Updated on December 12, 2023
Since Oct. 7th, 1,147 Israelis have lost their lives, 18,000 Palestinians have lost their lives, and tens of thousands are in captivity, missing, or injured. We mourn for these lives lost, and we will continue to mourn the lives of other innocent people if this war does not stop right now. We demand a permanent ceasefire and a stop to the genocide!
Call for action:
Call your representatives and demand a permanent ceasefire
List of congress who have called for a ceasefire, click here
Show your support
March for Permanent Ceasefire in Palestine happening in Oakland on Saturday, Dec. 16th at 1pm
To find protests near you, click here
Many of our community members have sought refuge in the Bay Area due to war, persecution, violence, ethnic cleansing, and genocide and are triggered by painful memories of flight, loss, and separation. We can not allow the violence to continue in Burma, Congo, Palestine, Ukraine, Sudan, and so many other countries. We must stop this cycle of violence that we know leads to more death and more displacement. While we talk about the right to migrate and the right to seek asylum, we must also uplift in this moment the right to stay home as well as the right to be human.
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October 25, 2023
What is happening in Gaza and Israel is no less than horrific.
We mourn the loss of lives in Israel and the entire region of Palestine and we mourn the loss of many more lives that will be lost given the current trajectory of continued war, militarism, bombardment and besiegement. We are frightened for the people in Gaza as we are also frightened for the people in Israel.
Many people have joined RIT's community as they have had to flee war, persecution, state-sanctioned violence, colonization, genocide and more in their homelands. Generations of conflict and oppression, the Holocaust, recent attacks from Hamas on Israel, Israel's state-sanctioned bombardment on and besiegement of Gaza, as well as conflicts that continue around the world and at home but have lost media attention, are triggering difficult memories and realities of flight, loss and separation; as they are also creating new realities of flight, loss and separation. This must stop.
While we talk about the right to migrate and the right to seek asylum, we must also uplift in this moment the right to stay home as well as the right to be human. As the organization, Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom reminds us, "we hold multiple truths at any given moment". We must educate ourselves about root causes and the long, complex histories that inform today's actions; as well as chart a new way in which we see and center the humanity in one another. The world in which we live, abroad as well as on the land that we occupy, has become so polarized that as a society, it seems that we've lost our own humanity as we've lost seeing the humanity in others. As the Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire teaches us, "the oppressor-oppressed contradiction is superseded by the humanization of all people" i.e. "no longer oppressor nor longer oppressed, but human in the process of achieving freedom". In addition to a desperate call for an imminent ceasefire, we call on all of us to reground in the very basic principles and values of humanity to guide our own actions at home and towards one another.
In truth, we feel deep rage, sadness and fear that many of you in our community are also feeling. But we cannot be led by that in times of conflict. We must be led by seeing the other as our own. We must have the foresight of what comes next by learning from what has happened in the past. We must stop this cycle of violence that we know leads to more death and more displacement. We again uplift the wise and grounding words of Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom:
"At this time, we have to choose compassion, which literally means suffering together and wishing to alleviate suffering. We must have compassion for all those who lost their family members, those who are in captivity and those seeking shelter from heavy artillery. Equally important is the feeling of compassion for each other and for our own tears, shock, pain, and fears."
Given the scale and speed of escalation in this conflict, we fear the loss of more innocent lives that can and should be avoided. We are desperately praying and hoping for a more peaceful path forward. We join widespread calls from the international community for a ceasefire as we also do what we know how to do best here at home–create shared communities of peace, welcome and belonging for ALL. As abstract or small as that might seem, we hope that in our own way, we are disrupting the cycles of violence people have experienced in the past in order to create more peaceful pathways forward. We hope you will join us in that collective journey for that better future.
- RIT Staff and Board of Directors