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.
My brother was a left-liberal up until October 7th. When I talked to him about it, I immediately told him “this is what the Israelis deserve and it is a military action against colonizers”.
Now he is a communist and goes to more Palestine rallies than I do. He said my answer freaked him out but made him curious to dig further.
Unapologetically standing up for the truth and for anti-imperialism worked on a Liberal. Mealy-mouthed shit did not. By optics cucking yourself you are surrendering your most powerful tool for converting Liberals, being correct. People can smell the insecurity when you handwring and beat around the bush. They respect straightforward honesty.
Your contention doesn’t seem to be that we shouldn’t critically support Hamas. It seems to be that we should keep that quiet. Cowardice, weakness, insecurity. A communist disdains to conceal their views.