shared humanity

Our shared humanity

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

When I was a child and learned about the Holocaust, I couldn’t stop wondering how something so depraved and abominable was allowed to happen. Why didn’t people stop the Nazis?! Unfortunately, I now have a much better understanding of that apathy due to the past three months of Israel committing depraved and abominable acts against the Palestinians. A genocide is happening before our eyes as people shop after-Christmas sales and draft their New Year’s resolutions. I’ll exercise more! I’ll quit smoking! I’ll finally get organized! As bombs rain from the skies and Palestinians are literally being rounded up and held in a mass detention camp in a Gaza stadium, we’re unironically exchanging Peace on Earth messages.

How did we get here? One huge piece is that the Covid-19 pandemic laid the groundwork for our current indifference. Despite the deaths of millions and long-term disabling of millions more, life has “returned to normal.” Parents were told it was completely fine for their children to be infected over and over and over again in schools as the infections do untold damage to their immune systems. Society was instructed that it was okay for old people to die because, well, they were old. Same for the immunocompromised and disabled. Survival of the fittest, amirite? We were fed the message that only the weak and vulnerable were at risk, so we should resume our normal lives, namely working/producing and buying/consuming. Our “leaders” were wildly successful in getting us to avert our gaze from the ongoing mass death/disabling event that is Covid-19 (and to make that super-easy and convenient, the world’s governments have mostly stopped tracking infections and deaths!) Aside from Zippy, I do not know anyone else in real life (as opposed to people I engage with on social media) who masks. Despite the fact that the virus continues to mutate and become more contagious. Despite the fact that we’ve already seen how this movie ended during the AIDS crisis. Despite the fact that HIV is transmissible via direct contact with bodily fluids, but we’re now facing an unchecked virus that is airborne. Know what the government tells people to do to avoid HIV/AIDS? Don’t share needles and wear a condom. What’s our government’s main message for avoiding Covid infection? Wash your hands. EDITED TO ADD: I meant to also include climate change in here as another example of how they’ve  normalized mass death and destruction.

So, it’s not a huge surprise that many, many people here in the U.S. are also averting their gaze from the slaughter of Palestinians. They’d rather not think about it. They’ve been groomed to not think about such things. We were taught to think only of ourselves (rugged individualism!) and to believe nothing bad will ever come for us, personally. We’re immune to death and illness, prejudice and racism. We will never, ever be “othered.” We are the exceptional people who live in the United States of America, the greatest democracy on earth! Meanwhile, this so-called democracy is behaving in a very undemocratic fashion as it bullies the United Nations and –against the will of the majority of voters–supplies money, bombs, white phosphorous, and unconditional support to the genocidal, right-wing Israeli government that’s been very upfront about its intentions to displace, injure, kill, starve, etc. as many Palestinians as possible so that it may once and for all take ALL the land for Israel.

It’s overwhelmingly grim. But we aren’t powerless.

Please, keep making noise. Phone calls, emails, rallies, vigils, signage. Refuse to look away. Talk to your family and friends about what’s happening. When a neighbor yells, “How you doing?” let them know this U.S.-sponsored genocide weighs heavy on your heart. Pay attention to what’s happening in Gaza and allow yourself to grieve. Cry. Rage. Dance. Laugh. Sing. Go out into nature and absorb the wonder and beauty. Be fully present in this moment and remember our shared humanity. Extend kindness to yourself and strangers.

We’re at this point because we’ve become disconnected from each other and our surroundings. Our survival depends upon us reconnecting and remembering that we are all threads in the same fabric. We are one.

UPDATE: Just as I got ready to post this, the doorbell rang. It was a man from up the street who stopped by to introduce himself. He said his family is Muslim and that they very much appreciate the CEASEFIRE NOW sign in our front yard. He gave us a beautiful box of cookies and accepted my offer to make them a sign for their yard. The entire exchange brought tears to my eyes and deepened my resolve to forge connections.

“On Why We Still Hold Onto Our Phones and Keep Recording” by Asmaa Abu Mezied

/ Tracy Abell / 3 Comments

This essay is from Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire (August 2022) which is available as a free ebook from Haymarket Books. As the U.S. continues to fund and supply bombs for Israel’s genocidal campaign and as the corporate media continues to portray Palestinians as non-persons (even as Israel targets Palestinian journalists for assassination), the images captured by Palestinian civilians often provide the only window into their horrific reality.

Here, though, from Asmaa Abu Mezied, is a powerful explanation for the intent behind those photos and videos.

On Why We Still Hold Onto Our Phones and Keep Recording by Asmaa Abu Mezied

Why would someone running from falling Israeli missiles or huddled together with their family next to the rubble of a neighbor’s destroyed home, surrounded by artillerty shelling, be holding their phones to record the horror around them? (I have often seen these questions on social media, which displays an utter disregard for Palestinian suffering.)

I am writing this for us, not for them.

We hold onto our phones for dear life because we have learned the hard way that documenting what we are going through is very important to ensure that our narrative remains alive and remains ours. Our stories, our struggle and pain, and the atrocities committed against us for more than seven decades are being erased. The Israeli journalist Hagar Shezaf explained how Israeli Defense Ministry teams systematically removed historic documents from Israeli archives, which describe the killing of Palestinians, the demolition of their villages and the expulsion of entire Palestinian communities. (1) This is part of Israel’s attempt to constantly rewrite history in its favor. So, we hold tight to our phones and record.

We record to resist the labeling of our people as unworthy, if not inhuman, by the so-called “objective” Western media, which can barely say our names and tell our stories. We are always portrayed as terrorists, violent people–or as numbers, abstract and formless. We are repeatedly asked to prove our humanity so media channels can give us a few seconds of airtime.

So, we record to document not for their sake but for ours. We have been systematically brainwashed by the media to apologize for demanding justice. There is no gray area in calls for freedom or equality.

We hold onto our phones and leave the camera rolling, recording our tears, our screams at losing our fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, and children, our anguish, our attempts to run for our lives, our crippling fears, our powerlessness to calm our children when our houses shake with the deafening sound of death delivered by F-35 missiles sent with love by the US government.

We hold onto that phone and leave the camera rolling to preserve our tormented calls to our mothers to stay alive under the rubble of our destroyed homes, our voices crying goodbye to our loved ones at their graves, trying to sound strong but failing, betrayed by our trembling lips and tear-filled eyes.

We must record our prayers to survive, our children’s joy when they find their toys intact and their pets alive. We record our strength and our vulnerability, our disappointment in our leadership, and our rage at the silence of the world. We record the smoke, the blood, the lost homes, the olive trees targeted, and livelihoods stolen. We record how much we aged and how much we continue to love life even though life doesn’t love us back.

We record for future generations, to tell them this is what truly happened. That we stood here, demanded our rights, fought for them, and were annihilated. We record not to humanize ourselves for others, but so that future generations will remember who we were and what we did . . . to warn them against all attempts at erasing our existence.

We record our plea for humanity’s help to end this horror, which is more than our cameras can bear.

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(1) Hagar Shezaf, “Burying the Nakba: How Israel Systematically Hides Evidence of 1948 Expulsion of Arabs,” Haaretz, July 5, 2019.

Climate Movement Monday: Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL)

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays in which we discuss all things climate. Today, I’m reverting to the original format in which I share information on a frontline community being adversely affected by climate change/fossil fuels and then offer a quick action you can take on behalf of that community. Note: this comment deadline is December 13, two days from now.

Today, we’re focusing on the Dakota Access Pipeline. The following info is the result of collaboration between People vs Fossil Fuels, NDN Collective, and the Sierra Club. (Full document HERE) First off, what is DAPL and why is the Army Corps of Engineers accepting public comment? (click on image to enlarge).

Some of my courageous friends were there, resisting the project as they fought to protect the water. Unfortunately, the pipeline was built. But we have the opportunity to support the Cheyenne River Tribe’s legal efforts by submitting comments. And what is the Cheyenne River Tribe’s recommendation for our comments?

The Army Corps needs to hear that the Draft EIS is not adequate and that the best alternatives are the ones that shut DAPL down. [Specifically, Alternative 2]

What options (“alternatives”) is the Army Corps considering?
1. Deny an easement under Lake Oahe and require restoration of federal lands to pre-pipeline conditions, including removal of the pipeline
2. Deny an easement under Lake Oahe and abandon the pipeline in place
3. Grant an easement under Lake Oahe as it was previously granted when DAPL was built
4. Grant an easement under Lake Oahe but with more conditions
5. Deny an easement under Lake Oahe, with the pipeline rebuilt in a different location TBD, such as further north and near Bismarck, and the existing pipeline abandoned

What should you write in your email? Here are five basic tips for writing testimony:
• Any length is OK – a few sentences are fine, or longer if you like. There is no length limit.
• Keep it unique – link to a personal story, talk about a topic that matters to you in your own words – the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may consider very similar comments as duplicates and not weigh them as heavily. Do not just read talking points.
• Specifically address the adequacy of the Draft EIS – it is not adequate
• Specifically address the proposed alternatives – the Army Corps should select No Action Alternative 2
• Specifically address the risks of the section of pipe that runs under Lake Oahe

EMAIL ADDRESS for your public comments: NWO-DAPL-EIS@usace.army.mil
SUBJECT LINE: Comments on the DAPL DEIS

I was on a letter-writing call last week in which we heard from two young Standing Rock Sioux leaders, Maya and Memphis. They’ve been in the DAPL struggle since they were in their teens and are so grateful for the support of our letters. They emphasized the importance of not getting tripped up with worries about what our letters say, but to focus on the personal connection you have with this issue and to make our letters UNIQUE so they stand out. After Maya explained that even a pinhole leak in the pipeline would result in 11,000 barrels of oil spillage per day, I wrote about my gratitude for a clean water supply and how I couldn’t imagine living with the daily traumatic threat of an oil spill in my drinking water. Because it’s not a matter of if there’s a spill, it’s only a question of when the pipeline will break. The pipeline runs under the water, so once it ruptures, it’s already too late. In my letter, I also pointed out DAPL flies in the face of Biden’s climate reduction goals and that scientists have made it very clear we must keep fossils fuels in the ground if we are to have a livable planet.

The most important thing is to write a letter today and submit it by the December 13 deadline. DO NOT WORRY ABOUT PERFECTION! Again, here is the full document with further information.

Thank you in advance for standing with the people for clean water and against the polluting Dakota Access Pipeline. Solidarity! ✊🏽

Refaat Alareer: rest in power and peace

/ Tracy Abell / 7 Comments

Today I learned that Dr. Refaat Alareer, along with his brother, sister, and her four children, were targeted and murdered in an Israeli airstrike. Refaat was a translator, academic, and writer who also reported on life in Gaza. These last two months I got to “know” him on Twitter/X as he shared specific details of the violence and horrors inflicted upon Gazans. Despite the death and destruction, he was funny and hopeful. He struck me as a human being comfortable in his own skin.

At the end of October, I posted a glimpse into LIGHT IN GAZA, an anthology of Palestinian writers and artists sharing their lived experiences under military occupation. But it wasn’t until today that I made the connection that the Refaat from social media was the same man with an essay in LIGHT IN GAZA. Refaat wrote “Gaza Asks: When Shall This Pass?” (Note: You may download the anthology for free from Haymarket Books). I highly recommend reading the entire piece yourself in order to better understand the gift that Refaat was to this world.

In “Gaza Asks,” he shared memories of the random violence he experienced over the years, along with that of friends and family members, and how in each instance they comforted themselves with “It shall pass.” When Refaat was older, teaching world literature and creative writing at the Islamic University in Gaza (IUG), he told stories to his three children to distract them from the twenty-three-day onslaught by Israel’s military (Operation Cast Lead). He told stories as bombs and missiles exploded in the background. Refaat wrote “As a Palestinian, I have been brought up on stories and storytelling. It’s both selfish and treacherous to keep a story to yourself–stories are meant to be told and retold. If I kept a story to myself, I would be betraying my legacy, my mother, my grandmother, and my homeland.”  He went on to say “Telling stories was my way of resisting. It was all I could do. And it was then I decided that if I lived, I would dedicate much of my life to telling the stories of Palestine, empowering Palestinian narratives, and nurturing younger voices.” 

When that particular onslaught ended, Refaat returned to the classroom where he told his students “Writing is a testimony, a memory that outlives any human experience, and an obligation to communicate with ourselves and the world. We lived for a reason, to tell the tales of loss, of survival, and of hope.” He began assigning and training his students to write short stories based on their realities. Those stories were collected and edited by Refaat and published as GAZA WRITES BACK.

But that wasn’t all Refaat did in the classroom. As so succinctly expressed by his friend Dan Cohen, Refaat “used English-language literature and poetry to teach his students the difference between Judaism and Zionism, equipping them with the mental tools to resist Zionist propaganda that seeks to conflate the two.” You can read more about those classroom experiences in “Gaza Asks.”

Later in the essay, in regards to Israel later destroying the administration building at IUG, Refaat wrote “. . . to me, IUG’s only danger to the Israeli occupation and its apartheid regime is that it is the most important place in Gaza to develop students’ minds as indestructible weapons. Knowledge is Israel’s worst enemy. Awareness is Israel’s most hated and feared foe. That’s why Israel bombs a university: it wants to kill openness and determination to refuse living under injustice and racism.”

I’ll stop there because I can’t do justice to the eloquence of Refaat’s essay, and I hope you’ll forgive me for already revealing so much. It’s just that this entire essay touched my heart and I felt compelled to share.

I do want to highlight this poem that follows his essay in LIGHT IN GAZA. Refaat also posted the poem on his Instagram account one week ago:

I’ll end with this poem he’d pinned at the top of his Twitter/X account on November 1: “If I must die, let it be a tale.”

Rest in power and peace, Dr. Refaat Alareer.

Just say NO to more military aid to Israel

/ Tracy Abell

I just personalized a quick letter to my two Senators and one Representative using the  CODEPINK template, demanding they NOT approve $14.5 BILLION in military aid to Israel. (scroll to bottom of page for the letter). Here’s the summary info CODEPINK sent me after I submitted my letter, info they want me to share with friends:

The United States House of Representatives has passed a Republican plan providing $14.5 billion in military aid for Israel. The package includes $4 Billion to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome and military equipment transferred from US stocks. Our Congress is blatantly prioritizing the genocide of Palestinians over providing Gazans with the aid they need desperately. This bill will likely pass on top of the already massive $886 billion war budget. It will fund Israel’s genocide in Gaza despite protests across the country in support of Palestine. Tell Congress to vote NO to arming genocide in Palestine!

We need to act now.

In my letter, I pointed out how people in the U.S. are struggling to afford rent, food, healthcare, etc. and that it’s disgusting for them to send BILLIONS of dollars to enable a nuclear power to commit genocide and mass displacement. PLEASE join me in writing a quick letter. Click HERE to write your letter.

Thank you in advance for acting upon our shared humanity. Solidarity! ✊🏽

Climate Movement Monday: COP28

/ Tracy Abell / 5 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays in which we discuss all things climate. In these posts, I share information and typically offer an action you can take on behalf of people and planet, with a focus on frontline communities that are enduring the worst effects of the climate crisis. Today, I’m not offering an action but am sharing information that’s just as much for me as my readers. The topic is “COP28” which I’ve been avoiding learning about because the particulars make my head want to explode. We’ll get into those specifics, but first: what is COP28?

The United Nations Climate Change Conferences are the world’s highest decision-making body on climate issues and one of the largest international meetings in the world. The 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference, or Conference of the Parties (COP28) is happening right now, hosted by be the UAE (United Arab Emirates).

Okay, I mentioned avoiding this whole topic because it stressed/angered me. Why? Well, as climate writer Emily Atkin points out [COP28 is ] “being run by a literal fossil fuel baron: Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the head of the state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), which also happens to have one of the biggest oil and gas expansion plans in the world.”

Atkin further writes: “. . . Al Jaber’s self-proclaimed “game-changing plan” to achieve progress at COP28 is to give oil and gas companies more influence over the climate change summit, despite warnings from the U.N.’s former climate chief that the approach is “dangerous” and “a direct threat to the survival of vulnerable nations.”

Atkin shares other more damning conflicts of interest and I encourage you to read the entire piece from Atkin: COP28 sucks. Pay attention anyway. The fossil fuel interests attempting to corrupt the high-stakes summit would love nothing more than for us to look away.

Why should we pay attention? Because whenever we avert our gaze from the climate crisis, it most dramatically affects those in the Global South. People living in that part of the world have been facing the effects of climate change for decades already and they cannot afford to look away –think low-lying islands and rising sea levels– and their very survival depends on what’s decided at COP28. As Atkin writes: “For the nations most threatened by that future, negotiations over how to structure a Loss and Damage fund to compensate for damages, as well as negotiations over how to mend previously broken climate finance pledges by the Global North, are too consequential to be ignored.” Go here for the opening plenary statement delivered by the Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus.

International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change Opening Elder Ceremony. Photo by Willi White for NDN Collective.

It might not feel meaningful to learn about COP28 via Atkin’s piece or this by Bill McKibben, but knowledge is power. Even if there’s no direct action connected to our reading, by educating ourselves we’re forging a connection with the planet’s most vulnerable populations. We’re acknowledging their worth and implying our solidarity with their struggles.

Thank you for being here. I appreciate and welcome all thoughts, so please share in the comments. Until then, solidarity! ✊🏽

Hamza by Fadwa Tuqan, the “Poetess of Palestine”

/ Tracy Abell

Hamza
by Fadwa Tuqan

Hamza was just an ordinary man
like others in my hometown
who work only with their hands for bread.

When I met him the other day,
this land was wearing a cloak of mourning
in windless silence. And I felt defeated.
But Hamza-the-ordinary said:
‘My sister, our land has a throbbing heart,
it doesn’t cease to beat, and it endures
the unendurable. It keeps the secrets
of hills and wombs. This land sprouting
with spikes and palms is also the land
that gives birth to a freedom-fighter.
This land, my sister, is a woman.’

Days rolled by. I saw Hamza nowhere.
Yet I felt the belly of the land
was heaving in pain.

Hamza — sixty-five — weighs
heavy like a rock on his own back.
‘Burn, burn his house,’
a command screamed,
‘and tie his son in a cell.’
The military ruler of our town later explained:
it was necessary for law and order,
that is, for love and peace!

Armed soldiers gherraoed his house:
the serpent’s coil came full circle.
The bang at the door was but an order —
‘evacuate, damn it!’
And generous as they were with time, they could say:
‘in an hour, yes!’

Hamza opened the window.
Face to face with the sun blazing outside,
he cried: ‘in this house my children
and I will live and die
for Palestine.’
Hamza’s voice echoed clean
across the bleeding silence of the town.

An hour later, impeccably,
the house came crumbling down,
the rooms were blown to pieces in the sky,
and the bricks and the stones all burst forth,
burying dreams and memories of a lifetime

of labor, tears, and some happy moments.

Yesterday I saw Hamza
walking down a street in our town —
Hamza the ordinary man as he always was:
always secure in his determination.

Climate Movement Mondays: support on Giving Tuesday

/ Tracy Abell / 3 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays in which we discuss all things climate. Many of these weekly posts have focused on frontline communities experiencing the worst effects of climate change and today I’d like to offer a list of organizations working to protect their specific communities as well as the environment in general. Tomorrow is “Giving Tuesday,” which began in 2012, and “reimagines a world built upon shared humanity and generosity.” Every donation is appreciated!

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Below, in no particular order, are six groups fighting for people and planet. I thank you in advance for checking them out and donating as you can. Remember, no donation is too small! Also, if you have a group you’d like me to include, please let me know in the comments! Thank you and solidarity! ✊🏽

NDN Collective
The NDN Collective Climate Justice Campaign builds power throughout Indigenous communities in order to tackle the climate crisis. Our team runs and supports campaigns aimed at ending extraction, contamination, and violence in our territories. We advance policy changes, coalition building, and advocacy, while supporting the solutions-based work happening across our nations that utilizes traditional ecological knowledge in order to develop climate adaptive solutions that reflect our values of living with respect for all sources of life.
Donate HERE

Healthy Gulf
Healthy Gulf’s purpose is to collaborate with and serve communities who love the Gulf of Mexico by providing the research, communications, and coalition-building tools needed to reverse the long pattern of over exploitation of the Gulf’s natural resources. (They have a blog that offers a snapshot of what they’re facing in their communities.) I’ve written about them here and here.
Donate HERE 

Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR)
Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR) is an interstate coalition representing individuals and groups from Virginia and West Virginia dedicated to protecting water, land, and communities from harms caused by the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure, including the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). (They also have a blog.) NOTE: I’ve written about MVP here and here and here.
Donate HERE

Appalachian Legal Defense Fund
Support the Appalachian Legal Defense Fund for community members being targeted for protecting their communities and land.  All funds will be used for the costs of bail, legal defense and defendant support. NOTE: I wrote about the increased criminalization against those fighting to protect people, land, and water here.
Donate HERE

Climate Defiance
This group takes direct, non-violent action, targeting those in power.
Donate HERE

Third Act
We are building a community of experienced Americans over the age of sixty determined to change the world for the better. Together, we use our life experience, skills and resources to build better tomorrow. NOTE: They’ve established a “No Time To Waste” Fund, with the goal of raising $500,000 by December 31. The No Time to Waste Fund will help ramp up our organizing work to support 60,000+ Third Actors plus allies coast to coast—from staffing and training, to events and digital support.
Donate HERE

A request on my birthday

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

Today is my birthday and I just celebrated it by hoop-dancing to loud music which greatly boosted my spirits. And now I’m here to share my birthday wish:

Image by profivideos from Pixabay

I’d be downright thrilled if you could help me celebrate by taking one quick action on behalf of the Palestinian people.

There’s a “humanitarian pause” right now which is a welcome step in the right direction, as was the exchange of hostages and prisoners, but the situation remains extremely dire and Israel has promised to resume its campaign of destruction for at least two more months.

The following info comes from Jewish Voice for Peace. Every second counts in terms of preventing deaths due to starvation, dehydration, injury, illness, etc. You can also access this info HERE. Remember, just one quick action! 🙂

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Support the Global Conscience Convoy
The Global Conscience Convoy is now made up of delegations from 65 countries, from Japan to the US and from South Africa to Norway. There are 139 organizations: political, environmental, feminist and rights groups; trade unions; relief and civil society organizations. In addition to 224 medical professionals, 133 journalists and 19 public figures: parliamentarians, artists and authors + hundreds of citizens from around the world. Many more have expressed their support or their endorsement of the convoy.

What can you do to help?

There are many ways you can help:

  1. Contact the Egyptian authorities and express support for the convoy (link below)
  2. Post a photo with the message, “Let the #GlobalConscienceConvoy go, #OpenRafahCrossing” and tag both the convoy’s socials and Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  3. Amplify the convoy’s social media channels (Instagram, Twitter) and the hashtag #OpenRafahCrossing
  4. Write to your elected representatives, asking them to support a complete ceasefire and an end to the siege on Gaza including opening the Rafah Crossing.
  5. Write to your elected representatives asking them to join or support the convoy.
  6. Write to anyone you know in the media, asking them to join the convoy – or at least to cover it.
  7. Write to friends and to your network and ask people to support the convoy and advocate for a complete ceasefire and an end to the siege on Gaza including by opening the Rafah Crossing. All Palestinians who exit Gaza must be guaranteed right of return to their lands.Please join us in supporting the Global Conscience Convoy and send an email to the Egyptian Authorities.

    If the link doesn’t work for those using a browser-based account, please email the following addresses: 

consulate@egyptembassy.net, media.office8@op.gov.eg, a.saeed@op.gov.eg, ambassador@egyptembassy.net

    

Suggested email:

    To whom it may concern, 

I would like to express my support for the Global Conscience Convoy and join the calls on the Egyptian authorities to provide the needed security clearance and a safe passage for the Global Conscience Convoy from Cairo to Rafah and back. I join the demands to open the Rafah Crossing for all humanitarian aid (food, water, medication, and fuel), and for an unconditional exit for the critically wounded. I also join the demands that medical, relief, humanitarian and journalistic crews enter Gaza. With every passing minute, the Palestinian people pay an unimaginable price for remaining in their lands, the Global Conscience Convoy can make a difference. Please do not hinder their efforts.

    Open the Rafah Crossing. Let the Global Conscience go.

Free Palestine.
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Thank you in advance for adding your voice to the international chorus shouting on behalf of the Palestinians! I wish I could share a slice of cake with all of you. 🎂

Why I continue to mask

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

I do not mask because I’m afraid or paranoid. I continue to mask to protect myself, my household, and my community from a mass disabling event. I mask in solidarity with the most vulnerable, the disabled and immunocompromised, the very young and very old, the millions who already have Long Covid. My mask is a raised middle finger to the capitalist system that happily grinds people down to nothing because it sees each person as replaceable. My mask is a signal to the powerful elites that I’m not buying what they’re selling, which is “it’s okay to keep getting infected with Covid-19.”

Guess what? It’s NOT okay to keep getting infected.  “… findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection damages the CD8+ T cell response, an effect akin to that observed in earlier studies showing long-term damage to the immune system after infection with viruses such as hepatitis C or HIV.”

In the early 90s, I helplessly watched as my childhood friend’s body was destroyed by HIV that became full-blown AIDS. Scott was able to officiate over my wedding ceremony, but died four months later, less than two weeks before his 30th birthday. No one should have to experience that agony.

So, how is our government able to peddle the message that it’s okay to keep getting infected? For one, they’ve stopped collecting data. This makes it easier to gaslight us into thinking everything is “back to normal.” Fortunately, a group called the People’s CDC, “a coalition of public health practitioners, scientists, healthcare workers, educators, advocates and people from all walks of life, is working to reduce the harmful impacts of COVID-19.” You can access lots of information and resources HERE.

We need the People’s CDC because the CDC does not prioritize public health and safety. When it became clear that Covid-19 is an airborne virus (picture how smoke lingers in the air after a smoker’s exhale), the logical outcome would’ve been for our government to quickly invest in air filtration systems, right? Instead, people were told their children needed to return to classrooms where there’d been no upgrades of HVAC systems. It wasn’t until the day after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ended the federal Covid-19 health emergency on May 11, 2023, that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) upgraded their site to include information on the importance of air filtration. 

You can access the full page HERE.

They did not include the above info on the site when the emergency order was in place because the government would’ve been expected to invest in filtration systems. Instead, they waited until after the emergency order was ended to include the information. Why? To release them from liability.

So, why am I writing about this today? Because on Friday, three of the four households Zippy and I delivered food to were sick (households that have all experienced previous Covid infections). And because this past weekend my elderly mother died while Covid-positive. She had suffered health issues over the last several months and was in a rehab facility to receive therapy. On Thursday, she was admitted to a hospital with pneumonia and on Friday was diagnosed with Covid-19. She died early Saturday morning. Because of the “let ‘er rip” attitude, I don’t even know where she became infected. The rehab facility? The hospital? To be clear, I’m not saying Covid killed her. What I am saying is that it’s appalling we’ve given up on masking and testing in hospitals (!) and facilities filled with elderly people who are incredibly vulnerable to illness. It’s equally appalling that we haven’t made provisions for the young people in schools who are now being infected over and over again, doing damage to their immune systems in ways that may not show up until years later.

In the meanwhile,  the U.S. is one of the wealthiest nations in the world and yet our health system ranks last among eleven high-income nations. They refuse to give us universal healthcare. Our so-called representatives have access to the best medical support and treatments while the rest of us are forced to spend hours on the phone arguing with our health insurance companies that charge us high premiums only to constantly deny us care. Do you really believe this system would take care of you if you develop Long Covid? Remember, the U.S. can’t afford universal healthcare, but we can afford to spend billions of dollars to kill people in other countries!

Again, I do not mask out of fear.

Kufiya/Keffiyeh, the Palestinian scarf

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

Years and years ago, a friend gifted me a kufiya* that’s kept my neck warm every winter since. (Hello, Rebecca!) *I’m using this spelling because that’s the spelling used in the info below.

Mine is the traditional black and white, but they’re made in other colors. This brief video shows a kufiya being made at Hirbawi, the last kufiya factory in Palestine.

@hirbawikufiya

The last Kufiya factory in Palestine is keeping busy!🇵🇸 We are working hard to complete the packaging process for all your orders and dispatch them from Palestine. The factory and its workers are all doing well, and we thank each and every one of you for the overwhelming love and support we are receiving. Additionally, we want to advise you to keep an eye on your email, as we will be restocking very soon!❤️ @M #hirbawi #kufiyah #keffiyeh #kufiyeh

♬ Ala Dalouna – Sakher Hattar

And here’s a video explaining the cultural significance of the kufiya.

@hirbawikufiya

How the Kufiya became Palestine’s symbol of resistance🇵🇸 Thank you @nowthis for this informative video and for talking about Hirbawi, the last remaining Kufiya factory in Palestine❤️ #hirbawi #kufiyah #kufiyeh #keffiyeh

♬ original sound – Hirbawi

I have no way of knowing whether my kufiya is authentic or a knock-off (good chance it’s inauthentic) and would love to support Hirbawi by ordering another. They’re sold out at this time but I gave my email address so that I’ll receive notification when kufiyas are in stock again. Here’s the HirbawiUSA online store where you can see the variety of kufiyas (also sold out). And in case you’re wondering if it’s cultural appropriation to wear a kufiya if not Palestinian, read HERE. (Spoiler alert: as long as the kufiya is worn respectfully, it’s considered a sign of solidarity.)

If you’re interested in learning more, Hirbawi has posted many other videos HERE.

On another note, per Marjorie Cohn at TRUTHOUT, Palestinians File Emergency Motion to Block U.S. Aid for Israel’s Genocide in Gaza (The federal lawsuit accuses Biden, Blinken and Austin of failure to prevent genocide and complicity in genocide.)

These are hard, hard days. Please take good care.

Palestinian poetry, part 2

/ Tracy Abell / 5 Comments

Running Orders
By Lena Khalaf Tuffaha

They call us now,
before they drop the bombs.
The phone rings
and someone who knows my first name
calls and says in perfect Arabic
“This is David.”
And in my stupor of sonic booms and glass-shattering symphonies
still smashing around in my head
I think, Do I know any Davids in Gaza?
They call us now to say
Run.
You have 58 seconds from the end of this message.
Your house is next.
They think of it as some kind of
war-time courtesy.
It doesn’t matter that
there is nowhere to run to.
It means nothing that the borders are closed
and your papers are worthless
and mark you only for a life sentence
in this prison by the sea
and the alleyways are narrow
and there are more human lives
packed one against the other
more than any other place on earth
Just run.
We aren’t trying to kill you.
It doesn’t matter that
you can’t call us back to tell us
the people we claim to want aren’t in your house
that there’s no one here
except you and your children
who were cheering for Argentina
sharing the last loaf of bread for this week
counting candles left in case the power goes out.
It doesn’t matter that you have children.
You live in the wrong place
and now is your chance to run
to nowhere.
It doesn’t matter
that 58 seconds isn’t long enough
to find your wedding album
or your son’s favorite blanket
or your daughter’s almost completed college application
or your shoes
or to gather everyone in the house.
It doesn’t matter what you had planned.
It doesn’t matter who you are.
Prove you’re human.
Prove you stand on two legs.
Run.
Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, “Running Orders” from Water & Salt.  Copyright © 2017 by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha. 
___________________________________________________________

Blood
By Naomi Shihab Nye

“A true Arab knows how to catch a fly in his hands,”
my father would say. And he’d prove it,
cupping the buzzer instantly
while the host with the swatter stared.
In the spring our palms peeled like snakes.
True Arabs believed watermelon could heal fifty ways.
I changed these to fit the occasion.
Years before, a girl knocked,
wanted to see the Arab.
I said we didn’t have one.
After that, my father told me who he was,
“Shihab”—“shooting star”—
a good name, borrowed from the sky.
Once I said, “When we die, we give it back?”
He said that’s what a true Arab would say.
Today the headlines clot in my blood.
A little Palestinian dangles a truck on the front page.
Homeless fig, this tragedy with a terrible root
is too big for us. What flag can we wave?
I wave the flag of stone and seed,
table mat stitched in blue.
I call my father, we talk around the news.
It is too much for him,
neither of his two languages can reach it.
I drive into the country to find sheep, cows,
to plead with the air:
Who calls anyone civilized?
Where can the crying heart graze?
What does a true Arab do now?
Naomi Shihab Nye, “Blood” from Words Under the Words: Selected Poems (Portland, Oregon: Far Corner Books, 1995). Copyright © 1995 by Naomi Shihab Nye.

Climate Movement Monday: Connecting the dots

/ Tracy Abell / 12 Comments

Welcome back to another Movement Monday in which we discuss all things climate. Typically, I focus on a frontline community most directly affected by the ravages of climate change and then offer an action we can take on their behalf. But today this post will be dedicated to offering information that helps connect the dots between climate activism, police response, and anti-protest legislation.

I’ve written in the past about the Weelaunee Forest and the Atlanta citizens’ efforts to stop the $90 million militarized police training center (known as Cop City) from being built there. THIS post will get you up to speed and THIS post provided an update on the Georgia Attorney General filing Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) and “domestic terrorism” charges against 61 people involved in the efforts to Stop Cop City. Reminder: RICO was implemented in the 70s to go after organized crime.

Okay, so why am I writing about Cop City today? Because after the people of Atlanta testified over and over again in opposition to Cop City but were ignored by the mayor and city council, they took the “civic” route and gathered 116,000 signatures to put a referendum on the ballot so that people could vote YES or NO to Cop City. Well, the powers-that-be threw up legal challenges and successfully kept the referendum off the ballot last week. There’s a chance it’ll be on the March 2024 ballot, but in the meanwhile, people gathered this morning at Weelaunee Forest today to defend the forest. And who was there to greet them? Heavily militarized police with armored vehicles, riot gear, projectiles, and tear gas.

Yes, that dog is wearing goggles. Why? Because . . . tear gas.

Note: images from X/Twitter

So, here are some dots in need of connecting:

DOT: We’ve got local citizens who followed the process and showed up by the hundreds to testify against a militarized police training center, only to be ignored. Those citizens then went the referendum route, gathering 116,000 signatures in a very short time, only to be sabotaged in those efforts. Now, they show up in person to defend the largest green space in the city from being clear-cut, and they’re gassed by the police.

DOT: Those same police want the training center built so that they can learn from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Yes, the very same IDF currently maiming and killing Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank (with a dose of harassment/imprisonment for any Jewish person who dares to speak out against them). As stated by the American Friends Service Committee: Cop City will allow police not just from Atlanta, but globally, to learn repressive tactics, so that protests and rebellions can be easily crushed. According to the original proposal, 43% of the training at Cop City will be for officers outside of Atlanta, including military training with the infamous Israeli Defense Forces.  

DOT: All around the globe, we’re watching our climate in collapse. Wildfires, floods, polluted air and water, droughts, hurricanes, etc. While we’re facing an existential threat, those in power are busy squeezing out the last dollars they can get from fossil fuel extraction despite climate scientists saying NO NEW FOSSIL FUEL PROJECTS.

DOT: As the climate worsens and our very survival is threatened, more and more people will take to the streets in order to force action from the powerful elite. After the murder of George Floyd, MANY people protested and marched, which gave the elites a glimpse of what’s to come. So how are they reacting? Putting more and more money into police budgets. Biden’s “American Rescue Plan” (also known as the “Covid-19 Stimulus Package”) put $10 billion into police departments.

DOT: There’s a growing push to criminalize protest here in the U.S. and around the world. Fossil fuel companies in the U.S. have contributed more than $5 million to state anti-protest bill sponsors (Dollars vs Democracy 2023, p 5). For example: “North Carolina’s enacted law (S 58) is particularly extreme. It carries felony penalties with up to 19 years imprisonment and $250,000 in fines for attempting to “obstruct, impede, or impair the services of transmissions of an energy facility.” Under the new law, trespassing on energy facilities is also classified as a felony with up to two years in prison. The bill was primarily sponsored by Sen. Paul Newton, who worked at Duke Energy for 25 years and was the company’s state president.” (Dollars vs Democracy 2023, p 54)

Fossil fuel companies also use strategic lawsuits against public participation (otherwise known as SLAPP) to intimidate and prevent protest (Dollars vs Democracy 2023, p 6). “As a result of criminalization and judicial harassment (such as SLAPPs), individuals can be saddled with legal fees, prevented from earning a stable living, socially stigmatized, and displaced. Organizations can be bankrupted, ruptured, or forcibly dissolved. Criminalization and judicial harassment also threaten to chill free speech and dissent.” (Dollars vs Democracy, p 55)

There are more dots to connect (notably white supremacy and imperialism), but I hope this basic overview helps point out what we’re facing. The powerful are systematically trying to separate we-the-people from the issues in desperate need of sustainable solutions, and the police will play a huge role in the ensuing struggle. Which is why after my run today, I put on my STOP COP CITY shirt in solidarity with the Atlanta Forest Defenders and wrote this post.

If you’ve read this far, I thank you very much and welcome any and all thoughts on this. In the meanwhile, even though I said I wouldn’t ask for an action, I do want to include the Stop Cop City Solidarity site that includes actions we can take plus links to where we can donate to the legal fund for those facing RICO and terrorism charges AND a fund for the family of Tortuguita (who was murdered by police while they defended the forest).

Please take good care of yourself in these hard, hard days. Solidarity! ✊🏽

Let’s talk about “from the river to the sea”

/ Tracy Abell / 4 Comments

Yesterday,  I read and commented on a blog I’ve followed and interacted with for years. The poster is Jewish and wrote about, among other things, their fear at the way people on social media and college campuses are voicing solidarity with Palestinian people. There was much in the blog post that made me shake my head, but my comment focused on what is meant when we say “from the river to the sea.” Here’s what I wrote:

If I may, [name redacted], “from the river to the sea” does not call for the eradication of Jewish people. Rather, it is a call for Palestinian people who are now living under apartheid to live with the equality, freedom, and dignity accorded others. It is a call for Palestinians to have free movement from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. I don’t believe anyone should feel threated by the liberation of an oppressed people. 

A protester holds a placard reading ‘From the river to the sea, we demand equality’, during a protest in solidarity with Palestinians, in Berlin, Germany, Nov. 4 2023.      Clemens Bilan

They pushed back on my comment which started all sorts of thoughts swirling in my head, but because I didn’t want to step further into their space to examine this issue, I’m putting those thoughts here.

I kept waking last night, my thoughts immediately on the reactions to those six words–from the river to the sea–and how it’s deeply racist and Islamophobic to believe that freeing Palestinians from apartheid would result in the slaughter of Jewish people. Also, I couldn’t stop thinking about how those six words are being used to silence opposition to this genocide happening before our very eyes. When I woke, I found an eloquent piece on this very issue written in 2018  by an associate professor in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies  at the University of Arizona.  Dismissing or ignoring what this phrase means to the Palestinians is yet another means by which to silence Palestinian perspectives. Citing only Hamas leaders’ use of the phrase, while disregarding the liberationist context in which other Palestinians understand it, shows a disturbing level of ignorance about Palestinians’ views at best, and a deliberate attempt to smear their legitimate aspirations at worst. You may read the entire piece HERE.

As I struggled to fall back asleep, I also couldn’t stop thinking about the 13 year-old boy in southern California who last week was suspended for three days for saying “Free Palestine” after another kid called him a terrorist. As you can see HERE, the principal’s reason for suspension: “Said threatening remarks to a young lady in class. He said, ‘Free Palestine.'” Suspending a child for voicing support for the liberation of an oppressed population?! This suppression of free speech isn’t only happening in the U.S. An Israeli high school teacher was assaulted and arrested by the IDF after making a Facebook post sympathetic to dead Palestinian civilians.

Meanwhile, Israeli officials who brazenly announce their intent to commit genocide in Gaza are given platforms to spew their genocidal rhetoric AND continue to receive the unwavering support of the U.S. government despite the majority of voters supporting a ceasefire.

I don’t know about you, but I find the specific violence of those words much more alarming than calls for “from the river to the sea.”

How are they allowed to come right out and state their murderous intent? For one, there’s a full-blown propaganda and normalization effort happening. “Embedded journalists” from the U.S. must allow the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to okay their materials. CNN interviewed Netanyahu today as if he’s just some regular guy rather than a far-right, genocidal maniac. If you’re watching mainstream media, you’re getting a very slanted take on what’s happening. For instance, they don’t want you knowing that millions upon millions of people around the globe have been and continue to march in solidarity with Palestine (see ceasfiretoday.com for the huge list of protests around the world). Also? Israel is targeting journalists.

Per the Committee to Protect Journalists, as of November 12:

  • 40 journalists and media workers were confirmed dead: 35 Palestinian, 4 Israeli, and 1 Lebanese.
  • 8 journalists were reported injured.
  • 3 journalists were reported missing.
  • 13 journalists were reported arrested.
  • Multiple assaults, threats, cyberattacks, censorship, and killings of family members.

But the real threat here is people chanting “from the river to the sea”????

There’s so much more to say about all this, so many horrifying aspects: Fascism. Settler colonialism. Another Nakba. Bombing refugee camps. Bombing hospitals. Shooting people in ICU. Bombing solar panels off a hospital roof. Dead infants as a result of no electricity. White phosphorous melting skin to bone. Targeting UN workers. Deliberately withholding food, water, electricity, and fuel. Bodies decaying in the rubble. 900+ entire Palestinian families killed. Doctors Without Borders’ new acronym: WCNSF which stands for Wounded Child No Surviving Family.

From the BBC: “Most of the children in my family photo are dead”

To be honest, this whole endeavor has been overwhelming and I’m going to stop here. If you’ve read this far, thank you thank you thank you. And please remember: the college students and the rest of us protesting our government for funding and enabling this genocide are NOT the problem.

Until we are all free, none of us are free. 

Palestinian poetry

/ Tracy Abell / 9 Comments

In order for me to write poetry that isn’t political
I must listen to the birds
and in order to hear the birds
the warplanes must be silent.
 – Marwan Makhoul, Palestinian Poet

Image by Amy Spielmaker from Pixabay

(The following note and poem by Mosab Abu Toha were published in The Atlantic on November 9, 2023):

I wrote this poem last year, reflecting on my childhood under Israeli military occupation. I’m now staying in Jabalia, a United Nations refugee camp, with my wife and three kids. I’m reading this poem to myself and wondering if my children will be able to write poems about the bombs and explosions they are seeing. I was 8 the first time I witnessed a rocket. Now my youngest child, born in America in May 2021, is living through the third wave of Israeli bombing. Not only are he and his older brother and sister smelling death around them; but they have also lost their house in Beit Lahia 10 days ago. Luckily no one was at home. My son Yazzan, who is 8 years old, asks me, “Are our toys still alive?”

YOUNGER THAN WAR
Tanks roll through dust, through eggplant fields.
Beds unmade, lightening in the sky, brother
jumps to the window to watch warplanes
flying through clouds of smoke
after air strikes. Warplanes that look like eagles
searching for a tree branch to perch on,
catch breath, but these metal eagles
are catching souls in a blood/bone soup bowl.
No need for radio.
We are the news.
Ants’ ears hurt with each bullet
fired from wrathful machine guns.
Soldiers advance, burn books, some smoke
rolled sheets of yesterday’s newspaper, just like they did
when they were kids. Our kids
hide in the basement, backs against concrete pillars,
heads between knees, parents silent.
Humid down there, and heat of burning bombs
adds up to the slow death
of survival.
In September 2000, after I had bought bread for dinner,
I saw a helicopter firing a rocket
into a tower as far from me as my frightful cries
when I heard concrete and glass fall from high.
Loaves of bread went stale.
I was still 7 at the time.
I was decades younger than war,
a few years older than bombs.

Mosab Abu Toha is a Palestinian poet, short story writer, and essayist from Gaza. His collection Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and won a Derek Walcott Poetry Prize and an American Book Award.

From the Sky
by Sara Abou Rashed

After Lorca

When I die,
bury me in the sky—
no one is fighting over it.

Children are playing soccer
with empty bomb shells
(from the sky I can see them).
A grandmother is baking
her Eid makroota and mamoul
(from the sky I can taste them).
Teens are writing love letters
under an orange tree
(from the sky I can read them).
Soldiers are cocking new rifles
at the checkpoint
(from the sky I can hear them).
Under fire, death and water
are brewing in the kitchen
(from the sky I can smell them!).
When I die, bury me in the sky,
I said, for now, it is quiet—
no one owns it and no one is claiming to.

Tuesday triumphs

/ Tracy Abell / 1 Comment

I went to bed last night vowing to accomplish two things today:

  • go for a run and
  • give Emma a bath.

Well, I did indeed run around the neighborhood for 2.5 miles and a few minutes ago I finished bathing the very stinky, greasy little Emma (which comes from the constant petting she receives as a result of her constant snuggling).

Here’s a picture taken right after I caught her squirming-wiggling-rolling around on her back while kicking her feet in the air. Her tail is blurred because it was wagging vigorously.

Emma doesn’t particularly like baths, BUT she loves that first hour after a bath. Have to say, I also love her post-bath energy.

My accomplishments didn’t end with the run and doggie bath, though. I also made a sign for our front yard.

This is the same spot where we kept an Iraq death toll sign for years and years. You can still see the chain we used to prevent another theft after having two signs stolen. We’d put it out in the morning and take it in at dusk. And now here we are again. Sure would be nice if our government focused on supporting a just and equitable society in which our basic needs were met rather than investing billions in the military industrial complex and genocide.

The sign will remain until there’s a ceasefire in Gaza. And I’ll keep running to maintain my emotional, mental, and physical health AND continue snuggling with our sweet Emma Jean-Jean.

Climate Movement Mondays: just say NO to more LNG terminals

/ Tracy Abell / 4 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays in which we discuss all things climate, often with a focus on a frontline community enduring the worst effects of the climate crisis. Today’s post focuses on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and a looming decision by the Department of Energy that will most directly affect those living in the Gulf region, but will have ramifications for everyone on the planet.

Environmental justice champion Roishetta Ozane with the Westlake Chemical plant behind her home. They’re already enduring so much and do not want LNG terminals!

This information about the possibility of 20 new LNG terminals in the Gulf comes via Third Act and rather than try to reinvent the wheel, I’m going to copy the full email I received from Third Act founder, Bill McKibben. Spoiler alert: you’ll be asked to handwrite a short letter and I’ve included mine as a sample.

Dear Friends,

As this hottest year in human history winds towards its close, I’m writing to ask for your help with what may be the single biggest climate fight left on planet Earth. And it’s right here at home.

The US is planning to quadruple the export of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from the Gulf of Mexico over the next few years—there are plans for 20 huge export terminals to add to the seven that already exist. If they are built, the emissions associated with them will be as large as all the emissions from every home, factory, and car in the EU. The emissions associated with them will wipe out every bit of progress the U.S. has made on reducing carbon and methane since 2005.

And along the way it will hurt not only the people who have to live and breathe near these monstrosities, but also all American consumers—because exporting gas abroad drives up the price at home.

If you want a short primer, here is something I wrote this week, and another piece I wrote for the New Yorker.

Happily, we have a realistic chance at stopping this. Which is why I hope you’ll break out your stationery box and roll of stamps. The final decision will be made by the Department of Energy, which can grant or deny export licenses to these companies depending on whether they’re in the public interest.

Please please please write a letter this week to:

The Honorable Jennifer Granholm
Secretary of Energy
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Ave. SW
Washington DC 20585

Here are some key points you can include in your letter:

  1. These plants are carbon and methane bombs. In the hottest year of human history it’s obscene to be putting up more of them.
  2. We’re already the biggest gas exporter on earth, and have more than enough capacity to meet the needs of the Europeans in the wake of the Ukrainian war.
  3. When we export all this gas, we drive up the price for those Americans who still rely on it for cooking and heating. Rejecting this project will fight inflation, which will help get the president re-elected.
  4. It’s an environmental justice travesty—as usual, these projects are set for poor communities of color.
  5. They’re planned for smack in the middle of the worst hurricane belt in the hemisphere.
  6. So rewrite the criteria (they’re currently using a Trump-era formula) for figuring out if such plans are in the national interest.

If you thought you were getting off without one high-tech task, though, you’re wrong. Could you also take a picture of the letter on your smartphone and email it to takingaction@thirdact.org, so we can keep track of what’s happening.

Remember, the penmanship you learned long ago is a secret weapon. Bureaucrats are used to getting email petitions; they’re not used to getting old-school letters. They know it takes effort, and they pay attention.

I think we can win this fight, and if we do it will be the biggest win on the climate front since we sunk the Keystone pipeline. But we can only do it if we act right now.

Thank you,

Bill McKibben
Founder, Third Act

P.S. As I was writing this, the first snow of the season started to fall in Vermont. That’s got to be a good sign!

In case you’re feeling stuck or intimidated about writing a letter, please check out my letter. What matters most is writing from your experience and including your concerns. My letter is probably longer than necessary, so please feel free to only write one short paragraph. As Bill says, just the fact that we’re taking the time to handwrite and mail a letter shows a big commitment that’s much harder to ignore.

Please holler if you have any questions. Also, I’d love to hear the focus of your letter so feel free to share in the comments. As always, thank you for reading this far.

Solidarity! ✊🏽

Denver in solidarity with Palestine

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

Today, Zippy and I attended the Denver rally and march in solidarity with Palestine. We masked up and rode the light rail and then a bus to the capitol building at Colfax and Broadway. Here’s the sign I hung around my neck via a shoelace to keep my hands free and to reduce the neck and shoulder pain I suffer when holding up a sign for hours.

The speakers were varied but all shared their appreciation for the millions and millions of people around the globe who understand what is happening in apartheid Israel and who stand in solidarity with the occupied Palestinian people. I wept as I listened, feeling an incredible connection to both the oppressed and those fighting for them. And then it was time to line up for the march. I stood to one side as people came down off the capitol lawn to the street, and offered N95 masks. I started with a bag of fifty and came home with only three, which was very gratifying (as was the sight of the many who were already masked).

I haven’t seen any official estimates of attendance, but there were thousands of people there. I took this photo upon arrival and by the time the march began, lots more people had joined us. I’d say this crowd at least doubled, if not tripled in size.

I usually take a camera to rallies and marches, but today only had my phone. But I was still able to capture some signs I especially appreciated.

   

 

 

 

 

 

This one resonated because of the number of imprisoned Palestinians. From Aljazeera: Since 1967, when Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, it has arrested an estimated one million Palestinians, the United Nations reported last summer. One in every five Palestinians has been arrested and charged under the 1,600 military orders that control every aspect of the lives of Palestinians living under the Israeli military occupation. That incarceration rate doubles for Palestinian men — two in every five have been arrested.

I was unable to get photos of two other signs I appreciated, but here are the words:

IT IS NOT A WAR IF ONLY ONE SIDE HAS AN ARMY

IT IS NOT A CONFLICT IF ONE SIDE HAS THE GUNS & THE OTHER SIDE IS PRAYING

And finally, this sign:

Again, there’s a handy-dandy one-stop site with info on contacting your congressional representatives to demand a ceasefire AND to find a protest near you because it’s never too late to speak up: ceasefiretoday.com

Solidarity! ✊🏽

Thankful Thursday: moral courage

/ Tracy Abell / 4 Comments

Today I am thankful for the many, many people lending their voices to the chorus for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Protesters raise their painted hands as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing to examine the national security supplemental request, in Washington October 31, 2023 © SAUL LOEB / AFP

  • Several days ago, a top UN official who’d worked on human rights issues for 30+ years resigned in protest of the ongoing genocide and the UN & West’s complicity in Israel’s abuses. You can read Craig Mokhiber’s full letter HERE, including this excerpt: ” . . . western corporate media, increasingly captured and state-adjacent, are in open breach of Article 20 of the ICCPR, continuously dehumanizing Palestinians to facilitate the genocide, and broadcasting propaganda for war and advocacy of national, racial, or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility, and violence. US-based social media companies are suppressing the voices of human rights defenders while amplifying pro-Israel propaganda. Israel lobby online-trolls and GONGOS are harassing and smearing human rights defenders, and western universities and employers are collaborating with them to punish those who dare to speak out against the atrocities.”
  • Incredibly brave American Jews and allies are protesting and demonstrating in various parts of the U.S. as I write this. In Durham, North Carolina, they’re blocking the highway to demand a CeasefireNOW. They’ve taken over the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. In Boston, dozens of faith leaders are protesting in the JFK Building.
  • Ultra-Orthodox Jews are speaking out in solidarity with Palestinians and disavowing Zionism, putting themselves in harm’s way. I don’t want to link to those upsetting videos, but invite you to see video from a New York protest HERE.
  • African American writer Ta-Nehisi Coates went on Democracy Now! to speak about his visit to Palestine and the connections he saw between Jim Crow/ segregation and the apartheid in Israel. You can watch that interview and/or read the transcript HERE

Demonstrations and marches continue around the world. Go HERE for the list that’s updated daily. Ceasefiretoday.com includes that link plus ALL the tools needed to make our voices heard.

Nothing but gratitude for those refusing to remain silent!

Finding our shared humanity: LIGHT IN GAZA

/ Tracy Abell / 6 Comments

I’m taking advantage of the many resources on offer right now to help people such as myself become more educated on the Palestinian experience and the history of Palestine. As mentioned earlier, Haymarket Books has made three Palestine-related ebooks free to download.

One of those books, Light In Gaza: Writings Born of Fire is an anthology of Palestinian writers and artists sharing their lived experiences. Reading about daily life in Gaza helps me better understand their lives while also broadening my perspective.

“Let Me Dream” by Israa Mohammed Jamal begins with an exchange with her third-grade daughter as they worked on a school lesson together about tourist sites in northern Palestine. The daughter exclaims, “What beautiful places we have in our country. Let’s go there, Mama! Please!” The mother/author had never been to any of those places, either, and has to explain to her daughter that because Israel occupies the West Bank and blockades Gaza, they cannot go to those tourist attractions.

As someone who heavily relies on nature to maintain my emotional and mental health, I can barely imagine a life in which I was prevented from not only traveling freely, but seeking out the calming influence of the natural world. My body literally constricts at the thought.  The author’s essay moves from that exchange with her young daughter to some of her childhood and adult experiences, such as various family members leaving Gaza and the ensuing loneliness that enveloped her. She also writes of the party plans for her firstborn daughter’s first birthday in 2009 made in defiance of the fact that Israel was bombing Gaza then, plans that had to be abandoned when the bombs targeted their neighborhood, forcing them to flee to a relative’s house where they watched the news on their mobile phones because the electricity had been cut.

The essay ends with the author’s dreams for her children, including this excerpt:
I wish to witness the miracle of the liberation of all our occupied lands. Then, I can go to our home villages with our children so they can feel where they originate and belong and feel ownership of their homeland. I hope to erase “refugee” from their vocabulary, because this word is full of disappointment and weakness. They will go to every place in our country. They will see the beautiful places on the West Bank, without fear from armed soldiers, and will have peace of mind without being restricted in their movements inside and outside our ancestral land. They will discover those places by themselves and will live the adventure of traveling to new places such as cities and forests. Gaza doesn’t have mountains or forests, so we have never gone on safari and enjoyed the glory of nature.

Everyone on this glorious planet should have access to nature. Everyone deserves freedom of movement and, after reading “Let Me Dream,” I’m more grateful than ever for the ability to come and go as I please.

But the truth is, none of us are truly free while others are oppressed.

Climate Movement Monday: carbon capture & storage

/ Tracy Abell / 3 Comments

Welcome back to Climate Movement Mondays in which we discuss all things climate. Today I want to share info regarding carbon capture and storage which is touted as a viable “solution” to climate catastrophe. But before I get into that, I want to state that Israel’s current “collective punishment” bombing campaign against the Palestinian people is not only an act of genocide, but also an attack on a frontline community already enduring massive drought as a result the climate crisis. Per Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network Coordinator, Abeer Butmeh: “We will see these effects on soil, water, marine habitat, air and, most importantly, on human health. Currently, Israel has cut off the water resources in Gaza and Gaza has run out of drinkable water. Palestinians live under two threats: Israeli occupation and climate change.”

PLEASE continue to call and email Biden plus your two Senators and one Representative, demanding a CeasefireNOW if you object to your tax dollars funding a genocide.

This post is about educating ourselves on carbon capture and storage (CCS) which I don’t know much about but keeps showing up for me lately. For instance, I just learned there was a proposed $3.5 billion, 1,300-mile CO2 pipeline to transport[ing] CO2 from ethanol and fertilizer plants to be sequestered underground in Illinois.” The project was named Heartland Greenway and would span “parts of South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois. Grassroots opposition to these projects has been intense, with farmers, landowners and environmentalists raising questions about their feasibility and safety.”  Last week, Navigator CO2 Ventures announced it was cancelling the project due to regulatory processes in South Dakota and Iowa. I’d venture a guess that opposition from those groups made it more difficult to continue. Here’s a press release from Food & Water Watch regarding the cancellation: “While the federal government keeps trying to waste billions of dollars to promote these massive carbon pipelines, grassroots organizing is winning the fight to stop these egregious handouts to corporate polluters. These carbon pipelines will not reduce emissions – they are dangerous, wasteful schemes to prolong and expand polluting industries. Instead of throwing away money supporting polluters, the government should invest in proven clean energy solutions, not carbon capture pipe dreams.”

I also learned there’s an organization called PipelineFighters.org and they have a map showing proposed pipelines around the country. Go HERE for an interactive map.

If you’re interested in learning about CCS, Yale Climate Connections published an article by Cameron Oglesby earlier this month: “What’s the deal with carbon capture and storage?” It’s lengthy, but well worth the read. The one issue that jumps out at me is that CCS requires a lot of water, so it seems incredibly unwise to pin hopes on a process that will further deplete our already scarce groundwater.

Thank you for reading this far. I know there’s lot of info out there on CCS so if you come across other articles and perspectives, please share in the comments. Also, if you take a look at that Pipeline Fighters map and see a proposed project in your state, I’d love to hear your thoughts on that. In the meanwhile, take care. Solidarity! ✊🏽