The idea that people living under violent military occupation must be
instructed in nonviolence is problematic
Activism
Michael Merryman-Lotze on November 6, 2015 36 Comments
Israeli soldiers use rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition against
Palestinian protesters. (Photo: Anne Paq)
This morning I read yet another comment from someone in the US putting forward
their solution to the “conflict” in Palestine and Israel. Apparently
Palestinian women need to start pushing for Gandhian nonviolence, challenging
their men who are more naturally inclined towards violence (like all men). They
need to teach their kids about the value of nonviolence. Apparently, if
Palestinians can manage to teach a new generation of youth to internalize
nonviolence then the “cycle of violence” can be upended and peace can be
achieved. I’m glad that yet another person in the U.S. can offer their wisdom
to Palestinians.
But where does someone outside of Palestine get off telling Palestinians how to
raise their children? The message here is that Palestinians are raising their
children in the “wrong” way. The assumption is that somehow Palestinians view
their children differently than we do in the “West” and that they are raising
their children to value violence. The assumption is that we must teach
Palestinians how to raise their children. This implicitly accepts a variant of
the racist Israeli position that Palestinians love death more than their
children. This is a dehumanizing and racist position. We must bluntly call this
out. We can’t continue to just point out that saying this type of thing
misunderstands the core of the conflict. It’s a racist position.
At the same time, positions like this one that insist on Palestinian
nonviolence in the face of oppression show no understanding of the core of the
conflict. What does teaching your kids about “nonviolence” look like in a
situation of extreme structural violence and inequality? Let’s take as an
example the kid who lived downstairs from me when I was in Ramallah during the
Second Intifada. This kid came from a family active in peace circles. His
parents were involved in dialogue groups, peace programs, and various other
forms of non-violent activism. They were raising their child in an environment
where peace and nonviolence were constant topics of conversation.
In 2002 this kid would have been about 6 years old. Now he is in his late teens
or early twenties, one of the generation currently protesting in Palestine. In
2002 the Israeli military invaded Palestinian cities and placed them under
curfew. Snipers were put on the roofs of buildings and anyone leaving their
home was shot on sight. Tanks patrolled the streets. Soldiers conducted house
to house raids and searches. My street was searched three times.
The first time Israeli soldiers searched my building I was walked around my
house with a gun against the back of my head as another solider walked by my
side, gun at the ready. The soldiers carried out similar searches in each
apartment.
When Israeli soldiers arrived at the home of the family mentioned above, the
parents of the family were visiting their neighbors. Their young son was naked
in the bath when the soldiers entered their home. His parents were not allowed
to come to him while the soldiers were in their home. He was forced to stay at
home alone, naked, wrapped in a towel, as soldiers invaded his home. When the
soldiers left the building another neighbor was so scared she started to vomit.
Could this experience make a mother’s words about nonviolence ring hollow?
The day before the soldiers searched our building another group of soldiers
searched the buildings across from our home. They were violent. They kicked
down doors, destroyed property, assaulted residents. The family who owned the
home directly across from me was not home. A neighbor had the key to their
locked home. While the soldiers were attempting to kick down the locked door of
the unoccupied home the neighbor with the key turned on her light to provide
assistance. The Armored Personnel Carrier in front of my building opened fire
on her home for five minutes. She was not injured but her home was severely
damaged. All of us cowered in fear on the floor away from outside walls as this
shooting went on, hoping that gunfire would not be directed towards our homes.
Could this experience make a father’s words about nonviolence ring hollow?
Several young men were taken from a building across the street. They were
driven across the city and left in the street. This was at a time when being
out in the street would get you shot. They found refuge in a nearby home and
were not able to return to our area for 3 days which was when the curfew was
lifted for a few hours. Other men were taken and didn’t return for months.
What does this say about power to a child?
We found out about the snipers and curfew when a woman two streets over stepped
outside on the first morning of the invasion and was shot in the head. Two
young men four blocks over were shot and wounded in a similar situation.
Similar stories were told across the city.
What does this say about the valuation of life to a child?
A week into the invasion our water was cut. We had no running water for 3
weeks. We were under curfew for 9 months that year. Military jeeps patrolled
the streets throughout that period. The later curfews were not enforced by
snipers, but people found violating the curfew were beaten, tear gas was thrown
into homes, people were arrested.
What does this say about rights to a child?
The day the Israeli military pulled out of Ramallah after the March-April
invasion of 2002 all of the children in my neighborhood including the young boy
from downstairs gathered in the street in front of our building and began
playing Israeli and Palestinian. They collected spent bullet rounds and
pretended to shoot at each other with homemade guns.
A parent’s words meet the reality of life.
In the years that followed violent raids into Ramallah and other Palestinian
cities continued. We watched as F-16’s bombed the police station in the valley
across from our home. Apache helicopters carried out assassinations in town.
Palestinians were killed regularly without accountability. Roadblocks were
formalized and turned into permanent checkpoints. Jerusalem was sealed off from
the West Bank. The Wall was built. Movement was continually restricted. Gaza
was sealed off from the rest of Palestine. Gaza was attacked and placed under
blockade. Thousands were killed and the world supported the attacks. Settler
violence grew without accountability. Night raids into Palestinian communities
were a daily occurrence. Thousands of Palestinian homes were destroyed.
Children learn from life.
Educating children for peace reads well for those of us living in safe,
comfortable privilege, but children see the reality that surrounds them.
Palestinian children see military occupation. They recognize the violence
inherent in a system that discriminates against them. They see how the values
taught in a course on nonviolence do not match the reality in which they live.
A parent’s efforts to teach “nonviolence” are constantly running up against the
reality of daily life under Apartheid.
The idea that nonviolence must be taught to the people living under violent
military occupation and apartheid is problematic. The idea that the violence
they may use in legally resisting occupation and apartheid is the violence that
we must first work to end is problematic.
I support nonviolence on ideological grounds, but my beliefs must first and
foremost influence my own actions. I can’t dictate to people living with
injustice and violence the actions they must take and I can’t say they have no
right to use tactics that the laws of war say are legal, tactics that their
oppressor is allowed to use without condemnation. As a person with privilege I
have no right to dictate to anyone living with structural violence and racism
the actions they must take towards their own liberation.
Those of us from outside demanding action must not focus on telling
Palestinians how to liberate themselves. Rather we should be lifting up the
already existing powerful actions that they are taking to challenge injustice.
We must listen to Palestinians and others living with injustice, take our lead
from them in their struggles for justice, build relationships with them,
support their efforts, undermine our own privilege, and work to end our
complicity in injustice.
Those of us committed to nonviolence should work for changes that will end all
violence, but we should start by working to end the systemic, structural
violence that is at the roots of the neo-colonial, apartheid situation in
Palestine. Undermine that system of injustice and violent resistance to
injustice will disappear.
This post first appeared on Facebook 2 days ago.
About Michael Merryman-Lotze
Mike Merryman-Lotze works with the American Friends Service Committee in
Philadelphia as their Palestine-Israel Program Director. He has been involved
in activism on Palestine since 1996. From 2000 through 2003 Mike worked as a
researcher with Al-Haq in Ramallah and from 2007 through 2010 he worked with
Save the Children UK as their Child Rights Program
The idea that people living under violent military occupation must be
instructed in nonviolence is problematic
Activism
Michael Merryman-Lotze on November 6, 2015 36 Comments
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Israeli soldiers use rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition against
Palestinian protesters. (Photo: Anne Paq)
This morning I read yet another comment from someone in the US putting forward
their solution to the “conflict” in Palestine and Israel. Apparently
Palestinian women need to start pushing for Gandhian nonviolence, challenging
their men who are more naturally inclined towards violence (like all men). They
need to teach their kids about the value of nonviolence. Apparently, if
Palestinians can manage to teach a new generation of youth to internalize
nonviolence then the “cycle of violence” can be upended and peace can be
achieved. I’m glad that yet another person in the U.S. can offer their wisdom
to Palestinians.
But where does someone outside of Palestine get off telling Palestinians how to
raise their children? The message here is that Palestinians are raising their
children in the “wrong” way. The assumption is that somehow Palestinians view
their children differently than we do in the “West” and that they are raising
their children to value violence. The assumption is that we must teach
Palestinians how to raise their children. This implicitly accepts a variant of
the racist Israeli position that Palestinians love death more than their
children. This is a dehumanizing and racist position. We must bluntly call this
out. We can’t continue to just point out that saying this type of thing
misunderstands the core of the conflict. It’s a racist position.
At the same time, positions like this one that insist on Palestinian
nonviolence in the face of oppression show no understanding of the core of the
conflict. What does teaching your kids about “nonviolence” look like in a
situation of extreme structural violence and inequality? Let’s take as an
example the kid who lived downstairs from me when I was in Ramallah during the
Second Intifada. This kid came from a family active in peace circles. His
parents were involved in dialogue groups, peace programs, and various other
forms of non-violent activism. They were raising their child in an environment
where peace and nonviolence were constant topics of conversation.
In 2002 this kid would have been about 6 years old. Now he is in his late teens
or early twenties, one of the generation currently protesting in Palestine. In
2002 the Israeli military invaded Palestinian cities and placed them under
curfew. Snipers were put on the roofs of buildings and anyone leaving their
home was shot on sight. Tanks patrolled the streets. Soldiers conducted house
to house raids and searches. My street was searched three times.
The first time Israeli soldiers searched my building I was walked around my
house with a gun against the back of my head as another solider walked by my
side, gun at the ready. The soldiers carried out similar searches in each
apartment.
When Israeli soldiers arrived at the home of the family mentioned above, the
parents of the family were visiting their neighbors. Their young son was naked
in the bath when the soldiers entered their home. His parents were not allowed
to come to him while the soldiers were in their home. He was forced to stay at
home alone, naked, wrapped in a towel, as soldiers invaded his home. When the
soldiers left the building another neighbor was so scared she started to vomit.
Could this experience make a mother’s words about nonviolence ring hollow?
The day before the soldiers searched our building another group of soldiers
searched the buildings across from our home. They were violent. They kicked
down doors, destroyed property, assaulted residents. The family who owned the
home directly across from me was not home. A neighbor had the key to their
locked home. While the soldiers were attempting to kick down the locked door of
the unoccupied home the neighbor with the key turned on her light to provide
assistance. The Armored Personnel Carrier in front of my building opened fire
on her home for five minutes. She was not injured but her home was severely
damaged. All of us cowered in fear on the floor away from outside walls as this
shooting went on, hoping that gunfire would not be directed towards our homes.
Could this experience make a father’s words about nonviolence ring hollow?
Several young men were taken from a building across the street. They were
driven across the city and left in the street. This was at a time when being
out in the street would get you shot. They found refuge in a nearby home and
were not able to return to our area for 3 days which was when the curfew was
lifted for a few hours. Other men were taken and didn’t return for months.
What does this say about power to a child?
We found out about the snipers and curfew when a woman two streets over stepped
outside on the first morning of the invasion and was shot in the head. Two
young men four blocks over were shot and wounded in a similar situation.
Similar stories were told across the city.
What does this say about the valuation of life to a child?
A week into the invasion our water was cut. We had no running water for 3
weeks. We were under curfew for 9 months that year. Military jeeps patrolled
the streets throughout that period. The later curfews were not enforced by
snipers, but people found violating the curfew were beaten, tear gas was thrown
into homes, people were arrested.
What does this say about rights to a child?
The day the Israeli military pulled out of Ramallah after the March-April
invasion of 2002 all of the children in my neighborhood including the young boy
from downstairs gathered in the street in front of our building and began
playing Israeli and Palestinian. They collected spent bullet rounds and
pretended to shoot at each other with homemade guns.
A parent’s words meet the reality of life.
In the years that followed violent raids into Ramallah and other Palestinian
cities continued. We watched as F-16’s bombed the police station in the valley
across from our home. Apache helicopters carried out assassinations in town.
Palestinians were killed regularly without accountability. Roadblocks were
formalized and turned into permanent checkpoints. Jerusalem was sealed off from
the West Bank. The Wall was built. Movement was continually restricted. Gaza
was sealed off from the rest of Palestine. Gaza was attacked and placed under
blockade. Thousands were killed and the world supported the attacks. Settler
violence grew without accountability. Night raids into Palestinian communities
were a daily occurrence. Thousands of Palestinian homes were destroyed.
Children learn from life.
Educating children for peace reads well for those of us living in safe,
comfortable privilege, but children see the reality that surrounds them.
Palestinian children see military occupation. They recognize the violence
inherent in a system that discriminates against them. They see how the values
taught in a course on nonviolence do not match the reality in which they live.
A parent’s efforts to teach “nonviolence” are constantly running up against the
reality of daily life under Apartheid.
The idea that nonviolence must be taught to the people living under violent
military occupation and apartheid is problematic. The idea that the violence
they may use in legally resisting occupation and apartheid is the violence that
we must first work to end is problematic.
I support nonviolence on ideological grounds, but my beliefs must first and
foremost influence my own actions. I can’t dictate to people living with
injustice and violence the actions they must take and I can’t say they have no
right to use tactics that the laws of war say are legal, tactics that their
oppressor is allowed to use without condemnation. As a person with privilege I
have no right to dictate to anyone living with structural violence and racism
the actions they must take towards their own liberation.
Those of us from outside demanding action must not focus on telling
Palestinians how to liberate themselves. Rather we should be lifting up the
already existing powerful actions that they are taking to challenge injustice.
We must listen to Palestinians and others living with injustice, take our lead
from them in their struggles for justice, build relationships with them,
support their efforts, undermine our own privilege, and work to end our
complicity in injustice.
Those of us committed to nonviolence should work for changes that will end all
violence, but we should start by working to end the systemic, structural
violence that is at the roots of the neo-colonial, apartheid situation in
Palestine. Undermine that system of injustice and violent resistance to
injustice will disappear.
This post first appeared on Facebook 2 days ago.
About Michael Merryman-Lotze
Mike Merryman-Lotze works with the American Friends Service Committee in
Philadelphia as their Palestine-Israel Program Director. He has been involved
in activism on Palestine since 1996. From 2000 through 2003 Mike worked as a
researcher with Al-Haq in Ramallah and from 2007 through 2010 he worked with
Save the Children UK as their Child Rights Program
