By Mazin Qumsiyeh
Takes 4 minutes to read. Please do not turn away from injustice.
An entrenching apartheid regime gets more genocidal. Not only besieging us the indigineous Palestinians in ever shrinking concentration camps but actually committing a genocide supported by Western Governments. It is now spreading to cities and towns in the West Bank. Israeli colonization forces intentionally destroyed infrastructure (roads, water, sewage) in Jenin for example. The weapons are primarily from the US and Germany but the
political and media cover come from many western countries (thanks to the Zionist lobby). The Palestinian people for 76 years have faced the most brutal regime almost alone relying on trying different tactics of resistance (see my book on this http://qumsiyeh.org/popularresistanceinpalestine/ ). But genocide continues and almost 10% of the population of the Gaza strip were murdered, injured, or “dissapppeared.” Israeli policy of erasing the indigenous people was like the British policy with aboriginal people in Australia or the USA except that relative to land size and population, things are different in scale. Palestine is a tiny country and now 8 million are refugees/displaced and 250,000 Palestinians were murdered. As noted in my last message, it also has far more global ramifications.
Most people avoid taking on challenges to make things better for the people. The 1-2% who face the challenges of oppression and dual occupations here in Palestine are truly heroic. I cannot begin to tell you how blessed I am to have met people like the late Nizar Banat (killed by Palestinian security forces) or Basil AlAraj, or Shireen AbuAqleh or Rachel Corrie (killed by the Zionist apartheid forces). Dozens of my friends and colleagues murdered in the past few years. Their faces and words haunt my nights. I check on other friends in Gaza regularly to see if they are still alive. I am blessed to know many people who protested the ongoing genocide globally and some of them were then arrested and mistreated.
But what does not kill you makes you stronger and I find it humbling to see how Palestinians beaten and oppressed grow to resist in stronger ways. Oppression does not create silence or pacification. Further, Palestininians resist oppression in many ways and light candles of hope via positive work every day. Just as an example, the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (palestinenature.org) has been serving people and nature for seven years. Children are now here for summer camps and the environment created to them by staff and volunteers ensures transformative experiences that change lives. We also have women’s activities almost weekly. Words cannot describe how important work is in areas like agriculture, environment, early education, health, and justice!
All people understand that it takes both resistance to evil in this world and also building a better future for our children. But most of those same people spend far more of their time consuming: consuming news, consuming food, consuming products. Retweeting and liking on facebook may be useful but I think most people understand this is not an answer to existential questions. Many who respond to my weekly newsletter ask what can they do. I point them to this list of 76 things that can be done: http://qumsiyeh.org/whatyoucando/ The young people, being idealistic are in the streets trying to actually change things. But there is very little protection for them or organizing and long term planning (Palestinian ageing political parties seem unable or unwilling to provide that). Progressive groups abroad do great work but are hardly networked and all overstretched. Below are questions many of us are asking and you can either: a) visit us today after 2:30 PM for us to chat and to act together, or b) write to us of your thoughts and actions and additional questions/answers, or c) bring a circle of trusted friends together to answer these or similar questions:
What are the best methods for helping those in most need (e.g. hundreds of thousands of families made homeless by Israeli bombings)?
How do we respect ourselves (empowerment), respect others (joint struggle), and respect nature?
How do we stop the mad dash to armaments particularly weapons of mass destruction (Israel has hundreds of those including on German supplied nuclear-powered submarines)?
How do we protect idealistic youth from the relentless attack and pressures they encounter (arrests, beatings, etc.?)
How do we ensure maximum impact for the utilized resources?
How do we network the thousands of local and global organizations working for Palestinian human rights and sustainability and increase their effectiveness?
How do we both oppose evil deeds such as the killing of innocents (17 children so far in last 3 days) while also building an alternative positive future for all children?
How do we reach out to churches and mosques around the world?
How do we grow our own food instead of consuming products that fund wars and harm our health?
What are best practices to counter the destructive power of special interests like AIPAC and other lobbies on western governments?
How do we counter media spin that distorts reality and blames the victims?
How do we support each other emotionally? How to be transparent, express emotions, yet be guarded from being exploited?
What is the best way to work on changing the destructive direction of many Arab states (normalizing and colluding with colonial oppressors and damaging the interests of teir own people)?
How do we organize to make (civil) resistance sustainable and that it achieves discrete short term and long term goals?
Please gather in small groups and address these and/or other questions. Your public communication needs to be guarded and your private communications limited to trustworthy people. Doing so, we not only can help come up with some answers to these questions but to ask many more questions and answer them together towards a better future.
Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton and others did not let daily news/challenges prevent them from literally changing the world. They had a passion. We must use injustices to motivate (not frustrate us) and positive liberating action must follow. What we find most interesting is that people who worry too much end-up losing the opportunity to build a better future. This is precisely why many years ago we decided that, while it is important to stay abreast of “current events” (and even use them to motivate us), we must devote the vast majority of our time and effort and money to build a better future. We envision a future of caring and respect: for ourselves, for fellow human beings, and for all other living beings that share this beautiful but fragile planet. This is the vision of the pioneering “Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability” at Bethlehem University (palestinenature.org). The questions are raised in line with our vision to seek sustainable human and natural communities
Changing others? Changing ourselves! Posted at
https://popular-resistance.blogspot.com/2021/06/changing-ourselves.html
You can’t be neutral on a moving train. Stay Human/e and keep Palestine alive
5 September 2024
Mazin Qumsiyeh
A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home
Professor, Founder, and (volunteer) Director
Palestine Museum of Natural History
Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability
Bethlehem University
Occupied Palestine