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Protesters calling for cease-fire in Israel-Hamas war block freeway in Seattle for several hours (apnews.com)

submitted 11 months ago by Philo to c/[email protected]

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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?

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[–] ZombiFrancis 35 points 11 months ago (2 children)

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'.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

But like, what the hell am I supposed to do? I vote. Especially in Seattle, it’s so easy to vote. We get ballots by mail, and we’re pretty liberal. We the people can only write to our representatives for change, but these representatives are the ones who are actively in favor of what they’re protesting for.

[–] ZombiFrancis 1 points 11 months ago

In some ways it is ensuring your representative knows your vote for them depends on their opposition to genocide.

The more assurance there is that they will lose votes supporting Israel is about all you can do.