It's Time for a Worldwide, Permanent 'Palestine Vigil' Next to Every Israeli Embassy and Consulate
The question 'What can I do?' torments many who helplessly, passively watch Israel's unrelenting slaughter of the Palestinians. Here's my suggestion combining meaning with action and community
It is going to be two years since the genocide began before we blink an eye. The number of the dead and injured is in the hundreds of thousands by now, and no Western government or international organization is going to step in and do anything. They will continue to defend Israel while and after it executes the last remaining Palestinian baby.
This is our reality. And we have spent too long trying to deny it, as part of an attempt to mitigate its meaning. The implications for the societies we live in, for our former selves, are too daunting even for the bravest of us.
We need to be braver.
We cannot trust anyone to stop the genocide. And we cannot expect anyone to hold Israel to blame. There are hard facts. They don’t mean we should just sit and wait for the last Palestinian baby to be slaughtered.
So here is my proposal, and it is very simple: in every city, town, and street where an Israeli embassy or consulate resides, members of the local pro-humanity movement will hold a permanent, 24/7 vigil, holding images of Palestinian children and families massacred by Israel.
There is no need for masses of people: 3-7 people at a time is enough (and, if not enough people sign up, it doesn’t have to be 24/7. The point is getting out and getting there). And there is no need for much noise either. The first step is establishing a presence and making it a familiar scene.
Assign blame
Because we have been waiting for others to do it for us - Western countries, institutions, media outlets - we have forgotten that an integral part of any act of resistance is pointing at the guilty party. It doesn’t matter that everyone knows it in their hearts. We need to make it visible and unmistakable. This is, in a way, bringing the war to the enemy’s territory. No more nonsensical TV shows and reports, and internet debates. Blame must be physically placed where it belongs. This is how we start making this a reality.
Build a community of resisters who know each other
No more virtual connections and shallow acquaintances. Make the resistance a club of people who know each other intimately and form strong bonds. Spending hours together as part of a shared routine will do wonders for the sense of wellbeing, community, and purpose of the resistance. Great things can be achieved with that.
Disrupt the routine of Israel's diplomacy and image-maintenance
Israel cannot be allowed to have normal diplomatic ties while it’s committing genocide and ethnic cleansing. Again, don’t wait for a government or a court to make a stand. Make it yourself. Every visitor in every embassy and consulate will be reminded of what they’re supporting.
Commemorate Palestinian martyrs, and make it political
Display the faces of the dead next to their killers. There’s no need to expand on that.
Make your pain and disagreement part of reality for millions of people every day
This is a very important part. We have been taught to keep our pain on the internet. This is wrong. We need to act on it and give it space and an expression in reality. There is great power in authenticity and emotional presence. It is much stronger than fake outrage and happiness (the staples of liberal demonstrations). Our pain is our dignity, and it belongs in the public domain. This is how we cleanse much of the cultural toxicity spread by our oppressors.
Legitimize resistance
We are being pushed, bullied, indoctrinated, and intimidated not to assign any blame to Israel. Doing so publicly helps to remove that psychological taboo.
Lay the foundation for an international resistance movement that speaks the same language and shares common goals, and can synchronize
Once this endeavor begins taking shape, all the local communities can start communicating with each other. This will allow us to overcome the biggest hurdle to an effective cultural resistance: separation and isolation. But if many people in hundreds of different locations do the same thing out of the same sense of mission and purpose, based on meeting regularly in real life, establishing a connection between them will be very easy. And this is the next big step.
My ‘Palestine vigil‘ suggestion is relatively simple to organize and carry out. And I believe it can bridge an existing and very debilitating combination of a feeling of helplessness and available action that doesn’t encourage emotional involvement, doesn’t become part of one’s routine, and cannot nourish and sustain the participants. I suggest we try something different. I suggest a worldwide, perpetual Palestine vigil wherever formal Israel is present.
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Israel is about to expand its ground operation in Gaza. For a meaningful resistance, it is now or never. It is going to be two years soon.
At the tender age of never mind, I attended a Peace Vigil every Saturday, in our small town near New York City. For two hours we stood with signs, most, some variation of “End the War” (with the occasional “Johnson! Pull out, like your father should have done.”)
We got yelled at and mocked, sure, but as futile as it may have seemed at first, we prevailed. To this day I have no greater feeling of pride than having been a part of that.
I’m part of a 24/7 picket / encampment opposite the US Embassy in London (or I was until recently hospitalised with pneumonia). We’ve been there since 1st September last year (after a week’s trial run in April). The idea was based on the 24/7 picket that lasted for four years outside the South African Embassy during the end of apartheid. There’s an encampment because there’s the space and it makes it easier to store things there. But it could also work on a lesser scale just standing outside the Israeli Embassy.
It takes a fair amount of organising to ensure all shifts are covered by at least two people, especially during the night and winter months. Sometimes there are events and speakers. Anyway we’ve managed to keep it going so far. Everyone in the embassy has to look out at our giant anti-genocide banners.
Just to add, it’s taken a group of around 80 or 90 people. Some can just do the occasional slot (for work/family/study, whatever reasons), and others can do more, maybe two or three a week. But around that number has been needed to make it sustainable over time and not too much pressure on a few.