‘Freeway Blogging’ raises Palestine issue

Every Wednesday afternoon during five o’clock rush hour, a group of activists gathers on the Mandell Street Bridge that passes over U.S. Highway 59 in Houston. A retired man wearing a crisp straw hat carefully takes the folded signs from the trunk of his car and distributes them.

Photo: David Carter

Bob Carter, third from the left in the photo, has mastered the art of this new phenomenon called freeway blogging. With his dogged support for the Palestinian struggle and his artfully hinged signs that are 4 and 5 feet tall, thousands of Houstonians stuck in traffic are educated weekly about the role of Israel and the U.S. in the plight of the Palestinian people.

In conservative Houston, Texas, home of the former President Bush and home to a booming petrochemical industry, many people do honk in agreement or wave to those on the overpass.

Freeway blogging began in Houston when anti-war activists looked for creative but low cost ways to reach a large number of people with a political message. They began to stand on freeway overpasses holding signs. They learned that signs usually used in marches weren’t big enough to be read by passing motorists. They discovered that during rush hour, when cars were forced to drive at a very slow pace, and not during mid-day, the signs could be more easily read. They tinkered with signs until they were carefully worded and lettered. The least number of words and the biggest letters on huge cardboard were the best.

“The participants on the Mandell Street Bridge believe that the oppression and exploitation of the Palestinian people for over 40 years by successive Israeli governments supported unconditionally by the U.S. government is the predominant cause of anti-Semitism, radical Muslim terrorism and anti-Americanism. The average American is essentially uninformed about the apartheid in Palestine imposed by the Israeli government. We believe it is time to shed a small light in this darkened area of human rights violations. The truth ultimately will be revealed and it should benefit everyone, Palestine and Israel as well,” stated Carter.

On Tuesdays and Fridays anti-war and impeachment activists take to the Montrose Street Bridge for their freeway blogging. Cindy Sheehan joined them on July 10, as she kicked off her march to Washington, DC.

“Our Wednesday blogging for Palestine is not as popular as the impeachment blogging. Everyone hates Bush! But we are educating the people in Houston, and support for the Palestinian people is slowly growing,” Carter told Workers World.