Working together
Or, some dynamics that make you want to kill your well intentioned colleagues
With my eyes closed and half asleep, I feel a blanket being slowly draped over my sprawled out body next to the fire. Exhausted from the long hours of media production and fundraising around the Sumud: Freedom Camp, this gentle gesture from a Palestinian man was a reminder why we do this work, but also, just how much more work is front of us all.
While much has been said about the Sumud: Freedom Camp here, here and here (and for those interested in staying up to date, you can follow Holy Land Trust, All That’s Left, The Jewish Center for Nonviolence, Combatants for Peace, and Youth Against Settlements). This piece isn’t so much about the aims or the utility of the camp, but rather an insight into just how difficult and complicated it is to form a diverse coalition of Palestinian, Israeli and international organizations and volunteers that are effective and efficient, while at the same time is committed to changing the systems of oppression which perpetuate violence in the first place.
I think at times it’s easy to look and see a broad coalition such as this and think of how powerful it might be, how the sharing of their skill sets, social networks, and capital infrastructure would be a game changer. In many ways, it is. It is a game changer. But at the same time, if it was easy, we would see many more coalitions working in unison to change the landscape.
But the reality is, more organizations are already overexerted and running at max capacity as it is, so to sacrifice anything outside of their core programming is nearly impossible. Offering up access to your financial networks in the hopes of garnering enough material assistance to keep the coalition running is nearly suicide for most cash-strapped nonprofits. Staff is already working over 40 hours a week just to keep their over-ambitious job descriptions filled, then to put to an additional project on their plates pushes some to the breaking point. This doesn’t take into account adapting different modes of operation and ideas around best practices, but then to stress of ideological differences, and the synergy created is enough to splinter the group. And these are just the dynamics to consider during the planning phases, not even considering the rubber hits the road and implementation take place.
Then, add all of this to the coordination around a direct nonviolent action centered around the principle of civil disobedience, navigating the logistics of hundreds and hundreds of activists, across three different languages, where physical violence and incarceration are all but inevitable when a state apparatus is notorious for large scale oppression. The stress has the potential to turn everything into a pressure cooker. And when under stress, the principles of ‘undoing oppression’ start to break down.
Unchecked sexism marginalizes women in the coalition because the focus isn’t on sexism, it’s on the project. Palestinians begin to get regulated out of positions, because many times, they simply don’t have access to the same fundraising networks that internationals do abroad. Then those institutions bringing in the most material assistance often times undue influence in the decision-making process — whether intentional or not. Those with a mastery of the English language then in return get to craft the narrative to the international press, while those who don’t, again have their voices again go unheard. These fluid dynamics are then in return exacerbated by a lack of sleep, dealing with the trauma of being attacked by the Israeli military, and the paranoia that they will return again.
Understanding the need for the coalition to continue, and out of fear that addressing these issues could add an additional layer of destabilization, those marginalized in the coalition have a tendency to remain silent. And those of us in the privileged group, if we are not intentionally inspecting how and where oppression is manifesting itself, it continues to perpetuate and grow.
So how does this coalition continue to exist and function? The answer is complex and layered. But at the very core of that answer is commitment; a willingness to continue to wade through the muck for as long as it takes, no matter how painful it might be. Because like with the stranger who took a moment to cover me up on the cold Masafer Yatta plains, we know that within each and every one us, whether we know that person or not, there is a tremendous amount of love and goodness; and that love and goodness is something we must work to preserve and work to set free.
