🍉 This week's Global Strike for Gaza
In solidarity with the call to a global strike for a ceasefire in Gaza, we'll use this week's newsletter to talk about how (and why) we can show up.
As the war in Gaza passes its 109th day, Bisan and other Palestinian groups and activists have asked folks to show up in a global strike to continue to pressure decision makers to stop financially supporting Israel and push for a ceasefire.
I’ll be honest with you: calling this a “global strike” threw me off a bit at first. I understood a strike as something that cannot be called for overnight. Organizing large groups of people to stop working, like the Cal State faculty strike that started this week for example, takes a lot of planning and preparation. Folks need funds to support them through not working, preparation for actions to take during the strike, etc.
But then I asked myself: what if you let go of the word strike? What are we trying to achieve here?
YK Hong has a great video talking through how strikes can be expansive. In this sense, it’s not the same as a unionized group collectively striking for a work contract. The goal of this more diffused strike action is to support as many voices as possible showing up to collectively create pressure and call for a ceasefire.
Watch the video for more:
Especially for folks in the US, but also for many others, our tax dollars are going directly to supporting this war in which 85% of the population of Gaza has been displaced while Israel continues to bomb areas they had previously designated as “safe” zones for these refugees. Netanyahu has rejected a deal for a ceasefire in exchange for a hostage return, simultaneously rejecting any idea of a two state solution. This has become a key campaign point in this election year in the US, and there is space to use that to push US lawmakers to show up for peace.
We have power to make an impact, especially if we continue to practice working collectively. And if we want to see a more caring world, we have to practice.
So how can you join the collective?
You can consider participating in this week’s strike action by reducing your economic activity. How can you spend less money? Can you sit out of work or school? This becomes an exercise not just in making governments and large corporations take notice, but also in noticing things about your habits. What does your wallet support?
You can commit to the BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) movement. Read more about this here. BDS was inspired by South Africa’s tactics to end apartheid. You can start by directly boycotting the companies currently targeted by BDS and encourage folks around you to do the same. This not only hurts the profits of targeted companies, but it helps start conversations with those around you and keep this issue in the forefront of people’s minds.
You can read and learn more about Palestine. Learn about the conflict and also learn about the culture in general. Check out this list of books for both fiction and non-fiction reads. We’re reading a fiction book from this list with the Soft Heart Book Club this month. You can grab some books to read on your own or get a few friends together for a a book club and read together for some mutual learning and accountability.
You can keep watching journalists sharing from Palestine. This helps you stay informed and keeps us focused on doing the rest of the actions above. Follow Bisan, Plestia, Saleh and more.
A ceasefire won’t solve all the problems, but at least it would give the nearly 2 million refugees space to breath, access to food, to medical care. It’s the first step to reducing immediate harm, and one which we can immediately impact today.
And as a reminder: none of this means that the rest of your life doesn’t go on. Of course it does. Life is a complex web. We can show up for the suffering of others while feeling our own joys, big and small. There is space for it all. That is part of the practice.
May all beings be free.