On Feb. 23, a group of pro-Palestine students at the University of New Mexico, including members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, were physically assaulted after mic-checking Nonie Darwish, a prominent apologist for Zionism and the so-called “war on terror.”
Darwish delivered a lecture, entitled “Why the Arab Spring is Failing,” in which she cast the movements for true democracy in the Middle East in a thoroughly racist light. She argued that democratic revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa, such as those in Egypt and Tunisia, would never succeed so long as they were under the leadership of Islamic ideologues. The light on the path of democracy, she asserted, is to be found in Israel, a state that opposes itself to Islamic Sharia law by declaring itself a “Jewish and democratic” state.
The protesters, wishing to oppose this false, racist “clash of civilizations” narrative of enlightened, democratic, Judeo-Christian civilization versus backward, violent, Islamic barbarism, stood up to Darwish’s pro-Zionist fear-mongering.
Mic-check of Zionist racism
The protesters used a tactic called “mic-checking,” which comes out of the Occupy Wall Street movement. By this tactic, many voices join in unison to make a single message loud and clear. The message was this: “Nonie Darwish speaks for Israeli apartheid and genocide at the hands of the IDF. Islam is not a religion of violence. Israel is a violent nation. The Arab Spring is not failing. The Arab Spring is HERE!”
The response to this non-violent protest was a violent assault by members of the audience. The mic-check was shouted down by some, which was to be expected. However, rather than simply waiting for the protesters to deliver their message and leave, as has been the case at similar actions in other parts of the country, a few of the pro-Israel audience members began physically forcing the protesters out of the auditorium.
One of the pro-Palestine activists, a young woman who studies at UNM, blacked out after being hit in the head. A young man was forcibly pulled over a row of seats. Joel Gallegos, a PSL member, was nearly punched in the face, though he escaped with only a minor injury to the ribs. A phone was destroyed, and a camera only narrowly avoided the same fate.
This assault shocked the protesters. They had wanted to use words to shake people out of their comfort and complacency with imperialist violence and apartheid policies. They anticipated words in return but were met with fists. While they were not assaulted by the entire audience, only protesters acted to protect other protesters from the violence. In the hallway, people who had used a non-violent expression of free speech were called anti-democratic and pro-terrorist.
Footage of the incident has gone viral. As this article was being written, the number of views on YouTube exceeded 150,000.
Solidarity with Palestinian liberation
Protests such as this show that the younger generation is waking up. We will not be quiet. We will not be polite or well-behaved. We will shout at the top of our lungs, as much as necessary, to declare the need for a new world where the rights of one group do not depend on the oppression of another. Power to the Arab Spring and to the Palestinian people!
