So look, here’s what I would say to you: it’s true what I said, that all the speaking that I’ve done, or other people have done internationally, all the advocacy that you may have done, all the letter writing and petitions that you may have signed… have not saved a single finger of a single Gazan child. Some might say that we have failed. Don’t believe that for one second! You have not failed! The very fact that in the face of all the propaganda and all the withholding of truth, so many people’s hearts are broken, that’s a sign, that’s a tribute to humanity. And if your heart is broken, that’s a tribute to you. Even if you feel broken-hearted, and helpless, and hopeless, and in despair, don’t let that get to you. Because you have a larger goal here, which is to contribute to the light and the truth in the world as best you see it. And that is a long-term… struggle. It’s a long-term calling. And all of us can contribute to it.

— Gabor Maté

Yemen gives me hope. They’re working to impose a complete aerial blockade on “israel”.

From my understanding, to stop the zionist entity, the US and Europe have to fall apart economically to the point that they are no longer able to materially support the entity. As a citizen of the global south, while protesting for Palestine, another possible action is to advocate for diversification away from the US regime. Within Mexico, this is starting to bear fruit and voices like mine are starting to grow stronger in the gov’t and the private sector. I am pretty sure plenty of people in the global south may have reached similar conclusions or even better ones.

All I know is that efforts to stop this genocide will bear fruit. Soon all of the material supporters of the zionist entity will face demise and nothing will stop the global resistance from finally saving our dear Palestinians. I wish there was a quicker way but the US and Europe chose to defend and interfere in favor of the entity.

Just know you’re not alone in feeling this way. I don’t have the luxury of living in a place where organizing, protesting, and fighting back are realistic options, and I do often wonder about the effectiveness of doing so even given the opportunity. I think of Aaron Bushnell’s words almost every day, “If you ever wondered what you would have done during the Holocaust, you’re doing it now.” It makes me deeply ashamed. I would throw my body on the gears if I could, but I can’t find the gears, and I can’t throw my body on them. They’re simply out of my reach.

Lenin puts this best. The activities which effectively disrupt the machinery of slavery, genocide, and oppression have been outlawed and are being outlawed. This is doubly so in the imperial core. I think BDS is an appealing option for so many first-worlders because it is something we can do that is extremely difficult to criminalize.

Take solace that the work which brings imperialism to its knees is not ours to do. It is the work of the oppressed peoples of the world, and they are the only ones who can succeed in this endeavor. It will happen with or without our support. And it will happen. Let Hamas fire the shots, let Ansar Allah enforce its blockade, and let South Africa take these criminals to court. Palestinians need decent human beings to stand up for them in the imperial core.

Whatever you do, don’t despair. It sounds extremely stupid, but hope for a better world and a steadfast belief in justice which transcends courts and cops are potent weapons against soul-crushing barbarism. Keep speaking truth to power, comrade. It is all we can do.

Like, all the people in Gaza will be dead if this continues. And then what? Be proud I went out at least? They’d still be dead. We’d all be ashamed and will ‘never again’ ourselves and continue with our lives. But they are dead.

Be ashamed we didn’t do more? What else apart from [redacted, illegal] is there to do?

Nothing major politically happens because an individual does something. We have to get together with other people that think like us and build that organization until it can take substantiative action, possibly in coalition with other organizations.

As an individual, that looks like joining an org and improving it. Improving it is you gaining skills, teaching those skills, doing logistics and planning, facilitating actions, interfacing with other orgs, and recruiting. I’m lumping in knowledge with skills - reading and knowing theory and history is also a skill.

Doing this is work, particularly emotional labor. Most socialist organizations retain heavy doses of liberalism both officially and among members. Many people and meetings will be exhausting. But this is how you learn the most valuable skill: navigating conversations to organize other people, including those who just said the must absurd thing you’ve ever heard. Building our movement means socially building a big series of conveyor belts to loop people into action and development so that we have a growing core of dedicated revolutionaries as well as a larger mass of sympathizers who can take action when called upon.

There is no other mode by which we can be said to have done anything substantial politically. The rest of what we can do as individuals is basically charity and making those around us a little less reactionary. Those are good things, but highly limited, and not up to the task of taking on the number 1 sponsored genocidal apartheid settler colony of capitalist empire.

What else can be done for Palestine as a person in the imperial core? I have been wondering this myself for a while.

I have an concept rolling around in my head but it is a bit extreme. Not Bushnell level extreme but close. It could make a positive difference if all the pieces came together without a hitch but I don’t know if the difference is worth the risk. I’ll admit I am too big of a coward to participate in the execution of something like this and any logistical reasons I don’t are secondary to that fact.

The truth is that, unfortunately, there was not much anyone could do within legal parameters in the US. It’s depressing and grim but it is the truth. Protests were going to work just as much as May Day marches were going to result in the US going full communism, which is to say that they were never going to work. In the US, even BDS is becoming criminalized. Most we could do is continue to agitate and use it to organize others.

That being said, if someone did what they could to oppose it and were against it then I don’t think any particular guilt rests on them. A working class individual with no power will be severely limited. It would be like blaming someone who worked at a grocery store in Nazi Germany for the Holocaust. What could they really have done beyond what they were able? We should avoid getting to the point of White/Westoid Savior Complex. As others said, the only way to really stop it is with the end of the US Empire and a radically different form of state. If we are organizing for this and aiming our praxis towards communism then we are doing our individual part as best as we could, in my opinion.

Respect to some comrades in the UK, etc., who took it further though.

I have been donating to some Gofundme’s but it’s hard when I’m on a fixed monthly income (disability).

Yeah. I wish so much there was something more I could do to make a difference. It feels like keeping hope is the only act of defiance I have left.

There is a lot to be done. It’s not only about feeling good about protesting as an individual.