Coolidge Corner Gaza-Support Demo
I returned a few hours ago from one of today’s several Boston-area support-Gaza rallies. In Brookline’s Coolidge Corner, a handful of Palestine solidarity supporters were outnumbered by maybe a couple of dozen people endorsing the attack and energetically repeating just about every tired defense of Israeli policy we’ve heard for decades. I must say that some of Israel’s critics also used rhetoric not likely to persuade anyone to think about the issues, proving once again that while protests have a variety of uses, encouraging deep thought is not one of them.
I arrived at Coolidge Corner without a sign, so after listening to Israel’s supporters shriek endless inanities that seemed to make them very proud of themselves I went into Walgreens and got some poster board. I wrote the following, trying to avoid sloganeering but knowing that meant coming up with something too cumbersome for people to quickly read:
I’ve heard the same superficial pro-Israel statements
since I was saying the same thing 40 years ago.
Then I started to think about justice.
Beware of unexamined assumptions.
STOP THE ASSAULT ON PALESTINIANS
Despite the cold weather and chilly reception, two developments were encouraging.
First, a number of passersby read our signs (including even my cumbersome one) and gave us a thumbs up or thanked us verbally for being there. They didn’t stick around to take part, but it was good to have the reminder that Israel’s automatic supporters did not represent everyone even in Brookline’s heavily Jewish core.
Second, I had two decent conversations with supporters of Israel that went beyond sloganeering, until in both cases they had enough and moved away. I don’t believe such conversations will change many minds, and I doubt that changing individual minds will change Israeli policy, but it was more pleasant than mutual screaming.
One of my fellow protestors asked me what I thought made sense to do. I didn’t have a good answer.
Technorati Tags: Brookline, Gaza, Israel, protest, Palestine, Zionism