Janice and Max go to the Israeli embassy to commemorate Aaron Bushnell!
The ANSWER Coalition and other groups called for a Hands off Rafah Global Day of Action on March 2. Rallies took place around the country, including in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Janice and I decided to attend the rally at the Israeli embassy off Van Ness Avenue on International Drive. It was an easy call, as we had to be there to honor the action taken by Aaron Bushnell.
Through Chris Hedges, we read Divine Violence by Eunice Wong. She described his immolation as “divine violence against radical evil.” Then she let him speak for myself:
“I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I am about to engage
in an extreme act of protest. But compared to what people have been
experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at
all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”
We drove from Baltimore, and once we got near the embassy we saw
lots of protesters and a huge police presence around the 1 PM starting
time. After we parked and walked down Connecticut Avenue, we saw many
more placard carrying activists. Because of the crowd, we set up with our
placards on Van Ness and announced we were there because of the ongoing
genocide, war crimes and slaughter of the children. There were many
speakers, many chants and some music which animated a lively crowd dominated by
youth. Biden better beware as the youth are visibly perturbed by his
ignorant support for the Israeli genocide. One sign caught Max’s attention:
IrrePRESSible. I am sure the holder is aware that the Israeli Defense
[sic] Force sees a journalist wearing a PRESS notice as a target. At least 88
journalists have been killed in the Gaza Strip. Max hopes to organize a visit
to The Baltimore Sun so that it recognizes the Israeli attack on journalists.
One of the chants was the From the river to the sea, Palestine
will be free. This chant is considered anti-Semitic by the
right-wing. However, it can be interpreted as a call for a State with
equal rights for all. At the beginning of the rally, there was a moment
of silence for Aaron Bushnell, followed by the usual attacks on capitalism and
imperialism. Janice kept shouting that the weapons contractors were
profiting from the destruction of the Gaza Strip. She was also upset that
there was no criticism of AIPAC from the stage. A small segment of the
crowd started shouting a vulgar refrain about Biden. I said to Janice that it
was disrespectful. One of the youth near me criticized my observation. I
appreciated her vigor in condemning Biden, but my complaint was about the use
of a vulgarity in a crowd with many children. Biden deserves to be called
a war criminal, and Max plans to vote Uncommitted in Maryland’s primary
election.
Around 2:30 PM, we left the gathering which was still
happening. In fact, lots of people were just getting to the area. As we
headed towards Connecticut Avenue, we picked up leaflets from various groups.
One document had three different groups listed on it: BAMN, Movement for
Justice and the International Trotskyist Committee. There was a
condemnatory notice of groups supporting “Israel’s genocidal occupation of
Gaza—including phony ‘pacifist’ look-the-other-way policies.” This reminded us
of the Hermann Goering quote: “The people can always be brought to the bidding
of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being
attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the
country to danger.”
We went to the Flavor Garden on Connecticut
Avenue for lunch. Two Metropolitan Police officers entered the
establishment, and Janice told them that her sister Joyce was the first female
police officer in Wisconsin. They appreciated the information. I
asked them about the size of the crowd. One of them indicated they
expected 500 people. The other estimated the turn-out to be anywhere from
two to three thousand activists.
In the midst of our lunch, we heard a
lot of voices outside so we grabbed our signs and stood just outside the
restaurant’s door. The rally goers were marching up Connecticut Avenue,
and some of them stopped to photograph us. Soon thereafter, two of the
restaurant employees came out to photograph the march. We felt good that
we selected a restaurant with employees who supported the marchers.
One of the marchers came over and videotaped
Janice. She then joined us for lunch and nibbled on the carrots and
hummus. Lina was a Lebanese-American from Pittsburgh who wants to be a
journalist. She is taking an International Studies course at George
Washington University, and one of her teachers is a former CIA analyst.
Janice told her about crossing the line at Fort Benning in a protest against
the School of the Americas. I reminded Janice that she was also arrested
at Gina Haspel’s confirmation hearing. We explained to Lina that Haspel
was involved in the Bush administration’s torture program. Prior to her
confirmation, she destroyed the torture tapes. The GW student was also
told about our arrests at the CIA protesting killer drones, and Max’s
involvement in a human rights delegation to Israel/occupied Palestine during
the First Intifada. We appreciated very much that this Muslim woman was
quite knowledgeable about US injustices and wished her the best in her future
endeavors.
As we walked to our vehicle, Max thought again about Aaron
Bushnell and what Eunice Wong wrote about divine violence. She related that she
was in Prague in 1989 for the commemoration of the self-immolation of a
20-year-old university student named Jan Palach. He lit himself on fire in
Wenceslas Square in 1969 to protest the Soviet invasion of
Czechoslovakia. When candlelight vigils took place at his grave,
communist authorities dug up the body, cremated it and gave the ashes to his
mother. By 1989, however, posters of Palach’s face were everywhere in
Prague. Thousands marched to the Square of Red Army Soldiers and renamed it Jan
Palach Square. Maybe someday the road to the Israeli embassy will be renamed
Arron Bushnell Avenue.
Donations can be sent
to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206,
Baltimore, MD 21212. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at]
comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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