I’m a second-year PhD student in economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. I’ve previously worked as a predoctoral research fellow in economics at the Global Priorities Institute in Oxford.
Luzia
Karma: 85
I’m a second-year PhD student in economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. I’ve previously worked as a predoctoral research fellow in economics at the Global Priorities Institute in Oxford.
I have definitely spent a lot of time thinking about the situation since the 7th October and have felt the urge to do something. The one thing I actually ended up doing is email a German MP from the Green Party who is the main person responsible for foreign affairs to ask what the German government is doing to improve the situation for civilians in Gaza.
I generally think that not everything I do has to be effective and that there are lots of things I care about besides EA motivations. I also think political action can be effective and I’ve been to some climate protests before.
One reason I’m not doing more about what is happening in Gaza right now is that I am genuinely unsure about what the right thing to do is. I have been reading opinion pieces by various people almost every day since the terror attack and it seems to me that even though the suffering in Gaza is incredibly heartbreaking, it is unclear what a ceasefire now would actually accomplish in terms of making the situation better in the long-run.
I think another big reason is that I find the pro-Palestine movement quite alienating and I, for example, wouldn’t feel good about going to a protest demanding a ceasefire that is largely organised by people from the movement. I find it unacceptable that a lot of people in the movement seem to think that the terror attacks were justified and are just some legitimate uprising against colonial oppression (besides the fact that I don’t think framing Israel/Palestine as an issue of colonisation is particularly helpful and true). As a German, I have obviously grown up with a specific stance that is relatively pro-Israel and a strong sensitivity about antisemitism. I think it’s possible that I am too biased here but actually condoning the terror attacks seems like an extremely clear red line to me.
I wish there was more protest that makes the clear distinction between supporting the civilians in Gaza/supporting Hamas/being against the existence of Israel/criticising actions of the Israeli government. When I was thinking about wanting to go to a protest, I researched whether there was a demonstration that felt sufficiently aligned with my views in my area but I couldn’t find anything so decided not to go.