The first time I heard of Cynthia McKinney was when her name was read out as one of the participants in a seaborne attempt to break the siege on Gaza in 2008. I was puzzled and impressed that an American presidential candidate (she was the Green Party candidate in 2008) would risk her life and political career to take part in a humanitarian mission to Gaza.
Thus, when I heard that Ms McKinney was to be one of the Jurors at the Russell Tribunal on Palestine in South Africa, which I was due to attend, I knew I had to catch up with her and find out why Palestine has become such an important issue in her life. She did not disappoint me: she's a woman of conviction and courage, not afraid to stand up for what she believes no matter what the personal cost in terms of her safety, reputation or, as it turns out, her political career. During our extensive discussion she shared her thoughts on the strength of the Israel Lobby in Washington; her heroes Dr Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X; and how and why she got involved in activism for Palestine.
The Pro-Israel Lobby in America
I began by asking Ms McKinney what had led her to get so involved in the Palestinian issue and why she had become such an outspoken critic of the pro-Israel Lobby.
"It all started with a fax," she told me. As a candidate for the US Congress, she received a fax from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). "The fax was a pledge stating that as a candidate I would commit my tenure, should I win, to the military superiority of Israel, to Jerusalem as the capital city, to continued aid at the level requested by Israel. There were around five to seven points on this piece of paper and I didn't sign it." This was in 1992. Most people, she said, do sign it and that is how politicians get money for their campaign. "I didn't sign it; I didn't really understand how Washington DC works, so I didn't get any money for my campaign. I was able to win but I won with nothing. Then the fact that I didn't sign the pledge kept coming up over and over and over again. So I knew that this document that I had balled up and thrown away was really very important."
From the moment that she refused to sign the pro-Israel pledge, claims McKinney, "war was declared on me". She did not realise the extent to which that was going to resound in her life. "I would get phone calls from people saying they wanted to throw a fundraiser for me and then I'd say fantastic and we'd start planning it and then the question would be asked 'did you sign the pledge?'" She'd say no and then it was, "well then I can't do a fundraiser for you." And that was the way it went. "A lawsuit was filed against the district that elected me. It went all the way up to the Supreme Court." Later she found out that the Anti-Defamation League, a notoriously pro-Israel group, had been involved in filing the brief: "Clearly, the ADL didn't forget that I hadn't signed the pledge." It was a malicious case, she says, but they won and the district she represented was dismantled and she had to find another place to represent. She was targeted from day one and "even after I left I continued to be targeted". She feels that part of the reason for this may be because she started her political career so young and therefore her opponents want to make sure that she does not go back into mainstream politics with her outspoken views. She clearly blames the pro-Israel Lobby for ruining her political career; even Ariel Sharon bragged about her political demise when he visited her home state of Georgia. Her opponent was given $100,000 in a single day and Cynthia "ended up getting kicked out of congress for the second time". The ability of the Lobby to co-opt both Democrat and Republican parties "is significant", she says.
Very early on in her political career she noticed a strange pattern to the behaviour of some of her colleagues in Congress. "There are individuals inside the US Congress who never speak on domestic US issues, but whenever anything is related to Israel they will stand up and talk." The actual topic is irrelevant; it could be about Jerusalem as a capital city or a sanctions bill for example. "I quickly came to know who those individuals in Congress were who were essentially representatives of the Israeli position and started to make a mental note," says McKinney. "I also began to study how the pro-Israel Lobby works." She noticed that whenever some members of Congress introduced a bill she would need to read "every word of every line on every page because things are hidden in the legislation that you don't realise or understand". She cites as an example the UNESCO vote: "that's a piece of legislation that someone stuck somewhere." Once she started to read the draft bills she saw that "they were clearly against every idea about a peace process or peace talks." The way she saw it was that "because the pro-Israel Lobby could control Congress they did not have to engage honestly in the peace process" because they were going to get what the Lobbyists wanted in any case, via bills being passed in the legislature of the United States of America. It was, she says with conviction, "an awakening".
There was also a single event which resonated very strongly with her and spurred her on towards getting involved in the Palestinian cause as well as raising her awareness of the pro-Israel Lobby. "I made a mistake one day. I was running late and rushed into the House Chamber; I looked up at the wall and everything was Green, so I voted Green [her party]." She learned later that the vote was on Jerusalem and that there were demonstrations afterwards. One man, in his late 70s, had been throwing stones at the US consulate [in occupied Jerusalem] and he had a heart attack and died. "I took that personally and I told myself that I would never again cast a vote like that without thinking it through carefully. I felt personally responsible for that man's death and I vowed that I would never do anything like that again."
Cynthia McKinney is no longer in Washington; did her positions on issues like Palestine amount to political suicide? "I'm not in Washington any longer. I'm out because of these positions."
When I ask her to tell me more about the pro-Israel Lobby and what can be done to counter its effect, she likens it to a football match. "You have one team that practices every day, they have a coach and they've got team shirts so they can identify easily which side they are on. Then you have another team that exists but they're not organised, so when match day arrives only one team shows up and they win by default." That, she adds, is the situation with the pro-Israel Lobby in the United States. "It's not that we don't have expertise. Many of us have expertise, we have studied the situation and we understand politics in our country but someone has to finance the revolution and there is not going to be a revolution without finance. Even though you don't have to match the other side dollar for dollar, you have to have some dollars to do minimal things." Her appeals for financial support remain unanswered, even though she has been asking for at least five years. "I've travelled to Muslim countries to set up a Pro-Conscience Lobby, which would cover Palestine automatically." She feels that she may not be reaching the right people: "But if someone wants to help, tell them to get in touch with me." The longer that the Israel Lobby feels that it can act with impunity, she claims, the more heinous the acts will become; "we've already seen that happen." People in the United States and our friends abroad need to help, says McKinney. "The reason that the pro-Israel Lobby is so powerful is because its members are the only ones showing up for the game." If, she stresses, there was a "Lobby of Conscience, we would win automatically". She appealed directly to potential supporters: "If people want to counteract the Israel Lobby, call me. Reach out to me and let's have a conversation about how we can form what I call a Peace Lobby. We need a Peace Lobby."
The Pro-Israel Lobby and the Muslim world
Cynthia McKinney also expressed her belief that the pro-Israel Lobby is manipulating the public perception of Muslims in Israel's favour. While admitting that she is an outsider to Islam she said that it is clear that there is an "engagement of the US military apparatus around the world against people who [are Muslims]". Controversially, she believes that Islam has been hijacked by people who are being manipulated by agents of the pro-Israel lobby. Even, for example, Al-Qaeda: "I don't know the extent to which Al-Qaeda is a representation of religious fervour or if this is something else, but I do know that there was a paper written saying that 'we can use radical Islam for our political advantage'; this was written by someone inside the United States who was active on behalf of the pro-Israel Lobby."
When asked if she thinks that there is a Zionist pro-Israel agenda behind American involvement militarily around the world she is unequivocal: "Of course! All you have to do is look at what they wrote. If you read theProject for New American Century they spelled out very clearly what the objective was in rebuilding America's defences. The individuals who wrote that were brought into the American government in policy-making positions so they could implement the rebuilding of America's defences. Then they wrote A Clean Breaki, and entered government, both Democrats and Republicans." McKinney continues, "Look at Walter Kansteiner, [the former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (2001-2003)] who wrote a paper saying that various countries have to be 'Balkanised'; then look at what happened to Sudan. This has been a longstanding policy since the Yinon Plan. The countries that are subject to this process are Muslim Countries."
Cynthia McKinney's outspokenness does not extend solely to the situation in Palestine; she has also been very critical of US military intervention in Libya and has been troubled by the double standards of those who oppose military action in one country but support it in another. "As a result of my steadfast opposition to F16s, white phosphorous, depleted uranium and helicopter gunships being used against the people of Libya I've been criticised by the very people who have been subjected to the same thing and who support me when I criticise Israel for using such munitions." Such people, she adds, have no credibility if they condemn Israeli helicopter gunships being used against innocent civilians in Palestine but support such use against innocent civilians in Libya. "There are some of us who choose to be consistent," she says. "I am against military action, full-stop! I am against imperial, military action and I support the right of people to defend themselves against such aggression."
Switching back to the pro-Israel Lobby in the USA, McKinney believes that it operates openly and obviously. "It's actually been written about far better than I can explain it in a book called Laying Out The Facts. It's on the congressional record. A black member of Congress from Chicago, Gus Savage, was targeted by the pro-Israel Lobby because he dared to do the unthinkable by trying to make friends with certain countries, in particular Egypt." Suddenly, the Congressman had an opponent. "This opponent was well-financed, with money coming in from all over the country." Apparently, random groups who were backing him and looked as if they had nothing to do with Israel were suddenly giving maximum amounts of money to his opponent. Savage was, says Cynthia McKinney, smart enough to go to the floor of the House and speak about it. "Basically, the pro-Israel Lobby utilises existing laws and helps to shape them to their financial advantage so that they can influence the outcome of elections. If you can determine who sits in the seat, then of course you determine how the vote will go. And that is how it works."
Activism for Palestine
Before speaking about her direct activism for Palestine, McKinney sets out the beginnings of her criticism of US foreign policy and her refusal to toe the political, which date back to the bombing of Iraq in 1991. That experience brought her to where she is today, in terms of her stance on Palestine. She recalls how, less than a day into America's bombing of Iraq, she used her position as an Atlanta state legislator to address her peers (called a "point of personal privilege") at which time she unabashedly, and very publicly, criticised President Bush Sr. for bombing Iraq. She watched the war unfold on TV and then "wrote a speech and went to the floor of the House of the Georgia legislature and… when I got to the part where I said 'George Bush ought to be ashamed of himself' they all got up and walked out on me". Around two-thirds of her colleagues left the chamber. "That really was the beginning, a lot of hate came back to me because I did that but I felt that I had a moral obligation, and I had my say."
She has been to Gaza by land (with Viva Palestina USA) and has taken part in two attempts to break the siege of Gaza by sea. "I had been kicked out of Congress for the second time when I received a phone call on the first day of Operation Cast Lead." Would she take some medical supplies to Gaza? "I said yes."
Her first flotilla experience was scary; the boat she was on – "Dignity" - was rammed by the Israeli navy. She describes this as her "first real confrontation with death", on a very old wooden vessel. Experts told her later that had the boat been made of fibreglass it would have sunk. "The boat was disabled but did not crack up," she explained. Cynthia then attempted to break the siege on Gaza again in 2009 when she and fellow humanitarian activists (including Irish Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire) were on board the ship "Spirit of Humanity". This time they were intercepted by the Israeli authorities and held in an Israeli detention centre.
Heroes
Why is she so willing to risk her life to get into Gaza, even if it makes her a political target? "Everyone has their heroes and role models. I know that mine were targeted by the US government for elimination. I'm talking about Dr Martin Luther King Jr who was targeted by the United States Government in a conspiracy, and he was killed. Malcolm X was also targeted by the US government. This was written about in counter-intelligence programme papers; I read those papers so I know what they did to him. He was killed." Both men knew that they were targeted. "Dr King knew that his days were numbered," claims McKinney, "and that's why when he made his speech in Memphis he said 'I'm not fearing any man'; he was talking about those people who were on the payroll of the FBI, who were in his SCLC [the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an African-American civil rights organization], who were in his Church, who were all around him, but they were traitors to him. He knew that his life could be ended at any moment but he did not stop."
Malcolm X knew this as well. "In fact, it was reported that Malcolm X got a phone call from FBI agents on the morning of his murder who told him, 'today is the day'. He didn't have to go to the Audubon Ballroom; he could have left the country; he had friends all over the world; he could have gone back to Georgia, where he was from; but he showed up at the Audubon Ballroom and told his wife to get the children ready because 'I want them there'. He went to the ballroom and he was killed. So my heroes did not cower out of fear just because they were going to die. Actually I guess it added depth to their lives."
Personal safety
But isn't she worried about her personal safely? Has she been threatened as a result of her activism? She replies that her life is threatened "all the time" but she is not worried for herself, and she makes it sound very matter of fact. It is sad that she has had to accept that constant harassment is part and parcel of her decision to stand up for what she believes in. A stalker was, she suspects, part of a nefarious political agenda. This individual apparently did not even have an identity prior to 1999; he had fake ID, a high-priced lawyer, etc. Cynthia McKinney clearly feels that she is being targeted for political reasons.
Her father was a civil rights activist and she was exposed to the American civil rights struggle from a very early age. Is there a connection between the civil rights movement and her interest in the Palestinian struggle, I ask? "Absolutely; I know injustice when I see it. I know what a struggle for justice is about." Given their shared history of struggling for civil and human rights she finds it incomprehensible that "black members of Congress from the South vote against the civil rights struggle and the human rights struggle of the Palestinian people". She calls this an "expedient vote" and believes that that sort of thing has to be purged from American politics "because it is creating misery around the planet. We have to get rid of expedient politics and get back to politics of conscience."
She also feels that there is an agenda to make black Americas unable to relate to Arabs, even to dislike them, even though many Arabs are black. They don't want African-Americans to relate to Libyans for example. "Identity is a key issue," she says. "There is the identity of us and the identity of the other."
America's relationship with Israel
I asked her why America stands so stanchly behind Israel, constantly using its veto in the UN Security Council to shield the Zionist state from anything not in Israel's interests despite the fact that in doing so, the US is prepared to sacrifice its own relationship with the Arab world as well as the interests of its own citizens, many of whom have no health care or jobs and can't pay the bills, and yet see their government sending billions of dollars to Israel every year. McKinney responds without hesitation: "It's the money; it's the pro-Israel Lobby." To emphasise the closeness of the US-Israel relationship she explains that when a bill becomes law, whether it relates to Health and Human Services or Housing and Urban Development or anything else, it has to wait before the money is made available for implementation; the wait can be a long one. However, with bills related to foreign aid for Israel, the minute they are signed the money is transferred without any delay.
So what does Cynthia McKinney make of President Barack Obama? She hits the ground running: "Now I think a new level of urgency has arrived. I don't blame the average US voter because they cast their vote without knowing all of the facts. They cast their vote for someone and they did not do their homework on that person. They believed the slick, Madison Avenue campaign brochures and media hype instead of trying to ask critical questions such as, who is this person? People need to think. Doors didn't open for me, because of my stance, in the same way that they did for Obama. US politics does not work that way. If you are able to walk into a senate seat with virtually no opposition at all, there is a reason for that. People have to ask themselves, who can pave the way? Why would they pave the way? These are the questions that people have to ask. Look at what is happening right now. You have the Republican candidates jockeying to represent the party in the race for the White House, then out of nowhere we see sexual harassment charges thrown at Herman Cain; out of nowhere? They came from somewhere, believe me. In the case of Obama, it was the sealed divorce records of the Republican candidate who was running against him for senate which got him through. Ask yourself: who can get inside a court and unseal court records? It became such an issue that the candidate had to withdraw and then the Republicans were floundering to find someone to run against Obama and he just walked into the United States Senate."
When I mention how excited people were after Obama's Cairo speech she tells me that if people in the Arab world believed the hype they were crazy. "Look, I'm black," she says, "and I want a black President but I don't want just anyone and I'm not going to support any old policy just because it's coming from a black President."
Although things do look bleak and Cynthia McKinney has been very depressed over the troubles in Libya and the depravity taking place there, on the whole and in relation to Palestine, she thinks "we are very close to winning". Significantly, she said "we" and not "they", which shows how close she feels to the cause. That is a connection for which she has paid a heavy personal price.
Thus, when I heard that Ms McKinney was to be one of the Jurors at the Russell Tribunal on Palestine in South Africa, which I was due to attend, I knew I had to catch up with her and find out why Palestine has become such an important issue in her life. She did not disappoint me: she's a woman of conviction and courage, not afraid to stand up for what she believes no matter what the personal cost in terms of her safety, reputation or, as it turns out, her political career. During our extensive discussion she shared her thoughts on the strength of the Israel Lobby in Washington; her heroes Dr Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X; and how and why she got involved in activism for Palestine.
The Pro-Israel Lobby in AmericaI began by asking Ms McKinney what had led her to get so involved in the Palestinian issue and why she had become such an outspoken critic of the pro-Israel Lobby.
"It all started with a fax," she told me. As a candidate for the US Congress, she received a fax from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). "The fax was a pledge stating that as a candidate I would commit my tenure, should I win, to the military superiority of Israel, to Jerusalem as the capital city, to continued aid at the level requested by Israel. There were around five to seven points on this piece of paper and I didn't sign it." This was in 1992. Most people, she said, do sign it and that is how politicians get money for their campaign. "I didn't sign it; I didn't really understand how Washington DC works, so I didn't get any money for my campaign. I was able to win but I won with nothing. Then the fact that I didn't sign the pledge kept coming up over and over and over again. So I knew that this document that I had balled up and thrown away was really very important."
From the moment that she refused to sign the pro-Israel pledge, claims McKinney, "war was declared on me". She did not realise the extent to which that was going to resound in her life. "I would get phone calls from people saying they wanted to throw a fundraiser for me and then I'd say fantastic and we'd start planning it and then the question would be asked 'did you sign the pledge?'" She'd say no and then it was, "well then I can't do a fundraiser for you." And that was the way it went. "A lawsuit was filed against the district that elected me. It went all the way up to the Supreme Court." Later she found out that the Anti-Defamation League, a notoriously pro-Israel group, had been involved in filing the brief: "Clearly, the ADL didn't forget that I hadn't signed the pledge." It was a malicious case, she says, but they won and the district she represented was dismantled and she had to find another place to represent. She was targeted from day one and "even after I left I continued to be targeted". She feels that part of the reason for this may be because she started her political career so young and therefore her opponents want to make sure that she does not go back into mainstream politics with her outspoken views. She clearly blames the pro-Israel Lobby for ruining her political career; even Ariel Sharon bragged about her political demise when he visited her home state of Georgia. Her opponent was given $100,000 in a single day and Cynthia "ended up getting kicked out of congress for the second time". The ability of the Lobby to co-opt both Democrat and Republican parties "is significant", she says.
Very early on in her political career she noticed a strange pattern to the behaviour of some of her colleagues in Congress. "There are individuals inside the US Congress who never speak on domestic US issues, but whenever anything is related to Israel they will stand up and talk." The actual topic is irrelevant; it could be about Jerusalem as a capital city or a sanctions bill for example. "I quickly came to know who those individuals in Congress were who were essentially representatives of the Israeli position and started to make a mental note," says McKinney. "I also began to study how the pro-Israel Lobby works." She noticed that whenever some members of Congress introduced a bill she would need to read "every word of every line on every page because things are hidden in the legislation that you don't realise or understand". She cites as an example the UNESCO vote: "that's a piece of legislation that someone stuck somewhere." Once she started to read the draft bills she saw that "they were clearly against every idea about a peace process or peace talks." The way she saw it was that "because the pro-Israel Lobby could control Congress they did not have to engage honestly in the peace process" because they were going to get what the Lobbyists wanted in any case, via bills being passed in the legislature of the United States of America. It was, she says with conviction, "an awakening".
There was also a single event which resonated very strongly with her and spurred her on towards getting involved in the Palestinian cause as well as raising her awareness of the pro-Israel Lobby. "I made a mistake one day. I was running late and rushed into the House Chamber; I looked up at the wall and everything was Green, so I voted Green [her party]." She learned later that the vote was on Jerusalem and that there were demonstrations afterwards. One man, in his late 70s, had been throwing stones at the US consulate [in occupied Jerusalem] and he had a heart attack and died. "I took that personally and I told myself that I would never again cast a vote like that without thinking it through carefully. I felt personally responsible for that man's death and I vowed that I would never do anything like that again."
Cynthia McKinney is no longer in Washington; did her positions on issues like Palestine amount to political suicide? "I'm not in Washington any longer. I'm out because of these positions."
When I ask her to tell me more about the pro-Israel Lobby and what can be done to counter its effect, she likens it to a football match. "You have one team that practices every day, they have a coach and they've got team shirts so they can identify easily which side they are on. Then you have another team that exists but they're not organised, so when match day arrives only one team shows up and they win by default." That, she adds, is the situation with the pro-Israel Lobby in the United States. "It's not that we don't have expertise. Many of us have expertise, we have studied the situation and we understand politics in our country but someone has to finance the revolution and there is not going to be a revolution without finance. Even though you don't have to match the other side dollar for dollar, you have to have some dollars to do minimal things." Her appeals for financial support remain unanswered, even though she has been asking for at least five years. "I've travelled to Muslim countries to set up a Pro-Conscience Lobby, which would cover Palestine automatically." She feels that she may not be reaching the right people: "But if someone wants to help, tell them to get in touch with me." The longer that the Israel Lobby feels that it can act with impunity, she claims, the more heinous the acts will become; "we've already seen that happen." People in the United States and our friends abroad need to help, says McKinney. "The reason that the pro-Israel Lobby is so powerful is because its members are the only ones showing up for the game." If, she stresses, there was a "Lobby of Conscience, we would win automatically". She appealed directly to potential supporters: "If people want to counteract the Israel Lobby, call me. Reach out to me and let's have a conversation about how we can form what I call a Peace Lobby. We need a Peace Lobby."
The Pro-Israel Lobby and the Muslim world
Cynthia McKinney also expressed her belief that the pro-Israel Lobby is manipulating the public perception of Muslims in Israel's favour. While admitting that she is an outsider to Islam she said that it is clear that there is an "engagement of the US military apparatus around the world against people who [are Muslims]". Controversially, she believes that Islam has been hijacked by people who are being manipulated by agents of the pro-Israel lobby. Even, for example, Al-Qaeda: "I don't know the extent to which Al-Qaeda is a representation of religious fervour or if this is something else, but I do know that there was a paper written saying that 'we can use radical Islam for our political advantage'; this was written by someone inside the United States who was active on behalf of the pro-Israel Lobby."
When asked if she thinks that there is a Zionist pro-Israel agenda behind American involvement militarily around the world she is unequivocal: "Of course! All you have to do is look at what they wrote. If you read theProject for New American Century they spelled out very clearly what the objective was in rebuilding America's defences. The individuals who wrote that were brought into the American government in policy-making positions so they could implement the rebuilding of America's defences. Then they wrote A Clean Breaki, and entered government, both Democrats and Republicans." McKinney continues, "Look at Walter Kansteiner, [the former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (2001-2003)] who wrote a paper saying that various countries have to be 'Balkanised'; then look at what happened to Sudan. This has been a longstanding policy since the Yinon Plan. The countries that are subject to this process are Muslim Countries."
Cynthia McKinney's outspokenness does not extend solely to the situation in Palestine; she has also been very critical of US military intervention in Libya and has been troubled by the double standards of those who oppose military action in one country but support it in another. "As a result of my steadfast opposition to F16s, white phosphorous, depleted uranium and helicopter gunships being used against the people of Libya I've been criticised by the very people who have been subjected to the same thing and who support me when I criticise Israel for using such munitions." Such people, she adds, have no credibility if they condemn Israeli helicopter gunships being used against innocent civilians in Palestine but support such use against innocent civilians in Libya. "There are some of us who choose to be consistent," she says. "I am against military action, full-stop! I am against imperial, military action and I support the right of people to defend themselves against such aggression."
Switching back to the pro-Israel Lobby in the USA, McKinney believes that it operates openly and obviously. "It's actually been written about far better than I can explain it in a book called Laying Out The Facts. It's on the congressional record. A black member of Congress from Chicago, Gus Savage, was targeted by the pro-Israel Lobby because he dared to do the unthinkable by trying to make friends with certain countries, in particular Egypt." Suddenly, the Congressman had an opponent. "This opponent was well-financed, with money coming in from all over the country." Apparently, random groups who were backing him and looked as if they had nothing to do with Israel were suddenly giving maximum amounts of money to his opponent. Savage was, says Cynthia McKinney, smart enough to go to the floor of the House and speak about it. "Basically, the pro-Israel Lobby utilises existing laws and helps to shape them to their financial advantage so that they can influence the outcome of elections. If you can determine who sits in the seat, then of course you determine how the vote will go. And that is how it works."
Activism for Palestine
Before speaking about her direct activism for Palestine, McKinney sets out the beginnings of her criticism of US foreign policy and her refusal to toe the political, which date back to the bombing of Iraq in 1991. That experience brought her to where she is today, in terms of her stance on Palestine. She recalls how, less than a day into America's bombing of Iraq, she used her position as an Atlanta state legislator to address her peers (called a "point of personal privilege") at which time she unabashedly, and very publicly, criticised President Bush Sr. for bombing Iraq. She watched the war unfold on TV and then "wrote a speech and went to the floor of the House of the Georgia legislature and… when I got to the part where I said 'George Bush ought to be ashamed of himself' they all got up and walked out on me". Around two-thirds of her colleagues left the chamber. "That really was the beginning, a lot of hate came back to me because I did that but I felt that I had a moral obligation, and I had my say."
She has been to Gaza by land (with Viva Palestina USA) and has taken part in two attempts to break the siege of Gaza by sea. "I had been kicked out of Congress for the second time when I received a phone call on the first day of Operation Cast Lead." Would she take some medical supplies to Gaza? "I said yes."
Her first flotilla experience was scary; the boat she was on – "Dignity" - was rammed by the Israeli navy. She describes this as her "first real confrontation with death", on a very old wooden vessel. Experts told her later that had the boat been made of fibreglass it would have sunk. "The boat was disabled but did not crack up," she explained. Cynthia then attempted to break the siege on Gaza again in 2009 when she and fellow humanitarian activists (including Irish Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire) were on board the ship "Spirit of Humanity". This time they were intercepted by the Israeli authorities and held in an Israeli detention centre.
Heroes
Why is she so willing to risk her life to get into Gaza, even if it makes her a political target? "Everyone has their heroes and role models. I know that mine were targeted by the US government for elimination. I'm talking about Dr Martin Luther King Jr who was targeted by the United States Government in a conspiracy, and he was killed. Malcolm X was also targeted by the US government. This was written about in counter-intelligence programme papers; I read those papers so I know what they did to him. He was killed." Both men knew that they were targeted. "Dr King knew that his days were numbered," claims McKinney, "and that's why when he made his speech in Memphis he said 'I'm not fearing any man'; he was talking about those people who were on the payroll of the FBI, who were in his SCLC [the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an African-American civil rights organization], who were in his Church, who were all around him, but they were traitors to him. He knew that his life could be ended at any moment but he did not stop."
Malcolm X knew this as well. "In fact, it was reported that Malcolm X got a phone call from FBI agents on the morning of his murder who told him, 'today is the day'. He didn't have to go to the Audubon Ballroom; he could have left the country; he had friends all over the world; he could have gone back to Georgia, where he was from; but he showed up at the Audubon Ballroom and told his wife to get the children ready because 'I want them there'. He went to the ballroom and he was killed. So my heroes did not cower out of fear just because they were going to die. Actually I guess it added depth to their lives."
Personal safety
But isn't she worried about her personal safely? Has she been threatened as a result of her activism? She replies that her life is threatened "all the time" but she is not worried for herself, and she makes it sound very matter of fact. It is sad that she has had to accept that constant harassment is part and parcel of her decision to stand up for what she believes in. A stalker was, she suspects, part of a nefarious political agenda. This individual apparently did not even have an identity prior to 1999; he had fake ID, a high-priced lawyer, etc. Cynthia McKinney clearly feels that she is being targeted for political reasons.
Her father was a civil rights activist and she was exposed to the American civil rights struggle from a very early age. Is there a connection between the civil rights movement and her interest in the Palestinian struggle, I ask? "Absolutely; I know injustice when I see it. I know what a struggle for justice is about." Given their shared history of struggling for civil and human rights she finds it incomprehensible that "black members of Congress from the South vote against the civil rights struggle and the human rights struggle of the Palestinian people". She calls this an "expedient vote" and believes that that sort of thing has to be purged from American politics "because it is creating misery around the planet. We have to get rid of expedient politics and get back to politics of conscience."
She also feels that there is an agenda to make black Americas unable to relate to Arabs, even to dislike them, even though many Arabs are black. They don't want African-Americans to relate to Libyans for example. "Identity is a key issue," she says. "There is the identity of us and the identity of the other."
America's relationship with Israel
I asked her why America stands so stanchly behind Israel, constantly using its veto in the UN Security Council to shield the Zionist state from anything not in Israel's interests despite the fact that in doing so, the US is prepared to sacrifice its own relationship with the Arab world as well as the interests of its own citizens, many of whom have no health care or jobs and can't pay the bills, and yet see their government sending billions of dollars to Israel every year. McKinney responds without hesitation: "It's the money; it's the pro-Israel Lobby." To emphasise the closeness of the US-Israel relationship she explains that when a bill becomes law, whether it relates to Health and Human Services or Housing and Urban Development or anything else, it has to wait before the money is made available for implementation; the wait can be a long one. However, with bills related to foreign aid for Israel, the minute they are signed the money is transferred without any delay.
So what does Cynthia McKinney make of President Barack Obama? She hits the ground running: "Now I think a new level of urgency has arrived. I don't blame the average US voter because they cast their vote without knowing all of the facts. They cast their vote for someone and they did not do their homework on that person. They believed the slick, Madison Avenue campaign brochures and media hype instead of trying to ask critical questions such as, who is this person? People need to think. Doors didn't open for me, because of my stance, in the same way that they did for Obama. US politics does not work that way. If you are able to walk into a senate seat with virtually no opposition at all, there is a reason for that. People have to ask themselves, who can pave the way? Why would they pave the way? These are the questions that people have to ask. Look at what is happening right now. You have the Republican candidates jockeying to represent the party in the race for the White House, then out of nowhere we see sexual harassment charges thrown at Herman Cain; out of nowhere? They came from somewhere, believe me. In the case of Obama, it was the sealed divorce records of the Republican candidate who was running against him for senate which got him through. Ask yourself: who can get inside a court and unseal court records? It became such an issue that the candidate had to withdraw and then the Republicans were floundering to find someone to run against Obama and he just walked into the United States Senate."
When I mention how excited people were after Obama's Cairo speech she tells me that if people in the Arab world believed the hype they were crazy. "Look, I'm black," she says, "and I want a black President but I don't want just anyone and I'm not going to support any old policy just because it's coming from a black President."
Although things do look bleak and Cynthia McKinney has been very depressed over the troubles in Libya and the depravity taking place there, on the whole and in relation to Palestine, she thinks "we are very close to winning". Significantly, she said "we" and not "they", which shows how close she feels to the cause. That is a connection for which she has paid a heavy personal price.
Does she have a parting message about supporting the Palestinian cause? "People must not be afraid. Please don't be afraid." In that, she is setting a fine example as a single mother who has lost her job twice due to her stands against Israel and US foreign policy. She calls on others to heed their own consciences and to stand with her in this. When I asked if she thought the political career of this native of Georgia was over, Cynthia McKinney smiled: "It's never over," she drawled. "It is never over."
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