IN PHOTOS ~~ THE FEARLESS GIRL ON WALL STREET (AND MORE)

April 12, 2018 at 10:18 (Activism, Associate Post, DesertPeace Exclusive, Gaza, International Solidarity, Israel's Shame, Photography)

There is a statue in lower Manhattan called Fearless Girl, she stands facing the Wall Street Bull with a stance and facial expression of total defiance.  A small group organized by Samidoun, which represents Palestinian political prisoners, decided go there with signs calling for the freedom of Ahed Tamimi, a teenager in prison in Palestine/Israel.  When they arrived there they put a keffeyeh on the little statue.  That act seemed to have sent an electric shock through the crowd.  Suddenly everyone wanted to pose with Fearless Girl, some held Free Ahed Free Palestine posters.  Most of the people there were tourists who were much more familiar with what was going on in Palestine/Israel than most Americans are.  Parents were heard explaining to their children who Ahed was.  During the 2 hours there only 2 people objected to the Keffeyeh on the statue.

Photos © by Bud Korotzer, Commentary by Chippy Dee

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New Yorkers who support justice for the Palestinian people have been very occupied over the past weeks, despite bone chilling weather most of the time has been spent on the streets.  Many of the people participating were there because they saw 30,000  people on a symbolic march of return to their land, nonviolent and  unarmed,  demonstrating for their freedom on their own land, on the Gaza side of the barrier, while Israeli military trained snipers, under no threat, and as their own families celebrated their freedom at Passover sedars, looked through their scopes, took aim and fired.  They deliberately assassinated one person after another leaving 31 murdered and over 1,000 injured.  A coalition of many groups called for a demonstration at Union Sq. on Friday, April 6th.  As the large plaza in the park filled with hundreds of people someone cried out, she had just received a call from Gaza telling her that her old friend, photojournalist Yassir Murtaja, wearing a clearly labeled vest with the word PRESS marked on it, had been murdered.  There was an outpouring of grief and anger and a memorial was planned for Murtaja and the other slain Palestinians.

Two days later, on another freezing night, about 90 people gathered at the same place for a chance to memorialize the Gaza dead and to share the enormous sadness and the even more enormous rage.  People came with candles to light the darkness and some brought flowers.  There were silent moments to think about the horrors we had witnessed on television and on our computer screens.  And yet more moments to fully understand that Israel had shown the world that they were fascists.  They had shown  their true ugly face.  All left with a determination to work even harder for boycott, divestment, and sanctions.

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Most Israel supporters are quiet now, the voices of the apologists for Israel have been shamed into silence for the moment.  Netanyahu and the settler/colonials born in Russia and Brooklyn are in control.

UNION SQ. MEMORIAL FOR YASSIR MURTAJA > 4/8/18

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