Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, known for her intervention in the environmental debate, recently stated that she was a victim of abuse during her detention in Israel. Among the reports reported, the fact that it remained sitting long periods on hard surfaces was stressed. This episode led me to reflect on how, in our time, the idea of sacrifice and heroism of some elites can sometimes be understood very differently from what other people really face.
I came back, for a moment, to my times of primary school. The wallets-were called like that-they were anything but ergonomic. Of solid wood, hard like rock. And the hardness, note, was not for the furniture: there was also the ruler, also wood and applied with conviction in the hands of the most distracted. After so many hours sitting under such conditions, I thought if I would not have, in comparative terms, right to claim resistant status. But I soon realized that there are those who really deserve this title. The inhabitants of Gaza, for example. Palestinian civilians-men, women, children, and the elderly-who saw the world crumble around them: buildings that collapse, broken families, the food disappearing, the fear to settle as a routine. People who no longer have health, no education, no security, and who still find the strength to survive. For them, supporting a hard surface would not be the biggest of problems if that meant having basic guarantees of protection and dignity.
The victimization of the “instant heroes” of the flotilha did, after all, part of the script. Being detained was essential to complete the plot. The real failure would have been to Gaza without opposition. Imagine Anticlimax: After weeks to navigate the Mediterranean, feeding news on a daily basis, landing the load and returning without more. The political weight of the action would not be in the peaceful landing, but in the shock with the Israeli authorities.
Thus, the episode will have served to feed personal stories of sacrifice and resistance, narratives that each participant will take with them and use in their narratives. It turns out that it is much easier to tell stories from the comfort of any European city than living the real and dramatic daily life of Gaza.
In Portugal, there were even those who underlined the historical importance of the presence of Mariana Mortágua in this initiative. The statement may sound exaggerated, especially when compared to the actual suffering of so many civilians on the ground.
Professor