The discovery and reporting of mass graves outside Gaza hospitals has spurred the United Nations to call for an independent investigation. Buried beneath rubble and refuse, bodies found bound, executed, including doctors and children.
There appears to be no atrocity too great to stem the flow of US military aid to Israel, as the very same week these horrors were relayed to the world, Congress voted to send billions more in military aid to Israel.
And yet we are hopeful that change is coming. The war machine will be stopped. There will be a free Palestine. Because around the world, we are seeing the immense courage to resist.
On April 15th, millions of people around the world joined in protests, some putting their bodies on the line in direct actions that brought business as usual to a halt. On April 26th, an international Freedom Flotilla sets sail with 5,500 tons of aid on board.
And on campuses throughout the United States and beyond, students are setting up encampments and holding massive free schools, all to call direct attention to the genocide in Gaza.
Columbia. The University of Michigan. Yale. USC. NYU. University of Texas, Austin. UCLA. Emerson College. MIT. Every day, more crop up. Members of Congress and many media have attempted to misrepresent the aims and tactics of these student protests. But the students themselves, speaking through editorial boards and directly through social media, have pushed back against this misinformation.
Predictably, the state has responded to these peaceful protests with violence, sending in local and state police to clear out and brutalize students. Already, we’ve seen members of the press arrested at UT Austin, and in Georgia, a handcuffed student tasered. But as courageous protestors have chanted at the police sent to confront them “we are not afraid of you.”
We are not afraid of the authoritarian response of the state. We are not afraid because we are not alone. Across the country and across the world, we are united in our demands for a Ceasefire, for an end to military aid to Israel, for a Free Palestine. If you can, please come out for ongoing resistance events, find local, Bay Area, events here and national actions here.
In closing, we hope the words of a 14-year-old girl in Gaza named Lujayn (translated and shared with the Nation) will fill you with the same hope and courage they did for us:
“I don’t know if the war will stop while we’re still alive, but what matters is that there are many people resisting what is more important than weapons. Every day, a father walks under bombardment to feed us. A mother stands against bulldozers and tanks, hoping to protect her daughter, knowing that even if she dies, what matters is that her daughter will live. A grandson carries his grandmother and never thinks of leaving her behind for even a moment. “ sister pulls her brother out from under the rubble, away from death, and tries to save him.”