Slain activist’s legacy and dreams live no through parents, foundation, world-famous play
“My Name is Rachel Corrie”
Cindy and Craig Corrie stopped in Madison to see the opening of “My Name is Rachel Corrie,” a play based upon the writings of their daughter, Rachel Corrie, (above), who was killed by an israeli military bulldozer in Rafah, Gaza, on March 16, 2003, while defending a Palestinian home from demolition.
by A. David Dahmer
Craig Corrie says that since she was very young, his daughter, Rachel Corrie, always connected to marginalized people in society.
“She felt that we were all common people here on earth and that we share far more similarities than differences,” he says. “She believed that when things aren’t right, it demands action for our fellow human beings.”
According to seven international eyewitnesses, though she was clearly visible, young Rachel Corrie was run over and killed by an Israeli military bulldozer in Rafah, Gaza, on March 16, 2003, while defending a Palestinian home from demolition.
With her death, the 23-year-old college student and human rights activist from Olympia, Wash., turned a tide in how people thought of what went on in Israel and Palestine and forced people to take a more introspective look into the day-to-day house demolitions, random shootings, and violence in the area.
In e-mails to her family, Rachel Corrie would often describe what she witnessed and express her frustration over it. On March 14, 2003, in an interview with the Middle East Broadcasting network, she said: “I feel like I’m witnessing the systematic destruction of a people’s ability to survive … Sometimes I sit down to dinner with people and I realize there is a massive military machine surrounding us, trying to kill the people I’m having dinner with.”
A gifted writer, Rachel left behind a series of diaries and e-mails that have been crafted into a play by actor Alan Rickman and writer Katharine Viner titled “My Name is Rachel Corrie.” Her parents, Craig and Cindy Corrie, who were in town to attend the Madison opening of the play, sat down to talk with The Madison Times about the play, the Rachel Corrie Foundation, and their daughter’s life and legacy.
“The play has been a gift to our family,” says Cindy Corrie. “We have seen it now a dozen times or more in London and New York; and we love to be in the audience where we reconnect with Rachel through her words.
“People all across the world who knew of Rachel’s story and care about what’s happening in Israel and Palestine care about the play,” she adds. “I think people saw it as a way to bring attention to her story and what is going on over there.”
“We really felt good about people being able to see Rachel’s writing,” Craig Corrie says. “I think the play speaks to people, in that Rachel is this young woman who is searching [for] who she is and what are her values. She also decides that values demand action, and you have to live up to those kind of things.”
Craig Corrie says that at each performance he and his wife come from a slightly different place — as do the actress who plays Rachel and the audience. “Each time we see the show, we again feel grateful that Rachel was a writer and grateful for those with both the will and the talent to bring her words to life on stage,” he says. “Part of the power of the piece is its portrayal of Rachel as a whole human being. It is moving to us to see the positive response and the impact that the work has on audiences.”
After one performance, the Corries spoke with an Israeli couple, self-identified as members of the Likud Party, who loved the show and told them it was not anti-Israel, but anti-violence.
“We have heard of young people who left the show and walked for hours to process their own response to what they had seen and heard,” Craig Corrie says. “A quality work of art can touch us at a deep level, can change our view of things, and can challenge us in our own lives. For some, at least, ‘My Name is Rachel Corrie’ seems to have that kind of impact. We are both heartened and humbled by that.”
It was five years ago that the Corries received the call that no parents ever want to receive.
“It is hard now to capture the surreal quality of our lives during the weeks and months following Rachel’s killing,” Cindy Corrie says. “Our family had been pummeled by the brutal loss of our daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, cousin. So many others had been pummeled by the brutal loss of their friend. We found ourselves catapulted into the midst of an international conflict and controversy. We found ourselves engulfed in grief. E-mails and letters were pouring in, condolences, requests for interviews and appearances.”
Making matters worse was the fact that nasty lies were being spread about their daughter. There were many — but the main one was that she was protecting terrorists.
“The people who were in that home [that Rachel was protecting] have come here. To get here, they have to get a visa to come to the United States and go to Tel Aviv to apply for it,” Craig Corrie says. “The father was a 34-year-old Palestinian, and you know they check Arab men 18-34 harder than anybody. But they had nothing on him. Israel had nothing against that family. But that’s not the way they were portrayed in the media.
“One of the things that really surprised me right after Rachel was killed was how some Americans identified and justified that killing,” Craig Corrie adds. “Where we were like, ‘wait a minute, you didn’t do this. Why are you so defensive?’
The fear of offending Israel — a country often in blind lockstep with the United States on foreign policy — played a big role. But the Corries themselves admit they were a bit ignorant to the whole subject.
“We were not connected to the situation that well before Rachel was killed,” Cindy Corrie admits. “If we had an allegiance, it would be with Israel because — like most of the country — that’s what we understood and were sympathetic to.”
But the Corries set out to get questions answered. They visited Gaza in September 2003, about six months after Rachel was killed, and again in January of 2006. “Rachel wrote to us about what she was witnessing, and her writing formed our understanding of what was going on,” Craig Corrie says. “Going to Gaza simply confirmed that.”
The Corries have met all of the people that were there to give eyewitness accounts. Well, almost all of the people that were there. “We’ve not been given the names of the Israeli soldiers. They won’t tell us who they are,although we’ve seen their testimonies,” Cindy Corrie says.
The Corries still have a lawsuit pedning against the State of Israel about Rachel’s death. Cindy Corrie wrote in The Boston Globe in 2004 that, “Despite promises of a transparent investigation, only two American Embassy staff members in Tel Aviv and my husband and I were allowed to ‘view’ the full document. While it refers to evidence gathered by the Israeli military police, no primary evidence is included … For our family, the report raises questions and fails to reconcile differences between Israeli soldiers who say they could not see Rachel and seven international eyewitnesses who say she was clearly visible.”
The circumstances and the question of responsibility for her death remain controversial, and the Corries wanted a U.S. investigation.
“We were told that there’s no attorney general past, present, or future that will ever designate against the state of Israel,” Craig Corrie says. “We were shocked.
“The State Department is on record as saying that the investigation done by the Israelis did not meet the standards [of] being clear, credible, and transparent, and that was promised to President Bush by Prime Minister Sharon,” he adds. “Colin Powell put that in writing to us. Although it’s been the consistent view of our state department and therefore our executive branch — that there hasn’t been a proper investigation — they will not do anything about it,” he adds.
Politics play a huge role in whether the Corries will ever find out what actually happened to their daughter on that fateful day. They are used to that: Politics plays a huge role in how their daughter was characterized after her death, in how human rights violations are covered in the Middle East, and in shaping people’s minds about things they will never see. The Corries would like to see just a minimal shred of journalistic integrity in reports about what transpires in the Israel and Palestine.
“It’s much worse in the United States than it is in Israel,” Craig Corrie says of the reporting. “There are certain papers or media chains that try to get their editorial policy into their news. There are others — from a business background — where they think they know their customers, and so they’re selling the news that they know somebody will pay for …. Which is a pretty doggone dangerous situation.”
The Corries believe that citizens can become better informed by seeking information from a variety of sources, including from alternative media and from those with direct experience in the Middle East.
“We must insist on more balanced policy that assures justice, freedom, security, and economic viability for both Israelis and Palestinians,” Cindy Corrie says. “Then, there may be a chance for peace. Avoidance of this issue only makes the situation increasingly perilous for all involved, including the U.S.”
The first thing Americans can do, the Corries insist, is reject the idea that the Israeli/Palestinian situation cannot be solved.
“That’s an invitation not to do anything,” Cindy Corrie says. “That’s horrible. That’s part of what’s allowed this to continue.
“I think people are starting to make the connections because of the Iraq War,” she adds. “There’s certainly more awareness of violence against Palestinians than there was. What they don’t cover is the occupation and what that means.”
The Corries have also helped to keep Rachel’s legacy and dreams alive by starting the Rachel Corrie Foundation. This foundation, based in Olympia, Wash., is a grass-roots, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that conducts and supports programs that foster connections between people; that build understanding, respect, and appreciation for differences; and that promote cooperation within and between local and global communities.
“The foundation started soon after Rachel was killed, because people came to us and wanted to know if there were things that they could do,” says Cindy Corrie.
The foundation encourages and supports grassroots efforts for human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice, which the Corries view as prerequisites for world peace. “We conduct and support projects that educate for peace and justice, that foster connections and understanding between peoples on global and local levels, that promote the use of art and the written word in fostering justice and peace, and that encourage individual grass-roots participation in bringing to fruition a positive world vision,” Craig Corrie says.
The Corries hope that with the Foundation, the play, and people’s memories of Rachel Corrie, something positive can come out of something so very tragic - their daughter’s death.
“We have the opportunity to see the effect of what we do,” Cindy Corrie says. “There are certain things that demand action for our fellow human beings. One person can make a difference. We have a far greater impact than what we realize.”
Cindy Corrie adds that she hopes to see a huge ripple effect.
“We hope people will take from our work the same, simple understanding that Rachel expressed as a young child: that we are interconnected,” she says. “The future of us all depends on our ability to truly want for other children those basic things that we want for our own — shelter, health, education, safety, opportunity, and joy — and to work for that.”
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