How to debate complaints about disruptive Palestine protests.
Pro-Palestine groups blocked roads to airports in major US cities on April 15. And some people are tweakin.
Today on April 15, in several major U.S. cities including Chicago, the Bay Area, and my home base here in Seattle, pro-Palestine groups organized blockades on airport roads in solidarity with the suffering people in Gaza. Standing shoulder to shoulder, ten toes down on the highway has been one of the most disruptive direct actions taken by Palestine groups amidst the ongoing genocide. However, this specific ‘road blockade’ type of action sparks public controversy, remaining divisive even among pro-Palestine advocates.
Let me be clear upfront: I will always support solidarity actions against any oppression, no matter how ‘inconvenient’ they are. Period. Oppression and convenience don’t go together. We are not free until everyone is free. (More about this below).
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The most common argument against disruptive action is how inconveniencing others does not help our cause. It’s usually followed by citing the struggle of the working class — how preventing earnest laborers from going to work and earning their living makes you an asshole. It’s genuinely inspiring to see so many people suddenly care about workers. Ironically, the type of people I’ve seen use this argument has never done anything to promote workers’ rights or help alleviate the injustice within the labor movement. Frontline and oppressed workers know more than anyone else what strong organizing and collective action can yield. There’s actually a centuries-old practice that workers engage in to improve their livelihoods and prevent exploitation. It’s called unionizing…
Also, most (I will boldly assume 99%) workplaces and labor laws have absence policies that insure your income against unpreventable emergencies. The most common ones are weather-related emergencies. Or if you need a more recently applied example, a public health emergency. Commute routes impacted by direct action such as strikes are covered by this insurance clause. The actual entities who bear the loss from emergency absences are the CEOs, higher-up executives, profiteering stakeholders, and insurance giants. Which, the last time I checked, we were all on board with eating taxing the rich. Unless you are a worker bearing real loss, you don’t get to speak on behalf of them.
Another ‘gotcha’ critique I hear a lot is how traffic blockades prevent emergency services from getting through. When someone says this, they expose themselves as having never been to a protest. In reality, the need for emergency vehicles to pass through is an anomaly. Emergencies are anomalies. Consider the actual rate of stopping for an ambulance while driving. If I had to guess, it would be like a 5% likelihood of ever interacting with an emergency vehicle. Although the probability isn’t exactly 0%, all the protests I’ve been to where we have interacted with an ambulance or a fire truck, the crowd always makes way for it. People showing up for oppression help other suffering people? Shocking!!!
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If you are genuinely wondering, what do disruptive protests really do, and do they work? I implore you to take the time to research non-violent direct action (NVDA) or non-violent civil disobedience (NVDR) efforts in history. (Google is free). You will find notable civil rights movements engaging in this very tactic that has existed for centuries and has been successful.
The disconnect I’m struggling to understand is that folks across the aisle today applaud and commemorate historical civil disobedience efforts that directly brought rights and justice to oppressed peoples. The Palestine blockades are literally the contemporary version of these efforts. In the (inshaAllah near) future when Palestine is free, how comfortable will you feel about your position against the solidarity efforts that took place? This is your chance to be on the right side of history.
Solidarity demands you give up a level of your privilege to fight oppressive conditions. For the protesters, they are giving up their safety and time, and putting their bodies at risk for arrest. For those who are stuck in traffic, you are also giving up some of your privilege (perhaps your time and workday and your brunch reservation) in solidarity with Palestine.
There is an active genocide happening funded by our very tax dollars. Children’s corpses and loose human limbs are being broadcast to billions of people. Our lawmakers, who have direct relationships with the occupation forces are not heeding their constituents’ six-month calls for a ceasefire. (which is the bare minimum demand btw!) It makes fucking sense to me that people are freaking out and angry on the streets.
Tap into that rage brought by the inconvenience of being stuck in traffic. Redirect those angry feelings against the brutal assault on humanity and Palestine. This is a call to engage in empathy and collective resistance participation against human suffering and brutal murder. Consider it an honor to be part of the collective struggle. You can go back to normal tomorrow. The Palestinian people won’t. And they haven’t been for 6 months (or since 1948).
If you were there today, thank you for your courage and unwavering commitment to a Free Palestine. I wish I could be there and partake in this important action. Long live Palestine.