Thursday January 29, 2009
I realize I have lost myself. I have lost myself in the faces, the stories, the lives, the suffering, the nervousness, the tension, the anger. I have lost myself in a whirlwind of emotions, in a whirlwind of bombings and shelling, in a whirlwind of snipers, in a whirlwind of gunboats, blood, and shootings, of tanks and ambulances, in a whirlwind of demands and questions, of clarifications and responses, of questions with answers that are questions without answers…
The demonstration against the entry of the BBC reporters began at eleven thirty in the morning. Dr. As'ad and I arrive to see Haidar Eid who I have missed dearly after not being able to see him for some days. I miss his light sense of humour, his hilarious impersonation of Dr. As'ad, his smile, his lousy attire, his shaggy hair, his discordant laugh, his radical attitude, his quick eye movements, his hazel eyes… Adel comes along, and I confide in him my rising fears of leaving Gaza without return. Comrade Cueeva, after arriving, tells me I can always get in via the 'special entries' [of which I cannot elaborate on at the moment], with special coordination from within, now that I have 'connections' herein. Nevertheless, I am not reassured.
Kamal distributes flyers with "BOYCOTT BBC" on them. Comrades Ewa and Cueeva stand by my side at the front as Kamal begins speech talking about the absurdity and the 'beginning' of this all when Belfour gave his promise in 1917. Ewa followed in English speaking as a British citizen, against the British Broadcasting Company, followed by Dr. As'ad and then Mustafa Barghouti who gave a speech [which I did not like]. He condemned the actions of the BBC, but never mentioned the 'boycotting' of it, missing the point of the whole event. At the end of his speech, M. Barghouti talked with the BBC! Haidar noticed and screamed from where we were: Boycott BBC! Shame on BBC! Out BBC!
The whole point is that these reporters that got in were with the Israeli occupation forces' tanks as they bombed the children of Gaza. The BBC also refused to screen a charity call for humanitarian aid to Gaza that the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) was caling for. In the Alsafeer Economic Newspaper, Peter Chonka writes in his article "Thousands Protest BBC 'Impartiality' on Gaza" on the 25th of January, 2009 that the fact that the "casualties of the conflict have fallen overwhelmingly on one side- the Palestinian Gazan side at a ration of around 100 to 1- is seemingly irrelevant in this question of impartiality."
After the demonstration, Naser came by and told me he wants me in his National Arab Forum group. I usually define my attitude, with particular scrutiny towards identity politics as "an Arab Woman from Lebanon," or as, according to a line Mahmoud Darwish wrote in his Wada'aan Ayyatuha el Harb, Wada'aan Ayyuha Essalam [Goodbye to War, Goodbye to Peace] first published in 1973 in Beirut, of which he says "I do not belong to a country, I belong to a revolution" [ana la antami ila watan, ana antami ila thawra]. As a leftist, anarchist [yes, leftist and anarchist can exist together], feminist, secularist [with on extra A that I do not wish to mention herein, now at least], I prefer my identity to be closely affiliated with the second statement. But, my first is what I have been usually using within the Arab and Western media… especially to the Western media of which presume… presume many things, and in an extremely Orientalist approach.
I leave with Adel and Haidar, and comrades from the Internaitonal Solidarity Movement leave to Beit Hanoun. I later followed to Beit Hanoun to do my private visit there to a very special family…
Haidar, Adel and I had some coffee at Delices café, where we discussed Mustafa Barghouti's attitude: he was speaking to the BBC in a demonstration where the whole idea and action was to BOYCOTT BBC!
It is necessary that one boycotts radically… how else will there be change? How else will effect be transitional? We are in need of a radical transition: transition of world power, transition of narrations, transition of attitudes, and transition of ways of action…
Many of the ISM members were hesitant about boycotting of the BBC, and some were embarrassed by the issue of incapability of boycotting since they usually speak out through this corporation to the world. Haidar and I agree that the need to be radical during such times is necessary.
..to be continued
Pictures taken by the bloggers in Gaza
