Hey Devon, wow, I had never thought of protests in this way before. This is super encouraging! Yeah I had also thought it was futile sometimes, to make us feel better about ourselves without actually helping the cause. But that is such a great point about gathering in larger numbers, giving more social support to each other, showing Palestinians that we care and will not stand for this cruelty, giving pressure to governments, disrupting politicians' events, blocking off highways, giving an unscrupulous company PR problems, etc. I hadn't thought of how these movements give people more confidence to come together in larger protests as well! It's very heartening to hear. :D
Yes, being humble about our small contributions, but also that we can move slowly, and gather with other people, rather than handling it all alone as our individualistic culture woudl have us believe. Encouraging people to join, rather than shaming people for "not doing enough" would doubtless motivate more folks to help as well! Also, for those of us who cannot deal with crowds and noise, it's good to see that joining protests is not the only thing we can do to help. There are many ways to give and contribute!
This article is so true. I think a lot about the revolution, what it means to achieve systemic change, and how many people are rightfully disgusted by the liberals/centrists/those complicit in genocide "condemning" the freedom fighters using armed resistance and violence to dismantle the occupation. And it is true how peaceful protestors show up at a handful of protests, waving placards around, all to assuage their moral conscience. But I think that rightful criticism ended up devolving into "if your direct action doesn't have immediate change/effect on the situation, if it doesn't "achieve" results, it's inherently liberal reformism, and you're wasting your energy." Which is...not a sustainable way to approach organizing at all.
This article really nailed the nuance. It's true if you act like peaceful protests are the end-all of dismantling the imperialist project, you're out of your mind. But at the same time, I dislike the equally black-and-white sentiment that protests are useless, boycotting is useless, small actions are useless unless it actually achieves results, because it ignores that sustainable organizing requires mundane hard work and collaboration, and most of all, relationship-building. It's so, so easy to experience the urgency, to dedicate your energy to avenues that aren't actually well-thought out or organized, because doing something is better than nothing right? Which you discussed in your other article Getting Involved and Staying Regulated. When we're trying to fight against oppression, it can get so, so messy. Are we doing enough? Are we doing too little? And our organizations and spaces end up replicating colonialist, capitalist dynamics and it feels like we can never escape. Your articles about activism taught me a lot about going slower, gathering people, and staying it in for the long run
Hey Devon, wow, I had never thought of protests in this way before. This is super encouraging! Yeah I had also thought it was futile sometimes, to make us feel better about ourselves without actually helping the cause. But that is such a great point about gathering in larger numbers, giving more social support to each other, showing Palestinians that we care and will not stand for this cruelty, giving pressure to governments, disrupting politicians' events, blocking off highways, giving an unscrupulous company PR problems, etc. I hadn't thought of how these movements give people more confidence to come together in larger protests as well! It's very heartening to hear. :D
Yes, being humble about our small contributions, but also that we can move slowly, and gather with other people, rather than handling it all alone as our individualistic culture woudl have us believe. Encouraging people to join, rather than shaming people for "not doing enough" would doubtless motivate more folks to help as well! Also, for those of us who cannot deal with crowds and noise, it's good to see that joining protests is not the only thing we can do to help. There are many ways to give and contribute!
This was really encouraging and helpful. Thank you! 🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🇵🇸
This article is so true. I think a lot about the revolution, what it means to achieve systemic change, and how many people are rightfully disgusted by the liberals/centrists/those complicit in genocide "condemning" the freedom fighters using armed resistance and violence to dismantle the occupation. And it is true how peaceful protestors show up at a handful of protests, waving placards around, all to assuage their moral conscience. But I think that rightful criticism ended up devolving into "if your direct action doesn't have immediate change/effect on the situation, if it doesn't "achieve" results, it's inherently liberal reformism, and you're wasting your energy." Which is...not a sustainable way to approach organizing at all.
This article really nailed the nuance. It's true if you act like peaceful protests are the end-all of dismantling the imperialist project, you're out of your mind. But at the same time, I dislike the equally black-and-white sentiment that protests are useless, boycotting is useless, small actions are useless unless it actually achieves results, because it ignores that sustainable organizing requires mundane hard work and collaboration, and most of all, relationship-building. It's so, so easy to experience the urgency, to dedicate your energy to avenues that aren't actually well-thought out or organized, because doing something is better than nothing right? Which you discussed in your other article Getting Involved and Staying Regulated. When we're trying to fight against oppression, it can get so, so messy. Are we doing enough? Are we doing too little? And our organizations and spaces end up replicating colonialist, capitalist dynamics and it feels like we can never escape. Your articles about activism taught me a lot about going slower, gathering people, and staying it in for the long run