Yes, I am still an odd one to be writing about the state of America's urban areas. As you all know, if you've been reading my work for more than the last six minutes, I grew up in a rural setting, I'm a happy rural dweller myself these days, and have little time for cities. I find them unpleasant; crowded, noisy, and, to be honest, they smell bad. I like the clean country air of the Susitna Valley, and if that means I have to put up with the sub-sub-zero temperatures of a Great Land winter, then I do, that's all.
With that being true, why am I still worried about America's cities? Because our cities are the beating hearts of our nation. Much of the country's economic activity happens there. Urban areas contain a lot of the country's industry and academia. What's more, our cities used to be the pride of the nation, but that's not so much the case anymore. In many places, civil unrest is rampant; violent "protestors" riot, loot, and destroy, and the municipal governments seem helpless to do anything about it.
Case in point: New York, and the anti-United Nations, pro-"Palestine" groups that are defacing that city.
On August 15, members of Within Our Lifetime (WOL) marched some 70 blocks across New York City, starting at the United Nations and ending in Morningside Park. Along the way, they boarded the subway en masse and resurfaced near Columbia University to join student protesters and implicitly call for the conquest of Israel. One demonstrator waved a Hezbollah flag; others vandalized a memorial near the mayor’s mansion.
The march showcased some of the pro-Palestinian movement’s most radical elements and highlighted the threat they pose to public order. As the vandalism demonstrates, WOL and its associates have a long history of lawlessness, including property destruction and building occupation. As a new school year dawns and activists push for another round of campus protests, city and university leaders must remain vigilant.
"Threat" isn't too strong a word. The leader of Within Our Lifetime, one Nerdeen Kiswani, has been arrested on several occasions, but continues to lead the radical pro-"Palestine" and, presumably, pro-Hamas/Hezbollah organization:
Within Our Lifetime is a pro-Palestinian organization founded by Nerdeen Kiswani, a CUNY graduate with a long history in the city’s activist scene. Kiswani co-founded the New York City chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine in 2015, which rebranded as WOL in 2018. Kiswani remains the group’s chairwoman despite multiple arrests.
The recent WOL march began as a protest at the United Nations, which has been a major target of pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Activists in recent weeks have locked embassy gates and surrounded the entrances of diplomatic missions. Kiswani also confronted acting U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Dorothy Shea while she was dining at a restaurant.
I would go into what their calls to action - read that as "rioting" - looks like, but I can hardly do that any better than they can themselves:
🚨NYC URGENT CALL FOR MOBILIZATION: CITYWIDE DAY OF RAGE IN DEFENSE OF RAFAH
— National Students for Justice in Palestine (@NationalSJP) May 6, 2024
🇵🇸Take to the streets to resist the invasion!
🗓️Monday May 6th
📍Hunter College: 68th St. & Lex.
⏱️5:00 pm
📱FOR UPDATES/INFO:
Twitter/X: @wolpalestine
Telegram: https://t.co/NM5LKCsMiK pic.twitter.com/skyjwXLiIA
Dispersing now‼️
— Within Our Lifetime (@WOLPalestine) June 11, 2024
Form crews and make moves🔻
Take autonomous action for Palestine against the cultural institutions invested in genocide🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/DEa9GGmGrQ
We should harbor no illusions about these people. They are willing and prepared to use violence to achieve their goals.
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Look at the language in their own distributions. Calling for a "Day of Rage," and calling on followers to "form crews and make moves," to "take autonomous action" - you don't have to be Che Guevara to figure out what that means. These are, at best, thinly veiled incitements to violence. And this is only one group, in one city, but they are not only inciting violence but are also defacing the city's buildings and parks, and interfering with the citizens' ability to go about their lives unimpeded. The city of New York seems unable to deal with the problem.
We remember, with vivid clarity, the summer of 2020, when the George Floyd/Black Lives Matter riots paralyzed many of our major cities. There was arson, looting, cops injured, and people killed. There were billions in property damage. Many people who had small businesses, businesses they spent their lives building, had those businesses destroyed by the rioters.
How many of the arsonists, rioters, and looters were ever called to account for their crimes?
This state of affairs didn't spring out of nothing. It has spread, it continues to spread, and to grow, because most of the authorities in those urban enclaves did little or nothing to squash the radicals when they could have done so. Granted, any nut has protections under the First Amendment, but they do not have the right to incite violence, to commit vandalism, and to impede honest citizens from going about their daily lives.
Within Our Lifetime, and radical Islamist groups like them are flourishing in our major cities. They are fundamentally opposed to liberty and Western civilization. Our urban area governments have, through inattention, allowed them to become more and more bold in their incitement. This is a beast that will grow, and the next ten to twenty years in places like New York may very well come to regret their earlier inattention.
