Use It Or Lose It: Protests To Continue Full Steam Ahead

Ending circle in Farmington, Maine created space for activists to connect and hear from one other.

A busy week presenting a webinar on direct actions at war industry facilities Thursday night and then yesterday organizing a stand out in Farmington with around 30 people bringing a pro-Palestine message to the downtown area near a University of Maine campus.

My buddies Ken Jones and Melody Shank organize Resist Raytheon actions in North Carolina and elsewhere, and helped found the War Resisters Network that offers monthly webinars on related topics. You'll see Ken introducing me and then moderating the Q&A.

Ken and Melody used to live in Maine when they taught at the University of Southern Maine. I often joke that Maine is one big small town because our sparse population means most of us engaged in resisting imperialism and the war machine know each other. We get excited when new people show up and that's been happening a lot this past year.

I thought that was happening yesterday when I stood next to a UMF worker who seemed familiar. Turns out she had come to stand with us in Farmington last year and signed up to get email announcements, but never received any. My bad, I'm sure I misread or mistyped her email address from that sign-up sheet. After we'd stood downtown for a couple of hours we circled up in the town gazebo to share why we were there. Once she heard my last name she realized that I was an old friend of her extended family, and I realized that we'd been at Occupy Augusta together many years ago. 

You meet the nicest people standing up to the war machine. 

A less than nice person who passed us on the street yesterday started shouting that all problems would be cleared up in no time if we would just vote Republican like he did (many of us are finding 47's victory has emboldened his supporters to challenge our protests on various pretexts). Eventually my friend Bruce Gagnon said, "We're not Democrats" and the man returned a few minutes later for dialogue with some more of us. There was some concern about the safety of a woman in that conversation (which was too far away for us to hear) but I noted it was my friend Mary Beth Sullivan who just retired from a long career in social work. If it can be de-escalated, MB will de-escalate it! She reported that they found common ground in the belief that the U.S. should not be funding "all these wars."

An organizer local to Farmington has been holding standouts for Palestine weekly on Saturdays at noon in front of the post office. Several attendees yesterday want to join in and contact info was shared; later over lunch people with connections to the university strategized about what each of them could do to build the movement in their town. Students and members of the public can, for instance, engage in organizing that instructors are restricted from doing by the terms of their contract.

Everyone is concerned about legislation passed in the House last week that would enable the Treasury to designate non-profits as supporting "terrorism" and rescind their tax-free status. My own odious representative, Democrat Jared Golden, voted for it -- his advocacy for Republican causes contributed to his very narrow re-election win this week after ranked choice voting tabulations concluded.

Liberals will use this law as an excuse to curtail their own advocacy for Palestine. I'm happy to know lots of well-informed people who will continue full steam ahead taking action to say no to genocide and no to trashing 1st amendment protections for political speech. We'll continue our monthly coalition stand outs at big intersections in Maine (next up: Freeport Sat Dec 21) in addition to weekly protests in many locations, and a steady stream of direct actions. 

Use it, or lose it.

Is This The Last October 7 Where We'll Be Able To Speak The Truth?

Many things changed one year ago today when resistance fighters burst through the fence around the world's largest concentration camp, seized hostages, and hid them in Gaza planning to swap them for the thousands of political prisoners held captive by Israel.

Truth was the first casualty on October 7, 2023. Immediately bogus claims of women who were raped and babies who were beheaded by Hamas were circulated and continue to circulate to this day. These are lies. They have been exposed as such long since, yet the Vice President of the U.S. continued spreading them as recently as this week (because that is what a $5 million contribution from AIPAC buys).

That Hamas' stated intention was a prisoner exchange has long since been obscured by the official lies of the Zionist regime and its media servants.

Around 1,200 people are said to have been killed by Hamas on that fateful day. This is also a lie. Many of those who died on October 7 were killed, some deliberately, by the Israeli military. Eyewitnesses report that Israeli soldiers shot at anyone near the breached fence, and fired a tank missile into a kibbutz house known to have Israelis sheltering inside. One baby is known to have died on October 7, the victim of a stray bullet.

Since then many more Israeli hostages have been killed by Israel. But let's stick to October 7 for now.

Immediately narratives claiming October 7 as "Israel's 9/11" were circulated by corporate media around the world. This was meant to signify that an act of terrorism by Muslim Arabs had killed thousands in a sneak attack. What it signified to those paying attention was that the event would quickly be put to use justifying a "war on terror" against civilians in Gaza. 

Within a matter of days Israel had used U.S. bombs to kill tens of thousands in Gaza, and within a matter of weeks it had begun the forced displacements that strongly resemble the agony of Jewish refugees on forced marches in Europe at the hands of the Nazis.

Ironic? Yes. Useful? Undoubtedly. Caitlin Johnstone has written today:

Sympathy for Israel has been used over this past year to manufacture consent for the slaughter of mountains of human beings in advancement of land grabs and military agendas that were planned long before the seventh of October 2023.

What is she talking about?

Maps like this one shared by Netanyahu at the United Nations show Israel swallowing up lands granted to Palestinians by the UN.

Military agendas like aerial bombardment of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and the occupied West Bank. 

Weaponization of communication devices used by Hezbollah resistance fighters along with doctors, EMTs, and other civilians in attacks that were years in the planning.

Deliberate destruction of the hospitals, ambulances, and health care infrastructure of Gaza.

Deliberate starvation of Gaza's children and their families through blocking aid and bombing UNRWA and other food distributors.

And last but certainly not least, dramatic increases in censorship and deliberate distortion of the meaning of key words.

Did you wave a Palestinian flag or chant "Free, free Palestine" this year? Your actions are portrayed as an attack on Jewish people everywhere. Even if you, yourself, are Jewish!

Did you point out that Israel's vicious ethnic cleansing campaign did not begin on October 7? You must hate Jews!

Did you attempt to distinguish between Zionism, a religious supremacist ideology that justifies land theft, and Judaism, an actual religion? Your thought crimes are a threat to narratives that October 7 was meant to advance.

We unequivocally condemn those from our community who continue to exploit the blood of Arab people for their political agenda. This includes individuals and organizations from our community that are lock-step with the democratic and republican parties, putting party over community, politics over justice, and overlooking a genocide for access.   

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), October 6, 2024

Did you call out the two corporate parties in the U.S. for arming and enabling Israel's carpet bombing in Gaza and Lebanon? You are a threat to the ruling class and must be shadowbanned and silenced. 

Democratic Party leaders are calling for a war on your misinformation including

rewriting the 1st Amendment's guarantee of freedom of political speech.

Is this the last October 7 where we'll still be able to speak the truth? People in the UK are already being jailed for saying "from the river to the sea" and people in Germany are being jailed for displaying a Palestinian flag.

Ok, might as well go out with a bang. Here's my contribution to the discourse, now and until liberation. Please feel free to borrow and use my graphic wherever the truth may still be shared.

Why I Support Jill Stein & Why She Doesn't Think Hamas Does "Terrorism"

Dr. Butch Ware joined the team recently as Dr. Jill Stein's VP candidate

If you've never run for elected office I guarantee that you have no idea how insanely time-consuming it is. If you're a corporate-aligned candidate, a great deal of your time is spent schmoozing with wealthy donors. If you're a people-aligned candidate like Jill Stein, a great deal of time is spent getting ballot access -- as the wealthy Democrats try to sue you or cheat you off the ballot in state after state. Then a great deal of time is spent getting out the vote, giving interviews, making appearances, listening to voters, meeting with your team, signing off on communications...the list is almost endless. Oh, and raising some money, too. 

Because as I learned when I ran for the U.S. Senate against Susan Collins under ranked choice voting (RCV) in Maine, paid media is what gets you earned media i.e. interviews, features. Oh, and did I forget debate prep? Anyway, you get the idea.

I say all this as a preface to why I am 100% supporting Dr. Jill Stein in the upcoming presidential election.

Sure, I live in Maine where there is RCV for president and thus no spoiler effect. I will rank Stein first, probably Claudia De La Cruz second, and possibly Dr. Cornell West third. I doubt I'll rank the two corporate servants at all as the genocide in Palestine will continue on steroids if either one of them makes it to the White House.

A problem with one of Stein's early tweets is what I want to address today. Here's the tweet (someone else added the green snake face emojis):

I've reached out to Stein's communications director (full disclosure: was also previously my communications director). I've also heard from her campaign manager. Both agreed that the candidate's tweet intended to expose the hypocrisy of people cheering for Israel cutting food, electricity, and water in Gaza while bombing and invading. In other words, Stein does not think Hamas engaged in terrorism on October 7. However, the tweet's intent would have been much clearer if there had been air quotes around the word "terrorism" both times it was used.

Writing tweets that are clear, concise enough for the platform, and effective is an art. It's what communications professionals get paid to do. Stein is a medical doctor and a very smart, kind, compassionate person. But she does not tweet for a living. 

If we examine Stein's record of, not just subsequent words but also subsequent actions, we can see that she has consistently stood with Palestine. She's been arrested standing with pro-Palestine students at their encampment at Washington University in St. Louis. She's explained why, as a Jewish person, she does not support Israel's violent occupation of Palestine. 

If I were her comms team I might apologize for the missing quotation marks and clarify her intent. It's possible this might still happen.

In the meantime, I went to bat for her after faux progressive congresswoman AOC trashed her this week claiming she is "predatory" and "inauthentic." Most amazing to me, AOC claimed in a Tiktok video that Stein only emerges every four years to run for president and never helps down ballot Green Party candidates.

This led to me sharing some history between my campaign and Stein in a tweet that has generated great engagement in a day and half.

https://x.com/NaturalGuard/status/1830727100845973798

Of course haters are gonna hate -- most ridiculed me for thinking that earning 5% of votes cast was an accomplishment. One commenter pointed out that 5% would earn you parliamentary seats in many European countries, but most just trashed me and ignored the fact that the senate race in Maine in 2020 was more heavily funded -- by tens of millions of dollars -- than any congressional race in the state's history.

So actually the metric I was most proud of was our cost per vote. 

Analysis using data from OpenSecrets by volunteer Brennan Barrington who commented, "As extreme as the difference looks, it's actually an understatement of the cost for the major party candidates, given how much was spent by outside groups not affiliated with the campaigns themselves."

We ended up with 40k+ votes so this analysis was just a bit premature but it makes the point.

Under RCV, the incumbent met the 51% threshold in the first round and thus we'll never know how many voters ranked me second.

But that's not the point. The point is that Stein supported me, she also supported Matt Hoh when he ran for the Senate in North Carolina, and she also supported Dr. Margaret Flowers and Joshua Harris in their campaigns.. you get the idea.

AOC is just playing the mean girl card and spreading lies about a candidate who is now polling even with Harris among Muslim voters according to a recent survey.

In conclusion, here are the states where Stein and/or Greens have ballot access for November.

I'm excited that Maine is one of them, and excited that Stein tweeted on Monday in response to Newsweek still publishing false information about her campaign:

We’re expected to have 517 potential electoral votes, nearly double the 270 to win. 

Support our efforts in the next states: http://jillstein2024.com

I surely will. 

Democrats Applaud War As Jared Golden Ducks The Public At Maine Convention

Outside the Democratic Party Convention May 31, 2024 in Bangor, Maine  Photo credit: Shane Leonard

Maine's 2nd District representative to Congress used to be Bruce Poliquin, a Republican who became infamous for avoiding reporters by ducking into the women's bathroom. Our current rep, Democrat Jared Golden, is just as determined to avoid the public. Perhaps tipped off that there were plans to disrupt his speech at the Maine Democratic Party convention last Thursday, he mailed it in. (This is consistent with plans to make the DNC's national convention virtual as the politicians who speak for our corporate overlords rightly fear disruptions as Israel's genocide in Gaza grinds on with full support of the Biden administration.)

Photo outside the convention venue, credit: Shane Leonard

Here's an eyewitness account of how it went down in Maine:

Last night at the Democratic Convention, which really was a complete waste of time and just left me feeling even more outraged . . . I'm not sure that's possible.   You may already have heard, there was a great "outside" presence, I imagine perhaps 100 folks wouldn't be exaggerating, but I was "inside" looking out the windows.  It's hard to tell from the chaos at the end how many "insiders" there were. 

What's significant especially to your column this morning was the nauseating, self-congratulatory, "patriotic" . . . Matt Dunlop actually asked God to "Bless our Troops" . . . politic/speech we had to sit through waiting for the moment Golden would speak . . . next to last so, it was a heck of a long wait.  Oh, don't let me forget, the biggest cheers came when Emily Cain announced that "Dems don't need a pep talk . . . Trump was convicted on all 32 counts" . . . Rousing cheers, whoops, claps, etc.  Yuk!  As if it flippin matters.  Instead of Trump (temporarily), they've got a war criminal as president with a cabinet of war criminals that the Dems are all going to work very, very hard to re-elect, like good little Puppetpeople!

Back to Golden.  When it was time to announce him . . . and all of us who had been waiting with great anticipation with our snuck-in props . . . we were told, "Unfortunately, Congressman Golden has a family emergency and so won't be with us tonight,  but we have a video".  Baloney!!!  Actually, as I found out later, Golden had been there all evening . . . he was actually probably spitting distance from me but I didn't know it.  Unbelievably, he snuck out just before his speech.  There are many things "monumental" about him . . . I won't list them, you know them . . . but at the top of the list is COWARDICE.  And you know the Dems were all in on this because they had the flippin video. 

I don't know what was on the video, because following the "announcement"  all hell broke loose.  We made lots of noise, people had whistles, strips of paper were being thrown.  Nobody was arrested inside, just escorted out . . . and here I had brought my bail money!  I was/am so angry.  You know Lisa, I am committed to nonviolence and have been for a long, long time.  But I am so angry I feel like exploding . . . not a good place for nonviolent resistance.  A minor annoyance is that I can't unregister as a Dem for 3 months since I only registered as one a couple of weeks ago, and that's a pretty hefty sacrifice.

Here's video of the disruption inside the convention. Because we have to be our own media! The screengrab below shows multiple people walking out and the sound track records them shouting "Free free Palestine" as the chair calls repeatedly for order and tries to start the video.

https://youtu.be/M7TZ9OrZQ88

Ponder this: not a single corporate media source that I saw reporting on the convention made any mention of this walkout by Maine Democrats appalled by Golden's support for Israel's genocide.

Photo credit: Dawn Starr

It's almost like U.S. corporate media are in on the project of stifling dissent, with their role of ignoring it when it occurs.

Outside sentiment toward the Democratic Party nominee for president, photo credit Tim Paradis

I am again reminded that a college professor here told me the reason her students cared about Palestine is that they mostly get their news from watching Russell Brand and Lee Camp.

Meanwhile an elderly narrative manager reposts New York Times articles to a local peace listserv which, if disputed, are backed up with articles from wikipedia -- both outlets under firm corporate control for the last several decades.

Expect even more disruptions, and creative dissent -- and even less reporting from those complicit in the destruction of Palestine.

Photo credit: Tim Paradis

The Elbit Factory Shutdown Heard Round The World

This Insta post from yesterday used imagery from the Merrimack protest to invite more resistance to the loathsome Elbit Systems. If you're in Cambridge on Tuesday, why not join in their canvas?

More information has come to light about the successful shutdown on Friday of Israel's Elbit Systems weapons factory in Merrimack, New Hampshire. Multiple people experienced violence at the hands of police, especially bomb squad police who were inexplicably called in for a reported total of 70 cops to deal with seven peaceful protesters blocking the driveway.

My favorite quote from mainstream media coverage is when reporter Steve Cooper says on camera: "Police tell us they had no idea these protesters from Maine were coming to town this morning." My favorite quote from a protester, spoken on camera by Yenni: "We will continue to resist until Palestine is free."

Screenshot from WHDH coverage inside the Merrimack jail facility where some protesters heard police making inappropriate sexual remarks to female-presenting arrestees.

The first cop to arrive on the scene made a huge strategic blunder in terms of his focus in those crucial first moments. He went for the low-hanging fruit of an eighth arrest, a decision that affected the whole rest of the day.

I have now heard medical details of the worst of the injuries inflicted by police, including broken bones and dislocated shoulders. What quickly emerged for me is that the people in the blockade experienced traumatic, painful events over the course of several hours while the others who'd come to observe and support were blocked from knowing anything. The two groups have had to put their heads together after the fact to piece together what actually went down.

I've also now seen a copy of the Merrimack Police Department's press release about our protest. An interesting detail it reveals is that there was already a Merrimack PD officer in the guard booth when protesters arrived at dawn. (Do Merrimack tax payers know about this fascistic deployment?) Neither he nor the Elbit Systems rent-a-cop seemed to be terribly bright because they also both made snap decisions exhibiting poor judgment about responding to protesters' coordination and teamwork.

More mainstream media coverage has emerged also, including some that throw around inaccurate pejorative terms like antisemitic, or focus on the cost to turn out 70 "first responders" (an unnecessary expense in my estimation). I won't share those but I will share that the protest made news worldwide, including a mention sent to me by a supporter in Maine:

Other press hits worth sharing (just don't believe everything you read e.g. chainsaws? really?):

https://www.wcvb.com/article/pro-palestine-protest-elbit-america-facility-merrimack-nh/60278938

https://www.wmtw.com/article/elbit-systems-merrimack-protest-israel-gaza-32224/60283330

https://nhjournal.com/seven-arrested-as-anti-israel-protests-return-to-elbit-facility-in-merrimack/

https://www.unionleader.com/news/crime/merrimack-police-arrest-eight-pro-palestiian-protesters-blocking-the-entrance-and-exit-to-an-israeli/article_0ac91750-e88c-11ee-a30a-ebe5fa9680e1.html

https://patch.com/new-hampshire/merrimack/protestestor-chained-car-several-tires-block-entrance-elbit

Also, coverage from WHDH  was updated to include post arrest interviews with a few of the protesters, including my husband who reminded us of the reasons to shut down Elbit on behalf of Palestinians suffering horribly from Israel's violence (trigger warning: cold blooded murder).

Finally, here's a handy interactive map for those inspired to #ShutElbitDown wherever we find them. 

We are many, and we inspire each other.

Our Arraignment Today: How Do You Stop A Genocide?

Source: WGME tv "Supporters rally for 11 arrested at Gaza ceasefire protest in Portland"

Six of us went to court this morning with attorney Lenny Sharon to plead not guilty to the charge of obstructing a public way February 2 in Portland, Maine. Five defendants who did not appear also had the same plea entered on their behalf.

 

Photos of supporters courtesy Tim Paradis, Maine Coalition for Palestine

We were not allowed to make statements by the judge, only to say how we pled. Paige told of 30,000+ Gazans killed by Israel, extremely relevant to our case, but could only say a little before being silenced. The Portland Press Herald reported what little I said in their coverage of today's proceedings and Yusuf Ebrahim, who was with us in court, gave a great interview to the Bangor Daily News yesterday explaining his own motivations for protesting. 

Our disposition hearing was set for July 24. Between now and then we'll meet and gather advice before deciding individually how to proceed.

 

If we had pleaded guilty today we could have done 30 hours of community service and then the court would dismiss the charges. Some may yet decide to do that, and some may hold out for a trial.

 

Lenny will be filing a motion to change our terms of bail i.e. "no loitering in roadways" as overly vague. We were reminded by the judge that another condition is no illegal activities while out on bail. I asked Lenny the hypothetical: what if I got arrested in California? He said it was unlikely another state would pick up the Maine bail violation for obstructing a public way. But if one of us were arrested again in Maine, the person might have to go back to jail pending another hearing on the Feb 2 bail conditions.

 

Stay tuned...

 

Grab Bag Of News Your Government Does Not Want You To Know About

A reminder that resistance to Israel's war on Gaza did not start on October 7, 2023.

As I prepared to share documented resistance to Israel's genocide in Gaza I paused for Glenn Greenwald's explanation of why banning TikTok is suddenly a burning issue for Congress and the Biden administration. He notes corporate media reporting that October 7 was a game-changer:

The proposal gained momentum partly as a consequence of disquiet over the app’s handling of misinformation[sic] and antisemitic[sic] content following Hamas’s attack on Israel in October (UK capitalism rag The Economist on March 24).

On the other side of the pond, U.S. capitalism rag The Wall Street Journal said an analysis of TikTok data revealed:

far more views for videos with pro-Palestinian hashtags than those with pro-Israel hashtags..at times [the ratio of pro-Palestine to pro-Israel views] ran 69 to 1 (March 12)

 Greenwald humorously added: "Remember when Nikki Haley said..that for every 18 minutes—or whatever it was—that you spend on TikTok, you become 32% more anti-Semitic?"

I did not remember that, but I would love to think that for every 18 minutes you spend reading this blog you become 32% more aware of resistance actions that corporate media has conspired to make invisible. Who knows, maybe you will even become 90% more likely to engage in resistance yourself!

https://twitter.com/OnlinePalEng/status/1768967756060229948

This is the kind of success hard blockers dream of: materially disrupting the operations of a factory where they make the bombs dropped on Gaza. You have to get up early to do this sort of thing. Which makes for beautiful pictures once the sun comes up.

"Nine young supporters of Palestine chain themselves together and block I-95 in Richmond." Photo and caption by Phil Wilayto, Virginia Defender

Above is a close look at a different lockdown in progress, this one to shut down Interstate-95 in Virginia. Ten people were arrested and released after experiencing violence from Virginia State Police. NPR, local t.v. news and a local newspaper covered the action. 

Why block I-95 for Gaza? I wanted to answer this common question by showing you the many war profiteers in Virginia using the interactive map created by Christian Sorensen for The Business of War, but guess what:

Sorenson notes: "There is nothing dangerous or illegal about taking public, official information (from military contracting announcements, corporate press releases, and corporate job postings) and transferring it to a map."

Don't feel up to locking down? Soft blocks using just our bodies probably can't shut down a weapons factory until our numbers are in the thousands, but they can force those ignoring their country's role in funding genocide to pay attention.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/protesters-calling-for-gaza-ceasefire-demonstrate-at-san-francisco-airport/ar-BB1jPQDv

Organizer Joshua Caldwell said about 300 protesters gathered at [San Francisco] airport's International Terminal at 8 a.m. They blocked traffic outside and security lanes inside and held up banners and signs calling for an end to the bombing campaign that the United Nations says has claimed more than 30,000 lives.. nobody was arrested 

Wait, did I read that right -- zero arrests? This is becoming a common tactic for suppressing information about resistance actions. (Throttling social media is another.) This action got a fair amount of mainstream media coverage anyway because SFO is a big international airport. Other protests that involve blocking streets? Not so much.

Even soft blocks take physical stamina and solidarity planning. What if you're just a kid? Or elderly and infirm or can't afford time off or to lose your job? Do what you can, where you can, inspired by these Girl Scouts! From Mondoweiss:

A Girl Scout Troop in Missouri recently broke away from the organization after it made legal threats against the group.

For the Girl Scouts’ “Agents of Change” capstone project, a St. Louis county troop decided to make and sell bracelets to raise money for children in Gaza. The Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri said the move was “political” and instructed them to shut down the fundraiser..

Despite breaking away from the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri, the group is staying together, and their bracelet campaign has continued.

It would take me the rest of the day to share all the resistance actions I'm aware of, and I don't even go on TikTok. Here's one from my inbox, spotted in tiny Blue Hill, Maine this weekend:

Want to protest at an intersection where thousands will see you? Join us in Rockland, Maine next weekend!

And if any of this inspires you to join in, let me hear from you!

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.