WASHINGTON DC, April 5 (RTSG) – Thousands of protestors gathered in Washington DC this month to protest against the war in Palestine. Among the attendees was Norman Finkelstein, an American political-scientist and journalist who has spent decades advocating against the state of Israel and the war against Palestine. He has called Israel a “Jewish supremacist state” and says that Israel is committing crimes of apartheid against Palestinians. He has also spoken many times in support of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group which the United States has labelled as a terrorist organization.

We asked Finkelstein what he thought about this event, and if the showing there was a sign that more people were becoming aware of the movement.

Finkelstein said that “It (the National March for Palestine) was a good showing, but it was almost all non-white. I don’t know why we lost the white folks who were coming out. It felt like it was not as representative. Much less diverse than it was say in November.”

When asked if this was because of a perceived threat to white people, Finkelstein replied “The threat is really not to folks like me, the threat is to the people who came. So they showed real courage, right, coming. I’m not sure, I don’t know what the answers are but it was very noticeable.”

Other attendees were also interviewed by RTSG News.

Em, a 51 year-old cook from Pittsburgh, said that “looking back at how Israel was created and the role of world banks” led her to become an activist for Palestine. “Once you start doing your research, man, you just can’t stop if you’ve got a heart and some moral conviction.”

 “It’s all so contradictory.“

“The biggest issue is that people are still acting like sheep until they wake up. People are cheap and very ignorant; they think it’s cool to just be the way we are.”

When asked if part of the problem was corporate influence in politics, Em replied that “[People] believe capitalism is flawless. I’m not saying we should ditch capitalism overnight—that’s what we have—but when corporations have more power than the workers, that’s a serious problem.”

We asked if this meant that people were waking up about the situation in Gaza. Em replied “It’s a nice crowd, right? But if people were really waking up, we’d have millions coming together—everyone from all over, even from places like DC or three hours away like Philadelphia.”

“This is serious stuff, yet if anyone knows anything, we’re just not coming together enough. It might be better than it was two or three years ago—even five years ago—but consider what happened recently: the country voted for someone who one minute said he’d lower prices and then switched to raising them, and then went on to talk about tariffs and taxes. It’s all so contradictory.”

“I believe it all comes down to getting money out of politics.”

Another attendee, Ian, was interviewed about the situation in America. Ian said that “I think America highly values freedom, and we need to return to the spirit of 1776—standing for free speech and political rights.”

“Despite the current government’s clampdown on our freedom of speech—like the actions on college campuses and the deportations of great Americans who stand up to Donald Trump—I love the American people and the idea of America.”

When asked if there were still redeeming qualities about America, Ian said that “We believe in freedom and political freedom, which is, for me, the nation’s most redeeming quality. It’s really only the ruling class that wants this war; the working class and the people who actually make this country run do not.”

Reporting by Louis, editing by Seraph