Went to a Palestinian solidarity protest/rally with some new folks who’d become radicalised against America/the West over the last six months. They aren’t socialists (yet, I’m working on it) - but they’re good people. So, seeing the genocide and its support by our governments filled them with disgust. We talked about the Nakba, the history of Zionism, and the current apartheid etc.
Now, we come to the protest.
Overall, the atmosphere was incredible. Lots of cool signs, different kinds of people, and, of course the pigs. That’s not the problem.
The problem was the fucking speakers. I swear, at least half of them had to be feds whose entire job was to turn people away from turning up at these events.
Some of them, and I mean this literally, wanted the crowd to chant “we support October 7” and “we stand with Hamas”.
I swear, the way the people I was with turned to look at me.
Not every speaker was like this - most were genuine. They talked of labor solidarity, campus organizing, personal anecdotes. But all of that made these speakers stand out all the more.
The worst part is that when it would happen, the organisers was one of them. So this entire thing was a sham from the start.
I feel so bad. I shouldn’t have just brought people to a random protest I saw and should’ve vetted it first.
Like, seriously. I can’t fucking get over this. Who organizes a protests of people from all walks of life in support of Palestine and wants them to chant we stand with Hamas and let’s do one hundred more October 7s?.
Jesus fucking Christ.
Like, of fucking course Hamas is a natural reaction to apartheid and ethnic cleansing and genocide. And of course Oct 7 is nothing compared to the 200 days that followed since (or the 75 years that preceded it). But come the fuck on.
I support Hamas and I support the military struggle against Israeli occupation to the hilt. The Palestinian people have the legal right to militarily resist occupation, and the October 7th attack is a realization of that (that of course has been widely maligned and lied about by Western media). I also think that there are right and wrong ways to approach this topic to maintain popular support for a protest movement in the west, and come off as bloodthirsty in respect to any issue and you’ll lose people. You have to maintain a messaging that does not cede ground to incorrect Western narratives, though - so this requires some careful thought. Ultimately, those people who have no sympathy for the resistance and just want the fighting to stop have an incorrect position that must be challenged.
I also think it’s uncomradely to be so hostile to our friends on HexBear. Some people on here always assume the worst and start laying in with the personal attacks and unkind words. I don’t think it’s acceptable. We should correct others where possible in a way that respects them.