we cry “the innocent women and children” to appeal to the masses, to try and force their sympathy, but the men and boys are innocent too.
I have seen sons crying out for their mothers, their fathers, their siblings. I have seen them break down at the loss of their families. I have seen them cling to their dead and grieve.
I have seen fathers cradle their dead children, seen them kiss their faces and hold their little hands. I have seen them faint with grief when asked to identify the dead. I have seen them carry their sons and daughters. I have seen them fasting to provide what little they can for their families.
I have seen men and boys digging through the rubble with just their bare hands, I have seen them comforting strangers, playing with children, rocking them, hushing them, even if the face of such imminent danger. I have seen them cry, seen them grieve, seen them break down into each other’s arms, seen them be selfless, beyond selfless, becoming something I don’t have a word for.
I have seen the men who are doctors refuse to leave their patients, even when they have no medicine or supplies to give them, even when they’re threatened with bombings. I have seen fathers who have lost all their children pick orphans up into their arms and proclaim them their child so they are not alone. I have seen men and boys digging pets out of the rubble.
the men are innocent too. the men and boys are being hurt and killed too. the men and boys are grieving too. the men and boys are scared too. the men and boys are fighting to save their people too. the men and boys deserve to be fought for too.
non-palestinians declaring on social media that all hope is lost really feels a lot like them absolving themselves of the entire situation doesn’t it. it’s not our place to say that.
it reminds me of Chelsea Watego’s criticism of hope as a liberal & passifiying endeavour. just another white move to innocence, to pacify our guilt and excuse us from actually showing up for anti colonial struggle.
its especially galling to see from people who’ve only been paying attention for 3 weeks - meanwhile the courage & persistence & resistance & grief & rage of Palestinians for 75 years since the Nakba in 1948 (or even longer, since the Great Revolt 1936-39) is totally ignored/suppressed.
asian and asian diasporic peoples need to be in solidarity with Black americans bc they’re also an integral part of the global anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggle, and in fact have pioneered some of the key modes of thought and activism surrounding it. we are stronger in numbers as international solidarity w palestine has shown
palestinians refuse to lose hope, and you need to do the same. it is very difficult to not spiral into despair when it feels like all you can do is watch this unfold on social media but you can’t let that happen. you cannot let yourself become numb and exhausted and indifferent. stay furious and stay devastated. hold onto your grief and let it give you the power to keep pushing. to keep protesting, boycotting, calling your state representatives and congress members if you live in the us - you have to stay emotional. israel and the us want to bully you into numbness and despair because that’s the key to getting away with this. either get your citizens to accept your propaganda as gospel truth or make them give up the fight.
apathy and doom-spirals only aid in israel and the us’s genocide of palestine. you have to keep hoping and you have to keep believing that yes if you try hard enough you can contribute to making a difference. don’t look away, and don’t give up either, okay? 🇵🇸💗
i think anyone who is genuinely worried about their mental health bc of the situation in gaza probably needs to reformat their way of thinking about it. the answer is not to take a “mental health break” where you pretend whats happening in gaza doesnt exist and stop being vocal and refuse to hear people around you who are vocal. the way to do that “mental health break” much more effectively and not selfishly would be to remove yourself from constant streams of idiotic and/or murderously evil people. stop watching tiktok debates. stop reading genocidal reddit comments and news articles from sources you KNOW want palestine dead. stop putting the focus on the murderers and keep your attention on sympathy and love for the murdered, on hope and optimism (even if naive) and activism to do your part in making things better. dont get me wrong the murderers still need to be dealt with but if you as an individual feel like you’re getting too overwhelmed with despair to be helpful, the answer is to shift your focus away from those causing the despair, not to ignore and abandon those who have to actually live through it.
i guess ir was just naïveté but I really thought Biden was going to improve things somewhat. I know most radicals get assimilated into the interests of capital and imperialism and whatnot but idk. It’s disappointing
im gonna be real w u i thought biden would be lawful evil like every american president is but i truly did not see him being this evil. i think there’s “israel has a right to defend itself” banal evil and there’s “i saw 40 beheaded babies, i heard the other team bombed the hospital, we can’t trust palestinian numbers on deaths” evil. like this is a personal hatred of palestinians, a decision to gather what little remains of his aged brain matter and use it to spit in the face of the parents holding the remains of their children up to the cameras so the world can see what genocide joe is doing to them.
it is genocide denialism through and through, but let’s keep it on a smaller scale and use home-grown example. as far as i’m concerned, there is little difference between what alex jones said of the sandy hook shooting and what joe biden said of palestinian deaths in gaza. in a just world he would be taken to court for it too.
