This blog was written by Laura Hassler, Director and Founder of Musicians Without Borders
On Sunday June 15th, I joined yet another demonstration for Gaza—this one demanding that
the Dutch government ‘draw the red line’, stop arming Israel and demand an end to
the occupation, an end to apartheid, an end to genocide.
There have been so many demonstrations, and I have joined most of the bigger
ones, and initiated some smaller ones.
But this was special for me, personally. For the first time, it was a family matter: my
three adult children, and three of their children, my grandchildren plus some friends,
joined and we walked together for the children of Gaza—10 of us.
Just writing this, I feel the tears welling up. For my adult children, this was not their
first demonstration; for the kids, it was their first time ‘drawing the red line’, for a
couple of them, their first demonstration ever. I asked Sara whether she was glad
she had come, and she said yes. I asked why, and she said that she wanted to join
in something important and stand up for other people. Dylan was tired after so much
(slow) walking in the heat, and we talked about how far people in Gaza are forced to
walk to get even a minimum of food, and how they are then often shot at. We all
wore red. We all walked until we were too tired to walk more. Humbling, this.
When I was a child, my mother took me to a demonstration against nuclear
weapons, and another one for racial justice. My father took me to peace
conferences. And when I was 15, my youth group took a bus for 8 hours and joined a
massive demonstration in Washington DC, where we heard the world’s most famous
speech, with the repeating refrain: I have a dream.
So today, in a world that seems so much bleaker than then, if I were asked about my
dream: it would be that Sara, Dylan, Julia, Pippa, Josje become part of people’s
movements to oppose war and to stand for justice, in whatever ways they can. And
maybe someday, they will look back and remember wearing their red T-shirts and
walking slowly in the hot sun with their parents and their Nana, walking and standing
for what is right, for what is needed if there is to be any future for any of us at all.
