By Randy Wurster
For 13 months, Palestinians have broadcast their most tragic and vulnerable moments. Every day, there is a new wave of heartrending videos of Palestinians suffering unimaginably violent deaths while their loved ones experience devastating grief. Yet, rarely does the butchery in Gaza make it onto American television screens. The courageous efforts of Palestinians such as Bisan Owda and Motaz Azaiza to shine a light on the genocide have all but been ignored by major American networks.
For Americans who consume mainstream media, they may not truly grasp the level of horror that our country is supporting by funding and arming Israel. In MAPA’s General Dynamics working group, we are hoping to do our part to change this.
The campaign, led by MAPA volunteer Dan McLaughlin, has recently focused on bringing the carnage right to Americans by using guerilla projection. Standing outside the exit to General Dynamics’ office, we projected onto a large screen, looping a brief sample of just some of the horrifying footage recorded by Palestinians, which has been meticulously cataloged by tiktokgenocide.com.
Video projection outside General Dynamics.
We plan to reprise this approach at upcoming events including in Dedham on Black Friday, November 29th from 5-7pm. During this time, activists will gather at Legacy Place’s rear exit near Rustcraft Road, just down the street from the General Dynamics office. Our hope is that while U.S. politicians have been unmoved by the daily stream of flattened residential buildings, strewn limbs, and distraught parents embracing their lifeless children, the general American population may prove to have the conscience its representatives lack.
In addition to the video display, we will be handing out postcards with information about what people can do to end the carnage. One of our group’s leaders, Vila McHenry, puts an emphasis on ensuring our demonstrations not only educate, but empower. Noting that the conflict can feel “abstract and remote” to many Americans, she says “it can be hard to relate what’s happening there to our own very different experiences here, and it can be hard to know how you can help, even if you’d like to. Our events in the suburbs are an effort to overcome both of those obstacles: to show people that we are, in fact, directly connected to the tragedy in Gaza via our tax dollars and our local weapons manufacturers, and to show people ways that they can help bring about a ceasefire.”
While still focused on our local weapons makers, the General Dynamics campaign has quickly evolved into something broader–a coalition of activists hoping to educate their neighbors on the plight of Palestinians. Dan explains, “People outside urban populations who are against the US support for Israel’s genocide are looking for ways to connect and be heard and be visible. Our efforts aim to strengthen those avenues for dissent and build communities with a clearer understanding of how deeply the weapons industry has surrounded and offered a way to make a middle class living by manufacturing community-killing technologies.”
Learning about the reality of Palestine pulls on a thread that unravels much of what we are told about our own country. Once one understands Israel’s “democracy” was born through ethnic cleansing and sustained through apartheid, it causes real self-reflection on American history. The genocide of indigenous Americans, which continues to this day, has never been adequately confronted. It has instead been presented as glorious conquest and exploration. Attempts as justification include concepts such as Doctrine of Discovery and Manifest Destiny, all of which bring to mind Zionism’s role in the theft of Palestinian land. Additionally, Israel’s treatment of Palestinians shares similarities with America’s segregation and continued oppression of African Americans, which has resulted in a history of Black-Palestinian solidarity.
For some, the process of connecting all the dots may take time, but time is not a luxury Palestinians have. We hope that by showing fellow Americans the horrors that our tax dollars are funding right now on a daily basis we may expedite this learning process and wake up enough Americans to bring an end to the genocide in Palestine.
Ultimately, all it would take to stop Israel is for the United States government and weapon makers to cease sending arms. A senior Israeli air force officer said as much, conceding that Israel couldn’t sustain war beyond a few months without American supply of weapons. As long as Palestinians continue to endure U.S.-backed violence, we all have an obligation not only to bear witness, but also to spread and amplify their message.
Join us on Black Friday, November 29th, between 5-7p at Legacy Place in Dedham and sign up for MAPA’s Gaza Israel Mideast peace campaign: https://masspeace.us/gaza-peace.
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