Maryam Aswad: People Are Good And Communities, Collectively, Are Powerful

Maine Public's Instagram post was among very few reports on Portland, Maine's March 2 rally

The decision to ignore last Saturday's massive "Hands Off Rafah" rallies appears to have been coordinated across the U.S. My guess is that Aaron Bushnell's extreme protest and the actions it inspired have our corporate overlords spooked.

But when Maine's largest city's daily newspaper failed to notice 1,100+ marching down Congress Street on March 2, they missed a lot.  

Today, I'm sharing one of the best of several speeches the Portland Press Herald failed to cover, by permission of its author. I know Maryam because we are both members of the Maine Coalition for Palestine.

My name is Maryam Aswad, and I’m speaking to you on behalf of my wonderful comrades in the Labour for Palestine working group. I’m also a student, teacher, researcher, and an organizer for the graduate employee union at UNH.

We know there is a lot happening in a lot of places, but especially in Gaza. We also know that we can’t really fathom the extent of it. We get details here and there from what’s being shared by brave reporters on the ground in Gaza, but every now and again, we learn something new, something uniquely unimaginable that had been happening throughout the past four months, four years, eighty years… and it’s gut wrenching each time. You feel weak, small, insignificant… what could you possibly do about something you can’t even understand?

I’m a mathematician, and when I encounter a complicated problem, my intuition is to walk back and think about something simple, make small steps towards understanding this complicated problem. Today I want to talk to you about things that are simple.

First, people are good. Removed from the imperialist systems of oppression that push them towards fear and greed, people are good.

When you watch videos from Palestinians in Gaza, journalists describing the latest Israeli aggressions, there is a lot that is seen, but goes unsaid. Back when most people lived under roofs, you saw people walking in and out of houses because everyone kept their doors open. If you’re looking for something and I have it, come in, take what you need. Come where you feel safer or where you have compassionate company.

 

You see men rushing towards collapsed buildings even as they still smoke with Israeli bombs and fire to find anyone trapped under rubble, others rushing to find water and medical aid.

 

You see little kids holding their cat after an explosion because she gets scared of loud sounds. Meanwhile, the entire community is collecting food for this cat even as they sleep hungry each night.

Maybe you’ve heard about Hamza, the prisoner in Sacramento who donated 136 hours of his labour to Palestine. Hamza has been in prison for 40 years for a gun accident he caused as a teenager. 136 hours netted him $17.74.  Thirteen cents per hour. His life savings, and he donated them to Gaza.

Second simple truth, people, communities, collectively, are powerful.

The people of Gaza who have evacuated towards Rafah released a letter together the night before the occupation forces began a massacre at what they had previously called a safe zone. 

It reads:

We will not leave Rafah under any circumstances, and have decided to die here or return to our homes victorious.

We call on the powers of the world to move towards punishing the aggressors and stopping the slaughter to avoid the impending catastrophe of Rafah.

We will not return and leave the people of Rafah who have welcomed us and opened their hearts before their homes to us, and shared with us their every bite, their clothes, their drink. We will not leave them alone.

We call on the free people of Egypt and her beautiful people to mobilize and pressure their government to deter the invasion of Rafah.

I’m not going mince words today. The people of Gaza have been facing a genocide imposed on them by an inherently genocidal colonialist entity backed by the world’s largest imperialist forces and war machines. And they are surviving with their hearts intact. Not one government institution stands behind them. What keeps them alive and what keeps them strong is their love and compassion towards one another.

Palestinian labourers have called on the global workforce to refuse to cooperate with the genocide machine, and we hear them loud and clear. Union workers in Belgium, Barcelona, Italy, Japan refuse to handle Israeli ships all together. Trade unionists in Britain and Australia blockade Israeli weapons manufacturers to disrupt genocide. Indian unionists refuse to be used to replace Palestinian labour in occupied territories. That is collective power.

Have you heard about the hunger strikes in Dartmouth? Early on in October, Dartmouth College orchestrated two extremely one-sided panels to discuss the aggressions. They stifled protests and absolutely refused to acknowledge their Palestinian students. Two students were arrested as they peacefully protested, and Dartmouth’s President Beilock accused them of threatening violence. Dartmouth then went on a victory lap, telling every media outlet that listened about how wonderfully they handled tensions in the Middle East. In February, students went on a hunger strike from February 19th and broke it just yesterday when the school finally sent and email acknowledging their Palestinian students, agreeing to drop the charges against the protestors acknowledging them as “consistently peaceful,” and agreeing to meet with the Dartmouth New Deal to discuss divestment. That right there is community power.

Even me right now. I don’t stand here and talk back against the empire with my own power. I’m here because I know I’m surrounded by hundreds of people who will not let the government tell them to limit their compassion to artificial borders drawn by the powers that be. People who will stand up and defend each other when they see injustice. 

THIS is power.