The organizers, L and H had only met a week ago and had never organized a rally before. I am happy and grateful that they took the initiative. L spoke of her childhood experience of war in Belfast during The Troubles. The Catholic terrorists and the Protestant terrorists were block-to-block. If caught she had to know the right story. What as the name of her church? Where did she go to school? What were her parents called, her grandparents? A mistake could mean rape and death.
When Hannah Arendt first visited Germany after WWII she described the unbelievable joy at hearing the German language in the street. Somehow this is how I felt at the Free Palestine rally yesterday: people where speaking my first language of peace, freedom, and human rights. It was talking around a fire with friends, it was a walk in peaceful woods, it was a warm bath for my soul. I felt more at home in the world.
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