On the Venice Beach boardwalk for a Free Palestine

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I like to start my day watching the Al Jazeera NewsHour @ 8:00AM PDT, with a hot cup of French roast in my hand. I find their NewsHour gives me a quick view of what's happening around the world that is both comprehensive and unfiltered. And, of course, they cover the unfolding genocide in Gaza, in great depth, everyday, in the first part of the hour—all the news filtered out by all the major US news outlets. 

The attacks by the Zionist state are relentless. Everyday, the Palestnian bodycount creeps up by another fifty or a hundred. The "official" MoH verified deathtoll is currently around sixty-six thousands, but many people are missing, many buried under the rubble that once were their homes. Everyone knows the real death toll is much higher. Unlike the Holocaust, which took place in the fog of WWII, this genocide is being livestreamed on the worldwide web, and yet it is allowed to continue. 

When did "Never Again!" become "Whenever"?

I was born in 1948, which means that I was born in the shadow of World War II, and the Holocaust. My Dad was a reporter during the war, and my Mom served in the US Army. About the time I was learning how to read, my Dad had a carpenter cover three walls of the den with bookshelves. Then my parents filled it with books, and turned it into a library. Many of those books were about that most recent war, and those books helped me learn about war, and other forms of politics. Judgment at Nuremberg came out when I was a very impressionable thirteen. The images of the Holocaust it first revealed to me haunt me till this day. Nazi SS officer Adolf Eichmann was tried and convicted that same year. When I vowed "Never Again," I meant it.

So, it didn't sit well with me to watch Israel's genocide in Gaza eighty years after The Holocaust ended, and do nothing about it. And while I'd gone to the rare DTLA protests, and raised the Palestinian flag at the weekly anti-Tesla protest in Santa Monica, it seemed a feeble effort. The DTLA protests are hard to get to, and few people see you on a Saturday morning anyway, and I was the only one calling to end the genocide at the Santa Monica Tesla protests. Their focus lies elsewhere.

Then I had a little epiphany: I live near the beach, why not do something at the beach! It is said that Venice Beach is second only to Disneyland as a SoCal tourist attraction—maybe first, after Disney's Jimmy Kimmel debacle. Anyway, a lot of people stroll the Venice Beach boardwalk on your average weekend day, and the west side of the boardwalk is suppose to be a "Free Speech Zone." Which was still pretty much what it was when I first moved to Venice twenty years ago, with artists and musicians, side by side with tables advocating for a really wide range of causes. Post Covid, it has turned into a long line of small vendors selling cheap merchandise from China. In a way, I have joined them, as my Palestinian flags, scarves, pendants, and pins all come from China—but my purpose is a bit wider.

I started with some things I had on hand, a 24"x36" foam poster board, an old wooden stand left over from my documentary promoting days, and the output of my trusty Epson printer—which immediately required service. Anyway, overcoming that hurtle, I produced this:

I already had the Palestinian flag and pole. I debuted the combination at the Saturday Tesla protest in Santa Monica on July 26, 2025. Got a lot of high signs & "thank you"s. One guy gave me the finger—from across the street.

Sunday, July 27th, I took it to the Venice Beach boardwalk for the first time. I setup next to Veterans for Peace, one of the few spaces still doing free speech on the boardwalk. The upside down flag is their's. Flying it means distress. They won't tell where they got it. I want one, but everywhere I look, I only find US flags with the stars on the top.

This debut was so successful that I knew I would be doing this for a while.

By the next weekend, I had added two new posters on two new stands. This was Saturday, August 2nd.

And this was Sunday, August 3rd.

The next Saturday, I setup across from the Venice Beach Bar, which I still call the ex-Bistro. Occasionally a Zionist would do what I call a "Drive-By Attack," shout something while quickly passing. This day delivered one of the most memorable, a man screemed "Free the Hostages," as he raced by. We had a lot of fun with that! The vendor next to me, a woman selling jewelery, asked, "Do you have the hostages?" I responded "Yes, they're in the basement of my apartment." A basement at the beach. After that it becames a running joke with the vendors on either side of me, with comments like, "Clay, you'd better go home and free the hostages. Feed them first, then free them." It went on for weeks.

And on Sunday, August 10th, a little futher south, by the Fig Tree. Al Jazeera journalist Anas Alsharif was assassinated on this day.

The flag really makes the display work, as it can easily be seen a block away on either side.

Marian is often my buddy on the bench. She also keeps the spirt of free speech alive on the boardwalk.

These four activists found my stand, and we became instant friends.

This is Gus and Silva, a Palestinian man & Syrian woman. 

And stuck around to help me pack up, and take everything home.	They bought me this gourmet sandwich from the Fig Tree.
	Gus and Silva also take part in the Long Beach Banner Drop for Palestine.

At sunset, I rode with the Venice Electric Light Parade, as usual. The Grind livestreamed the whole ride. You can watch it on YouTube.

The next Saturday, I had added a table to my setup. It's hard to see here because it's behind everything.

It was starting to become routine now. Part of the Grind. First I would load everything up on my hand truck and haul it up to the boardwalk. 

Find an open spot. Then fill three bags with sand for ballast against the wind, and put everything together. At the end of the day, reverse. Next day, repeat.

Almost forty years ago a neighbor sold me this old hand truck for $20. I've gotten a lot of value out of it since then.

Sunday, August 17th, I setup next to VFP again.

They have a nice display about the costs of war that they put up most Sundays. When I can, I like to locate close to them for mutual support.

Across from the Phoenix House, looking towards the Fig Tree.

By the next Saturday, August 23th, the display had reached its current form, with more pictures & Free Palestine merch on the table, and five informational signs hanging off of everything.

Here's a closeup of the table top: Flags $10, Scarves or Pendants $5, pins 50¢.

The Pendants were a hot item. I soldout of those right away.

Most of the vistors on the boardwalk are so supportive of the Palestinian cause, and opposed to the genocide in Gaza. I feel my bigest weakness is not having a good answer to the question: What can I do? Many try to give money, but I generally don't accept donations. Sometimes they sneak it in anyway, like the woman who Venmo'd me $10 for a $5 pendant, or the man who shoved a $20 bill in my hand with a "Thank you for doing this" while we were both listening to a woman telling me how troubled she was that the profit from selling a 50¢ pin wasn't going to a pro-Palestine non-profit. He knew all this display materials had been money-out-of-pocket. I appreciated his strong counterpoint, and it shut her up.  

I give away alot of the pins. It amazes me how many people want to Venmo 50¢! I guess cash isn't king anymore. I encourage them to show their support for a Free Palestine, and that's what the merch is for. I love putting a Free Palestine pin or pendant on a pretty woman. I know that it will be a force multiplier. I remember one Palestinian woman that I had a long converstation with. She said that she usually didn't admit that she was Palestinian, was afraid to, instead just saying she was Arab. In the end, I was so happy to see her leave wearing a Palestinian Flag pin. Be proud of you hertiage!

I also tell people to be on the lookout for the occansional Gaza-centric protest, and to raise the Palestinian flag at other protests, as I had been doing at the Santa Monica Tesla Takedown since the beginning. I point them to Clay's Los Angeles Protest Page on Facebook as the best way to find local protests. I have a QR Code on one of the boards.

But beyond that, I don't have a lot to say. I don't have an organization to recruite them to, or a path to set them on. I do a lot with Indivisible on other things, but Palestine isn't important to them.

Instead, I just tell people to raise the issue whereever they can, whenever  they can, and to educate themselves on it. Maybe I should start carrying some literature, but that opens up a whole other can of worms, not to mention the weight. Anyway, I tell them to do whatever they can to build a critical mass of pro-Palestine support as to force the US government's hand. Only then can there be peace in Palestine.

Here are a few of the people who stopped by that Saturday.

Others just stopped to look and comtemplate. I know that I am presenting them with images, like those of the Holocaust, that, once seen, cannot be unseen. That is my first purpose for being there every weekend—to spread awareness of what is happening in Gaza to the people—to do what the main stream media is refusing to do.

That Sunday, I again set up next to Veterans for Peace.

I use to volunteer with these guys, building Arlington West, on the beach next to Santa Monica Pier, almost two decades ago.

Planting crosses at Alrington West decades ago

Remembering US soldiers killed in Iraq War at Arlington West

Sunday, August 24

The next Saturday, August 30th, after I had finally setup across from the Venice Beach Bar, I tweeted out:

You can find me just north on the Venice Beach Bar today. The vendor next to me just asked me if I've freed the hostages yet? It's become a running joke ever since a passing Zionist yelled "free the hostages" at me 3 weeks ago.

And on the last day of the month, I moved about a hundred yards south, near Venice Suites.

The only time I've setup three days in a row was this weekend plus Labor Day. I thought about taking "the show on the road" to Banning Park in Wilmington where the Unions and the Left would be gathering, but  they already know about Gaza. But I also thought: Why fight the traffic? I'm already here, and I know the boardwalk will be packed on Labor Day, and most have no real idea what's going  on in Gaza. So, I setup for a third day, again near the Fig Tree. As I started setting up, a woman sitting in the outdoor section of the Fig Tree started screaming at me to move because none of it was true. I ignored her. Fig Tree staff & management have been very supportive.

Saturday, September 6th is my son's birthday, and I setup just south of Dudley.

On Sunday, I setup close to Veterans for Peace, and Marian had a new sign.

Then I went to NOLA for a few days.

Saturday, September 13th, back from NOLA. Setup this Saturday just across from Dudley and the old Candle on the Venice Beach boardwalk again. My Uber driver from LAX is Iranian. We had a good conversation about Gaza,  and I showed him pictures of my setup on the beach. He said I was very brave.

And Sunday, just north of Venice Suites.

By then I was updating one sign with the most recent MoH death tolls for Gaza.

I originally had a Samsung tablet velcroed to this spot. It was playing the 3-minute "Our Genocide" video from B'TSelem on a loop. That work well as people would stop to watch it, and this would cause other people to become curious and linger, until, for want of sand, the wind blew the sign over, and the screen got shattered.

I got a no-name replacement tablet from Amazon, and this time I fabricated a strudy clear plastic case to protect it. Problem was, between the glare on the shiny tablet screen, and the glare/distortion of the plastic cover, people didn't have to worry about unseeing any of the images present to them on this tablet because they would never see them in the first place.

So, I settled on using the plastic pocket to display the most recent bodycount.

Last Saturday, September 20th, I'd printed four new pictures for the table top, and made some new signs, including one demanding the return of Jimmy Kimeel Live!

It was a very busy day on the boardwalk.

Sometimes, to gage the boardwalk foot traffic, I will use the timer app on my phone to count the number if people passing me in a minute. I've counted as high as sixty, which indicates a peak traffic flow of 3,600 vistors per hour. Last Sunday wasn't that busy, but it was pretty busy. I setup right across from the world famous Titanic.

Good friends also stopped by. These two guys are Free Palestine supports and always on the boardwalk. I feel safe when they're around.

These are three longtime Venice activists.

These three are a mystery. I had been gone for a few minutes. The vendor next to me was watching my stuff—actually, a lot of people had my  back. When I came back, I saw them looking at the display, and I took this picture. After I sat down behind the table, the couple on bikes came round to engage me. The woman in the green dress didn't enage me or them, but just hung back as an interested observer. We talked for a few minutes. The couple presented themselves as moderate Israelis who opposed the war but didn't think it was a genocide, and just wanted me to see Israel's side—until, in frustration, the man blurted out, "Gaza should be turned into a parking lot!"

 The woman look horrified that he had given away the game, and when I took my camera out, they both fled in a hurry.

Later, the guy at the Titamic told me that they had taken alot of pictures of my stuff in my absense, and the "disinterested" woman in green was with them. This raises questions: Why were they taking a lot of pictures? What were they up to? Usually, I like it when people take pictures of shot video. I invite it. When they ask, I always say yes. I hope they'll post them to social media, or at least show their friends. I see them as force multipliers for my display. But, these three, given the converstation and the deception, don't fit that profile. I think they were investigators; but for who?

Finally, last Sunday I was happy to be able to add this sign to my display. The worm is turning.

Clay Claiborne

28 September 2025