Tel Aviv March: Stop the Siege of Gaza
Saturday evening in Tel Aviv I went to a protest march that drew perhaps a thousand energetic demonstrators opposed to Israel’s siege of Gaza, which continues to devastate Palestinians whose communities are deteriorating even further, if that’s even possible. Poverty, inadequate health care, trauma — it’s time to end it, and it was good to see the effort.
Some things struck me as a little different than what I’m used to in the US.
First, this march was held in the evening. Without public transportation on Saturday, it’s impossible to gather a large crowd during the day on Saturday, and ever other day is a workday. But to keep the demo from going too late, it started at 6 pm, too early for many people to get there from other parts of the country.
Second, a primary evening theme reflected in many signs was Jewish-Arab Brotherhood.
One of my students who also attended said in class this week that this kind of protest is the only place she sees Israeli Jews and Israeli Palestinians working together.
Third, there were a lot of proud Communists. Not small-c communists who have to explain what communism means, or what communist-anarchism means, or even what common means, but big-C Party members.
In Israel, as I understand it, various Communist parties and coalitions developed at first from the old communist-left end of kibbutz socialism, many of whom retained Soviet affinities for far too long. In later years, these parties attracted Israeli Arabs who refused to compromise with the dominant Zionist parties. What surprised me, though, was the large number of energetic young people marching behind Communist banners, chanting, laughing — and also the fact that the Israelis around me saw nothing out of the ordinary in what most Americans would think was beyond the pale of legitimate politics. The political spectrum here is much wider than many Americans realize.
And I was surprised too at all those hammers and sickles. I don’t remember the last time I saw one at a US protest. (The sign says “Only Peace Will Bring Security.”)
I wasn’t surprised to see Che –
– but I confess, Stalin kind of threw me.
Almost as much as the Raelians, who offered to help us understand our origins in alien genetic engineering.
Fortunately, the Raelians were few in number, and the march retained a clear focus on serious issues. Red flags dominated, along with banners and chants demanding “Two States for Two Peoples,” hardly a radical proposition.
The Anarchists, though outnumbered, drummed energetically, opting to advocate not two states but simply this: “Leave Gaza.”
I hung out with them.