How to march for Palestine

For much of the last six months I have been doing a daily 20 min march bearing a Palestinian flag up and down the high street in Matera, Italy, close to which I live. This blog is a record of the technique I've developed. This is not an attempt to take the campaign online, quite the contrary, this has been a rare opportunity for me to work IRL! (in real life)

Equipment

At an event (called a manifestion in Italy) shortly after the Al Aqsa flood I picked up a dormant flag and held it aloft. After the second time, this flag was given to me as a present. You can obtain one online for 20-30EUR, and slip it over a broomstick. 

I wanted a way to engage people a bit more, so I purchased some stickers were obtained after a quick websearch, from Minilabels in UK.

The route

From my house to the other end of the high street and back is 20 mins, which is as much as I can afford every day. I have been known to veer onto other streets and even to furl up the flag and nip into the supermarket. But the protocol is not to carry the flag everywhere I happen to 'passagiare'. The intention is a march, and as such, it should be in the middle of the busiest (pedestrianised) streets. The march does not include the little street I live on. I go at different times of day, because it means I'll be seen by different people.

The police

In some places in Europe I would be arrested merely for carrying that flag because the genocide is now a matter of national security for all US vassals. But Italy is softer; the local police, carabinieri, are not militarised. I have been stopped 3 times in total required to show my documents and released without comment. I offer no comment, no sarcasm, no resistance, just cooperate with people doing their wretched job like the poor sods who work in call centres. I cannot be accused of doing a hate march. Italian citizens are not free as are the English, and must carry ID at all times and police do not need a reason to demand to see it. 

The demand

Italy like my native UK, is not a society which listens to the preferences of its population. I do not waste my breath on demands. The flag can be interpreted in any way from "Did you know these Arabs are being genocided" to "Let's slaughter all the Jews!" I have my own private meaning which is much broader: "Our taxes and our politicians support this massacre because they are controlled by the great beast, USA". This feeds into the larger question of all the other massacres going on right now, and why I don't march for them. Ukraine has lost up to 10x more citizens than Palestine, for example; then there are other conflicts, and beyond that all the death and oppression caused by international white colonialism, and domestic class war. If I may offer a  geopolitical opinion, it's all the same shit.

The tone

I veer between defiant, and funereal. I walk slowly, (but not as slowly as Italians doing <em>passagiare</em>). No music or podcasts in my ears. I do not try to catch people's eyes.  I do not attempt to preach or educate or engage people in any way. If I did, my message would flounder on the rocks of my stunted Italian language skills. I'm not trying to challenge citizens oblivious of their complicity in genocide, but merely to bear witness. If I hear "Free Palestine, or "Bravo" or any positive words, I reach out and wordlessly offer 2 stickers. If someone seems critical I wordlessly incomprehensibly smile back at them. If someone asks what flag it is, I answer with one word and march on.

Engaging children

Generally I don't engage young children with parents except perhaps with a smile. A child that shouts Palestine has clearly been informed by their parents and will love a sticker. I've had a few words with older children and teenagers but I don't want to communicate to them the horror and the role of their country in it. Children need to be protected from one-sided propaganda and I can't educate them on the street!

Photo opportunities

The reaction of the young arabs hanging around, is invariably to ask to borrow the flag, and take photos of each other draping themselves in it. I'm happy to oblige and wait. I don't object if someone snaps me as I march - but I don't pose; the intention is to draw attention to flag, not to myself. My aim is not to court social media, but to wave the flag of the victims IRL.

The theory of change

When the invading Arab hoards are land in South Italy to rampage up through Europe and start smiting all the towns, and they arrive in Matera and say, no, let us stay our hand because here lives one righteous man, it won't be me, because I will have moved to the countryside. Seriously, nothing will change until the global hegemon is overcome by the BRICS. Maybe then human rights will make a come back, but the decline of civilisation into poverty, corruption, and inequality cannot be prevented any more than climate change and resource depletion can be prevented. My theory of change is the same as a cry of rage and disappointment. Perhaps the march is more art than protest. Its power, if it has any, if it could be measured, is in the consistency, when people see the march over a period of months. Perhaps also this blog has power, I don't know. It doesn't matter.

The payoff

It's not about the payoff. It's about living with myself in a country that arms and supports slaughter of civilians. I know the flag is seen by hundreds of people a day and that's enough. On some marches I have no cause to give away stickers. On others I might make up to three gifts. Some people say nice things.

It took a long time, but there has been some appreciation on FaceBook. This is not the most articulate and intellectual appreciation, and it focuses less on Palestine and human rights than on me, the mysterious American (wait, isn't he English?) who walks with such demure dignity. A couple of people have offered me coffee of appreciation in passing, but not wanted to talk much! 

Conclusion

For most people who see me, Palestine is a remote and very foreign conflict that flares up in the news from time to time. It has nothing to do with them and the best they might do is express pity for the victims. They know or feel that speaking out about it, on either side, is likely to draw anger. My experience as a bearer of the Palestinian flag, has been overwhelmingly positive. I have received almost no abuse, and a lot of approval. The accusation that I am an antisemite, anti-Israel (I'm probably against all nation states as currently constituted) or even a supporter of terrorism is simply not there on the street.