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solidarity
What Protesters Know About Human Nature That Trump Doesn't
They know the real story of human evolution isn't about the strongest or most ruthless individuals surviving. Instead, our story is about cooperation and empathy.
Jun 14, 2025
In Los Angeles, protesters are standing between Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and families. In Chicago and New York, all around the country, they're refusing to let children be torn from their communities. They're risking arrest to protect their neighbors, doing what humans have always done: refusing to give up on each other.
These protesters understand something that Trump's administration, and Elon Musk, fundamentally don't: We are not monsters. When President Donald Trump releases lists of "killers, rapists, and drug dealers" to justify mass deportations and disappearances of our beloved community members, when politicians paint entire communities as threats to our survival, they're selling us an ancient lie about who we are. And everyone taking to the streets knows it's a lie.
What the Protesters Understand
The protesters know that Trump's attack on immigrants isn't just inhuman, authoritarian policy, it's also outdated and genuinely bad science that contradicts the very reason our species continues to exist. They understand that when one of us is under attack, we all are.
The lie Trump tells goes like this: Humans are fundamentally selfish, competitive creatures living in a "dog eat dog world" where survival means stepping on others. It's a story that despots have told throughout history because it makes their cruelest policies seem inevitable. If we're all potential monsters, then we need strong leaders to protect us from each other. If compassion is naive, then brutality becomes wisdom.
Every despot in history has had to first convince people that other humans aren't worthy of moral consideration.
Elon Musk made this explicit recently when he called empathy "civilizational suicidal" and claimed that empathy is "the fundamental weakness of Western civilization." The tech mogul and unelected government official described caring for others as a "bug" that's being "exploited" and "weaponized." Musk is attempting to reframe our greatest evolutionary strength as our fatal flaw.
But if this were true, you wouldn't be reading this right now and I would not be writing these words. Our species would have gone extinct long ago. The protesters know this instinctively, and science proves them right.
We Are the Descendants of Carers, Not Killers
What do the protesters understand that Trump doesn't? They know the real story of human evolution isn't about the strongest or most ruthless individuals surviving. Instead, our story is about cooperation and empathy. Early humans knew that we cannot tear ourselves apart because our strength comes from being in community with one another. The humans who shared food during famines, who cared for the sick, who worked together to solve problems, they are our ancestors. Influential early psychologist Sigmund Freud could not be more wrong when he said that we are the descendants of murderers. No, you and I, all of us, are the descendants of carers.
Our caring nature is something we have been able to gather empirical facts about, confirming this across multiple scientific disciplines. Anthropologist Kristen Hawkes has shown how grandmothers caring for offspring allowed for more descendants and drove longevity in our species. Primatologist Frans de Waal has documented empathy and fairness in our closest evolutionary relatives. Even among nonhuman species, generosity is the norm: vampire bats share blood with unrelated bats to prevent starvation, and sparrow-like pied flycatchers will risk their lives to help drive away predators from non-relative birds.
We don't have to look to the past or to other species to see the evidence of our inherent compassionate nature being our strength, not our weakness. We can look at our own children. Toddlers as young as 14 months will spontaneously help others—handing objects to people who can't reach them, picking up dropped items, sharing resources equally even when they could keep more for themselves. This happens before any cultural conditioning, before they're taught to be "good." Research shows that 18-month-olds will help unfamiliar adults regardless of parental presence or encouragement; these fascinating studies suggest that this instinct to help is intrinsic to who we are.
This is our default mode. Cooperation isn't something we have to learn, it isn't a weakness, it isn't destroying civilization. Cooperation and solidarity led to our evolution and are our greatest strengths.
When We Believe We're Monsters, Monsters Win
So why do we keep hearing a different story about our human nature from people like Trump and Elon? Because the lie serves those who hoard wealth and power. When they want to justify policies that violate our moral instincts, they first have to convince us that morality itself is naïve, that empathy is a weakness.
Trump's rhetoric about immigrants is more than dangerous white supremacy in action, it's strategically designed to make us forget who we are. By flooding the media with dehumanizing language about people "poisoning the blood" of America, by claiming immigrants are "not humans" but "animals," by deploying Marines against protesters in Los Angeles, his administration is trying to override our natural empathy and tendency toward care for one another with manufactured fear.
The protesters in Los Angeles and around the country are refusing to dehumanize themselves by allowing anyone in our community to be dehumanized.
Trump's approach is not new, and criticisms of it are not either. As labor organizer Emma Goldman wrote over a century ago, "The greater the mental charlatan, the more definite his insistence on the wickedness and weaknesses of human nature." Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem are charlatans selling us a lie about people in our communities being inherently dangerous. Just like Hitler, who used similar language about "blood poisoning" to justify his atrocities. Every despot in history has had to first convince people that other humans aren't worthy of moral consideration.
The current administration's approach follows historical patterns predictably. First, criminalize an entire population with selective statistics and inflammatory rhetoric. Then, when people naturally recoil from the cruelty of family separations and mass deportations, send in troops to suppress that moral instinct. Finally, frame any resistance as evidence that society is breaking down and needs even harsher measures. Trump has been orchestrating the chaos he needs to justify martial law.
Why This Matters Now
The protesters in Los Angeles and around the country are refusing to dehumanize themselves by allowing anyone in our community to be dehumanized. They are standing up for immigrants, refusing to let children be abducted from schools, because they understand that a society that abandons empathy for some will eventually abandon empathy for all. They know that when we allow the dehumanization of any group, we weaken the very bonds that make civilization possible.
Resisting the lies Trump tells us about human nature is urgent. If we believe the lie that humans are fundamentally selfish, we may become passive in the face of policies that violate our deepest values. We accept mass deportations and disappearances because we're told those who are being removed are monsters. We support militarized responses to peaceful protests because we're convinced our neighbors are our enemies.
But those are all lies. We have to hold on to the truth of who we are. We see that policies based on fear and division make us less safe, not more. We understand that our liberation truly is bound together. We see that people protesting the disappearances of beloved community members are fighting for all of our freedoms and rights. They represent the truth of who we are.
We are not a species of monsters barely held in check. We are not doomed to destroy each other when resources get scarce or when we encounter people who look different from us. We are the species that figured out how to care for each other across genetic lines, how to cooperate with strangers, how to build civilizations based on shared values rather than shared DNA. We have 14-month-olds who instinctively help others, brains that reward us for fairness, and genes that predispose us toward generosity. Moving toward collective liberation is our true nature.
This is what our true nature looks like in action. Not Musk's "bug" to be eliminated, not Trump's weakness to be exploited, but our species' greatest strength. When we stand up for each other, refuse to dehumanize anyone in our communities, and build futures where everyone can thrive, we're not being "suicidally empathetic." We are being magnificently, dangerously, revolutionarily human.
And every act of solidarity proves what despots fear most: that true power is our commitment to one another, our refusal to dehumanize and discard anyone in our community. This is the power that topples empires. Not by denying humanity as they do, but through the simple, revolutionary act of affirming it for everyone.
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The Next 48-140 Hours Are Critical for the Movement to End the Gaza Genocide
Within days, the Gaza Flotilla Sailboat with 12 onboard will reach the “Danger Zone.” How will the world respond?
Jun 07, 2025
Within 48 hours, the Israeli military will have killed hundreds more Palestinians in Gaza who are being starved to death, many killed this week as they were enticed by food into killing zones.
Within 48 hours, more Palestinian children will die from U.S. bombs dropped from Israeli drones and jets.
Within 48 hours, nations of the world will have again and again refused to take any concrete measures to force the government of Israel to stop the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Gaza Flotilla Sailboat Madleen
Yet, also within 48 hours, a small sailboat named Madleen will arrive near Gaza. (Watch on the https://t.me/FFC_official_channel, follow on Flotilla Instagram, and watch progress on a map here or here.)
Within 48 hours, 12 brave souls in the Madleen—Flotilla Steering Committee members Thiago Avila, Brazil and Yasemin Acar, Germany; Rima Hassan, French-Palestinian member of European Parliament; Dr. Baptiste Andre, France; Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent Omar Faiad, France; Pascal Maurieras, France; Reva Viard, France; Yanis Mhamdi, France; Suayb Ordu, Turkiye; Sergio Toribio, Spain; Greta Thunberg, Swedish climate activist; and Marco van Rennes, The Netherlands—will carry the solidarity of citizens of the world to those in Gaza and the West Bank for the ending of the genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Within 48 hours, the 12 volunteers on the Madleen will most probably be stopped in international waters, arrested, taken against their wills to a place they do not want to go, imprisoned, and then deported… from Israel.
Only we the citizens can force our governments to isolate, boycott, and sanction the genocidal Israeli government to make them stop.
Within 48 hours, the 12 will be interrogated, possibly beaten and tasered, but probably treated much better than Palestinians in the prison who are stripped, humiliated, and starved.
Within 60 hours, the diplomatic missions of the 12, consular officers of the embassies of France, Spain, Germany, Brazil, Turkiye, Sweden, and the Netherlands will arrive at the prison to talk with the citizens of their country.
Within 60 hours, brave lawyers accredited in Israel who associated with the Freedom Flotilla will arrive to advise the 12.
Within 60 hours, Israelis horrified at the genocidal actions of their government will protest in the cities of Israel.
Within 72-96 hours, an Israeli court will declare that the 12 on the Madleen entered Israel illegally and were a threat to the national security of Israel and will deport the 12.
Within 100-120 hours, the 12 will arrive at their home countries, hopefully to a warm, warm welcome to those who oppose the genocide of Gaza.
Within 120-140 hours, the Global March to Gaza will bring 3,000 persons from 35 countries by air to Egypt to demand food trucks be allowed into Gaza.
Within 120-140 hours, the Overland Convoy to Break the Siege on Gaza—Sumud will bring 7,000 persons by land to Egypt to demand an end to the genocide.
Within 700 days, within 900 days the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza will end?
Or will it?
Only we the citizens can force our governments to isolate, boycott, and sanction the genocidal Israeli government to make them stop killing the last Palestinians and destroying the last of the remains of the Palestinian presence in Gaza.
Keep pushing, protesting, sailing.
The Gaza Freedom Flotilla will sail until the Israeli blockade and genocide of Gaza ends and Palestine is Free.
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Why All Eyes Must Be Firmly on the Freedom Flotilla
Those sailing on the Madleen are engaged in a peaceful act of civil resistance, and should not be met with hostility by the Israeli authorities, and our attention on it can help to ensure it arrives in Gaza safely.
Jun 05, 2025
I was privileged to be in Catania over the past week to see the Madleen embark on its mission to deliver vital humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
The Madleen is one of the boats of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which hopes to bring about an end to Israel’s blockade of Gaza. The boat departed Sicily on Sunday carrying a dozen activists along with food, medicine and other supplies.
Two million Gazans have suffered under siege by Israel for many months now. I arrived at the port and was met with a feeling of hope, care and bravery. There is no freedom without solidarity, and the Freedom Flotilla is solidarity.
The mission represents the very best of our shared humanity, and the fact that, despite the intimidation we are subjected to and the attempts to silence and deceive by the aggressor and their allies, the arc of the moral universe will always bend towards justice.
The delivery of humanitarian aid is vital, but so too is the message that the Madleen carries with it — that this genocide in Gaza must be brought to an end, and the foundations laid for the ultimate liberation of the Palestinian people from their oppressor.
Liberation is not merely an academic thought exercise, it is an active living and breathing thing inside the people of the world, especially the Irish people, who long endured an occupation of their own. It is unconscionable what is happening in Gaza, and the Freedom Flotilla is a lighthouse in a very dark time for our humanity.
The mission represents the very best of our shared humanity, and the fact that, despite the intimidation we are subjected to and the attempts to silence and deceive by the aggressor and their allies, the arc of the moral universe will always bend towards justice.
When international law is routinely undermined, and where the multilateral fora responsible for promoting peace, equality and human rights around the world fail to hold nation states to account for war crimes, activists and organisers are left with little choice but to place themselves in harm’s way in the pursuit of justice.
Here in Ireland, we must add to their chances of breaking the siege by adding our voice and solidarity to their mission, so they and the world know we continue to watch and will not stand for the destruction and interception of humanitarian missions.
Danger on the seas
It is highly likely that the Israeli authorities will attempt to obstruct or intercept this critical humanitarian mission. Just four weeks ago, the ship Conscience was subject to drone attacks by Israel shortly before the commencement of its humanitarian mission to Gaza from Malta.
Despite these attacks occurring just outside of Maltese territorial waters, the European Union has done nothing to hold the perpetrator to account.
In 2010, another humanitarian mission by the Freedom Flotilla was violently intercepted by the Israeli authorities on its approach to Gaza, with 10 activists and crew members being killed. Israel was never held to account. For as long as the international community fails to uphold international law, the Israeli authorities will continue to act with the impunity they have been empowered with.
We know that Israel, with the support of the United States, is currently seeking to privatise the delivery of humanitarian aid in Gaza, sidelining the United Nations and the World Food Programme.
Despite the risks, the activists on the Madleen are undertaking too critical a mission not to continue; to deliver vital humanitarian aid to a suffering people now at risk of enforced famine by their oppressor. Where humanity fails, human rights defenders will always defy, and the Irish Government must now publicly call for safe passage; silence is not an option.
I have heard government leaders say that nobody has a monopoly over concern or compassion for the Palestinian people, but what Governments and media need to realise is that they have a monopoly over resources, power and political relationships and therefore what they do on an international stage matters.
Where is the international community?
It is absolutely imperative that Western governments and international and multilateral organisations now pull every lever at their disposal to bring this genocide of historic proportions to an end.
Governments should use the remaining diplomatic channels to implore Israel to end the blockade and siege of Gaza and to facilitate the safe and unobstructed passage of critical humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people. A business-as-usual approach to relations with Israel cannot continue — we must impose sanctions, sever trade ties, and prevent the transfer of munitions of war, which are fuelling the genocide.
If we do not act now, our fingerprints will mark the annihilation of the Palestinian people through our complicity. The freedom flotilla is a peaceful act of civil resistance, and should not be met with hostility by the Israeli authorities, and our attention on it can help to ensure it arrives in Gaza safely.
The activists are trained in non-violence and are motivated only by the principles of human rights and global justice. In circumstances where the vessel is met with hostility, it is incumbent on the rules-based order to defend the activists and their expression of humanity and solidarity for the Palestinian people.
I do not believe there is a time, not even a second, when Ireland does not support what is right. We have demonstrated that time and time again with the consistent commitment of the Irish people to the people of Gaza.
Just today, we have heard reports from the United Nations that aid from the US and Israeli-backed Humanitarian Foundation is to be suspended following a day of open fire on Palestinians seeking aid, killing at least 27 people.
With that in mind, what can one boat of people do against the might of the Israeli army, you might ask? Well, the act of non-violent resistance has always had a place in conflicts throughout history. Martin Luther King Jr said, “Non-violence is a powerful and just weapon which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals”. When everything has gone dark and humanity feels powerless against the brutality of a regime, the deliberate highlighting of that brutality in a non-violent way can be a powerful thing.
The activists of the Madleen are risking their own lives to highlight the horrific cruelty of the Israeli government against the Palestinians in Gaza. If those seeking aid are targets, then so too are those seeking to bring that aid, so all eyes must be firmly on the Freedom Flotilla; their lives depend on it.
This article first appeared in Ireland's The Journal.
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