Israelis for Peace and the Global Citizen Festival, are they saving the world?
Union Square, NYC. September 29th, 2024.
Yesterday, on the 29th of September 2024, I watched the short manifestation in Union Square by Israelis for Peace NYC. It was drizzling and windy, so I covered my hair with an orange veil I bought in Dubai. As I made some videos and pictures, a man, also holding a camera, snuck up on me and mumbled something. “If Arabs were peaceful like these people, we wouldn’t have a problem in the Middle East”. I turned around and asked, “what?”. He reiterated, coming even closer, “If you people were peaceful, like these people, we wouldn’t be having a problem in the Middle East, would we?” Spooked, I just said, “Right…” and walked away.
What only dawned on me a few seconds later as I walked away made me tear up. The veil made him think I was Muslim, and, from that, he also assumed I was an Arab. This means that, if in the minuscule fraction of the time I spend in public with my hair covered by a veil was enough for someone to come up to me with insults, I can only imagine how much worse it must be for Muslim women who cover every day.
This man was trying to provoke me to lash out and prove how hostile ‘my people’ are. And he did it in a way which, if I had really lashed out, I would have no proof of what provoked me. He came close and spoke as quietly as possible so only I would hear. He wanted me to know that what’s happening ‘to my people’ in Palestine is justified, that I don’t really deserve to exist. But he also knew to veil his intentions, and I can’t help but see this moment as the microcosm of how this conflict unfolds. The dichotomy between peace and terror, self-defense and terrorism.
On one hand, we have Israelis who want to exist alongside a safe and thriving Palestine. On the other, Zionists who think an ethnic group is a threat and deserves what’s coming to them. All the while, Gaza is decimated, and Palestine supporters watch in horror.
The day before, Central Park hosted the Global Citizen Festival 2024, an annual music festival organized by Global Citizen, a movement aimed at ending extreme poverty worldwide. Attendees are encouraged to take action, though it’s not clear what action. A plethora of corporate sponsors (all food and beverage, in light of world hunger) and music industry stars help put some major civil society initiatives, NGOs, in the spotlight.
Reportedly, the Festival “resulted in $1 billion in commitments to defeat poverty, defend the planet and demand equity” for marginalized communities. The festival drew around 60,000 attendees, but details on the actual costs of hosting the event have not been disclosed (Buddy Iahn, for The Music Universe).
This $1 billion is not in the bank. They represent ‘pledges’ from governments, corporations, and philanthropists to fund projects and initiatives aimed at ending extreme poverty, promoting sustainability, improving education, and addressing equity issues worldwide – within no particular timeframe. These commitments might include financial contributions, policy changes, or partnerships to implement solutions in areas like healthcare, education, climate change, and economic development. The funds are allocated to various projects over time, often with specific goals and milestones. All very vague, but ensure the big B looks good on paper and makes everyone feel good about all the food, beverage and live entertainment they are consuming, while people starve or die elsewhere.
The actions encouraged by the Global Citizen Festival include signing petitions, sharing messages on social media, contacting government representatives, and participating in campaigns that address issues like poverty, climate change, education, and health. These actions supposedly help pressure world leaders, corporations, and institutions to commit resources and make policy changes that contribute to the festival's goals. By engaging in these activities, individuals can earn points toward rewards, such as tickets to the festival.
Several world leaders, corporations, and institutions were involved and present at this event. Including Nancy Pelosi. So, I can’t help but think these people already know about the problem, don’t they? Why do we, individual people in the audience, need to be calling them, posting about them, signing petitions to show them? Is it for the benefit of the cause, or for the benefit of visibility for these leaders, corporations, and institutions?
Raising awareness is the key here. Raising awareness for people to take action. And these actions are essentially to raise more awareness, to take more action, to raise more awareness…
Doja Cat was the only one to bring up Gaza at the Global Citizen Festival, together with Ukraine, Sudan, and the Congo as ‘conflict zones’. Is there hunger in Gaza? Yes. If we were to think about what action to mitigate food insecurity in Gaza looks like, sending a letter to the White House or signing a petition asking for food to be sent there is not it.
In the realm of civil society organizations, there is a tendency to think that the solution to problems is to find remedies for the symptoms. People are hungry in Africa? Let’s donate money to an NGO that gives food to Africans. But that doesn’t work, it has never worked. And the situation in Gaza is emblematic of how much it doesn’t work.
The ugly truth is that most people don’t want to think about what it would take to prevent hunger in the first place, as opposed to putting a lid on this endlessly overflowing problem. In other words, the solution to hunger is not more food. It’s addressing why there has been a lack of food.
Why is there hunger in Africa? Political conflicts, economic instability, climate change. Why is there hunger in Gaza? Conflict, economic blockades, and severely limited access to resources enacted by a deranged political administration. Do we really think donating bags of rice, writing letters, and watching Post Malone in Central Park will do something to solve all of that?
Israelis for Peace NYC requests no flags in their rallies — Palestinian, Israeli, or otherwise — because, to them, flags are provocative. They aim to create an environment focused on advocating for a bilateral ceasefire and humanitarian aid without ‘divisive’ symbols (Jacob Kornbluh, for The Forward) There is no real solution that isn’t provocative, that doesn’t turn this planet, and its systems, on its head. Only when we start accepting that, we will start to provoke some useful solutions, whether people want it or not.
Mirna Wabi-Sabi
Mirna is a Brazilian writer, site editor at Gods and Radicals and founder of Plataforma9. She is the author of the book Anarcho-transcreation and producer of several other titles under the P9 press.