free palestine

A sunny smile + a cool offer

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

I spotted this sign on my street yesterday and thought it might help soothe some frazzled election nerves.

Confession: that image actually kinda twists my brain as our household used to include a golden retriever we called Packy and then later, a keeshond by the name of Sunny! The sign is like a mashup of our two beloved dogs.

In addition to bringing a smile, I also want to let you know about an opportunity to express your animal love while at the same time helping the people of Gaza. Watercolor painter (and professional cat lady, sociologist (MA, PhD), adjunct lecturer at SUNY), Gyunghee Park, has an amazing offer in support of esims for Gaza:

Donate 10GB to Gaza and I’ll personally send you a 6x6inch portrait of your cat, dog, ferret, hamster, bunny, lizard, etc. for free! Just message me proof of purchase and your address. [Gyunghee can be reached at: Gyunghee.park AT outlook DOT com]

I’ve posted before about esims for Gaza, but here’s the explanation from Connecting Humanity (group of volunteers coordinating gazaesims.com):

Since October 2023
People in Gaza are cut off from the internet by Israeli bombing and blocking. Every photo you see from Gaza since then has come through an eSIM, a virtual SIM card, which connects people to the internet.
eSIMs can save lives and give Gazans a voice to show the genocide in Gaza. Connecting Humanity provide eSIMs to journalists, medical professionals, aid workers, families, people documenting the genocide and children and students who are all using eSIMs to stay connected with the world and each other.
Over 400,000 eSIMs have been donated through Connecting Humanity, without your generosity Gaza would be totally isolated. eSIMs are saving lives and showing the world the genocide.

They are in desperate need of more esims and currently only have the ability to provide them to medical staff, journalists, and students. With your help, they can again provide esims to civilians facing incredible hardship.

How do you do this?

  • Go to gazaesims.com to learn how to purchase and donate esims OR donate money HERE for the purchase and distribution of esims.
  • NOTE: I’ve had the easiest transactions with Nomad. Use discount code NOMADCNG

Just think how wonderful it will be to gaze upon a watercolor rendering of your beloved dog, cat, hamster, turtle, bunny (shh, don’t tell Sunny), or ChiaPet, knowing it was made possible by your generosity and sense of shared humanity. Bonus: The artist Gyunghee Park also accepts commissions at Gyunghee.park AT outlook DOT com so if you like her portrait of your doggie friend, you might also want to get one of your gecko. PLEASE share here if you take Gyunghee up on her offer!

Thank you for reading this far. Keep hydrated and remember to breathe. We’re all in this together. Solidarity!

Sunday Confessional: tired of making signs

/ Tracy Abell / 9 Comments

There’s a collection of signage in my home. Signs that family members and I carried at marches against G.W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq. The non-mobile Iraq death toll sign we created on a piece of countertop, the one chained around the honey locust tree in our front yard for years and years following the invasion and occupation. Signs urging my so-called representatives to go big on climate policy. Signs against fracking. Signs in support of a Green New Deal. Lest you think I’m incapable of throwing anything away, I no longer have my sign from the May 1987 march in San Francisco that shouted U.S. OUT OF EL SALVADOR or the signs protesting Bush Sr.’s bombing of Iraq in the early 90s. I do, however, have a bag filled with clean, blank cardboard just waiting to be made into other signs.

Why? After all, none of those things I marched in opposition to were stopped. None of those policies I marched in support of have been enacted. So why do I continue to make signs and take to the streets? Because it helps me feel less alone. Because chanting in unison with others helps release anger and frustration. Because silence feels like complicity.

Today I made another sign for my front yard: ARMS EMBARGO NOW. I’ve been meaning to do so for months and finally summoned the energy today.

The CEASEFIRE sign has been in the yard for over a year now. There are layers of packing tape holding the vinyl letters in place and today I added more to extend the sign’s life since the two major candidates share the same goal to not only continue the onslaught on Gaza, but to extend it to the surrounding region. When I made that sign a year ago, I had no idea this nightmare would continue as long as it has. Silly me. I’m old enough to remember Joe Biden’s four decades of war-mongering. The man has never not chosen violence and destruction. And Kamala Harris, booed yesterday at a rally in Michigan (a swing state) for her unwavering support for genocide, cares more about enabling Israel than winning the election.

We’ll see if the liberals who got mad about missing brunch after Clinton lost in 2016 will return to the streets this time around. No matter what happens on November 5, I know where I’ll be. Holding a handmade sign and shouting my outrage.

Literary institutions to authors: don’t speak of Gaza

/ Tracy Abell / 8 Comments

Earlier this week, I highlighted how anti-Zionists in the Jewish community are being  targeted by Jewish institutions, schools and synagogues, for expressing solidarity with Palestinians. It’s a heartbreaking situation that has fractured communities and led to feelings of pain and isolation for those bravely speaking out on behalf of our shared humanity. Unfortunately, that’s not the only community being torn apart over Zionism.

Writers are also facing the same kinds of pressure from literary institutions. Yesterday, Truthout published the following from author Lisa Ko: “Literary Institutions Are Pressuring Authors to Remain Silent About Gaza.” The article begins with this (emphasis mine):

When writer and disability justice activist Alice Wong received a MacArthur Fellowship earlier this month, she shared a statement about accepting it “amidst the genocide happening in Gaza.” The backlash was swift, with a deluge of posts on X attacking Wong’s character and accusing her of antisemitism.

This conflation of opposition to Israel’s military action with hatred of Jewish people is only one part of a broader wave of political and social repression that is attempting to silence writers speaking out against the war. In the past month alone, authors who have criticized Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza — which is funded largely by the U.S. — have been labeled extremists, been suspended and fired from faculty jobs, and targets of defamation and harassment.

Ko goes on to detail how she received death and rape threats as a result of her expressing concern for the safety of a Muslim woman scheduled to be on an upcoming  Writers Institute festival panel with Ko. However, Writers Institute isn’t the only institution pressuring writers to remain silent in the face of genocide. PEN America holds this mission statement — “PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide” — and yet feels comfortable pressuring authors to keep their mouths shut in order to be eligible for literary prizes.

A culture that demands certain political allegiances from its writers and artists at the risk of losing career opportunities is one that is antithetical to democratic values, and harkens back to the McCarthy-era Hollywood blacklist that barred writers from employment on suspicions of “subversive” and “un-American” leanings. 

I write for young readers and for many, many years belonged to and volunteered for the largest international organization dedicated to children’s writing and illustration: Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). I cancelled my membership several years ago because of how SCBWI treated a Palestinian woman who questioned SCBWI’s one-sided support for Israel following an attack on Gaza. I’ve never regretted that move, especially since SCBWI, which exists purely on behalf of creators for children, remains silent in the face of a genocide in which children are being shot in the head by snipers. I now belong to Story Sunbirds: a kidlit collective of authors and illustrators who stand up for children with all our hearts. I feel much more comfortable in that community.

Reading Ko’s article made me incredibly sad. Institutions that supposedly exist to uplift voices and create stronger bonds between humans all around the globe are instead using coercion and threats to keep people from speaking out on behalf of fellow humans. Please take a few minutes to read the article: “Literary Institutions Are Pressuring Authors to Remain Silent About Gaza.”

We can’t stop talking about Palestine.

Zionism doesn’t only harm Palestinians

/ Tracy Abell / 17 Comments

Although I am not Jewish, I wanted to share two recent pieces focused on the generational and political fractures forming in the Jewish community (specifically, institutions such as synagogues and schools). It makes me sad on multiple levels to see the damage being done to longstanding communities and those with lifelong commitments to Jewish professional life because of the clash between Zionism and anti-Zionism.

The first article, “U.S. Jewish Institutions Are Purging Their Staffs of Anti-Zionists: A months-long investigation found even the smallest hints of dissent are often met with unemployment” was published by Shane Burley on

On October 18, 2023, protesters with the anti-Zionist organization Jewish Voice for Peace and other progressive Jewish groups staged a sit-in in the Cannon House Office Building at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., to protest the Israeli assault on Gaza.
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Countless Jewish progressives and youth have answered the call for solidarity with Palestine, and the community’s entrenched political, religious, and cultural institutions are determined to punish them for it.

This attitude has long-term consequences for Jewish institutions. Per Shane Burley (emphasis mine): “… this is happening across the Jewish world at the same time that there’s a leadership vacuum, or people are retiring from these jobs and they can’t get them refilled. It’s harder to hire rabbis, less people are becoming rabbis. It’s harder to hire Jewish educators. It’s harder to hire these people. And so at the same time as they’re having trouble reproducing these organizations, they’re kicking out the people that are often the most tied in, the people that are most involved in it.“

Burley goes on to say: I think history is very clear that Jewish life flourishes when Jewish diversity and Jewish freedom of conscience flourishes as well. And also in a cosmopolitan, multicultural society where difference is respected and all communities are protected. Historically, Jewish communities are often safest when partnering with other communities who have been threatened by the far right or by the state or things like that.

So we’re undermining exactly that history with this very isolationist, nationalist narrative. And we’re cutting out the very forces, activists, community organizers, anti-fascists, that have protected us in the past. So we’re breaking that continuity really distinctly.

Near the end, host Marc Steiner says this:
Well, I think that the voices that you allowed us to hear in your article are the voices that need to be heard. [   ]  Because their stories are important for the world to hear. And I really do look forward to more conversations with you, but also with some of the folks that you interviewed in your article that we can do together to bring their voices out because they need to be heard. They’re the ones who were attacked. They’re the ones who are fighting for their beliefs. They’re the ones who are going to be the engine that pushes the revolution of change inside the Jewish world, I think.

I stand on the side of those speaking truth to power. Solidarity with the courageous people risking their livelihoods to speak out against apartheid, settler colonialism, and genocide!

Genocide there, oppression here

/ Tracy Abell / 8 Comments

Mondays are usually devoted to climate-related content, but today I’m  pivoting to the oppression happening on university campuses here in the U.S. (which, as you know, is frequently touted as the world’s greatest democracy and defender of free speech).

I’ve written before about the oppressive tactics employed against college students around the country who don’t want their tuition and taxes used to fund a genocide of Palestinian people (here, here, and here), and today am linking to a sobering article from Truthout about the ramped-up efforts to crush dissent. ‘s October 13 article, Chalking Bans and ID Checks at Protest Repress Palestine Solidarity on Campus, comes as Israel unleashes horrific violence and destruction on Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. The United States is enabling all this and universities are playing a huge role in keeping the genocide going. But as Jarmakani points out, it’s not only genocide but also scholasticide.

“…Israel is committing scholasticide in Gaza and throughout Palestine. In Gaza alone, more than 625,000 students have no access to education because 85 percent of schools have been directly hit or damaged, all universities have been destroyed and entire pathways of knowledge and wisdom have been annihilated. Given this context, it is particularly egregious that U.S. universities resume classes this fall more determined than ever to silence and repress speech and action in support of Palestine.”

Rather than spending the summer months meeting their students’ demands for transparency and divestment from weapons manufacturers, the universities spent that time encoding repressive policies to crush dissent.

Alongside outright bans on encampments at virtually every university come a coordinated set of campus policies, including mask bans, mandatory ID policies, bans on chalking, new protest guidelines and even curricula and syllabi review, all of which promise to severely undermine academic freedom and free speech. On some campuses, as in the California State University system, these restrictions are enacted through “Time, Place, and Manner” policies, which — while they claim to be “content-neutral” — are clearly a direct response to the student movements that transformed campuses last spring, as they explicitly prohibit “vandalism, property damage, trespass, [and] occupation of a building or facility.”

The California State University system restrictions feel personal to me as I was a student at several of those campuses. Shame on them.

Jarmakani continues:

Even more chilling is the fact that these policies seem to presumptively assume that “unlawful discrimination, harassment, and defamation” are the goal of the prohibited activities, specifying that they are “not protected by the First Amendment,” and setting them up for punitive action, even though the right to protest is a central pillar of the First Amendment. Of course, no university should tolerate discrimination, harassment and defamation on its campus, but amid a new “red scare” driven by contrived charges of antisemitism, in which outside Israel advocacy groups weaponize Title VI to argue that criticism of Israel constitutes discrimination and harassment, we must be clear that the actual purpose of such policies is to penalize pro-Palestine speech.

A writer I admire recently wrote on a private forum that they worry that within a year or two, open discussion of Israel will be censored under law. That doesn’t feel like an exaggeration.

I highly recommend reading the entire article which is filled with links to examples of the many egregious practices aimed at crushing students’ voices. I’ll close with the final two paragraphs (emphasis mine):

Student encampments were examples of principled protest, nonviolent civil disobedience, collective education and political resistance; they intentionally cultivated spaces of popular education, mutual aid and collective care. Through this ethic, their demands for divestment not only invigorate the movement for Palestinian liberation — they make urgent connections among U.S. imperialism through the war on terror, Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, and deadly policing practices in the U.S., all through the lens of weapons manufacturers. We must not let them be silenced.

In the face of ongoing genocide in Gaza and devastating attacks on Lebanon, I take solace in the communal forms of knowledge and practice that activate and sustain us. The actual S.O.S. urgently before us does not call for the securitized response of militarization and repression; it demands our urgent commitment to life and collective liberation.

Thank you for reading this far. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Until next time . . . solidarity! ✊🏾

You are invited

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

I discovered Norwegian artist Tiril Valeur through Mariame Kaba‘s newsletter and wanted to share because (1) I love this anti-genocide sentiment and want everyone to take it to heart and (2) the artist-activist has created additional powerful pieces you can access here. Beautiful art that refuses to keep quiet is needed more than ever as the U.S. enables genocide and regional war.

Free Palestine! Free Sudan! Free Congo! Free all oppressed people! ✊🏽

Thankful Thursday: shared humanity

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

This beautiful begonia bloom was waiting for me this morning when I arrived at a neighbor’s to water their plants.

The delicate bloom rested on the concrete below the pot, looking perfect as could be. It felt like a gift and I brought it home.

And now I offer this beautiful flower to those I’m grateful to be in community with, the people whose hearts are also broken on behalf of the Palestinians facing horror after horror as the United States arms and gives political cover to Israel’s genocide. This begonia bloom is also for those experiencing further outrage and heartache on behalf of the Lebanese who suffered two terrorist attacks this week as Israel carried out its long-range plan that involved a shell company in Hungary which built electronic devices laced with explosives to be detonated at a later date. That later date was this week. Dozens, including children, are dead, and thousands are maimed as a result of electronic devices literally exploding in their faces.

For all who refuse to normalize death and destruction, who refuse to harden their hearts against people halfway around the world, I’m grateful for your shared humanity. Thank you.

Edited to add: I meant to also share the begonia gift with those sickened and heartsick on behalf of the Haitian immigrants being demonized and terrorized by people using the “othering” playbook to advance their fascist goals. I’m grateful to all who refuse to remain silent in the face of that hateful demagoguery.

Thankful Thursday: people who reach out

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

Over the years, I’ve had friends from my distant past find me via this site which is always a happy surprise. And strangers have reached out after reading something I posted. For example, after writing about Aaron Bushnell on Memorial Day, a friend of his wrote to me. Their message touched me deeply and I wrote back to thank them for taking the time to contact me in solidarity.

But I’m not always successful in responding to people and so today I’m using this space to let LR know that I received their message. Thank you! I tried to respond via the email provided but there’s an error with that address and it doesn’t go through. I did an online search and was able to find an edu email address for you, and sent my message there. Because I haven’t heard anything back, I’m  wondering if that’s also a bad address. PLEASE, if you see this, use the contact form again and leave a different return address. I very much appreciated your message and would like to converse some more!

May 29, 2019

Solidarity!

On this Labor Day

/ Tracy Abell / 4 Comments

Labor Day is dedicated to workers uniting, using their collective strength to demand changes in work policy to include respect, safety, health care, livable wages, shorter hours, sick time, etc. Sadly, the fierce and strategic labor organizer, Jane McAlevey, died at age 59 in July. Jane had an incredible impact on organized labor and you can read some tributes here.  She published a number of books and this is what I wrote in my reading log after finishing A Collective Bargain: Unions, Organizing, and the Fight for Democracy (2020):

“This book fired me up! There’s so much we can accomplish if we stand together. I wish I had a job where I could organize a union. Biggest takeaway: even in states w all GOP elected (WV), the teachers & school workers won huge demands via strike!” No matter if you’re in the work place or not, I highly recommend reading this inspirational book because Jane makes it clear that people power is the way forward in every single challenge we face. People standing shoulder-to-shoulder as we demand better for people and planet.

 

I believe Jane would be thrilled by some of the powerful collective actions happening right now:

Lastly, PLEASE take 2 minutes to personalize comments in support of United Farm Workers who labor in the fields to bring food to our tables. They work in all sorts of extreme weather, including in dangerously high temperatures. The comment period is now open for Federal Heat Safety Regulations and I hope you’ll join me in advocating for training, shade, cool water, and paid rest breaks for the workers. You can do that HERE.

I’ll close this Labor Day post with some wise words from  Mother Jones:

  • “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.”
  • “The first thing is to raise hell,” says I. “That’s always the first thing to do when you’re faced with an injustice and you feel powerless. That’s what I do in my fight for the working class.”
  • “Our present civilization is one of brute force. We hope to make it a civilization of justice and love.”

Thank you for reading this far. Happy Labor Day!
Solidarity! ✊🏽

Day 295 of genocidal war on Palestinians

/ Tracy Abell / 9 Comments

At the end of February, I underwent dental surgery with the help of general anesthesia and pain medication. I wrote about my mixed feelings when contrasting my situation with Palestinians who were, unbelievably, still under siege. At that time, I was shocked and sickened  that the United States had not yet shut off the money and weapons to Israel. I was horrified by the knowledge that while I’d be blissfully sedated during a dental procedure, Palestinian children were having limbs amputated without anesthesia.

Two days ago, I had another dental surgery related to the first and, still, the genocide continues. As for me? Again, I had the privilege of having surgery in a clean, safe environment while under general anesthesia. While I experienced my usual dental anxiety, I did not for one moment fear for my life and well-being. Bombs would not rain down on the building and soldiers would not storm in, aiming guns at me while I sought medical treatment. I was not at risk for infection. I would survive.

It is now Day 295 of the genocidal war on Palestinians, and the barbarity has only intensified. Civilians are being slaughtered at an accelerated rate. Mass starvation, malnutrition, dehydration, and illness are spreading. Every hospital and school in Gaza has been destroyed. Netanyahu blocked the defense minister’s order to build a “temporary hospital” in Israel to treat children from Gaza. 

Photo by Alfo Medeiros (pexels.com)

 

Meanwhile, we in the U.S. are focused on the sham of democracy and free elections as the duopoly forces two monstrous “choices” on the electorate, neither of whom view Palestinians as people worthy of decency and respect. The political theater surrounding November’s election has distracted us from what is actually happening right now, this very minute, as our “leaders” actively enable mass death and destruction.

The Lancet reports the conservative death toll in Gaza is 186,000 people. If you’re able to donate any amount:

  • Donate HERE to the Gaza Health Emergency via the World Health Organization (WHO).
  • Donate HERE to UNRWA, Gaza’s humanitarian aid organization (donations doubled through July 19).
  • Donate HERE to fundraising campaigns in Gaza

If you can make phone calls or send emails to your two senators and one representative, it’s worth letting them know you oppose using our taxes to wreak death and destruction halfway across the world. Feel free to also let them know how you would prefer they spend our taxes. Same for letting Biden know, about his genocide and/or him remaining the presidential candidate.

Thank you for reading this far. Thank you for caring about our shared humanity. Thank you for keeping eyes on Gaza.

Free Palestine!

Day 261: it’s all connected, we’re all connected

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

On this 261st Day of Genocide in Gaza, I admit to being stunned that the carnage has not only not ceased, but has become increasingly depraved. I won’t go into details as the words and images are easily found due to IOF soldiers proudly documenting their depravity/lack of humanity on social media sites. To counteract the sadism, I decided to offer a poem by a Palestinian, and so went in search of something that resonated.

I landed on a poem by Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008) who is “feted as Palestine’s national poet for his words expressing the longing of Palestinians deprived of their homeland, which was taken by Zionist militias to make way for present-day Israel. His poetry gave voice to the pain of Palestinians living as refugees and those under Israeli occupation for nearly a century.” And because this morning I began reading the Pulitzer Prize-winning Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy by Heather Ann Thompson, the Darwish poem I chose is “The Prison Cell.” Because just as the United States incarcerates more people than any country on earth (currently about 2 million people), Israel incarcerates thousands upon thousands of Palestinians and holds them without filing charges. It’s all connected. We’re all connected. And just as the incarcerated in the U.S. are treated as less-than and subjected to brutal conditions, so are the Palestinians. It doesn’t matter who we are or where we live on this planet: It’s all connected. We’re all connected.

In this spirit, I offer:

The Prison Cell
by Mahmoud Darwish
(Translated by Ben Bennani)

It is possible . . .
It is possible at least sometimes . . .
It is possible especially now
To ride a horse
Inside a prison cell
And run away . . .

It is possible for prison walls
To disappear,
For the cell to become a distant land
Without frontiers:

What did you do with the walls?
I gave them back to the rocks.
And what did you do with the ceiling?
I turned it into a saddle.
And your chain?
I turned it into a pencil.

The prison guard got angry.
He put an end to the dialogue.
He said he didn’t care for poetry,
And bolted the door of my cell.

He came back to see me
In the morning.
He shouted at me:

Where did all this water come from?
I brought it from the Nile.
And the trees?
From the orchards of Damascus.
And the music?
From my heartbeat.

The prison guard got mad.
He put an end to my dialogue.
He said he didn’t like my poetry,
And bolted the door of my cell.

But he returned in the evening:

Where did this moon come from?
From the nights of Baghdad.
And the wine?
From the vineyards of Algiers.
And this freedom?
From the chain you tied me with last night.

The prison guard grew so sad . . .
He begged me to give him back
His freedom.

—-

One final connection between Palestinians, the men in Attica in 1971, and me: this poster I unearthed in my basement yesterday, one I’d bought years ago (and possibly hung in my California classroom):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s all connected. We’re all connected.

Action needed: prioritize Palestinian refugees in U.S.

/ Tracy Abell / 5 Comments

As you know, the United States is largely responsible for the genocide happening in Gaza right now. Tens of thousands dead, thousands more buried beneath rubble, and entire families wiped out by the U.S. bombs supplied to Israel. The reality is incredibly bleak. However, there’s an effort underway that could potentially save thousands of Palestinian lives, and that is to allow them to reunite with family members in the U.S.

This action info came to me via an email from MPOWER CHANGE:

Rep. Greg Casar, Sen. Dick Durbin, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal are leading a bicameral letter expressing strong support for a Priority-2 (P-2) designation under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) for Palestinians in Gaza with family in the United States. The Biden administration is reportedly considering this policy change.1

Urge your U.S. Senators and Representative to sign on to the Casar-Durbin letter NOW:

Palestinians are so rarely granted U.S. refugee status that, of the over 60,000 refugees resettled in the United States in 2023, fewer than 0.1% were Palestinians.2

PLEASE take two minutes to personalize a letter to your representatives, demanding they ease some of the pain and suffering they’ve enabled by signing on to the Casar-Durbin letter.

Thank you in advance for your help. Solidarity! ✊🏽

  1. “White House considers welcoming some Palestinians from war-torn Gaza as refugees,” CBS News, Apr. 30, 2024.
  2. “Republicans want to ban Palestinian refugees from entering the U.S., but it’s already very hard for them to get in,” NBC News, Oct. 7, 2023

Olive Odyssey: olive oil from Palestine

/ Tracy Abell / 3 Comments

Zippy is the chef of our household (while I fill the role of “grateful eater of all he prepares”), and when he decided his cooking was in need of some olive oil from Palestine, he placed an order with Olive Odyssey. Our olive oil arrived today!

But we didn’t only receive the bottle of olive oil. The package also contained an organic fabric bag and a post card with the above picture on the front and this message on the back:

It feels so good to hold that bottle in our hands and feel the connection with Palestinian farmers who lovingly care for their olive trees, land, and traditions. Shared humanity for the win!

eta: I just realized the bottle has other info, including that this olive oil is from farmer  Abed Al-salam Bargouti and that it was sourced from “Rumi olive trees nestled in the hills of Aboud village at the heart of Palestine’s Ramallah region.”

Poppies for Palestine

/ Tracy Abell / 5 Comments

As I walked past my neighbor’s poppies today, my thoughts went to Gaza because the poppy is the national flower of Palestine.

June 10, 2024

I’m grateful for these poppies, glorious and resilient in the face of our frequent heavy winds, since mine tend to live very short lives. Every year, they’re here and then gone. But despite my poppy experience, poppies are seen as a symbol of resilience:

The poppy symbolizes the resilience and enduring spirit of the Palestinian people. This designation stems from the flower’s pervasive presence in the region and its poignant representation in various cultural and historical contexts.

The red of the poppy symbolises the blood of the martyrs within this land. The colors of the poppy also mirror the colors of the Palestinian flag with red, black, white and green.

The poppy’s vibrant red petals are often seen as a metaphor for the bloodshed and sacrifices endured in the ongoing struggle for freedom and self-determination. Its ability to thrive in adverse conditions mirrors the steadfastness and hope of the Palestinian people amidst their challenging circumstances. The choice of the poppy as a national symbol is a powerful testament to the collective memory, cultural identity, and the unyielding quest for peace and sovereignty in Palestine.

Today I post these poppies in solidarity with the people of Gaza. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.

Friday Haiku: on freedom of the press

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

religious school mob
attacks journalist
supremacist frenzy

Note: this happened on June 5 in occupied Jerusalem during the “Flag March.” Palestinian journalist Saif Al-Qawasmi was attacked, first by students of a religious school and then beaten by Israeli police. Journalist Nir Hasson tried to protect Qawasmi and was also beaten. Hasson, who works for the newspaper Haaretz, took this photo. Other images can be seen here.

Climate Movement Monday: deadly heat in Gaza

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

Welcome back to another Movement Monday in which we talk about the climate crisis and the communities already getting hit the hardest. Today’s post focuses on the people of Gaza who have not only been under attack since October–thousands and thousands of bombs raining down on them no matter where they go–but have also been under siege in terms of deprivation of food, water, medical supplies, and humanitarian aid.  On top of all that, displaced Palestinians faced a record-breaking heatwave that pushed temperatures over 100 degrees as they huddled in tents that became deathly hot. This article from Climate Home News points out the disparity between how the Israelis’ in Tel Aviv and Gazans living in refugee camps handle high temperatures. Spoiler alert:  people in Tel Aviv stay in their air-conditioned homes or travel to the sea to sit under beach umbrellas while Gazans forced to live in nylon tents are losing their children to heat stroke. This week, the temperatures will “only” be in the upper 80s and low 90s, but if you’ve ever slept in a tent not shaded by trees, you know how unbearably hot it gets inside.

Boys carry water bottles in Gaza on May 28, 2024. (Photo: Naaman Omar)

Here’s an excerpt from the Climate Home News article:
The predicament of Gazans forced to endure sweltering conditions in ill-equipped tents is not an isolated problem. Across the world, climate change and war are forcing more and more people out of their homes and into makeshift camps. More than 75 million people are currently displaced inside their own countries – 50% more than five years ago.

Read that last line again: More than 75 million people are currently displaced inside their own countries – 50% more than five years ago. 

If you’re like me, reading something like that can tip you precariously close to despair. But we can also have a different response. We can read something that feels overwhelmingly bad and ask ourselves “what can I do here and now to effect change?” Today I’m going to share some links for ways in which we can help Gazans.

  • MUNICIPALITY OF GAZA is working toward the restoration of sewage treatment, waste management, and access to clean water which will cut down on waterborne illnesses.  You can donate HERE (any amount helps!) If you appreciated Refaat Alareer’s work I shared here (including “If I must die, let it be a tale”), please note that he also ran the social media account for the Municipality of Gaza (@munigaza).
  • GAZA FUNDS is a project that connects people to crowdfunding campaigns for individuals and families from Gaza. Each time the page is reloaded, a different campaign appears. While the rotation is randomized, campaigns for the sick/injured and campaigns close to meeting their goals are prioritized. We never want any of these campaigns to go stagnant, so we make sure to also prioritize fundraisers that haven’t had a donation in a while. As existing fundraisers meet their goals, they will be replaced with other fundraisers that need your help. You can donate HERE. I’ve seen people on Twitter highlighting their $5 donations to several campaigns with the knowledge that those contributions add up as well as give Palestinians the much-needed boost of knowing they haven’t been forgotten by the rest of the world. (more info re the Gaza Funds volunteers here). Also, I’m including the below graphics that offer additional ideas on how to help plus social media account info.

One last note to help make the connection between the United States and what’s happening in Gaza: On May 31, multiple water mains in Atlanta burst and people were/are under a boil water advisory. Many parts of the city are still without water. As I write this, it appears there’s still no clear communication on the water situation and many Atlanta residents are calling out Mayor Andre Dickens for attending a fundraiser on Friday AFTER THE FIRST PIPE BURST. The water infrastructure failure further highlights that the push to build Cop City in Atlanta to the tune of $100 million is the absolute wrong “public safety” initiative needed when the city can’t even provide citizens clean, safe water.

If you’ve read this far, thank you for being here! We’re facing incredibly difficult realities, but we’re much stronger together. Solidarity!✊🏽

“Pocketful of Warding Stones” by Rasha Abdulhadi

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments
The following poem and image were published at Poetry Online (a nonprofit organization dedicated to sharing literature and art accessibly) on October 21, 2023.
Pocketful of Warding Stones by Rasha Abdulhadi
…
how much of the weight of time we carry
is the burden the murderers gave us,
and whose ends do we serve to hate
ourselves for not dying as easy as they wanted?
…
what firekeeper can scrape
the char of guilt from this burnt offering,
pull air over embers of grief & longing,
find some flint in the heart left to light?
…
how can we untie living grief from the longing
to have done more, and find instead what
more could yet by our breath be done?
…
we can hold ourselves, responsible yes,
refuse a rebellion captive or complicit
confess instead a broader bravery
on which to spend the coin of our lives.
…
we who untangle loss from creation by blowing it to bits—
why obscure grief, why hoard it or hide its face,
as if a siphon could drain an ocean, no—
let them hear the holes when we sing.
…
every death in war is a casualty, no matter the speed
or how exhausted, how unscaffolded the rebuilding.
i know a hurricane who reached through years and state lines
into lungs hearts and bowels, and snatched souls back to flood.
when the disaster of war or the war of disaster steals homes it steals lives,
and though it may take time to cash them, we know where the blame lies.
…
we ward against the guilt of war
the blistered blessing of surviving our kin, and
around the undefused bombs our bodies hide,
we build a larger house to live in.
…
though the house of sorrow be vast,
give grief her rooms to stalk through
let living longing paint the walls.
can we then deny guilt, that rent-free tenant,
the lease it seeks in the house of grief?
…
refuse them victory on this field at least:
our breathing belongs to us
and is not some shame we owe or stole,
or failed to lose like they wanted us to—
our bellows blow to break knees bent over any neck.
…
i won’t devolve the monument of my body
to the keeping of the state, won’t donate
the corpse of my dreaming
to service the desires of murderers
or their gracious paperwork proctors.
i won’t do the blamework for them.
…
our mothers have been here before, they know
there’s no antidote for the poisons sown in the fields of war
but i will refuse the death machine of the imagination any morsel more
…
at least in my heart, the war can’t have you, my friend—
and wherever the last domino of my body falls,
let me land as a gear-breaking wedge—
the murder wheel won’t win my shame.
i won’t let them kill me before i die
and i offer you the same.
——————————-
Rasha Abdulhadi is calling on you, dear reader, to join them in refusing and resisting the genocide of the Palestinian people. Wherever you are, whatever sand you can throw on the gears of genocide, do it now. If it’s a handful, throw it. If it’s a fingernail full, scrape it out and throw. Get in the way however you can. The elimination of the Palestinian people is not inevitable. We can refuse with our every breath and action. We must.

On this Memorial Day

/ Tracy Abell / 6 Comments

Today, as neighbors fly their red-white-and-blue flags and the U.S. government-sponsored slaughter of Palestinians in Rafah reaches new levels of horror, my thoughts are on Aaron Bushnell who was a 25-year-old active serviceman (U.S. Air Force). On February 25, Bushnell self-immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington. D.C.

Before setting himself on fire, Bushnell said this: “I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”  His final words were “Free Palestine.”

I wanted to highlight Aaron Bushnell today, in part, because I also want to highlight the reality of the U.S. military that recruits desperate people who see no other way to build a future for themselves. Levi Pierpont went through basic training with Aaron Bushnell and the two became friends. After a year-long process, Pierpont was released from the military as a conscientious objector in 2023. In this opinion piece published after Bushnell’s death, Pierpont wrote of the talks he’d had with fellow service-people about wanting to get out of the military before their contracts expired:

During the process, I had so many conversations with fellow military members, a great many of whom could relate to the way I felt. One member spoke frankly with me, admitting that she had serious concerns with supporting the military. However, faced with the high costs of medical care outside the military, she commented: “If I have to sell my soul to the devil to get my children healthcare, that’s what I have to do.” [emphasis mine].

Think about that: because the elites have decided we in the U.S. can’t have universal healthcare, young people are forced to make the excruciating decision to inflict violence on strangers around the world–literally blowing up men, women, and children–so that their own children will get the medical care they need.

According to Pierpont, there are also those in the military who are unable to carry the burden of their role in violence and destruction. The above paragraph ends with this:  “Others were considering taking their lives as the only way to escape, and had no hope that they could make it to the end of their contract.”

I wonder how many of those flying flags today think about the despair felt by military personnel. How many of those flag-wavers would support service members who’ve served this country and now want out after realizing that what they’re being forced to do is an affront to their consciences and souls? What exactly does it mean to “support our troops”?

Today I honor Aaron Bushnell who made his own excruciating decision to very publicly protest the U.S.’s role in the genocide in Gaza. To be very clear, that’s not a death I wanted for him or for any of us who feel so much anger and despair about the slaughter and destruction being carried out in our names. Instead, I want an end to U.S. imperialism and the military industrial complex so that corporations no longer get rich off death and destruction. I want an end to people being forced to commit violence because their own country treats them violently via not providing for their material needs such as food, housing, healthcare, and clean air/water. In the meanwhile, I made a donation in honor of Bushnell and Pierpont to the non-profit Center on Conscience & War that “advocates for the rights of conscience, opposes military conscription, and serves all conscientious objectors to war.”

Aaron Bushnell’s final Facebook post (since removed) said this:
“Many of us like to ask ourselves, “What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?”

The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now.”

Rest in power, Aaron Bushnell.

********

Final note: In reading more about Aaron Bushnell, I learned about an earlier act of self-immolation in December 2023 by an unidentified woman holding a Palestinian flag in New York City. At the time of the article’s publication, the woman remained hospitalized in stable condition.

Friday Haiku: on democracy

/ Tracy Abell / 5 Comments

try to guess the crime
protesting a genocide
state-sponsored terror

OR (because I’m all about revision)
criminalizing
protest against genocide
state-sponsored terror

Please add your own haiku in the comments (and feel free to revise)!

NOTE: The caption beneath that photo in Los Angeles Times: Hundreds of law enforcement personnel descended on UC Irvine to move hundreds of pro-Palestinian students, faculty and supporters protesting the UC system’s investments in Israel. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

On this Nakba Day

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

Today is Nakba Day. What is Nakba Day? A Brief History 

There are many, many heartbreaking stories of what Palestinians endured as a result of that ethnic cleansing and displacement. One of the faculty members who spoke at the Auraria Campus encampment commencement ceremony on Sunday told us of their father and grandparents’ Nakba experience in which they walked to Syria, only to be told they weren’t welcome, then walked to Lebanon where they were forbidden entrance, and finally ended up in Nazareth. According to the speaker, their father refused to accept life as a “refugee” and later came to the U.S.

Image from Wikimedia Commons

These stories are painful and filled with heartache and injustice, but we cannot pretend Nakba didn’t happen (or that it isn’t playing out again right now). Many in the Jewish community refuse to stay silent and are in solidarity with Palestinians. The following email came this morning from If Not Now and, in the final paragraph, has links to further resources about the Nakba, along with a link for Gaza donations:

Today we mark 76 years since the Nakba, or catastrophe, when over 750,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed from their homes and countless villages were wiped off the map during the establishment of the State of Israel. The Israeli government has continued the Nakba by carrying out a policy of land expropriation and deprivation of Palestinians’ fundamental rights from 1948 through today.

As we bear witness to the continuation of the Nakba over the decades, we recognize the chilling parallels between 1948 and today’s catastrophe in Gaza, as the Israeli military slaughters tens of thousands of Palestinians and forces over a million people from their homes – the largest displacement of Palestinians since 1948. 

This history — together with our history as Jews of facing ethnic cleansing and mass slaughter — compels us to call for an end to the Israeli military’s genocidal assault on Gaza and to work towards an equal, just, and thriving future for all Palestinians and Israelis, free from ethnic cleansing, violence, apartheid, and oppression that reckons with and addresses the Nakba and other injustices.

You can listen to the stories of Palestinians who lived through the Nakba at the Nakba Archive. Learn more about the history and its consequences at Zochrot. Follow, amplify, and contribute to @gazafunds on Twitter/X.

In Solidarity,
Em, IfNotNow

It’s Tracy again. If you’ve read this far, thank you.
Free Palestine!

On this Mother’s Day

/ Tracy Abell / 3 Comments

Just got home from the Auraria Campus solidarity encampment in Denver. Students have been camping on the Tivoli Quad for, I believe, 18 days now. Despite serious fear-mongering from ace reporter Jim Hooley, Zippy and I saw no signs of weaponry or human waste today.

What we did see was lots of love and admiration for the approximately 20 young people from the encampment who received diplomas during “The People’s Graduation.” We heard from one of those graduates who was introduced as an organizing wizard (in just six hours, they organized three actions that spanned twelve hours) and  also heard from faculty members who are in solidarity with the students. As always, the speeches at these pro-Palestine gatherings brought tears while also filling my heart with love and hope.

It was a wonderful way to spend this Mother’s Day and it felt very fitting that the rainy, overcast skies cleared, allowing the sun to shine down on the events. I’ll leave you with this poem shared by one of the speakers.

Solidarity on behalf of all children!

Climate Movement Mondays: on crushing dissent

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

It’s another Movement Monday post in which we discuss climate-related issues. Typically, I highlight a frontline community–those facing the worst effects of the climate crisis–and then offer a quick action you can take on behalf of people and planet. Today’s post is a bit different and is intended to educate regarding the considerable efforts being made to crush dissent, whether it’s climate protest, pro-Palestine protest, or protest aimed at police brutality. Long story short: the powers that be want us to remain docile and accepting of the many injustices inflicted on people and the environment, and they do not take well to organized protest.

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

Last week, I wrote about student protest and authoritarianism. We’ve all seen the images of heavily militarized police coming onto campuses to attack and arrest students for daring to, among other things, demand their tuition money not be invested in the manufacture of weapons used in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians. Here’s a video of Virginia State Police threatening UVA students on May 4th, the anniversary of the four students murdered by the National Guard on the Kent State campus in 1970. Over and over again, students are being threatened and brutalized by the police. (edited to add: Oddly enough, the police didn’t intervene at UCLA when pro-Palestinian students were literally being attacked and beaten by Zionists.)

It hasn’t escaped these young people’s attention that the same police who stood outside as children were being slaughtered in a classroom are all too willing to don riot gear to wade into crowds of unarmed people who’ve gathered on behalf of an oppressed people. In Texas, students chanted “You failed Uvalde.” Also? A week ago yesterday, white supremacists were allowed to march in Charleston, West Virginia. Where were the police and their riot gear?

The willingness to send heavily armed police onto campuses is just one facet of what’s happening in this country in anticipation of rising unrest due to climate collapse, income inequality, nonstop wars, broken supply chains, etc. There are many other signs pointing to how any one of us will be treated in the near future if we dare voice opposition to the status quo.

On May 3 (as police continued to brutalize students and faculty), Biden put out a statement renewing his pleas for Congressional support for his “Safer America Plan.” Biden wants “Congress to invest $37 billion to support law enforcement and crime prevention, including by funding 100,000 additional police officers…” We don’t have universal healthcare and are not at all prepared for the ravages of climate collapse, but there’s always money/support for more cops! But this is who Biden’s always been; in the 90s he joined forces with segregationist Strom Thurmond to sponsor and pass the “Violent Crime Control Act” and in  2022, Biden used his state of the union speech to encourage the use of $350 billion in COVID recovery funds to hire more police.

I’ve written about Cop City in Atlanta multiple times and highly recommend also reading my post that connects the dots between civic actions, protest, militarized police response, and trumped up charges of terrorism that result in RICO charges. You might wonder why we should care about Atlanta. Well, guess what? The proposed urban warfare training center in Atlanta is just one of 69 proposed cop training centers in the country. Go here for an interactive map showing the status of proposed sites around the U.S.

There’s more oppression on the horizon. From Truthout: In April, the House of Representatives passed HR 6408 by a vote of 382-11. This legislation would grant the secretary of the treasury broad power to designate any charity as a “terrorist supporting organization” and remove its tax-exempt status within 90 days. The Senate introduced its companion measure, S 4136, shortly after. While that article primarily focuses on pro-Palestinian organizations, climate journalists and activists have pointed out this legislation would also make it very easy to target climate nonprofits (and any other organization that threatens the status quo). This legislation is even more alarming with the knowledge there’s a very real chance Trump will get another four years in the White House. Somehow, the Dems and Republicans always find a way to come together in order to oppress the people.

For no particular reason, ahem, I want to link to this earlier post about the U.S. government’s decade-long campaign against the anti-pipeline movement.

And one last note on our current reality: the United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world. Two million people are in jail or prison. Prison Policy Initiative breaks it down here with easy to read graphs and info.

Finally, I have a book to recommend: NO MORE POLICE: A CASE FOR ABOLITION by Mariame Kaba and Andrea J. Ritchie.

If you’ve read this far, give yourself a cookie! I appreciate you taking the time to wade into all this information. It’s a lot, but it’s important we know what’s happening. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this so please talk to me in the comments. Solidarity! ✊🏽