March for Palestine

Everything you always wanted to know about the pro-Palestine march in Rome on November 18th and mainstream media never told you.

A march in support of Palestine filled the streets of Rome on November 18th (and most newspaper headlines the next day as well, after three soldier effigies were burned during an isolated incident). Simultaneously, up in Milan, a tamer march, sponsored by the Tavola per la Pace and calling for peace without explicitly blaming either side for the current escalation of bloodshed in Gaza, drew even larger crowds but garnered hardly a word from a clearly biased press.

USC4P&J deemed it risky to participate officially in the Rome event, foreseeing the provocation and the attempt by the press to discredit both the march and all groups in it.

Nonetheless 14 USC4P&J members went as individuals, opting to stand resolutely beside the Palestinians (and thus implicitly against the disproportionate Israeli aggression) with a banner that proclaimed "US CITIZENS FOR PALESTINE." The group attracted a lot of attention, photographs and videos. English speaking people inquired about the march, walked and talked for a while with the group of Americans; others with foreign accents and many Italians congratulated them with cries of "Bravi." Roma Citta' Aperta radio station interviewed the two banner holders while cameras flashed.

One American tourist passing by cried out "Why don't you go home" but when asked to discuss who was more to blame for the current intensification of the crisis in Gaza, the man simply fled.

Only four of the initial group went all the way to Piazza Venezia, where the march ended, and only three of them saw at a distance the burning of the effigies of an Israeli, American and Italian soldier by a small group of protesters that the organizers of the march had failed to contain.

The UC4P&J member who had made the banner had no uncertain words about the coverage of the event by mainstream media. "I am simply DISGUSTED," she said, "since 99% of the marchers were civil, peaceful people, sickened by the bloodshed going on and certainly not in favor of burning anyone -- on the contrary! The march united peace-minded Italians, Americans like us, and numerous Palestinian men and women who brought their children to participate. But TV viewers saw none of us, only the three effigies! There were no interviews of Palestinians asking them why they were there and why they feel that the current intensification of bloodshed is not their fault, but rather part of a deliberate plan to escalate the war. I was proud to be there -- all the grateful eyes who looked at our sign and from behind veils will stay in my heart. It was right to have a US voice in the march."

The only political leader present to be interviewed was Oliviero Diliberto, head of the Party of Italian Communists and a supporter of the current Italian government, who, the following day, was thoroughly thrashed by the press and reprimanded by Prime Minister Prodi for supporting the so-called "overly radical" march.

Giuliana Mammucari

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