How do people react when you say “Free Palestine” in person?
I’ve had people laugh. Others just stare. One or two people murmured some kind of critical response that I couldn’t hear. I find it strange and just wanted to know if this is an ordinary experience. It’s rare for someone to agree. I live in a rich white area.
We're talking about people who are deathly allergic to context here, if there is even a whiff of "events in the past have consequences on the present" in the air they will explode like sodium in water
Outside of specifically political events like protests I've yet to meet a person who had any investment in Isntrael-Palestine stuff. Zero. People here have no idea what I'm talking about when I bring up Palestine. No one has commented on the keffiyehs or pins I wear unless they're also at the same pro-Palestine thing as me. A coworker the other day had never heard of Israel and she thought I was talking about Ukraine when I mentioned it.
It's bizarre. I hear stuff about rabid Zionists and I've never seen a single one. I live in Texas though.
There’s a rightwing town nearby that I’m forced to work in, and I’ve seen an Israeli flag and bumper sticker there. It’s always associated with really Christian / Trump people—Biden’s base, in other words.
A few weeks ago I was wearing a keffiyeh and an old white dude in a pickup pulled up next to me, rolled down the window, and chanted "USA! USA!" before speeding off.
Pretty wild whiplash, going from being worried I was gonna get hate crimed to doubling over laughing at the absurdity of it all.
Negative reactions, for myself and others I know, are generally from older wide peepo who don’t actually know what “free Palestine” means or anything about it, but just know that those “woke SJW college students” are protesting over it so they just reflexively lash out without even knowing what they’re lashing out about.
depends, I live in bay area so it's a complete 50/50 whether they're a very politically conscious person or a tech worker, especially since I exist in both spaces
I haven't used the phrase but I think there are people out there that see what's happening in Palestine and know that it's wrong. Israel's narrative is starting to show cracks