Taking Interstate 5
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By: The Nightly Crew
1/8/2024
On January 6th, in a deviation from the Saturday tradition of meeting at Westlake in support of Palestine, protestors were asked to gather at the Starbucks Roastery, whose windows were already boarded up when they arrived. After a brief introduction and some chants, attendees followed organizers downhill until they reached the overpass looking down onto I-5. There, a line of cars and people had blocked the northbound lanes on I-5. These protestors, as well as those who came for the march, remained there until nightfall. So many descended onto the highway to join the blockade that the police– who had brought over thirty cars with them, as well as rubber bullet guns, power tools, and riot gear– made no arrests, recognizing that they couldn’t possibly transport everyone to jail.
Susie Lepow, representing SUPER UW, Samidoun, Falastiniyat, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Support the Palestinian Voice, told The Nightly: “We’re united in service of Palestinian liberation, ensuring there’s no business as usual while Palestinians face genocide and live under a brutal siege. For 75 years, Palestinians have faced colonial violence and occupation in the form of home demolitions, settlements, mass imprisonments, military checkpoints, cold-blooded murders, and military raids. Israeli occupation forces are engaging in a genocidal campaign which has killed over 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza in the past 3 months. We have been organizing to support Palestinians as they struggle against occupation, disrupting the US war machine which backs and profits from this genocide of Palestinians.”
Some drivers honked and raised fists in support. Others honked in frustration and raised middle fingers. “We understand that the target of this highway blockage was not individual Seattle commuters,” said Lepow. “It was to disrupt business as usual for Palestine– to call attention to our senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, who have voted to send additional billions in aid to the occupation. It was calling attention to Seattle-based corporations like Boeing, Microsoft, and Amazon that produce tech and weapons used by the occupation to kill Palestinians. And it was to call attention to the US backing the genocide of Palestinians in general.” Similar actions have taken place in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, where protesters parked their cars along the Bay Bridge and actually threw their keys into the water. Yesterday’s protesters also abandoned their cars on the highway, making it much more difficult for police to clear the blockage and ensuring the disruption would be felt for as long as possible.
Multiple images of the brave group of protesters in Seattle taking US Interstate 5 for Palestine
The demands at the center of the protest included an end to the siege on Gaza, which has lasted seventeen years and imprisoned 2.3 million Palestinians in a concentration camp with restricted access to food, water, medicine, electricity, and fuel; a permanent ceasefire and end to the indiscriminate bombing of homes, schools, mosques, churches, and hospitals; and the release of all Palestinian prisoners, whose number has doubled from five to ten thousand in the past three months and whose abuse and starvation has also escalated (more than 2,000 of these are held indefinitely on administrative detention, without charge or trial, and around 200 of them are children). In addition, the protestors recognize that the root of these abuses is the occupation itself. “We want not only an end to this current, most escalated genocide,” said Lepow, “but an end to the over 75-year-long catastrophe against Palestinians that is the colonization of Palestinian lands, the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes, and escalated wars against Palestinians, all with backing from the US.” He added that “Joe Biden has bypassed congress these past three months to send additional taxpayer money to Israel. This is on top of nearly 4 billion dollars yearly from the US sent to Israel to be spent on weapons, all of which is used to destroy Palestinian ways of life and to kill Palestinian men, women, and children. US corporations profit. We are demanding that there be no more US aid to Israel.”
By evening, a sense of relief and unity had descended on the crowd. Those on the highway were dancing in the heavy rain and hail to chants of “Up, up with liberation, down, down with occupation.” Onlookers from the bridge and overpass called out their support. When the protestors below finally joined those above, they were met with hugs and cheers. After hours in the cold and rain, warm pizza was shared by all.
In this long, draining struggle full of anger and grief, moments of joyful community are crucial to maintaining hope. Not only did yesterday’s action draw media attention and disrupt the profits of corporations that benefit from this genocide, but it brought together people from all walks of life to engage with this escalation. Activism is most meaningful when it includes the often-overlooked groups of children and families, the elderly, undocumented people, disabled people, people working multiple jobs, and others who may not be able to walk long distances, risk arrest, dedicate an entire day to an action, or any of the other things usually involved in escalated actions. What was most powerful about this action wasn’t just the six-mile multi-city traffic backup, but the fact that we were all there in the same space, supporting each other through it. The more we learn to rely on and care for each other, the less we will need to rely on a government that clearly doesn’t give a shit about anything but profit.
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