Reminding each other of Palestine

The importance of the Palestinian liberation cause has never been a matter of question for the general Egyptian populace. Focus on it has simply intensified or diminished depending on the current developments on the ground. Since October 7, attention to Palestine, and especially to Gaza, has soared, given the extreme significance of that day’s events and those that followed it. Egyptian cafés began providing constant television coverage of the situation in Gaza. Café patrons and passersby alike followed these screens until returning home to watch the news unfold on their own television sets. In addition to satellite coverage, social media platforms became nearly instant sources of dissemination for unbearable scenes of destruction and massacres that have caused Egyptians, like many others around the world, much pain to witness.

As the situation grew rapidly worse, with war crimes against the people of Gaza committed one after the next, the bombing of the Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital on October 17 provoked extreme and widespread anger. University students across the nation demonstrated, hoisting Palestinian flags and chanting in solidarity with the people of Gaza. In tandem with state-sanctioned demonstrations, wide-ranging sectors of society independently took to the streets to express their support for the cause. In Alexandria, one protest sign showed Biden and Netanyahu splattered with blood, a symbolic representation of the war crimes they had committed in Gaza. These popular demonstrations were short-lived and somewhat haphazard, yet authentically represented the people’s churning anger.

As Israel’s war on Gaza continued, and opportunities to provide effective support for Palestine remained minimal, people began expressing symbolic solidarity. This came from a sense of responsibility to speak up for the oppressed, as well as a means to express their feelings. After a lengthy disappearance, the Palestinian flag assumed a prominent place in public spaces, hung from homes and shopfronts, and cruising the streets on vehicles of all kinds. It has even made a strong appearance at sports events, be it soccer matches or basketball and handball tournaments. Wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh, a classic display of symbolic solidarity, has also increased significantly and across age, gender and social divides. And as awareness of different kinds of resistance and solidarity has grown, a generation some thought was clueless about the Palestinian cause is now engaging in economic boycotts, asking before making any purchase, “is this their product, or ours?”

It is in these acts of symbolic solidarity that we Egyptians remind each other that the aggression against Palestine is ongoing, and that resistance, whatever form it takes, will therefore continue. Through material displays of solidarity, we are saying loud and clear: we won’t forget about Palestine, we will keep reminding each other, and our solidarity is plain for the world to see.