Protesters calling for cease-fire in Israel-Hamas war block freeway in Seattle for several hours
Protesters calling for cease-fire in Israel-Hamas war block freeway in Seattle for several hours
Protesters calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war blocked northbound traffic on Interstate 5 in Seattle for several hours Saturday.
Can someone please calmly explain how blocking a freeway across an ocean and a country on a different continent, is supposed to have any effect on a political issue in the middle east?
Because the US has a massive hand in that political issue in the middle east.
Also the even more direct fact that Israel exists primarily to provide the US control over middle eastern oil. It's an air base and port and provides air space through which to it can attack countries in the region. The constant war carried out by Israel against neighbors and within it's own border destabalizes the region, making it easier to maintain US supported authoritarians.
Making life harder for people in cars is actually direct action against one of the root causes of the genocide. If you are in a car, you are complicit in genocide.
The US has no shortage of air bases in the Middle East. I find it difficult to believe Israel is of particular importance for that reason.
Not all anti-Israel commentary is antisemitic....but this sure as hell is.
Israel exists primarily to provide the US control over oil in the region? That's its purpose for existing?
That argument shows complete disregard for the millions of Jews living there and the sequence of events that led to the need for a sovereign Jewish state in the first place
The people delayed in traffic on the other hand have zero influence. And more than likely are now massive Israel supporters due to being so pissed off by the protesters.
The economy being affected by the protest does, though. But setting aside the effectiveness of this method of protesting, lemme just quote MLK here.
I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
This is your attitude now.
I too support genocide on the first inconvenience.
The idea is of course to bring attention to the fact that the US is funding Israel and giving them weapons. We also have some pull in the world and if we wanted to make it a thing, we could no doubt get all support for them in the area put on hold until they turned their shit around and stopped shooting/bombing anyone not in an IDF uniform.
Some pull? The US is funding this war. Israel is getting so much in free money from your taxes it should make you sick to your stomach
I said some pull because the UK and others would still need to get on board to do a blanket "cease-fire if you want aid" type statement. The US alone would only be a bump for them, but since they already have weapons they have bought from us for years, and aid coming in from other countries it would mean they wouldn't need to pay any attention right away.
We also have some pull in the world
Which is currently being used to defend Israel. Can't forget that part.
A lot of what these protests are trying to do is make it harder to ignore the reality of what is happening.
Now I agree these kind of protests don't gain support. But they're not trying to win support: they're trying to make people aware of the problem as one that shosuldn't be ignored.
The gamble is the cause is important enough and sympathetic enough that forcing people to be aware of it might get people towards political action. Even if it is just calling their representstive and going 'wtf'.
For Americans every dollar we earn at work and every cent of tax we pay is a contributing factor in the conflict. But many are aware and think that is just fine. That is my personal concern with this protest: a lot of Americans are completely stoked about it and protesting just makes them shrug and go 'purple hairs lol'.
Yes, they're banking on the "no such thing as bad publicity" mantra and willing to risk jail time for that.
I think there are better ways of doing that, and I also don't think this is the right time to do it. We're not directly involved in that war, we're merely selling weapons and keeping ships in the area to discourage the conflict from spreading. This isn't like Vietnam where we're literally the ones doing the killing.
I agree that Palestine should be free, but not with Hamas in control. Hamas is a terrorist org that networks with other terrorist orgs, and if they gain independence, they'll continue terrorism. Fatah isn't much better, but they seem quite a bit more reasonable and perhaps should be courted in negotiations for an independent Israel. Regardless, any independent Palestine must recognize Israel's legitimacy or it's not going to happen.
One could argue that blocking a freeway causes some negative economic impact. There are a number of US defense contractors who are profiting nicely from Israel’s recent military mobilization. This could be a message to the military industrial complex that “we the people” can grind things to a halt if we need to.
Personally I’m not a fan of blocking freeways as a form of protest, there’s just too much risk of affecting something time sensitive like an ambulance, organ transplant, etc. But I also empathize with the protestors, they probably feel strongly (as do I) that the violence needs to stop, and they feel helpless. There’s a lot of drive to make things right, and no real way to do that other than making a statement.
I see this argument every time a protest is held.
Can you name the number of times an emergency vehicle like an ambulance was blocked with a negative consequence from a blockade protest and divide it by the number of times such protests have occurred in the US?
I want to know what your threshold of “too much risk” means in terms of empirical data.
Oh, and then compare that to regular traffic!
Yeah, I think the fact that highway blockages are viewed so divisively only points to how effective they are. They have economic impact and are hugely visible -- I think they're one of the most effective non-violent direct action tactics available, though the participants should prepare to have the book thrown at them.
I most certainly cannot. I wouldn’t even know where to start to find that data. I’m not sure it’s ever happened, nor if it’s something that would even be tracked/documented in any meaningful way. Tons of random things can delay something like an ambulance - car crashes, inclement weather, rush hour, etc.
My point was not that freeway-blocking protests are inherently bad, just that my feelings of the potential for negative impacts to innocent “bystanders” stress me out. I am not a fan of freeway-blocking protests for the same reason that I am not a fan of icy roads.
Now, is a freeway-blocking protest effective? Depends on how you quantify effectiveness. Was awareness raised? (Probably.) Were the lives of Gaza’s residents improved? (Probably not.) Would some other protest format have been more effective? (Probably not.) Are any protests really that effective when our government answers to billionaires instead of citizens? (Doubt it.) Does that mean we should lay down and accept mistreatment of our fellow humans? (Fuck no!)
While people might be inconvienced by these protests remember how inconvienced the people being genocided by american bombs are currently being
FWIW, this is one of the most common forms of protest in Seattle since BLM. It’s not necessarily newsworthy to us locals! And yes, to confirm, most people in the city get pretty annoyed with protestors when it happens. A lot of people late to work, missing medical appointments, stranded with kids in the car, etc.
Hey guys, another local checking in to say protest is cool and effective protest is even cooler!
You might even say that people being late to work is exactly the economic impact that such a protest is designed to create.
Eh we did it back protesting invading Iraq. Didn't do anything then.
But Seattle wasn't Amazon back then.
No, we didn’t stop the war. I marched with 300k people in Washington (a lot of veterans) and we still didn’t stop the war. But I think the widespread and global protests of the Iraq war made it clear that the US was going to wage war despite its unpopularity, evidence, allies backing out, etc. A similar thing appears to be happening now with the backlash to Israel’s Hamas response.
Here’s a good column about what those protests writ large “accomplished.” https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/20-year-anniversary-of-iraq-war-protests
damn i should work in Seattle so i can use this as an excuse to get out of work
Last time I was held up by these people, I was on my way to try to pick up my dog's cancer medication. So no, I don't sympathize with them.
In a society where a huge portion of us are on the cusp of homelessness any threat to your livelihood seems like a threat on your life. I dont agree with it but I totally understand why some people run these protesters over. Last time I heard about one of these they were blocking a mother trying to get her kid to an ER in London. There is an older video of a guy begging them to move so he doesn't lose his job and go back to prison (part of his parole). Threatening peoples livelihoods to make them agree with your politics sounds a lot like terrorism and I absolutely hate these kinds of protests. They could at least leave one lane open so people are slowed and see your message still but they dont. Also how privileged are these people that they can do this and dont have to go work instead? Must be really nice to have enough that you dont have to worry about making rent this month or feeding your children
a society where a huge portion of us are on the cusp of homelessness any threat to your livelihood seems like a threat on your life
Land of the free...
Threatening peoples livelihood... sounds a lot like terrorism
It absolutely does.
I hope these protesters are jailed, because this nonsense is a violation of a whole host of social norms, and we have laws against it for good reason. I don't think they would be charged with terrorism though unless they threaten to keep doing it to make a political point. But jail time should absolutely be on the table.
That said, I agree that Palestine should be independent. However, this stunt does not make me sympathetic to their cause, and I'll ignore their entire platform and make my own decisions. If they protested in front of symbolic institutions (say, the capitol in Olympia, or at Seattle Center in front of the Space Needle), I would be more sympathetic. But screw these people and I hope they get what's coming to them.
That said, this could be a good time to discuss mass transit. If transit were better in the region, this wouldn't be nearly as impactful. Seattle doesn't have many good options to get to and through the city, so moving as much traffic off it as possible has a ton of value.
don't have to go to work
Paid and unpaid time off are a thing.
I have a private theory that the establishment likes to put ideas in people's heads about methods of protest that are guaranteed to turn people against the cause that's being advocated for. For some reason, it works, and protest groups adopt these methods.
Blocking highways is one of these; throwing paint on famous art is another.
If a protest blocking traffic makes you support a genocide then you’re a piece of shit
If you're so caught up in "this is what I feel like doing, I don't care if it's counterproductive," to the point where you're okay with turning people against these critical missions, then you're a piece of shit.
Every big successful movement like civil rights had to consider whether the tactics they planned to use were going to be effective. There was an earlier candidate who could have been Rosa Parks, but she was a pregnant teenager, and civil rights leaders at the time didn't make her the figurehead because they didn't want the racist white men of the time to have any easy reason to dismiss her or beat up her character.
Does it make the general public at the time "pieces of shit" that they wouldn't fight for the rights of a pregnant teenager just as much as a married black woman coming home after working all day? Yeah, kind of. Is that still something you should strategize about if you want to achieve civil rights? Yes. A thousand percent yes. Which is more important; being stubborn, or winning?
(And, as a side note, I think most people who support Israel over the Palestinians don't "support genocide" in their own minds; they aren't aware of Israel's crimes in near as much detail as you and I are. I think if you asked them factually about how many Palestinians versus Israelis have died you'd get a real real wrong answer. If you try to fix that situation by making them late for work and screaming in their face about how they support genocide, get ready for the American public to keep supporting genocide for a long, long time to come.)
This is reductive, come the fuck on.
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The art was behind glass, which the protestors knew beforehand, which was why they chose to throw paint on it.
It was completely undamaged, and only children and idiots think its a reason to not support a cause. Which of those 2 are you?
The museums don't agree with you.
What percentage of people in the world do you think are going to be positively impacted (in their thinking) by this action, versus negatively impacted? If you don't care about that answer, then you are hurting the cause you claim to support.
Throw insults around all you want; you have that right, if you think that that's a more important thing to do than educating people effectively about climate change.
People just abandoned their cars on the highway and walked away. They knew it was going to take all day and they had places to be. :P
Some people were confused and thought it was a Syrian protest too, not sure the message got through, haha.
Yep, them and any "protest" group that has dress codes are massive glowies
Totally fair that people are protesting to try and bring awareness so that hopefully our government can get on board with a ceasefire. In the end, both sides of Israelis and Palestinians both are in a losing war. From my perspective, I see countless innocent Palestinians who might not be directly linked to Hamas having to deal with the horrors of war and then the Israeli side really aren't doing themselves justice with the whole thing of bombing hospitals. Even if Hamas may or may not have been using them as base of operations it's still a war crime in my book.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Additional demonstrators on a nearby overpass cheered in support of the blockade, which began around 1:15 p.m., the Seattle Times reported.
The state transportation department said on the social media platform X that traffic at one point was backed up more than 6 miles (9.7 kilometers), and the agency asked drivers to use alternate routes.
Stormy weather, including hail, moved through the area, and protesters left the freeway around 4:45 p.m., according to the Times.
Trooper Rick Johnson with the Washington State Patrol said via X that while people had abandoned the freeway, 12 vehicles were left behind.
Since then the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Saturday a total of 22,722 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s subsequent assault.
Still, international criticism of Israel’s conduct has grown because of the rising civilian death toll.
The original article contains 264 words, the summary contains 135 words. Saved 49%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Welp, that oughta solve it. GG guys.
It doesn't!
Can someone please calmly explain how blocking a freeway across an ocean and a country on a different continent, is supposed to have any effect on a political issue in the middle east?
Well, it makes me aware of it, and want to do something about it. So, I'm going to ask my state representatives to increase the penalties for jaywalking, and expand use-of-force laws by declaring that reasonable vehicular force is justified against those deliberately and notoriously impeding traffic.
I assume the protesters are playing some sort of 5D chess, and understand how broader jaywalking and vehicular force laws will bring peace to the Middle East. I certainly don't know, but I don't really need to know. I'm happy to do my part to help them with their plan.
Whenever I read comments like this, Im reminded of conversations with non americans, who dont understand why americans are so eagerly bloodthirsty and excited to try and kill their own neighbors for the smallest inconveniences.
I bet you threaten people in the mcdonalds line for taking too long to get their wallet out of their pocket, ey?
Don't lump me in with that guy