Pat Taub
GUEST POST by JANET WEIL
“The Gaza Strip is once again the most dangerous place in the world to be a child.”
–UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell
“It’s the mother in me,” mused Emory University Professor of Philosophy Noëlle McAfee, as she was interviewed on campus about why she witnessed and then tried to peacefully intervene, while a student, pressed into the ground at a Gaza solidarity encampment, was being beaten by 3 or 4 cops.
Noelle McAfee after being arrested, asking a nearby student to notify the Philosophy Dept. of her arrest (Instagram)
For her quiet request that the police stop their assault, Professor McAfee was arrested and charged with “disorderly conduct.” A video of her being led off in handcuffs by a masked Atlanta policeman has gone viral.
The Chair of the Philosophy Department was not the only older woman faculty member to be treated brutally by the police. Emory Economics Professor Caroline Fohlin was arrested even more violently, after she lightly touched a policeman on the shoulder to try to stop another student being beaten.
Caroline Fohlin being thrown to the ground by the Atlanta police
Other such cases have been reported, including at Dartmouth, where police slammed into Professor Annelise Orleck, the diminutive 65-year-old head of the university’s Jewish Studies program.
Whatever your position on the nationwide student movement to push universities to divest from military and other corporations with ties to the state of Israel, the issues of police brutality, and of the denial of students’ freedom of speech and assembly by nervous university administrators, should concern you – should concern us all.
Behind the campus encampments, protests and counterprotests lies the ongoing horror in Gaza. The International Court of Justice, by a large majority, ruled the actions by Israel “a credible risk to Palestinians under the genocide convention.”
Mothers and children in temporary shelter in Khan Younis, which has become uninhabitable since this photo was taken
Israel’s war of retaliation after the Hamas atrocities of October 7 has, thus far, killed or wounded over 100,000 Gazans, 70% of whom are women and children according to the United Nations. The deliberate cruelty of the Israeli military against defenseless civilians, and the bloodlust of Israeli society, has been revealed in social media posts and public statements. (Watch this 13-minute expose by journalist Max Blumenthal.)
The slaughter, population displacement, destruction of medical and educational systems, and denial of humanitarian aid fired up the passion for justice in college students, some of whom have lost family members in Gaza. In their encampments, they learn from each other, share space and food and books, make signs and art, and give and receive support in a tragic time.
Student encampment at UC Berkeley
Some mothers, whether members of faculty or the community, feel an urgent duty to sustain and protect young people at campus protests.
Facebook post by Massachusetts Peace Action: “MIT have requested that people with mom vibes come show solidarity in person with them Friday 5/3 at 1pm. Mobilize your people and come show up with your bodies that know – that KNOW – how important young life is.”
Others, myself included, mostly support from our keyboards, monitoring the news, writing letters to the editor, making donations, signing petitions to Biden and others, sending messages of support to student protesters, liking and re-posting social media posts, and attending zoom meetings to help organize for an end to the Gaza Genocide.
Mothers from Portland, Maine, who have been protesting for a ceasefire, with Jill Stein (second from left), the Green Party candidate for President
As I write this, thinking sadly of my deceased mother whose birthday was a few days ago, missing my son whom I used to see weekly when we lived in the same city, I also feel the weight of unprocessed grief over the devastation in Gaza. For months, I’ve seen too many dead, injured, hungry, orphaned and crying Palestinian children – one was too many. I’ve heard the cries of grief of too many Palestinian mothers.
Palestinian woman, Inas Abu Maamar, embraces the body of her five-year-old niece Saly, who was killed in an Israeli attack, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis on October 17, 2023. [Mohammed Salem/Reuters]
I cannot enjoy a “normal” Mother’s Day this year.
I often feel helpless these days, a horrible, draining sensation. But I also feel a duty to protect, as Professor McAfee and so many other older women feel – and have bravely acted upon. They inspire me.
In 2016, the editor of this blog wrote beautifully about the origins of Mother’s Day. It’s well worth your time to read and reflect on her words: https://wowblog.me/lets-take-back-mothers-day-by-replacing-flowers-and-cards-with-peace-actions/
Permanent ceasefire in Gaza NOW!
A retired ESL teacher and fired-up peace and climate justice activist, Janet Weil resides in Palm Desert, California, with her husband. An associate (non-military) member of Veterans For Peace, Janet serves on the Climate Crisis and Militarism Project. When not engaged in activism, she enjoys travel, visiting libraries, photographing desert flora, and time with friends and family.
