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PROTEST | LA | PALESTINE
The Burden of Nonviolence
The L.A. protests and the Madleen
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Sunday night’s protests in LA came juxtaposed in my feeds with news of Israel’s kidnapping of the Madleen crew in international waters. I had spent the weekend on edge, as the Freedom Flotilla, carrying 12 international activists and medical supplies, approached Gaza’s shores. Israeli threats against Greta Thunberg, Rima Hassan, and the other activists on board were chilling. Memories of the 2010 flotilla, which ended with the killing of 10 activists, haunted me.
Both the Madleen’s journey and the LA protests have sparked talk of “nonviolence.” ‘Violent protests,’ we are told, ‘feed into Trump’s narrative.’ Martin Luther King is posthumously brandished, or shall I say, dealt like a drug — an antidepressant to keep you cool in violent times.
I have been a lifelong adherent of nonviolent resistance. In my autobiographical novel, Fugitive Dreams, I document my experience as a teenager during the Palestinian First Intifada, a non-violent uprising against violent Israeli occupation. I saw firsthand how a nonviolent struggle invited greater popular engagement and mass mobilization. Only 20% of a population are capable of bearing arms, whereas 80%…
