367

Dutch politician Esther Ouwehand was asked to remove her first shirt (Palestine flag), so she came back wearing another one of watermelon seeds.

see original post: https://techhub.social/@mahmoudoov/115232831501836545

#EstherOuwehand #gaza #palestine #genocide #StopGenocide #NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
@palestine@lemmy.ml @palestine@fedibird.com

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] DrBob@lemmy.ca 55 points 1 week ago

What's the significance of watermelon seeds?

[-] platypode@sh.itjust.works 108 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Watermelon has been used as a plausibly deniable way to show support for Palestine since 1967 per Wikipedia, since it shares the same colors as the flag while being a completely common and innocuous item.

[-] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 1 week ago

I was not aware of this. Thank you kindly

[-] Birch@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

TIL about watermelon ๐Ÿ‰ support

E: there ought to be a list of hidden meaning of various emojis

[-] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 33 points 1 week ago

Same colors as the one she was told to remove.

[-] Whostosay@sh.itjust.works 24 points 1 week ago

Who asked her and under what authority?

This timeline is batshit insane

[-] HopFlop@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 week ago

At least in Germany, and I imagine it would be similar in the Netherlands, it would be the parliament's president because political symbols on clothing are not allowed.

[-] mrdown@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

political symbols on clothing are not allowed

Not really. The Israeli flag has been raised over the German Bundestag building

[-] grindemup@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

You know that a building is not the same as clothing, right?

[-] mrdown@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Why does it matter on what the political symbol is?

[-] anzo@programming.dev 3 points 1 week ago

Aww, you're so cute. Like the law would care about common sense instead of opressing minorities ;p

[-] HopFlop@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 week ago

Thats cute that you say opressing minorities because that decision (to put up the flag on that day) was made unanimously.

[-] hyacin@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Because you're talking about a law or rule - it is literally all about how it is written - people build entire careers on debating the interpretation of how they are written.

"No government employee can wear political symbols to work" is 100%, clearly and entirely not the same as "No political symbols may be shown anywhere on any government property"

Seriously?? A downvote?? You asked why it matters, I explained why it matters, jfc, leave the nasty Reddit behaviour on Reddit tyvm.

[-] HopFlop@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 week ago

Yeah because the Bundestag voted for it (unanimously btw)

[-] hyacin@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago

political symbols on clothing are not allowed

Had some similar silliness in the Ontario provincial parliament in Canada when they decided a keffiyeh was a 'political symbol' or some such bs - they threw a member right out for refusing to take it off.

[-] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 5 points 1 week ago

IMO, it would be better if politicians were like Nascar drivers. At least it would be more honest.

[-] thymos@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 1 week ago

The speaker of the house asked her, but only when urged to by another member of parliament who reminded him that earlier this year, another member was asked to change the T-shirt he was wearing with a foetus on it during a debate about abortion. The rule is that the appearance of the parliament should be neutral.

By the way, because she was asked to change her clothes, the moment was aired in all talk shows that evening, with an explanation of the watermelon blouse she wore later (and which the speaker suggested she wore instead by the way), so this incident only helped to get her message out there.

[-] Sausa@beehaw.org 14 points 1 week ago

Watermelon is often used as a symbol of Palestinian resistance as it has the same colours as the flag: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watermelon_as_a_Palestinian_symbol

this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2025
367 points (99.7% liked)

Palestine

1975 readers
727 users here now

A community to discuss everything Palestine.

Rules:

  1. Posts can be in Arabic or English.

  2. Please add a flair in the title of every post. Example: โ€œ[News] Israel annexes the West Bank โ€, โ€œ[Culture] Musakhan is the nicest food in the world!โ€, โ€œ[Question] How many Palestinians live in Jordan?โ€

List of flairs: [News] [Culture] [Discussion] [Question] [Request] [Guide]

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS