Who Can Fight Back?
The mainstream media is openly embracing armed resistance these days. Sky News ran a segment that featured Ukrainians making molotov cocktails. “The styrofoam works to make the molotov cocktails sticky..to help it stick to vehicles and other targets,” the anchor explained. CNN interviewed Ukrainian parliament member Kira Rudik, who says she’s armed and ready to protect her country from the invasion. “If the Russians are pushing in from the north, how long do you think you can resist?,” she was asked. CNN also spoke to a Ukrainian store owner named Kateryna Yurko. “The two most important things a Ukrainian woman needs to know is how to make borscht and Molotovs,” she told the network.
Pointing out the hypocrisy of mainstream foreign policy coverage might seem trite and redundant to some, but come on. Imagine the hysterical reaction that would ensue if some network interviewed, oh I dunno let’s say, Palestinians preparing to fight back against Israeli oppression. Many highlighted the double standard on social media.
Omar Baddar: “I dream of the day armed Palestinian resistance to foreign invaders and occupiers in their homeland is treated by American media with the same sympathy and lionization that Ukrainian resistance is rightly portrayed.”
Abdallah Fayyad: “What Ukrainian civilians are doing is armed resistance—a completely justifiable turn to violence to defend themselves. Americans have quickly understood that. I hope they can also be as understanding when non-Europeans turn to arms as a last resort in their struggles for freedom.”
Mariam Barghouti: “Highlighting the double standards of international response to Ukrainian armed resistance compared to other non-White struggles such as Palestine is not a competition for attention. It’s highlighting how inherently racist attitudes and perceptions are to our struggles.”
Ali Abunimah after sharing a tweet about molotov cocktail making from a British journalist: “She is a BBC reporter. Everyone has a right to resist. But have you ever seen such glowing and supportive coverage of even unarmed Palestinian resistance to Western-backed Israeli occupation? They are afraid to even mention Palestine. If all this does not open your eyes …”
Let’s play out this hypothetical for a moment. I have recently been reading Somdeep Sen’s fascinating 2020 book Decolonizing Palestine. At one point Sen talks to a Gaza-based photojournalist at a hotel, something mainstream Western networks could hypothetically do. “Resistance and government are fine. But for me the main problem is that there are so many social and moral limitations on Gaza’s citizens,” she tells him. “All I want is to be free. We don’t have freedom in the Gaza strip.”
Sen follows up by asking her what she thinks about Hamas’ dual role as resistance and government. “For me the muqawama is the most important. We live under occupation and therefore we need resistance. We need a mixture..but the military wing is the most important part. There is no other way…”
Sen asks whether a balance can be maintained between the two roles.
“If you are talking about a balance, we are forced to make one. We don’t have a balance because of Israeli attacks. They have destroyed our infrastructure and prevented us from conducting proper governance. So, we are continually catching up. We are not progressing but ‘breaking even’. The only thing people have is resistance.”