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Artist:

David Rovics

Song:

Behind The Barricades

Album: 

Living In These Times

Year: 

2001
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jimiffondu | MEMORY FROM 2007

Tear gas and romance

LOCATION: Olive groves outside the village, Bil’in, occupied Palestinian territories

YEAR: 2007

TAGS: danger, a kiss

PUBLISHED: February 13, 2008

She's a specialist in international human rights law; I'm a journalist.  We met in the city of Bethlehem, a city under Israeli military occupation in the Palestinian territories.


Our one previous date had the unique attribute that it had been, to that point, the only romantic event I’d been a part of to feature a full military incursion, riots, molotov cocktails, burning tyres and soldiers shooting at children.  We had been in Hebron on a bad day.

 

It had proved such a winning combination, that our second date took us to the weekly non-violent demonstration against the construction of the Israeli wall around the West Bank village of Bil'in.

 

We became separated, as she interviewed local residents about their experiences and I started taking photos.  Suddenly, some kids started to throw stones at the soldiers sent to quell the demo, and the soldiers responded by shooting live ammunition, as well as rubber bullets and tear gas.



I saw this beautiful girl just down the hill from where I was.  Tear gas cannisters were exploding all around her, and she was in the main path of fire of the shooting.  She'd taken her glasses off and was holding her face, as the tear gas blinded her.  I could see she was completely disorientated and stuck.  As I ran down the hill, I could hear rubber bullets zinging through the olive trees.  I leapt over a few small walls and onto the path where she stood.



She took my hand and we made a “tactical withdrawal” to a relatively safe spot, where I attempted to dry her eyes.  I held her face as we each stole a few gulps of air from the impending asphyxiation, and we kissed.  As tears continued to stream down our faces, we kissed.  It was an intensely brief kiss, the kind you can only snatch for a few brief glimpses of heaven.  It was over again in a second, but the passion and the beauty and the relief and the fear in that kiss said it all.

 

This was the girl for me.

 

Seconds later, a further barrage of tear gas grenades erupted around us and a friendly anarchist gave us some alcohol-soaked swabs.  We gratefully took them, acknowledged a quick furtive glance between each other, and unceremoniously shoved them up our noses – the fumes of the alcohol combatting the effect of the tear gas.

 

David Rovics deserves to be a great deal more famous than he is.  In an age such as ours, we need a voice for the people.  The voice of a poet.  And preferably someone who can sing better than Bily Bragg.  Rovics’ social realism and inspirational dreamery, combined with a sharp humour, marks him as one of the most relevant commentators of our times. 

 

‘Behind the Barricades’ carries the message that, however hopeless our cause may be, however dark the morning may beckon, however many sacrifices we endure, there is time for a moment of peace, of tranquility; there is hope and there is love.

 

There can never again be a time when I listen to that wonderful song by David and don’t picture the passionate, romantic moment shared between myself and my girlfriend that hellish spring afternoon.  But I’ll also always remember, even if only as a byline, the subsequent image of the pair of us walking back to the village with streaming red eyes and bright blue cotton wool blooming from our nostrils!

 

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COMMENTS (3)
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Appelman said: This is my new favorite memory on JamsBio. It is so well written and so heartfelt it makes me ashamed of my own memories which are all about friends and relatively meaningless events, but this memory is powerful. It shows how if we look deeply enough into war we see more than just statistics, we see people that are living their lives. I think that we forget that not everybody affected is a warrior and suited for war, and that many are just people caught up in the action while they try to lead normal lives. Perhaps if we could see the way that everyday people are affected we would be more reluctant to heed a call to arms. (4/4/2008)

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sunshinelikeacid said: This is an unbelievable memory. It is so beautiful that you found such love and passion despite the onslaught of pure hate and violence. This memory really moved me, and I don't say that lightly. I envy you. As horrible and frightening as that event must have been, it is everything I want. I am 15 now, and I desperately wish to be a journalist and to travel to countries torn apart by conflict. (4/4/2008)

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alynn said: Powerful, emotional and totally mesmerizing. thank you for sharing (4/19/2008)

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