Activists Once Again ‘Shut It Down for Palestine’ Haley Strack
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/activists-once-again-shut-it-down-for-palestine/
January 21–28 is another “Shut it down for Palestine” week. Hamas-loving social activists are supposed to strike for Palestinians by doing a few simple things:
- Reschedule your appointments
- No eating out
- Don’t do any banking
- Don’t use social media for anything except Palestine
- No shopping! Get essentials like groceries, gas, & medicine ASAP
- Stay home as much as possible
- If able, call out from school/work! Sick days, time off, delay shifts.
- Email your Reps — tell them you’re striking for Palestine and how
A young woman with pink hair and five-inch-long nails who has apparently positioned herself on social media as a champion for the Palestinian cause posted a video yesterday, in response to concerns that such a strike — not working or sending kids to school for a week, not paying bills, not buying food or gas — is unrealistic, and would favor privileged pro-Palestinian individuals.
“Just to be clear, the general strike is a call to action from Bisan, a young Palestinian woman whose entire life now revolves around survival and documenting the atrocities that are happening in Gaza. In English,” the pink-haired girl said. “She lost her home, lost loved ones, and on her last Live, as you could hear bombs going off in the background, she accepted that this may be her final night on earth. She called on us for a general strike.”
Bisan Owda is a Palestinian content creator who has catalogued “How Gazans Are Looking After Their Mental Health” and various instances of hospital bombings in Gaza. It is well-known and confirmed that Hamas keeps weapons caches in hospitals, schools, and residential areas. Bisan recently posted a video condemning Israeli forces for telling Palestinians to evacuate Khan Younis, where the IDF is now targeting Nasser Hospital. IDF forces say that Hamas launched a rocket from Nasser Hospital last week, and added that “Hamas operates systematically in the hospitals in the Gaza Strip and in the areas adjacent to them, using the civilian population as a human shield and exploiting the hospital infrastructure.”
Owda is also a member of the United Nations Women’s Youth Gender Innovation Agora Forum.
“The strongest governments and weapons manufacturers are supporting this genocide against my people, and you are our only hope! STRIKE globally and call for a ceasefire!” she said on Instagram. “Strike, protest, stop the economic movements and make pressure on your countries to stand against this and stop it, if ISRAhell don’t find the financial and weapons support, or governments to hide their crimes they will be forced to stop the genocide!”
Participants are also encouraged to attend pro-Palestinian protests. Strikers unable to take paid time off work are supposed to wear keffiyehs, or pro-Palestinian clothing, such as, perhaps, an “End the Occupation” T-shirt, to work.
This “global strike” sounds a lot like an influencer’s New Year’s resolution list: meal-prepping, reduced spending, less social media, no McDonald’s or Starbucks. Such interruptions of normal activities will inconvenience the strikers more than they will convince the U.S. government to abandon its righteous support for Israel. But let these people have at it. Related: I wonder why Elon Musk’s recent visit to Auschwitz with Ben Shapiro hasn’t convinced pro-Hamas online activists to boycott X. A few of my favorite lines from pro-Palestinian strikers on social media:
“i’d like to encourage everyone to do the most they can to show support to the cause & amplify palestinian voices. as for fandom spaces this especially means DO NOT ENGAGE IN UNNECESSARY DRAMA!” from X user “megumis #1 fan (watermelon emoji).”
“fanfic authors participating in the global strike by not updating or posting. that’s what i like to see, and it’s that simple to show your support,” says X-er “grayson xander (bat emoji) (spider emoji).”
“hewlo ill be pulling back from posting art for the week on my main accs due to the global strike,” user “pal” says.
More than 100 Israeli captives are still in Gaza, including a one-year-old baby, and “megumis #1 fan” is warning thousands of people online against creating unnecessary drama. Digital activism, it seems, is still doing a fine job at convincing people to rally behind radical social causes in rather silly ways.
Comments are closed.
