Funny little dances, nothing too heavy
It's a children's app, Michael, what could it cost? The propaganda war?
It’s been a tough few weeks to be pro-Palestine. Or, you know, anti-genocide. Anti-war-crimes. Pro-life1.
Our Government, journalistic establishment and what we laughingly call the ‘Opposition’ have been desperately and consistently framing the slaughter in Gaza as a ‘righteous war’, when it is neither of those things. Our denominations and Church leaders in official statements and public prayers have been silent or pathetically half-hearted in their acknowledgement of Palestinian suffering, while drawing from endless wells of sympathy for Israeli pain. Politicians and the media class have worked hard to demonise peace-focused and pro-Palestinian activism, to the point of the laughable and painfully ironic.
And around us, colleagues, friends and family seem bizarrely willing to parrot the party line: Israel has a right to defend itself2. Hamas started this3. Israel is the victim4, not just of terrorism5, but of international bullying6.
Without wanting to centre the white guy, it’s been profoundly disappointing, disillusioning and depressing. You get used to people not caring when the oppression of Palestinians is at its usual level, ignored by the media. But when we all can see the civilian death toll rising, and yet people refuse to care, it can drain the hope out of you.
But here’s the thing. We are not the victims. The people of Gaza, searching for their children in the ruins of hospitals are. The Palestinians attacked by settlers in the West Bank are. The activists arbitrarily arrested for speaking out are, and, yes, the hostages taken and families bereaved by Hamas are, too.
Losing hope is a luxury of privilege. And while my shrink could tell you the toll all this has taken on my mental health, I think they could also say that I am alive, I am free and I am able to speak out. We all can.
Some people have been doing so beautifully and I want to amplify them here. Those people have been on TikTok.
If you’re of a certain age, as I am, you may be thinking: “TikTok? Isn’t that the app for kids? The one where they do the funny little dances?”
Yes, dear friend, the very same. And yet. This is the place where I have felt the most hope, been gifted with the most helpful information and found some of the most interesting, thoughtful and creative voices I’ve heard as I struggled to find words to convince people of the injustice being dropped on Gaza.
This is not me asking you to join TikTok.
I don’t really know where to start as the list of videos I’ve been sharing and saving grows every day, so I am going to select a few at random. But I encourage you to peruse the full and growing list as well.
Here’s my collection of Good TikToks about Palestine.
Feel free to come back and peruse from time to time or pick a few vids at random. These people are all so good at communicating — some will connect with you, others may not. But hearing from Jewish people, Israelis, Palestinians, queer people, Christians, Muslims, politicians, citizen journalists, pundits, comedians, sketch writers, academics and activists all speaking on behalf of Palestine may give you some hope. And it may give you something to share with friends and family to help them understand too.
I can’t guarantee that every one of these creators is a good person, or that all of their other takes are great. But I found these videos expressed something I wished people beyond my straight up fire FYP could hear, from information to personal reflection, arguments against common narratives and context to explain what is happening. They aren’t perfect (well some of them are) but they are beautiful examples of people trying to change the narrative to change the world.
Since they all came to me at random, I’m going to pick five at random for you here:
1. Israeli and US history, imperialist language and the situation in Palestine
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2. Weaponising queer identity against Palestine
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3. Funny yet serious update on the ‘conflict’ from last week
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4. Jewish Booktokker talks about the siege of Gaza, early in the conflict
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5. Sketch of the initial Israeli response to 7 October attacks
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I’ll share more as they come and I have the energy. Some shorter and some longer ones in future.
The end bit
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Footnotes
No, you do not get to call yourself that if you are not actively against what Israel is doing to Palestinians. You may be confusing your position with ‘pro-birth’, although in my experience, those who call themselves pro-life don’t tend to favour public funding for obstetric care for poor mothers, so maybe we’ll give them ‘pro-foetus’.
Does an occupying force actually have the right to defend itself when it fails in its duties to the local population? International law seems to suggest that the occupied have a right to use all means necessary to resist. But hey.
Despite what Israel, our political elites and billionaire-owned (or Conservative-controlled) media might have you believe, history did not start on 7 October 2023. There were literally several years before that. Decades even, in which Israel violated peace treaties, imposed Apartheid, killed civilians, killed journalists, killed activists, killed children and bombed Gaza, long before the recent Hamas attacks.
Kinda wild that one of the biggest, most sophisticated militaries in the world, which holds a one population of 2 million people in a permanent internment camp and which has a huge conscript standing army, is so put down by a nation that doesn’t even have its own passports, never mind military. Hamas is 25,000 people max. Israel’s current army is 300,000 people, armed with $3billion a year from the USA alone.
The CIA defines terrorism as: the calculated use of violence, or the threat of violence, to attain political goals through fear, intimidation or coercion. Hamas is, by this definition, a terrorist organisation, as have other Palestinian liberation movements. So were the militias that founded Israel. So were the ANC in South Africa. And so is the State of Israel, I think we have to agree, as it bombs civilians into giving up Hamas fighters and uses a show of violent force to discourage further attacks and maintain its political project of an ethno-state.
I remember the crocodile tears of white South Africans whose feelings were hurt by the sanctions and boycotts of my birth country. It’s a tactic, rich with doublespeak, which attempts to place the oppressor in the position of victim, even (or especially) at the level of culture. But let’s be clear: not one newspaper, not one TV station, not a single major media outlet has departed significantly from the script of: “Do you condemn Hamas?”; “Israel has a right to defend itself”; “resistance is terrorism”; “criticism of Israel is probably anti-Semitic, even from Jewish people”; “Israelis have been killed or murdered in ‘brutal and horrific’, sometimes ‘evil’ terrorist attacks, while Palestinians ‘have died’”; “Hamas uses human shields” rather than Israel is willing to kill civilians; and “This is a very complicated situation where both sides have done wrong” implying equal guilt. Israel’s western allies (including Christian churches that are often anti-Semitic) use Israel for strategic purposes and have invested heavily in dominating the narrative around Palestine, successfully, for decades.
Woah. You made it all the way to the end. Cool! I don’t know how this is going to go down, the whole sharing TikToks thing, but I really do want more people to hear these people. So I hope you don’t mind a second email in a week. Does it kind of balance out with the months of silence? Who knows. Much love to all who’ve commented, mailed and encouraged. xoxo
Thanks J. Thanks for sharing these hopeful TikToks. Brilliant!