Why Protest
The horror of all horrors is taking place right now in Gaza, the mother of never-agains, supported, encouraged, and resourced by our governments. As bombs rain down on children, western leaders are shaking hands with a war criminal. WE are on your side, they are telling him.
I´m not going to get into the education of it all, that’s all there [1]. Nor will I share the evidence that this is a genocide, as one placard bluntly read, we are witnessing a ‘Genocide — Live on TV´ [2].
I will instead use my small edge of the world to advocate for protest, and if it achieves one more person attending, then my despair has been put to use.
The world, and NOT only the Arab world as media continues to insinuate, is seeing unprecedented protests right now, calling for a ceasefire and an end to genocide and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza. On Friday the 20th of October a global strike / walkout was called. Various groups and Trade Unions are calling for industries involved in the arms trade and shipment to strike. Protests have taken place in every town and city that permit them and on the 21st of October 300,000 people took to the streets in London — in the largest ever UK show of public support for Palestine. 70,000 in Barcelona where I live. These scenes are set to continue and the more people that join them the more powerful they will be.
So why, with that backdrop, do we opt for protest?
We protest because Palestinians are asking us to.
We protest because our governments are complicit in a genocide, and we will remind them as we stand with Palestinians, again and again, that their WE is not the people. They DO NOT speak for us.
We protest because for those of us who can MUST use that right — MUST use our right to take to the streets for Palestine and for the Palestinians in cities for whom their protests are being oppressed.
We protest because individual despair is overwhelming and paralysing. We can instead leverage our despair to do the singularly most important thing — show up physically, visibly. TOGETHER.
We protest, because only in great number can we disrupt the narrative.
We protest because we will not allow our governments to sew the seeds of fear and division. We remind ourselves together that the greatest terror of all is being unleashed on civilians in Gaza. We will not be distracted by the fearmongering that tells us that we should fear for our security at home, the same fear mongering that is now seeping into UK schools as they start to practice lockdowns [3]. We will not allow the UK to become America. We will also not be afraid of the protest itself and we will reject the conditioning we have received about what constitutes ´scary´ as we attend.
We at the same time protest because we acknowledge that it is a powerful means of peaceful dissent. That without the opportunity for peaceful dissent, THAT IS HEARD, dissent and despair will seek more violent outlet. We will put peaceful dissent into action and demand that it is heard.
We protest because praying alone is not enough. It is always the time to pray, but right now is the time to show up physically. Or better still do both. When 500 Jews occupied congress on Wednesday the 18th of October, with thousands more outside, they did so in ´prayerful protest.´ (see Jewish Voice for Peace). It remains a stunning example of hope in such horrifying times. Signing petitions, writing to MPs, all necessary, but alone — not enough.
We protest because this absolute madness must end and we can´t keep waiting to know more.
Check for an upcoming protest near you at the global calendar of events: https://samidoun.net/2023/10/calendar-of-resistance-for-palestine-events-and-actions-around-the-world/
Footnotes
[1] See interviews by Husam Zomlot, follow Mohammed El-Kurd on social media, Subhi (@Sbeih.jpg) Palestine Solidarity UK, Slow Factory, Double Down News, Mona Chalabi , Al Jazeera— to name just a small number of information sources.
[2] See @eye.on.palestine (however, be aware it is traumatising). For other accounts on the ground in Gaza, see this list.
[3] In reference to a lockdown drill carried out by a school in East Sussex on 18 October 2023, concerning threats to staff / student safety, including those ´relating to terrorism´.
