American activist: From Vietnam to Gaza war, my government lies to me

Meet Tighe Barry, an 89-year-old human rights activist from Santa Monica, California, who has dedicated his life to advocating for Palestinian rights and opposing Israeli occupation.

A lifelong protester against Western colonialism and occupation, Barry shared his thoughts with TRT World during the Holy Redemption premiere in Istanbul on August 24, 2024.

"I feel sick as can be," he said, criticising the United States for "funding and participating in a genocide."

Barry was raised in an Irish Catholic family in the US, and became an activist at age 12, during the Vietnam War. At that time, he joined his family in street protests against the US government's call to send men, including his brother, to fight as soldiers in Vietnam.

These protests "led me into understanding that my government lies to me. The Vietnam War was a total lie, and we discovered it was a total lie afterwards," Barry said.

Barry said he continued his activism throughout his life protesting against all US wars.

US curriculum ignores Palestine

Barry pointed out that the US education system only recognises Israel, ignoring the existence of Palestine.

"I was told about this place called Israel, and I read books on Israel. I created a fantasy around Israel. I wrote articles about Israel, and I got good grades on these things."

He added that he first learned about Palestine during a trip to Europe.

"My ‘very prestigious’ education never talked about Palestine. I discovered in a bar in Spain that there is a place called Palestine when I was an 18-year-old and that there are Palestinian people," he said.

Palestinian rights activism

Barry's stance against Israel was profoundly shaped by the 2008 Israeli war on Gaza, during which 759 Palestinian civilians were killed and over 5,300 were injured by Israeli forces.

Barry recounted how they had been sitting around a television, witnessing the devastating bombing of Gaza by the Israeli military during "Operation Cast Lead".

He explained that he, along with Wright, a former US Army colonel and diplomat, and activist Medea Benjamin, decided to travel to Rafah to cross into Gaza and see the situation for themselves.

"We entered right after the bombing started and they let us in. We had 72 hours. I saw the most horrific things I'd ever seen in my life, and I thought I would never see anything worse until now," Barry said, referencing Israel's latest war on Gaza, which has killed at least 40,000 Palestinians.

Since then, Barry has returned to Gaza 12 times.

During his first visit to Gaza in 2009, Barry was surprised to see that there were no differences between women inside and outside Gaza, despite the demonisation of the Palestinian people by Israeli propaganda.

"The last thing I remember seeing when leaving Egypt in Rafah was a woman pushing a baby carriage and a man selling oranges. And when I finally got through all these doors into Gaza, I saw a man selling oranges and a woman pushing a baby carriage. There's no difference."

During his first visit to Gaza, Barry vividly recalled seeing children playing on the rubble of what had once been the largest mosque in Gaza City.

He wondered why children would choose such areas to play.

"It's because that was their home. They are little children, they're most attracted to where their home is. Children want to be where it's familiar. And so they also got hurt by these unexploded ordinances that Israel leaves behind all the time."

What Barry witnessed in Gaza motivated him to educate the world about Palestine and the reasons behind the bombings. In March 2009, alongside Medea Benjamin, the Jewish founder of Code Pink, they launched a campaign to raise awareness.

They gathered a group of 60 American Jewish women and, just two months after the ceasefire in Gaza, brought them there on International Women's Day.

The group distributed gift baskets to women throughout Gaza, and were greeted warmly. "It was the most moving experience that these people were bombed and destroyed and their lives just upended, showing us such humanity and such love," Barry said.

'Horrific racism' in US

From its founding in 1948 to today, Barry said, "Israel has committed the world's greatest war crimes of this century, no doubt since World War II.”

He described Israel's actions as "the greatest crime of ethnic cleansing, of genocide, of mass bombing of innocent civilians" and called for an urgent end to the violence.

As an American human rights activist, Barry wants to see Israel "disarmed just like Nazi Germany was."

Barry expresses his frustration over Israeli propaganda and "horrific racism" and said the US should stop enabling it.

"The United States, we don't want Israeli racism running our country. You cannot spread your racism and your hate to my country.”

A recent survey by IUAPR's Anti-Palestinian Racism Research Group investigating anti-Palestinian racism found that 64.6 percent of Palestinians and their allies in the US have experienced racism firsthand, while 63.4 percent reported being silenced, excluded, harassed, defamed, or threatened with physical harm while advocating for Gaza.

Additionally, nearly 88 percent of respondents witnessed others facing anti-Palestinian racism.

"If you mention the word Palestinian rights, you can lose your job in the United States. The United States is funding, it's participating in a genocide,” Barry said.