We want to live
"You know what would help the Palestinians in Gaza? Condemning Hamas" - Hamza Howidy
In March 2019, hundreds of brave Palestinians in the Gaza Strip took to the streets in several cities carrying the slogan “We Want to Live”, calling for “equality, dignity, food and job opportunities”.
Since 2007 Hamas has controlled the Gaza strip through fear, violence and brute force. Citizens have been and still are forced to align themselves with the terrorists or suffer the consequences. Hamas control the public sector jobs, public schools and the media outlets, with zero tolerance for any criticism or objections to policies or procedure.
Despite the billions of dollars funnelled into Gaza from the international community over the years, in 2019 the local economy was in free-fall with 70 per cent unemployment amongst Gazans’ young people.
So in March 2019, hundreds of Gazans' took to the streets demanding better living conditions in what became known as the “We Want to Live” rallies. By all accounts a peaceful, grassroots, non-political movement that wanted nothing more than work opportunities, equality, dignity and freedom.
Hundreds of demonstrators turned out in nine locations around Gaza's city centres and refugee camps. The protests were on a scale and of an intensity not seen since Hamas took full control of Gaza in 2007. The Hamas response to the protests was swift. Hamas militants put an end to the protests firing ammunition in the air, beating protestors and making dozens of arrests, many of whom were brutally tortured in prison. Homes were raided and arrests were made, among them activists, journalists and human rights workers.
One widely circulated video from the ongoing protests showed a woman in central Gaza angry that her husband and four sons have no jobs. Meanwhile, she says, "the sons of Hamas leaders have houses and jeeps and cars, and can get married while ordinary people have nothing, not even a piece of bread"1.
Considering the political and social climate we are living under in 2024, and the laser focus on living conditions in Gaza, you would expect that the international community would have rallied to support the Palestinians when they desperately needed it. This could not be further from the truth.
Largely ignored by the media in both the Middle East and the West, and with no global support, the movement was destined to fail. After the rallies were dispersed, living conditions in Gaza became even worse still, with the wealth gap expanding even further between the rich and the poor. Protestors tried to revive the movement again in 2023, but were again crushed by the heavy hand of Hamas.
It seems when brown people oppress brown people, the world isn’t too concerned. If there was ever a time to stand up for Palestinian rights on college campuses, in the halls of politics and in main stream media, this was it. A Palestinian movement by Palestinians who were fed up with the corruption and violence and abhorrent living conditions forced upon them by Hamas.
Hamas must listen to the voice of the people. It must stop its policy of strangulation, oppression and abuse against our people in the Gaza Strip.”
- | Palestinian Justice Minister
Palestinian peace activist Hamza Howidy2, was forced to leave Gaza due to ongoing persecution by Hamas for taking part in the ‘We want to Live’ protests. He wrote, “You know what would help the Palestinians in Gaza? Condemning Hamas’ atrocities. Instead, the protesters routinely chant their desire to ‘Globalize the Intifada.’ Apparently, they do not realise that the intifadas were disastrous for both Palestinians and Israelis, just as October 7 has been devastating for the people of Gaza.”
And Howidy is not alone in his views. Many voices with real lived experience have tried to speak up about the true oppression and occupation of the Gaza strip—and as a result are labelled as Islamophobic or on the Mossad payroll. How much longer do we allow the western saviours to silence the real voices of the oppressed under the guise of ‘solidarity’. What Hamas are doing to their own people in Gaza is not resistance. You know what real resistance looks like? Resistance was hundreds of courageous Palestinians who in 2019 and 2023, against all odds, stood up to a brutal jihadist regime that has controlled and oppressed them for decades, and used their voices to tell the world what they wanted—and the world ignored them.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-47616809
https://www.instagram.com/hamzahowidyy/?hl=en
I have always wondered why a mother would allow her husband to place her children in danger by using their home to store weapons or facilitate a tunnel etc. I guess I was thinking from a western angle of a mother being free to have that kind of conversation with her partner. The silence from women in the western world who have no regard for their oppressed sisters is deafening and perplexing. The narrowing of honest reporting from the world’s journalists is terrifyingly omnipresent and will ultimately lead to democracy’s downfall if it hasn’t already. Looking at the map you see this tiny sliver of land, Israel, the only democracy in a vast fully surrounded area of deathly oppression and misogynistic rule. We must remember that there are people in those lands who want freedom from their rulers.
Even though I follow Israel/ media news carefully, I didn’t know about these protests till now