Thank You, Dear Anarchists
Written by Michael Warschawski, Alternative Information Center (AIC)
Monday, 19 January 2009

Everyone has a breaking point. Last Thursday, the Israeli military slaughtered 73 people, of whom 24 were children. This black Thursday was my breaking point. I left the office of the Alternative Information Center and went home, to sleep. To escape from the sensation of helplessness, from the stench of pollution that clung to me, to all of us. I told members of the Coalition against the War that I would not come to the demonstration planned for Saturday evening in Jaffa, and they freed me from the tasks I had taken upon myself for this demonstration.

The next day, the stench subsided somewhat and I accompanied, as planned, the aid convoy organized by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel to Gaza. The next day I went to Jaffa, and for the first time in 40 years I had the opportunity to demonstrate as a protestor and not as someone responsible for the event. It was, as expected, a smaller demonstration than the one on 3 January—3,000 women and men, perhaps a few less. Smaller and much more radical—it was evident that the protesters were full of rage and shame about the crimes committed in our names and in the name of the Jewish people.

Freed from any task, I had to choose beside whom I would march through the empty and dark streets of Jaffa. I choose the bloc of the anarchists. Despite the huge age difference, only next to them could I feel a compatibility between the horrors of the situation and the slogans and shouts, which took no prisoners. Only the anarchists knew to express a clear and sharp break with the criminal state, from its actions and the accepted public discourse. The anarchists leave no room for the stinking glue that holds each one of us to the tribal collective to stick to them. The divorce with the collective they issued in past years in Bil’in and Na’alin, with the tear gas and beatings they endured, in injuries from shootings and increasing violence on the part of the military and police toward them.

I learned one or two things from the anarchists, the most important of which is that only through actions—and not statements and articles, is it possible to give validity to sayings such as “not in our name” and “our hands did not spill this blood.” Moreover, they provided us with a lesson in Jewish-Arab and Israeli-Palestinian partnership, a true partnership grounded in resistance and not opinions and joint declarations. At the demonstration in Jaffa it was possible to feel this partnership, and it is no coincidence that during the march the number of Arabs who joined this bloc grew and grew.

The Anarchists against the Wall are truly a special type of anarchists, who are not silenced by political correctness, and are prepared to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people in unconventional ways for those who define themselves as atheists: during the demonstration, one of these young heathens began shouting “Allahu Aqbar”, which shook the quiet Yeffet Street. I could not halt my outburst of laughter.

Grazie.

Non farlo! Aspetta e vedrai che a destra ci finiscono quelli che tu credi ti ci vogliano far spostare a te. Scommettiamo? I neocon erano tutta gente di sinistra, che spinta dalla fede nell’ideologia sono stati pronti a qualsiasi cosa pur di vincere. Persino a diventare di destra.

Tu, resta a sinistra.