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So many people in the US and abroad express that they don’t know what to do in response to the utter violence they are witnessing. Start by doing what the Italians did this past Saturday, get outside and walk with others who feel the same.
I have attended countless protests in cities across the US. The last protest I attended was in Hawai’i, where I live and work, at the No Kings March on April 5, 2025. Estimates have it at 3,000 participants. As a sociologist and geographer, I have a decent sense of demography and space. As a long-time activist, I know how important it is to the powers that be to deny our numbers and the peacefulness of our protest.
I had the good fortune to attend the Saturday October 4 protest in Rome, scheduled at 2:30 pm local time, on a glorious sunny autumn day in a light only the Mediterranean can provide. These protests were called by the pro-Palestinian organizations as a nationwide event with activists and union members bussing in from various parts of Italy (buses with arrivals that were slowed due to police interference). The day before a national strike was called by the Italian General Confederation of Labor (GCIL). For the first time in over 20 years, it was not a demand for better labor conditions, but a political action in support of the Sumud Flotilla, which has been seeking to give food and medical items to Palestinians being starved by Israeli occupation.
A colleague and friend, who I had not seen for over a decade, though we were close participating in global justice protests in the mid-2000s, invited me to travel with her and her children and join the protest in Rome with her circle of friends. She had returned to her home in Italy about seven years ago. There are multiple reasons for return migration, but after having children, and even with a tenured university position, the school shootings in the US were something she could not shake off.
I joined the protest with her daughters, her friends’ daughters, and found myself amid five "tweens," with a Palestinian flag painted on my cheek, thanks to the girls’ artistic flare. The parents were friends since college days and had, like me, never stopped tending to causes of social justice. One friend commented that her father shared concerns of his grandchild participating in the procession. We joked about this word, and as we walked through the day, took rest under shade and fine jazz (“Watermelon Man”) being played loudly in front of the Colosseum. We eventually recognized the march to be just that—a calm, nonviolent procession, of at least a million people heading to San Giovanni square.
Just before getting to the square, we stopped to get the girls gelato and freshen up our water at the public tap. This was a remarkable way to be in the center of Rome with a million persons in protest and in peace. At San Giovanni, we stood and chatted, chanted a bit, the girls sat on the curb. We were there until after 7:0 pm, waiting for a friend of a friend of a friend to meet us so we could all get dinner. Eventually, we could not wait, our hunger got the best of us and several members of the party retreated to San Lorenzo, my friend’s old haunt from her college days in Rome.
It is remarkable that Reuters, Politico.eu, and other reports of the march mention clashes in their headlines and show sensationalized photographs. If we are accurate these occurred after the march, when the police in the area should have already departed rather than engage with some rightly aggravated youth, about .02% of the marchers. The five hour walk was locked in with the traditions of non-violence, it is the largest in Italy for over two decades. It was remarkable for me, in its calm, its warmth, and the matter-of-fact understanding that we can’t go on with our everyday lives while starvation and slaughter continue and Israeli forces act with impunity on land and sea.
Unlike US protests where we pride ourselves on verbiage, flags were the centerpiece in Rome. Yet the presses (even those I consider neutral) focused on the few flags among thousands, that promoted Hammas, or challenged the Israel Defense Forces. This is selective representation and a mischaracterization of the day, which was similar to an Italian religious procession with babies and children, elders, and those of us in between walking, chanting, and laughing. Side by side strangers knowing together that we are doing this in solidarity with those who have lost homes, their children, and mundane pain and joy.
So many people in the US and abroad express that they don’t know what to do in response to the utter violence they are witnessing as carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the National Guard in the US and in Palestine, Ukraine, or Sudan. Start by doing what the Italians did this past Saturday, get outside and walk with others who feel the same, talk, drink some water, and buy snacks for the kids.
An estimated 250,000 people dressed in red crowded into Museum Square in Amsterdam, demanding that the Dutch government end its support for Israel.
Expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and pressuring Dutch officials to end their longtime support for Israel were the goals of a massive demonstration in Amsterdam Sunday—one of the largest pro-Palestine protests held in Europe over the weekend as the two-year anniversary of Israel's bombardment of the exclave approached.
“The bloodshed must stop—and we unfortunately have to stand here because we have such an incredibly weak government that doesn’t dare to draw a red line. That’s why we are here, in the hope that it helps,” protester Marieke van Zijl told the Associated Press on Sunday in Museum Square in central Amsterdam, where an estimated 250,000 people gathered.
The protests in Amsterdam and across Europe came as Israel garnered global condemnation for its interception of more than 400 humanitarians from around the world who sailed toward Gaza in recent weeks with the Global Sumud Flotilla with the aim of delivering aid to the besieged territory, where a famine was declared in August due to Israel's near-total blockade on food, water, fuel, and other necessities entering Gaza.
In Sofia, Bulgaria, citizens carried signs reading, “Gaza: Starvation Is a Weapon of War,” while in Turkey's capital of Ankara, protesters held up placards condemning Israel's genocide in Gaza, where more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023.
Scholars on genocide and the Holocaust have joined leading human rights organizations—including some in Israel—and United Nations experts in declaring that Israel's bombardment of Gaza is a genocide. The International Court of Justice is also considering an ongoing genocide case brought by South Africa regarding the military assault and starvation policy.
In Amsterdam, most protesters wore red in solidarity with Palestine and many displayed Palestinian flags.
In the Netherlands, the government has long been a staunch supporter of Israel but in recent months has increasingly denounced its attacks on Gaza. In July it banned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from entering the country because they “repeatedly incited violence against the Palestinian population."
On Friday, Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel said he was "unlikely" to grant an export license to send F-35 fighter jet components to Israel. The country's Supreme Court last week ordered the government to review the currently suspended license to determine whether reinstating it would violate international law. The Netherlands is home to one of three regional warehouses for components of the US-made fighter jets.
Marjon Rozema, a spokesperson for Amnesty International, which helped organize the demonstration, called for the Dutch government to use "all economic and diplomatic means to increase pressure on Israel.”
Mass demonstrations were also held over the weekend in countries including Spain and Italy, where demonstrators demanded the release of organizers who had been aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla.
Hundreds of thousands of people marched in Rome, Madrid, and Barcelona, home of former Mayor Ada Colau, who was among those detained by Israel last week.
Organizers in Rome said 1 million people took part in Saturday's march, which followed Friday's one-day general strike across Italy.
"Governments, especially the Italians, are not taking action against what is happening in Gaza," one university teacher told the BBC on Friday at a rally. "We're here to say that it is time to intervene and solve things."
"The Italian demonstrations for Gaza and the flotilla have been of a rather unprecedented power in recent times," said scholar Bruno Montesano on Monday. "And they have had a global resonance that is equally surprising. And perhaps its strength derived from a sort of widespread spontaneous humanitarianism, as well as from the clashing contradictions between Western liberal-democratic chatter—certainly weakened even further due to the rise of the far right—and the racist and colonial practice of supporting Israeli fascism."
The UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories implored other countries "to mobilize their fleet to grant the flotilla safe sailing to Gaza, and deploy a real humanitarian convoy to break the blockade."
Critics of Israel's genocide in the Gaza Strip welcomed Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's Wednesday announcement that his country will join Italy in sending a warship to protect the Global Sumud Flotilla, which has endured several drone attacks during its journey to deliver humanitarian aid to starving Palestinians.
The flotilla—whose name means perseverance in Arabic—departed Barcelona over three weeks ago. The peaceful mission to break Israel's blockade of Gaza involves around 50 boats carrying hundreds of people from dozens of countries, including Spain.
"The government of Spain demands compliance with international law and respect for the right of its citizens to safely navigate the Mediterranean," Sánchez said during a Wednesday press conference in New York City, where he is attending the United Nations General Assembly. He said a vessel equipped to assist the flotilla will depart from Cartagena on Thursday.
Sánchez's move came after Italy's defense minister, Guido Crosetto, said earlier Wednesday that his government sent a naval ship "to ensure assistance to the Italian citizens on the flotilla" following an overnight drone attack in the Mediterranean Sea.
Both ship announcements followed 16 foreign ministers, including Spain's José Manuel Albares, warning Israel against attacking the Global Sumud Flotilla last week. On Monday, the Spaniard had reaffirmed diplomatic support for participants, vowing that Spain "will react to any act that violates their freedom of movement, their freedom of expression, and international law."
The Israeli government has a history of attacking flotillas, and although it has not formally claimed credit for the recent drone attacks, it is widely believed to be responsible. The latest was "the largest and most terrifying attack yet," Progressive International co-general coordinator David Adler, who is part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, told Jacobin.
"While we expect these attacks to escalate each day that we approach Gaza, we cannot normalize the criminal violence committed against this peaceful convoy of humanitarian workers and the critical aid that we carry with us," Adler said. "This midnight incident is just a reminder of the brutal violence deployed against the people of Palestine, hour by hour and day by day. If the state of Israel can attack us here—with the eyes of the world watching—then they can do so in Gaza a millionfold, with even greater impunity."
Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has posted multiple threatening messages on social media attempting to connect the Global Sumud Flotilla to Hamas, which Israel and its ally the United States have designated a terrorist organization.
"We have another proposal for the Hamas-Sumud flotilla: If this is not about provocation and serving Hamas, you are welcome to unload any aid you might have at any port in a nearby country outside Israel, from which it can be transferred peacefully to Gaza," the ministry said several hours after the latest attack. "Israel will not allow vessels to enter an active combat zone and will not allow the breach of a lawful naval blockade. Is this about aid or about provocation?"
The Spanish and Italian governments' decisions have generated questions about how Israel will now engage with the flotilla.
"Wow. This is absolutely huge," British writer Owen Jones said of Sánchez's move. "After the attacks, Spain is offering direct military protection to the flotilla bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza. So what now, Israel? Are you going to risk acts of war against a European nation so you can attack humanitarian vessels?"
The European leaders' actions have also been met with applause. Francesca Albanese, an Italian human rights lawyer now serving as UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, said: "Thank you, Spain."
"I implore other countries to mobilize their fleet to grant the flotilla safe sailing to Gaza, and deploy a real humanitarian convoy to break the blockade," she continued. "That's what people want. That's what humanity commands. If not in the time of a genocide, when??"
Nathan J. Robinson, editor in chief of Current Affairs, said: "This is a good start. Now tell him to gather food, pack it on ships, and send the whole navy."
"Let Israel face down the full Spanish Armada if it wants to block aid from entering Gaza," he added.
As casualties have continued to climb in Gaza—local officials said Wednesday that the Israeli assault has killed at least 65,419 Palestinians and injured 167,160, though global experts believe those figures are undercounts—a growing number of world leaders have not only called for a cease-fire but also recognized the Palestinian state.
At UN headquarters earlier this week, Sánchez described recent recognition of Palestine as "a crucial step" toward "the two-state solution" but also stressed that "there can be no solution when the population of one of those states is the victim of genocide."
Speaking to the General Assembly on Tuesday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro called for invoking the United for Peace resolution to send an armed protection force to Gaza. He also took aim at US diplomatic and weapons support for Israel, saying that President Donald Trump "allows missiles to be launched at children, young people, women, and the elderly" and "becomes complicit in genocide."