#and also seeing the solidarity with the student protests i'm sure people are like that too over there

[silver-queen]

So many people have looked out for me even when it's detrimental to them, so what am i to do than to honor them and do my best to take care of myself?

[laconicmoon]

🇵🇸low spoons, low income ways to support a free palestine🇵🇸

For many low-income and/or disabled activists, we can't always do the obvious things to support Palestine like donating money or going to protests. I'm compiling this list to remind myself what I *can* do, and I'm hoping it might help some other people too.

Disclaimer: you might not find all of these to be low spoons for you--maybe drawing is physically difficult, or phone calls are distressing. These are just ideas! Please ignore and adapt them to suit your needs and abilities <3

🍉Get creative with stickers, posters, zines, whatever!

Adhesive shipping labels from USPS ship to your house for free (if you live in the US). You can order up to 750 at a time! Draw a Palestinian flag or "Free Gaza" on there and stick them everywhere (it's actually quite easy to vandalize without getting caught).

If you want to go bigger, try a wheatpaste, and if you have access to a printer or copier, leave some zines around (tutorial, canva template). If you are housebound, you can give them to a friend to spread around for you.

You can also make signs and have someone else take them to a protest. If you're a sewist, make a puppet or wearable patches!

🍉Display a Palestinian flag or pro-Palestine sign in your window

If you live in an area where this isn't safe, or if you don't have your own space, assess the risk before you do this. You could also put up a more subtle symbol, such as a watermelon, if you are nervous about backlash.

🍉Contact your reps!

I know people say this all the time, but for my US-based friends, some pointers to make it take as few spoons as possible--

Democracy.io makes it super easy to email both your senators and your representative at the same time.

Faxzero.com allows you to send a fax straight to your reps' printers. Not all of their offices have this enabled, but I've heard faxes are more direct than emails.

If you don't know what to say, you can adapt this template (it's a bit outdated). Or just write "Free Palestine" or "Ceasefire Now." Something is better than nothing!

🍉Participate in phone zaps

Often times, organizations like USPCN or Jewish Voice for Peace will ask for people to call a person or organization to put pressure on them, such as demanding that a university drop charges against student protestors. Monitor those accounts and, if you're up for it, call or leave a message. Or, you could even text the group chat and conduct your own phone zap!

🍉Check out library books about Palestine

You also may be able to request that your library purchase certain titles, or request titles they don't have through interlibrary loan!

🍉Write a letter to the editor

You can write either to a local paper or a school paper, if you're a student or alum. This is a great way to break out of the echo chamber--local papers often have an intergenerational audience.

🍉Send in a public comment to a city council meeting

Many cities have the option to send in a public comment electronically! So if you can't make it to an in-person meeting, this is a good option, especially if your city is trying to pass a ceasefire resolution.

🍉Attend online Jewish Voice for Peace "Power Half-Hour for Gaza"

JVP's Power Half-Hours are a wonderful space to grieve, process, and build stamina for the fight to come. Monday through Friday, 3pm ET/ 12pm PT, 30 minutes of solidarity-building and reflection facilitated by Jewish leaders but open to all. You can pre-register to join on Zoom or stream on YouTube.

🍉Support friends who go to protests/actions

That can be as simple as texting them before and after and making sure they are safe, lending them a bandana or rain gear, or providing a place to decompress afterward! If you have an animal that does well in crowds, consider allowing a trusted friend to take them to a protest or encampment for a short time. Seeing dogs in keffiyehs always makes my day <3

---

🍉Other Considerations and Reminders 🍉

Focus on the long haul. It's more important to create a pace of activism that's sustainable for you than it is to do everything all the time.

"Ought" implies "can." If you are unable to do something, or if it would be very difficult for you to do so, you are in no way obligated to do that thing!

Block words on social media if you need to. In a similar vein, you do not need to force yourself to constantly watch graphic videos or read upsetting posts. Yes, Gaza has asked us to bear witness to the atrocities there--"All Eyes on Gaza Now" is a common chant for a reason. But that doesn't mean you, specifically, must doomscroll forever.

Please reblog with your own favorite ways to advocate for Palestine when you're broke and spoonless 🇵🇸 🇵🇸

[angelsaxis]

and you know what else? the solidarity is what really gets me. the young lords worked with the Black Panthers worked with the disabled people doing the sit in worked with countless other groups. ive seen so many radical anti-racist asian and gay groups that were buddies with BP, and vice versa. religious orgs helped these Imokalee Workers that I'm reading about now. college students joined in. im not naive enough to sit here and daydream about a radical coalition of activists that'll pop up and magically solve everyone's problems. but i am seeing a lot of lack of awareness of solidarity and its existence from people who would call themselves activists but mostly do reading things on social media (no even books), arguing on social media, and maybe donate to a GFM or some other mutual aid.

im about to hit a million different points but bear with me: i think its strange that you get people who think the revolution is coming, who think that the ideal society is one that's community-focused without ever...being part of their community? there's a physicality to this that i feel like folks want to ignore. ive never understood the people who call karl marx their daddy or call themselves socialist queens who also shun all forms of physical or interpersonal contact w people. idk i just dont get it

its like those folks who, upon seeing roe be overturned, immediately called for a general strike that was almost exclusively advertised on social media. like is there even a safety net in place that will make sure that parents, the elderly, the disabled, the debt-laden, etc will be able to collectively not go to work without negatively impacting their lives? ik i reblogged the post lol i didn't think people were actually being serious. how do you call a nationwide general strike three days before the expected date? how is anyone meant to prepare for that?

and u can kinda see the general lack of preparedness in how folks only donate when tragedy strikes an area, like when Buffalo was hatecrimed and then the community fridge was filled and they had to stop taking donations, but like....why not do that in the "off hours" too. why not also donate or volunteer w your local area.

and like there's work to be done outside of showing up for a large protest--although that's also important--and this ties back i think to what i was saying earlier about how ppl only wait until a massive tragedy befalls somewhere to move. then once thats done they sit down again. theres like housing and workers unions and other critical issues probably near or semi-near you who need to do things like gather signatures, canvas/deliver newsletters, etc. a change dot org petition will only go so far.

the prevalence of the internet and peoples tendency to absorb all news of political action through it i think has made ppl forget that there's a physicality to community and helping and revolution. being online has defs taken down some barriers, but its put up other ones (and the pandemic isn't helping either, i know).

reading tomatoland is super eye opening but beyond that, this and other nonfic books ive read about society are making me realize just how much solidarity, unions, and activism was crucial to getting anyhitng done. and that there was no polite way to go about being an activist. its a very liberal thing to say "we should make cute signs and protest but only if we're not gonna be disruptive. policy and law are the best way to secure rights". sometimes that shit works. but what's historically worked better is making yourself as much of a nuisance as possible, up to and including occupying a federal building for nearly a month straight (section 504 sit ins) or just gathering you and your other farmhand coworkers, marching to a field manager's house at night and making it very clear that physical abuse of the pickers will lead to physical consequences for them