Futility + Gaza

There are thousands of conversations happening about the Genocide in Gaza that arrive at ‘Futility’ and end there.

There’s nothing we can do.

In the 90s my brother played Changes by 2Pac to get us up for school.

There’s a war in the streets and a war in the Middle East 2pac said. Somethings will never change.

I look up the word futility and learn it comes from the Latin word Futilis which means ‘leaky’.

Google supplies a useful metaphor to help me understand. Imagine pouring lemonade into a glass with holes in it. No matter how long you pour, you never get a sip!

While I’m writing to my TDs about genocide in Gaza, I tell my husband there might be rain getting in on the floor on my side of the bed. He asks me if it’s possible I’m just spilling things?

Women and rich men scream that Ireland is full and set empty hotels on fire.

We know the outcome of every vote before it’s taken.

Wars don’t end, there is no shelter, we are always waiting to be seen.

There’s no point in anything.

So people refuse to pour energy into resistance, and focus on their children, or their own minds instead. Self care.

It’s been so long since Changes was written. We don’t believe in our power to change the world.

2

To reclaim some control, we threaten people to take action, on carousels that list the

solutions we see over and over. Write to your TDs. Send money. Share. Amplify. Repeat.

There’s a divide between those of us who have to do something and those of us who don’t see a point.

I’m not looking at it. She says. Like it’s a box set. I’m sorry I just don’t believe in it. There’s nothing we can do. Don’t ask me as a mother to watch a video of a child being killed when there’s nothing I can do to save the rest of them?

Amplify voices. Send money. Write to TDs. Doesn’t seem to compare.

I think about the tiny effort it takes to lift the bottle to the glass, and the mammoth effort it takes to believe.

“I don’t believe it in it” is a very powerful thing to say.

Power hungry men the world over use that power to drill more tiny little holes in the glass and leave you feeling like you never get a fucking sip.

This is the ouroboros.

Nothing means anything because nothing means anything.

Somethings will never change can be said to roars of applause too.

3,

Politics might fail. Activism might end up being good natured self indulgence. I don’t know where the charity money goes either.

But I know that people in Palestine are watching us as much as we are watching them, they believe in our solidarity. There is a power in that connection between us.

Powerful people see power.

And then shifts happen.

Today I learned that I can buy an esim for people in Gaza, a SIM card that they can download over QR code that they can use to hotspot for others too when Israel blocks out power. If you want to buy one to keep our connection to them; email gazaesims@gmail.com