s long standing, courageous and robust peace movement by helping to end the blockade of Gaza through negotiations with all parties to the conflict, and by stopping the expansion of West Bank settlements.

That’s the way to show Israel’s commitment to peace, not a PR campaign. There will be no two-state solution unless this happens.

The Israeli-Palestinian story cannot be reduced to a simplistic aggressor-victim relationship. In order to fully understand this, one must be willing to come together with an open heart and really hear the narratives of both sides.

One narrative sees 1948 as the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their land. Another sees it as the birth of a nation. Conceivably it was both.

Neither narrative can be erased, both must be heard….

 

A few excerpts from a Palestinian Americans narrative that inspired this NON-Arab American to become a spiritually driven political activist HERE

 

 

 

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Eileen Fleming
Senior Non-Arab Correspondent for TADN at The Arab Daily News
Senior Non-Arab Correspondent for The Arab Daily News
Producer "30 Minutes with Vanunu" who founded WeAreWideAwake.org in response to her first of 8 trips to both sides of The Wall in Palestine Israel.
In 2012, Eileen ran for US House of Representatives District 5, in Fl.
Read her FREE eBooks and more at:http://www.eileenfleming.org/
Latest posts by Eileen Fleming (see all)
  • Vanunu still has more nuclear secrets to spill, Israeli court declares - December 29, 2021
  • 9/11 and a 20th Reflection of That Day - September 5, 2021
  • Mordechai Vanunu: Final Annual Update and this Writers Next Steps - June 19, 2021

  • Tweet

SHARE ...
          
 
  
 
          
 
 Tweet 
American Arabs, Bloggers, Commentary, Health, Palestine & Jordan Tags:Activism, American Arabs, Arab people, Arab World, Israel, Jane Fonda, Palestine, politics, Religion and Spirituality, Standing Rock, Tel Aviv, Vietnam War

Post navigation

Previous Post: Local writer documents history of EMS services
Next Post: Global humanitarian group responds to Aleppo needs

Related Posts

  • Trump’s path to victory through corrupt news media American Arabs
  • Conference explores the important role of Christians in Middle East peace American Arabs
  • One of more than 250 Hollywood movies that portrayed Arabs and Muslims in a racist stereotype.
    Oscars? When will we have “The Abdullahs?” American Arabs
  • Charles Glass on Syria: Religious cleansing continues Arab World
  • Pollard Free in Israel: Vanunu Remains Captive Arab World
  • Christian religious presence imposes itself in Jerusalem despite pressures from all sides. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Christian Arab presence in Bethlehem in Crisis Arab World

More Related Articles

Israel forces Gaza Palestinians into cold Arab World
Christian religious medallions Taybeh’s annual OktoberFest to be held Sept. 16 & 17 Arab World
Stories My Father Told Me by author and artist Helen Zughaib, book cover. Photo courtesy of Cune Press Stories My Father Told Me by author and artist Helen Zughaib American Arabs
Fighting Father Dave Smith Talks Vanunu Gaza Syria Arab World
Pope Francis and Dorothy Day Address US Congress American Arabs
Dave Abdallah, Dearborn Heights City Council, August 7, 2019, Primary Election Dave Abdallah campaigns for re-election at Dearborn Heights City Council American Arabs

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • OPINION COLUMNS
  • City University of New York's (CUNY) 2023 graduation class speaker, Fatima Musa Mohammed on May 12, 2023
    Politics fuels campaign accusing CUNY graduate of “anti-Semitism”
    June 5, 2023
  • Ghassan Rubeiz
    Lebanese parliament afraid to vote for next president
    June 1, 2023
  • Hezbollah billboards in Lebanon celebrate Sheikh Hasan Nasrallah and the righteous war against Israeli extremism and fanaticism. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
    Who will choose the next Lebanese President?
    May 12, 2023
  • The term Arab will be meaningless if we don’t stand behind it and choose “MENA” instead
    April 29, 2023
  • 300x300-ZIYAD02.jpg
  • 300x300-ZIYAD01.jpg
  • NEWS
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, unveils a series of multi language videos to help property tax owners recover overpayments. This one is in Arabic
    Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas releases video in Arabic to help recover property tax overpayments
    May 18, 2023
  • Amnesty International ... www.Amnesty.org
    Global: Amnesty International calls for universal social protection, as overlapping crises leave hundreds of millions facing disaster
    May 10, 2023
  • Anti-Arab anti-peace U.S. Senator Robert Menendez who has led the fight to censor American who criticize the brutality and human rights violations of Israel
    Menendez and Risch condemn Syria’s re-admission to Arab League
    May 10, 2023
  • property tax info event
    Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi hosts property Tax workshop for Arab community
    May 5, 2023
  • NEWSWIRE
  • Anti-Arab anti-peace U.S. Senator Robert Menendez who has led the fight to censor American who criticize the brutality and human rights violations of Israel
    Menendez and Risch condemn Syria’s re-admission to Arab League
    May 10, 2023
  • US Border Notice. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
    AHRC Holds Another “Meet, Greet & Open Conversation” Forum Hosting the US Border Patrol (CBP):
    May 2, 2023
  • Ald. Raymond Lopez and Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas receive the American Arab Chamber of Commerce 2021 Action Award from Hassan Nijem for their support of the Arab and Muslim American community,
    County Treasurer Maria Pappas celebrates Arab Heritage Month with business and community leaders
    April 27, 2023
  • Ziyad Food item
    Essential recipes and ingredients during Ramadan 
    April 4, 2023

Creative Commons License
All work on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

POPULAR POSTS

  • Who will choose the next Lebanese President? Who will choose the next Lebanese President? By Ghassan Michel Rubeiz Since September of last year the Lebanese parliament has ... posted on May 12, 2023
  • Lebanese parliament afraid to vote for next president Lebanese parliament afraid to vote for next president By Ghassan Michel Rubeiz When will Lebanon’s political leaders agree to vote ... posted on June 1, 2023
  • Arab-American influencers Furrha Family share secrets of their success Arab-American influencers Furrha Family share secrets of their success Salem Furrha and his eight children @theFurrhaFamily on TikTok and Instagram represent ... posted on February 6, 2021
  • Menendez and Risch condemn Syria’s re-admission to Arab League Menendez and Risch condemn Syria’s re-admission to Arab League U.S. Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Chairman and ... posted on May 10, 2023
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas releases video in Arabic to help recover property tax overpayments Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas releases video in Arabic to help recover property tax overpayments Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas ... posted on May 18, 2023
  • Essential recipes and ingredients during Ramadan  Essential recipes and ingredients during Ramadan  Ramadan is an important month-long religious observance for Muslims who observe it by fasting ... posted on April 4, 2023

Recent Posts

  • Politics fuels campaign accusing CUNY graduate of “anti-Semitism”
  • Lebanese parliament afraid to vote for next president
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas releases video in Arabic to help recover property tax overpayments
  • Who will choose the next Lebanese President?
  • Global: Amnesty International calls for universal social protection, as overlapping crises leave hundreds of millions facing disaster
  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • Glory to God int he Lowest by Author Rev. Donald Wagner
    Book Review: Glory to God in the Lowest: journeys to an unholy land
    February 18, 2023
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    October 24, 2022
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • Ziyad Food item
    Essential recipes and ingredients during Ramadan 
    April 4, 2023
  • Hussam al-Mayman, The Mayman Show, podcast Arab News
    Arab News launches third season of The Mayman Show podcast
    December 15, 2022
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    October 24, 2022
  • Comedian Ramy Youssef courtesy of his Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ramysfaceboo/
    “Ramy” cable series melds Arab world reality with every day American life
    October 22, 2022
  • The Ray Hanania Radio Show Live Wed 5 PM EST in Detroit, Washington DC, Ontario and on Thursday in Chicago. Watch the program live at Facebook.com/ArabNews
    Second Season of “The Ray Hanania Show” Arab American radio launches April 6
    April 4, 2022
  • New-iTunes-1400-x-1400-The-Ray-Hanania-Show-Podcast-Icon-300-x-300.jpg
  • Podcast-iTunes-Logo-Chi-City-Hall-1985.jpg
  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png
  • terroristbookcover-300-x-300.jpg
  • powerpr300x300ad.jpg
Arab News Newspaper Logo
Read the Arab News, the leading English language newspaper in the MIddle East

Follow Ray Hanania at Gab.com, MeWe.com and IDobbinate.com, the alternatives to Facebook and Twitter Censorship.

Click here to get information on The Ray Hanania Radio Show and its podcasts

Copyright © 2023 The Arab Daily News.

Powered by PressBook Premium theme