View from the balcony...

First of all, I want to say that I should have been a journalist. I'm a little late on the realization so there will not be yet another career change. Still, when I heard the protest going by my hotel balcony, I felt compelled to check it out. I know, everyone reacts that way. But I wanted to take photos, make notes, record my reactions, those of the people, etc. You get the idea. In any case, here I am to write about it.

What seemed like thousands (and definitely hundreds) of people came out to demonstrate their support for Palestine in response to the most recent violence in Gaza. They were chanting, carrying banners and signs and marching through the street peacefully, albeit with a great deal of energy and enthusiasm. Some seemed like they could be easily provoked to become more violent but that didn't really occur. The emotion of it all was overwhelming. These people were passionate and the cause was most definitely personal. Most of the crowd looked Muslim, and I suppose many of them came from Palestine originally. The end of the parade consisted of some Catalan groups who evoked the memory of the Civil War and even the Transition to democracy here in Spain through symbolism and chanting. To say that this was a rally for peace would not be totally accurate. Many of the protesters were yelling "Israel asesinos" (Israel murderers) or were carrying signs with a similar message. The United States was often included as being a pro-Israel nation and therefore also a murderous country. Many signs called the violence perpetrated by the Israelis genocide. Some even went so far as to equate the Star of David with the Nazi swastika. A step too far, in my opinion, because the Star of David also represents Judaism and I would guess that most Jews want peace (on both sides) more than anything. I'm not here to get into a debate about this conflict, though. I just want to record what I saw. Check out the photos here.

I've never witnessed a protest of this magnitude. Of course, we've all seen images of a mass of people protesting, peacefully or otherwise. In Chicago a couple of years ago there was a fairly large march for immigration, but I didn't see it. Although, from the images on television it seemed like a meticulously organized event. The emotion of this demonstration made it seem like at any moment it could erupt into something more. Or perhaps that's what the media have conditioned us to think in response to just about any situation that refers to the Middle East. I felt myself thinking about how this might be reported in the U.S. How would Spain be perceived based on this act? Why do I feel the need to warn my students to be careful? If this was the Chicago immigration march, I would simply tell them to stay away because of the traffic. Perhaps because of 9/11 (which was not perpetrated by Palestinians), the images we are shown and the way the news of the Israel/Palestine conflict is reported in the U.S., we expect violence when we see demonstrations in support of Arab and/or Muslim countries. I don't think this is right. Intellectually, I see that both sides of this conflict need some serious adjustment. I can see Palestine's problem and I can see Israel's problem. However, I think the U.S. government and the media tend to be more blind to the Palestinian complaint and support Israel without much thought. I suppose there is a great deal of self-interest (if it's not completely self-interested) in the U.S. government's position, but from a civilian's point of view our action is completely lop-sided and maybe it shouldn't be. I guess inciting debate is inevitable.