5 days ago
The Romans would have been baffled by the Gaza protests
Why are people in the UK protesting about the situation in Gaza? Surely it should be because the helpless Gazans cannot protest about their plight, caused by Hamas, because if they did, Hamas would kill them. But in that case, why isn't it Hamas that people are protesting against? Or are they in favour of Hamas and therefore hate Israel for wanting to destroy Hamas? But wouldn't that free Gazans? The whole situation would have baffled the Romans.
Romans protested only when their own interests were at stake. On one occasion around ad 50, the emperor Claudius was confronted by a mob in the forum, cursing him and pelting him with bread crusts because of a grain shortage. He immediately took steps to bring in supplies and organise grain rationing, distribution and even burial of the dead. Since it was important for social cohesion that the wealthy were seen to play their part, local patronage networks sprang into action. This, naturally, could cause problems of its own, as people flooded into areas where they heard such aid was on offer.
Political protests were a feature of Roman life for some 250 years while the plebeians, making up nearly 90 per cent of the population (assuming slaves made up about 10 per cent), battled with the tiny senatorial elite in a 'conflict of the orders' to gain an equal say in the running of the state. The plebs' main weapon was the strike – the refusal to sign up for the military levy at times when the Romans were threatened by hostile Italian clans – unless concessions were made. Their representatives, the sacrosanct tribunes working through the Assembly of Plebs, ran the campaign, monitoring Senate proceeds, vetoing senatorial laws, presenting pro-pleb bills, intervening against rulings and so on.
The situation was resolved in 287 bc because both sides knew what the problem was – the unity and stability of the state against dangerous enemies – and the elite saw that co-opting pleb power was in their own interests. But Hamas and Israel cannot even agree what the problem is in the first place (other than hating each other). Narcissistic protestors screaming 'genocide' simply prove the point.
