solidarity march um el fahm

solidarity march um el fahm
Originally uploaded by nostalgist

Yesterday I went to a solidarity march in Umm-el-Fahm, which is one of the largest Arab cities in Israel. Almost all of the residents are Arab-Israeli citizens. A few weeks ago, a man named Baruch Marzel led a group of right-wing settlers through the city in a march designed to provoke and intimidate the residents - in the subsequent riots about 27 people were hurt and many more were arrested. The counter-demonstration could not have been more different - we gave out roses and they brought us water and sweets.
I am reading The Bostonians by Henry James which is, among other things, a critique of activism. One of the primary targets is a suffragette named Miss Birdseye who is described as "a confused, entangled, inconsequent, discursive old woman, whose charity began at home and ended nowhere, whose credulity kept pace with it, and who knew less about her fellow creatures, if possible, after fifty years of humanitarian zeal, than on the day she had gone into the field to testify to the iniquity of most arrangements." This is in part a description of what keeps me distant from activism - a combination of the fuzziness of political idealism, the complexity of political situations and finally, fear of the law of unintended consequences. But right now I'm feeling like I need to be stand up and be counted for this very basic right - for citizens of a country to be treated equally and with respect.