In our politically correct world, whatever that means these days, non-violence is what our society at large deems as the ultimate form of resistance. Non-violence is celebrated, placed on the pedestal of political struggle, of human dignity, and of social influence.
We reference the leadership of Mohandas K. Ghandi. We echo the bone-chilling voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We sing the songs of John Lennon. And we celebrate the freedom of Nelson Mandela. They and countless others have all sacrificed so much...to emancipate so many.
The masses are moved when they hear such names; for when they learn about injustice, they begin to understand it. And when they understand injustice, they begin to feel it. And when you feel, you act.
The "Good prevails over Evil" storyline doesn't quite materialize. I mean: 42% of India falls below the poverty line; more African-Americans are in jail today than were enslaved in 1850; stratospheric amounts of money are poured into military spending every year ($700 billion+); and post-apartheid South Africa looks more apartheid-like than ever before-- it's just not officially separated along racially defined ethnic lines.
Nevertheless, we embolden non-violent initiatives, support non-violent struggles and pride non-violent resistance. They warm our hearts because of how they have come to define humility, maturity, steadfastness, and inner peace. They give us hope.
On the other hand, political correctness has led us frown upon any form of armed resistance against, causing them to be publicly outcried, condemned, and labeled. If supporting the oppressed does not fit the neo-liberal or neo-conservative (ie neo-imperial) political discourse, their armed resistance is usually lumped together with extremism, radicalism and of course...[insert dramatic music]...terrorism. It's as if we no longer wish to learn, no longer wish to understand, and thus we maintain a sort of comfort zone mentality, a status-quo thinking of "us vs. them". No one asks why. No one cares to figure out the root causes. It's as if those oppressed did not experience any injustice or pain. And so "they" have no reason to resist. It's as if they are just violent people. "They" do not feel, "they" do not love, and "they" sure as hell do not want peace. So they do not even deserve it. They are just violent. They are defined by violence. And all they will only ever understand is violence. It is the most dehumanizing thing one can do, for it completely rationalizes what can be done to them.
For the past sixty-four years, Palestinians have suffered at the hands of the state of Israel. The application of Zionism is a violent process of ethnic cleansing, and it was met with armed resistance for decades. The Israeli forces' mighty war arsenal crushed the Palestinians' basic weaponry. Later on, as they continued to suffer under what can only be described as Israeli genocidal practices, Palestinians resorted to sacrificing themselves, taking innocent Israeli lives with them, in what can only be described as acts of complete and utter desperation. With a mass media system so possessed by Zionist rhetoric, it is clear that the Palestinian people were to be condemned to the wrong side of a manufactured context.
And yet, despite the PLO-turned-PA's massive shortcomings and exposed collaboration with the Zionist occupiers, the broader Palestinian nation renounced its armed resistance as it was forced to accept the Oslo "peace agreement" in 1993, which then morphed into a "political peace process" for more than a decade, then becoming a "roadmap for peace" following the 2nd Intifada, which then lead us to the current "preconditions to negotiations" stalemate.
We all know what became of that carefully reverse-engineered process; a setback for Palestinians and an advancement for Israel's strategic domination, as it continues to demonstrate its superiority just as it had done back in 1948. More land annexations, more mass murder military operations, and more ethnic cleansing practiced on the indigenous Palestinian people. The status quo is indeed solidifying Israel's violent nature and Palestine's disappearance, no matter how much propaganda the former throws at our faces claiming the opposite.
Armed resistance, horrific suicide-bombings, and a slowly disenfranchising "peace process" rendered the Palestinians weaker vis-a-vis their Israeli occupiers.
And yet now, today, as we speak, over 2,000 Palestinian political prisoners have embarked on a mass hunger strike to protest their illegal detainment without charge, the continued oppression of their people and the mass abuse of human rights they experience on a daily basis.
Indeed, they have embarked on the bravest, most peaceful, most self-righteous and self-sacrificing act of liberation the movement has ever seen. They are following the footprints of Ghandi, Dr. King, Lennon and Mandela. In fact, they are elevating the non-violent struggle, as Thaer Halahleh and Bilal Diab resist on their 75th day without food, the longest ever hunger strike in human history. Thaer's letter to his 2-year old daughter Lamar -- whom he's never met nor held -- is an incredible testament of non-violence and love, striking more powerful than any US-made Israeli missile ever could.
The Palestinian nation has suffered long enough. And despite what the fake history books have claimed, despite what the media says, the Palestinian people are, as Thaer put it so gracefully, on the right side of history; as we have always been.
This time, there is no excuse. Our Palestinian sisters and brothers on hunger strike are teaching the world what maintaining one's dignity means. How much more humiliation can a nation take? If this does not grant us our freedom, if this does not move the world to hold the Israelis accountable and begin the dismantling of its apartheid system, if this does not wake up the world to Zionism's innately racist application in Palestine, then it can only blame itself for the potential of a third Palestinian Intifada, whether it is violent or not.
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