Freedom Ride

Recorded by Baltimore Jewish Voice for Peace and allies. Email us at bmorejvp (at) gmail.com

Freedom Ride

To the tune of “Can the Circle Be Unbroken”

I was standing by my window
I saw that bus for Jerusalem
And I wanted so bad to go
But they said you can't get on.

Can the occupation be broken
Freedom Ride, yeah, Freedom Ride
There's a better future waiting
In a free, free Palestine

Well I told that bus driver
I won't stand for apartheid
Because separate is never equal
I'm gonna ride, I'm gonna ride.

Can the occupation be broken
Freedom Ride, yeah, Freedom Ride
There's a better future waiting
In a free, free Palestine

I've seen walls and I've seen checkpoints
I've seen segregated highways
But I've never seen al-Quds
Even though I live ten miles away.

Can the occupation be broken
Freedom Ride, yeah, Freedom Ride
There's a better future waiting
In a free, free Palestine

And if you lock me in your prison
For demanding equality
You won't stop people from riding
Toward a day when we're all free.

Can the occupation be broken
Freedom Ride, yeah, Freedom Ride
There's a better future waiting
In a free, free Palestine

On November 15th, Palestinian activists will attempt to board segregated Israeli settler public transport headed to occupied East Jerusalem in an act of civil disobedience inspired by the Freedom Riders of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Fifty years after the U.S. Freedom Riders staged bus rides through the roads of the segregated American South, Palestinian Freedom Riders will be asserting their right for liberty and dignity by disrupting the military regime of the Occupation through peaceful civil disobedience. Organizers say that this ride to demand liberty, equality, and access to Jerusalem is the first of many to come. The Freedom Riders will be riding Egged and Veolia buses. Veolia runs many transportation services in local US communities, and is the target of many BDS campaigns. This provides a great opportunity for local Boycott or Dump Veolia campaigns to have a creative action that ties directly to Palestinian-led direct action.
Palestinian Freedom Riders are asking US activists to step up alongside them, taking to the streets (or buses!) to show our solidarity with these courageous and historic protests.
Check this out for more information: http://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/campaigns/solidarity-with-palestinian-freedom-riders