Sometime before 10 a.m. on April 8, a group of protesters began to congregate on the corner of Wright and Anderson, their gathering prompted by President Joe Biden’s visit to Madison Area Technical College to announce his new student debt relief program. Made up of both Madison College students and Madison community members, they were there to express their opposition towards Biden’s stance on providing military support to Israel despite the recent actions of the IDF in Gaza.
The IDF’s brutal bombing campaign in Gaza since Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7 has killed more than 34,000, almost 15,000 of whom are children, as of April 23.
There has been international outcry at the IDF’s repeated violations of international humanitarian law. This includes their siege of Gaza, indiscriminate attacks, collective punishment, as well as alleged deliberate targeting of international aid workers, deliberate targeting of journalists and violations of medical neutrality.
It is difficult at this point to say the IDF’s actions lack genocidal intent.
By 11am, the congregation had expanded to quite a large crowd of approximately 80-100 people standing on both sides of Anderson street, one side holding letters spanning 50 feet, spelling “Joe, Stop the Gazacide”. Protestors with bullhorns lead chants calling for an end to the siege and a ceasefire. The tone was solemn, with mixed feelings of heartbreak and outrage.
At that protest were two Muslim women, there to share a message.
“I stand with Palestine and want justice and peace for all of my brothers and sisters. I want their voices to be heard even when they can’t all be present to use their own voices. I want to let them know that they aren’t being forgotten and that the tragedy isn’t being forgotten or hidden.”
Around 11:40 a.m., a small group of people wearing masks and scarves over their faces joined the crowd. They quickly cut off those who had been previously leading the chants to begin chants of their own, and the tone shifted from solemn to hateful.
“They started chanting some very vulgar things along the lines of ‘Biden go to hell’ and ‘Israel go to hell’. […] I feel, as a Muslim, personally, that should never be said, and I started thinking, what does ‘Biden go to hell’ have to do with Palestine being free?”
One of the women turned to face the newcomer with the bullhorn, and asked, simply, “Why are you guys chanting this?”
The newcomer turned to face her, and without hesitation, raised their bullhorn to point it at her face from roughly 4 feet away. The newcomer began to shout while advancing on her, “Why are you here then?! Why are you here?!”
She responded while stepping back, “Well, I’m here to support Palestine, not to decide whether Biden goes to hell or not.”
The newcomer, continuing to advance on the two women, shouted back, “Well then leave, why are you here?! You don’t understand!”
“She just kept saying that over and over, and I just got sick of it,” one of the women said.
The two women turned to leave, and the newcomer continued to follow them for a few steps, continuing with the barrage. Then, as the women got farther away, the newcomer smugly yelled, “Thanks for coming!” before laughing. The newcomer was neither Muslim, nor middle eastern.
“I didn’t feel safe or heard,” wrote one of the women.
The other said, “I felt personally attacked, because you’re making Palestinians look terrible, you’re making Islam look terrible.”
She continued, “The person who was at the protest, she screamed in my face, ‘you don’t understand, you don’t understand,’ but I feel like out of the two of us, I would understand. My family has gone through war, my family is Muslim.”
The primary duty of someone who wishes to advocate against oppression as a third party is to listen to and amplify the voices of those who are being oppressed. On April 8, the newcomer with the bullhorn did the opposite.
When asked to reflect on the events of April 8 and to share their perspective as Muslims, the two women had lots to say.
“People who aren’t Muslim, aren’t Palestinian, have to realize that what they put into the world, we will have to deal with the backlash, ” she said.
“I feel like the loudest people at those protests are usually the most ignorant. […] You’re not helping Palestine, you’re hurting it,” she said.
“Muslims won’t try to be violent to make their voices heard. We want peace for all, and doing so by also killing isn’t our solution. I want to show people that [Palestinians] are peaceful people, they don’t want hate.
“A good ally is someone willing to understand the facts and listening before acting,” she said.
“You have to understand something before you speak on it. … Be passionate, but with that passion there also has to be understanding.”
Be wary of those with loud voices who can only justify their words with aggression. Actions devoid of rationale kill movements.
Passion is energizing, being one of many feels empowering, but don’t let yourself be swept away by it. Use your passion to feed your desire for deeper understanding, and always remember that it is often the softest voices among us that are the most worth heeding.