1 year of waking up

Reflections from a Palestinian, Lebanese, Western European human

care statement: mentions of genocide, murder, starvation, slavery and lynching

It’s been a long year since Israel started it’s most recent genocidal aggression on Palestinians and others in the region (Lebanon, Syria).

We have seen a lot of people wake up to the realities of Palestine, and the realities of so many other people around the world who are suffering the most unbearable grief, loss and torture. From Turtle Island (the so-called Americas) to Sudan to Ethiopia to Bangladesh - we have seen things we will never unsee - and why would we want to?

Genocide, rape, baby killings, starvation, eviction, lynching, slave labor…all funded in some way by our consumer and tax dollars. All orchestrated by hoarders of wealth and resources like big oil, the united states government, Amazon, Apple, Google…the list is nearly endless and touches every.single.part of our lives.

Shit…I’m typing on a Samsung computer which has metals in it that was without a doubt sourced with bare human hands by slave labor, likely in Congo. **rage**

Yet…these are the realities of the world we live in.These are the realities of the world we participate in. That we contribute to. These are the intended and intentional consequences of racial capitalism: a system that aims to exploit life and land along racial and class lines. And for what? So I can sit in the comfort of my own and type to y’all on this computer? Fuck that. Nothing is worth slave labor, genocide, famine.

We could actually still have so many things we see as luxurious in a way that isn’t so sick and twisted. We have the skills, technology, resources, to do that. To create a world that honors life & death, prioritizes care, tends to the land, centers pleasure. To build LIFE-AFFIRMING systems and structures, not ones that rely on violent death and suffering.

So, I’ve really been asking myself- how can we create this world? Like for real? How do we take down this well-funded monster? How can we materially change the conditions that we live in and contribute to so the machine becomes obsolete?

After reading a lot of takes and sitting with myself, I think we need to try muchhhhh harder to build solidarity and community with our neighbors, with the people near us. We need to bring people into the fold of what we’re up against with care and education.

I don’t think I’ve been doing the best job of this. Sure, I know some neighbors, I try to be friendly and say hi. I even have a friendship with a couple neighbors! I have shared a lot of resources on my Instagram bubble.

But, have I built solidarity with my neighbors? Have I engaged in political education with my neighbors? Have I gotten to know what issues my neighbors and I face, and then strategized and executed a way to address those issues? Not in any material way, but I’ve finally started making moves to do these things!!

I have been sitting and contemplating. How can we do this for real? How can we build more solidarity with more people? I’m not talking about recruitment. I’m talking about a genuine relationship building with the intention of supporting each other and fighting for each other.

I have seen on the interwebs that sometimes this is an unpopular opinion? Because it’s “slow”, it takes time. It’s not helping people living in tents in our neighborhoods, or the people in Palestine, right now.

The more I sit with it, though, I’m not certain most of the larger scale protests and actions we have been doing since October 7 are doing what building relationships with our neighbors and the working class would do. Not to say it’s done NOTHING. I think it has raised awareness, and inspired some people to take action, but it hasn’t stopped bombs from falling.

I wonder what it would have been like if so many of us put the same level of urgency and fervor into building solidarity with our neighbors as we put into shutting down streets, bridges, airports, embassy’s, ports?

I am all for escalating. I am all for causing trouble, but I worry it is not doing what we hope it is doing without strong poor and working class relationships, without a larger body of people who are conscious of the fight we are up against.

So, what are we going to do now? What are you already doing? Respond and let me know!!

Here are two things I’m doing:

1) Hosting events and making treats for my neighbors as a regular practice

2) Joining in on tenants union organizing in my neighborhood

Sending you sooooo much love and strength and grounding!

<3

Laila