Land and Liberation: Solidarity with Palestine
Photograph By Palestinian Photographer Khalil Raad
As a collective rooted in agroecological practices for collective healing, we ground ourselves with the Indigenous principles from around the world that the earth was not created to be claimed and conquered, but to be in reciprocal relationship with. We must care for the land and one another as part of an interconnected ecosystem.
In the face of land-based oppression, we deepen our commitments to land-based healing and collective liberation. In this time of genocide in Palestine, we want to uplift Palestinian land stewards, as well as those getting direct aid to the human beings suffering from such paramount horrors. We invite our network to support two Palestinian entities: the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) working to provide direct relief in Gaza and Om sleiman farm-bil’in, an agroecological farm that is part of a farmer cooperative in west Ramallah dedicated to food sovereignty. To support MECA please donate through their website and to support Om Sleiman farm-bil’in in Palestine, please donate here to Agroecology Commons, as the farmers have shared with us a need for a secure source to transfer donations to them. We will commit all donations that Agroecology Commons receives through February 18th to Om sleiman farm-bil’in—after this date please email us directly.
We remain steadfast in our demand for a ceasefire, the release of Palestinian detainees and prisoners, Israeli hostages, and an end to the occupation of Palestine and the U.S. Military Aid to Israel. We see the ongoing pattern of imperialist violence worldwide, including Palestine, the Congo, South Africa, Sudan, Cuba, Haiti, México, Puerto Rico, the United States, and many more as a symptom of the sickness of settler colonialism and racist capitalism that confuses “being” with “having” and perpetuates unresolved trauma.
By forcing Palestinians from their ancestral homelands, critical foodways are also destroyed. A tactic of colonization and war continues to be: target land, food, waterways—cultural legacies and identities become erased. In Gaza, homes, hospitals, schools, mosques, and farms have been bombed. Land and water sources have been sprayed with white phosphorus. 25% of Palestinians in Gaza are now facing starvation and the majority of the water is toxic to drink. We mourn the martyrs, the horror embedded in the living’s memory, and the obliteration of families, ancient trees, and fertile land.
Across colonial borders, food connects and unites us. We support Palestinian’s right to life, land, and food sovereignty. We honor all people with reciprocal relationships to the land. We honor the food they grow as a symbol of unity toward liberation—watermelon representing the colors of the Palestinian flag; olive leaf patterns on the keffiyeh—we are in reverence of the Palestinians’ resilience. With tenderness, we believe that land is a shared sacred place.
Over the past months as a collective, we have dedicated time to mourn, join strikes, actions, vigils, and also to have internal dialogues about how to be in solidarity while engaging in collective healing that effectively tends to the needs of diverse individuals. It is not easy, and we know we need to continue practicing. Last month, we seeded cover crops together to tend to our literal and spiritual common ground. We believe in the practice of land-based healing to help us show up with care, compassion, integrity, and radical love.
In solidarity, we continue with comrades on a path for a free Palestine and a world where the interconnected wellbeing of all life is embodied—where it is recognized that Palestinian freedom and Jewish safety are not contradictions, but rather interdependent in the call for collective liberation.
In solidarity, we practice tending to the soil under our feet and cultivating our common ground for land justice, rematriation, and food sovereignty.
In solidarity, we close our eyes to taste the ancient medicine of olive oil and the sweetness of the fruit, to honor the hands that have tended these trees for generations. We pray for the people, and hold faith that Palestine will be free.
In solidarity, we breathe together to embody the words of Fannie Lou Hamer, “Nobody's free until everybody's free.”
Free Palestine.
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Additional Resources and Calls to Action:
Below are some resources we have found helpful and also those shared by organizations we trust. Special thanks to Arab Resource Organizing Center (AROC) and the Anti-Oppression Resource Training Alliance (AORTA) for existing resource lists and templates we are amplifying!
CALL: Call Your Representatives
LEARN: The Palestine Academy, a Palestinian-led hub for information and resources
SHARE & AMPLIFY PALESTINIAN VOICES: Wizard_Bisan1, sbeih.jpg, nouraerakat, alhelou.y, motaz_azaiza, mohamed.h.masri, mahmoudhamda, byplestia
WRITE: Email Your Representatives, Write a statement in solidarity with Palestine liberation
JOIN: Bay Area Actions and Events, Arab Resources Organizing Center, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Students for Justice in Palestine, American Muslims for Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, Dream Defenders
TAKE ACTION: Engage with direct action networks or a local demonstration
READ: Solidarity With Palestine - A Radical Black Feminist Mandate: A Reading List
WATCH: Tantura, 1948, Beyond Survival: Eating and Living in Gaza, Palestine 1920, Al-Nakba, Price of Love, Farha, Born in Gaza
LISTEN: Palestine Political Education - A Podcast Playlist
MUSIC: A Spotify playlist for healing, joy, resistance, and liberation