At first it was a dusky murmur in the quiet 8 a.m. traffic over Georgia Historic Street Bridge. Then, riding above the roar of traffic as the lights on University Avenue turned green and several cars honked in solidarity: “Not another nickel, not another dime,” several protesters yelled. “No more money for Israel’s crimes!”
The protest started Saturday, Nov. 11 at the Georgia Historic Street Bridge and reconvened on Sunday at the weekly Hillcrest Farmer’s Market a few streets down. This comes a few days after calls for global “Shut it Down! For Palestine” actions on Nov. 9. For San Diego in particular, protesters rallied in front of Northrop Grumman, the third largest weapons manufacturer criticized heavily by pro-Palestinian activists for supplying weapons to the Israeli government.
Among that crowd was Cheynne Palmer, who, despite having no prior experience, was inspired to organize her own two-day pro-Palestine protest, “Hillcrest Stands with Palestine,” after feeling a lack of pro-Palestinian solidarity in her community.
Around 20 signs and banners hung from the west face of the Georgia Historic Street Bridge – signs that would later be reused for the Hillcrest Farmers Market, attached onto vehicles and stuck atop stakes. Not only were these locations significant as easy mobilization points – they were significant because of their ability to disrupt the public.
“The point of that was to interrupt people’s day, not negatively, but to disrupt enough to get them to understand that they’re living in privilege right now,” co-organizer of “Hillcrest Stands with Palestine” Lauren Kipp said.
Kipp co-organized the protest with Palmer, having never met in person – but both were residents of Hillcrest and both were queer, which had to be recognized, now, more than ever.
“To be able to go and shop freely, to be able to eat and to be able to drink water, basic necessities. Being able to be around people and to laugh and to feel safe…we have a duty to acknowledge the [Palestinians] who are not able to be out in the streets freely. If they had a market it would be bombed,” Kipp said.
The goal of the protest was not only to unify queer solidarity, but to amplify queer Palestinian voices against pinkwashing. Pinkwashing is when organizations claim performative alliance with LGBTQ rights to distract from another harmful agenda. Among the 30 odd protesters, a significant majority were queer. One in particular, known only as “Kenan” (to protect his identity against discriminatory job action), is queer and Palestinian.
“There’s been a lot of pinkwashing that uses our image as queer people in the name of genocide and ethnic cleansing. Queer people exist everywhere. We exist in Palestine,” Kenan said. “There are Palestinians that are queer in the West Bank, in Gaza, and it’s a shame that is one of the tools that is used to ethnically cleanse and persecute Palestinians.”
During Kenan’s speech on the Georgia Historic State Bridge about the dehumanizing conditions Palestinians face in Gaza, he and another Palestinian speaker were called “animals” by passersby. As a law student, Kenan faces discriminatory job action for his pro-Palestinian beliefs – a direct threat to the Palestinian student’s financial abilities.
Dehumanizing rhetoric towards Palestinians echoes largely across the Arab, Muslim and Palestinian diaspora. Many have pointed out similarities to the islamophobia incited in the years following 9/11. Specifically, those in the Arab-American diaspora feel conflicted about their identities, being both Palestinian and American in the midst of anti-Palestinian rhetoric spread largely by western media. The New York Times in particular was criticized for its framing of the bombing of a Gazan hospital.
“I don't hate this country,” protest attendee Zahra Sky said. Sky is Afghan-Palestinian American and was born in Afghanistan, having changed her last name twice due to islamophobic fears post 9/11. “As a daughter of immigrants, I see how privileged I am to live here – and I could’ve been born in Afghanistan! I love this country, but it’s because I love this country I want to see it do better, you know?”
A car with a Palestinian flag and around 30 protesters in tow sat at the tail-end of the Hillcrest Farmers Market. As the group chanted “Free Palestine” and “Hillcrest wake up,” a small crowd began to amass from the sea of white tents and trucks outlining the market space; all the while, some sellers continued on with their day a few feet away. No more than five minutes had passed. One by one, several pro-Israel counterprotesters gathered at the opposite end of the street.
"It's because I love this country that I want to see it do better." -Zahra Sky
Onlookers from the market started to rally behind either side and cars honked horns in response to “Honk for Palestine!” Those who joined the pro-Israel side danced together and jeered, clapping along to the chant “Free Palestine from Hamas!” A few minutes into the dispute, seven other onlookers joined the pro-Palestinian side, taking on banners and small Palestinian flags from behind the pickup truck.
Hillcrest Farmers Market onlooker Ali Khalid Ijaz and his family were among those who ran to support the pro-Palestine group. Ijaz is Pakistani American, visiting from Richmond, Virginia. Though they happened to join in on the protest in San Diego, Ijaz and his family had been attending various pro-Palestine rallies across the East Coast. Ijaz and his family are not Arab, but they are among the 66% of Americans calling for a ceasefire nationwide, according to an October 20 Data for Progress survey.
“Anytime you see injustice happening, any form of colonial apartheid occurring, it’s the responsibility of all people to call it out and show support and do whatever we can to combat those things,” Ijaz said.
According to a United Nations definition, Israel is committing apartheid on Palestinian–something Israel continues to deny amidst scrutiny from the international community.
“They can do whatever they want to do, obviously,” Ijaz continued. “But it’s upsetting that there’s people in minority who obviously can see what’s happening in Gaza – the open air prison where there is an extermination camp happening, genocide happening – where children men women hospitals being targeted to nearly 12,000 now – and they choose to cheer on as opposed to call for a ceasefire.”
A megaphone began to be passed amongst members of the pro-Palestine group as they marched in tow through the streets of Hillcrest. As chants echoed through empty parking garages and on the undersides of residential alleyways, Palmer led the group in front of the San Diego LGBT Community Center, about a few minutes walk from the market.
Palmer, exasperated, chanted again: “Free Palestine!” Maybe a few minutes more and they would be at the front-end of the Hillcrest Farmers Market.
“I felt it was a need to remind, especially the queer community, the LGBT community in Hillcrest and surrounding neighborhoods, that Pride was a riot and there’s no liberation for one until we have liberation for all,” Palmer said.
As the group marched back to the beginning, this time, without a heckler in sight, there was an air of certainty and affirmation in their resolve; a kind of resilience. Horns honked amongst hoarse voices. Many people had come and participated, more than both Palmer and Kipp expected in both of the days they planned for. In the shadow of Hillcrest’s Pride flag, Palmer and Kipp had mobilized many in their community that would have never participated otherwise.
Palmer continued, “We’re not free until we all are free.”
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