Is there anything I can do to help Palestinians besides call my representatives and beg them to stop killing people?
This is a great question. There are a few things you can do—just off the top of my head:
- BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) https://bdsmovement.net/
- Direct Action https://www.palestineaction.org/
- Urge your University/School/Organization to put out a statement denouncing Israel
- Organize a Protest/Participate in a local one
- You might already be doing this but while calling your reps, tell them that as a voter, you’re unwilling to support them in the upcoming election unless they urge the White House to take a stand against Israel and stop funding them
- Share art/writing/films around Palestinian culture
- If you’re part of a union, ask them what they’re doing to urge their industry leaders to take a stand against Israel + pressure the White House OR urge them to start a strike/walkout/etc if they’re not doing anything already
- Talk with your friends IRL about Palestine, whether in an activist capacity or watching a movie or literally anything
- Reach out to a mosque to see if you can help them with anything
- See if your city/state council has put out a statement in support of Gazans. If not, try to push them to do so.
- Donate to Palestine Legal or Direct Action if you have some money to spare
- KEEP TALKING ON SOCIAL MEDIA!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know some of these don’t feel like they have as big of an impact on helping Palestinians, but we do need to make an effort not to forget their humanity in the face of continued erasure and the media’s sensationalist rhetoric.
Talking on social media and posting—while not seeming like a lot—does SO much. I know in USAmerica, it’s like yelling into a void, but political analysts are saying that most of the “Global South” has completely lost any amount of goodwill it may have had the past few years. Hopefully, countries will start to put sanctions and embargoes en masse on the US and Israel soon.
Our goals here are BOTH short-term and long-term. We hope for the life and liberation of the Palestinian people, so anything that you can think of might help at some point in the future is encouraged to at least try.
If anyone else has any more ideas, feel free to reblog and add on. Thank you for asking, and here is to a liberated Palestine where Palestinians can live and thrive without fear.