Ceasefire Now! Events and Solidarity from LION
Dear Newsletter Subscribers
With great urgency, we have come together to show our unwavering solidarity to Palestinians resisting Israeli occupation and apartheid. The genocide in Gaza has been heartbreaking to watch unfold, that is why we as a collective unanimously support a ceasefire, and end to the siege and a free Palestine. We are anti-colonialists to our core, our work in land and racial justice is built on the anti-colonial struggles across the world. You can read our statement below. We have three solidarity events coming up in December, come on through to show some support. We've also signed a few open letters, most recently from "The Climate Movement" which you can read in full here.
It has been a long while since we've written a newsletter. Since the summer months, we've had to turn inwards and slow down in order to find a structure that makes sense for us as a collective. We are working with different flat structures which empower each member of our collective to understand their roles and responsibilities, and enables us as a collective to move more dynamically. Additionally We've collaborated with a comrade to update our website, improving the layout and accessibility too. Have a look at some of the changes we've made here.
We've also been pretty bad at promoting our shop. All proceeds from zines, t-shirts, totes and badges go towards our Land Pot. The Land Pot is where we are putting aside some of the grants, donations and earnings from merchandise towards getting land and all the infrastructure that comes with it. If you are looking to get someone a gift, consider buying something from our shop and supporting us towards our land project. Check out our shop here.
TONIGHT Giant Protest Puppet Workshop - PART 1 - Brainstorming Session Tuesday 5th December | 6:30PM - 8:30PM
Join Land In Our Names in a protest puppet making workshop led by our comrades, Ash and Mallika, professional puppet-makers. This will be a series of drop-in workshops where you can contribute to the creation of a Giant Puppet for Resistance! The first session will be on Tuesday 5th December at 198 Contemporary Arts & Learning from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. We will be brainstorming ideas for our Giant Puppet and want to have our community involved.
12TH December - Strange Cities Are Familiar - Online Film Screening
As a follow-up to our in person screening with Other Cinemas, we wanted to have an accessible online screening of another Palestinian film on Thursday 12th December from 7:30pm. Directed by Saeed Taji Farouky, Strange Cities Are Familiar is a film about memories, guilt and resilience. It tells the story of Ashraf, a Palestinian father living in the UK, struggling to confront the memories that haunt him, the promises he couldn’t keep, and the family he couldn’t protect.
We will have an informal discussion space to share our reflections and thoughts of how to continue organising towards a ceasefire, and a Free Palestine, as well as the intersections between racial justice and land justice and Palestine solidarity work. RSVP your place here - Use this password to access (Falaste3n)
✨Winter Solstice social✨
You are warmly invited to spend the evening with us at Story Garden on Thursday 14th December for our ✨Winter Solstice social✨! There will be drinks, crafts and good vibes - most importantly around a bonfire!🔥
We will have an indoor space for crafts and conversations, and an outdoor bonfire to keep warm and sing around while enjoying the winter sky. And bring a jar with you if you would like to take part in a winter brewing session! We’ll be providing some snacks and warm food, but we invite you all to bring a dish to contribute to the potluck. 🍲
This is a closed BIPOC only event. In order to protect and prioritise our community, we’ll also be asking people to wear masks if they can whilst using the indoor space. Please also test for Covid before attending, and remain vigilant around symptoms.
Venue: Story Garden, Ossulston St, London NW1 1DF
Time and date: 5-9pm, Thursday 14th December
What to bring
A jar for the brewing and reflecting session🍵
Warm clothes!
A mask😷
Food to share if you can!
A mug, plate and cutlery and a water bottle.
Containers to take home any extra food!
Let us know if you have any questions or accessibility needs.
Please RSVP by booking a ticket on Eventbrite so we can make sure there’s enough food and drink!
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Land In Our Names Statement of Solidarity with Palestine
Land in Our Names is unequivocal in our support of the Palestinian Liberation Struggle. As a land and racial justice collective, anti-colonialism is one of our core values. All anti-colonial movements are at their heart land justice struggles.
For 75 years, Israel has occupied Palestinian land, exploited its natural resources, imprisoned innocent civilians, controlled water, denied food sovereignty, and more through a genocidal regime. By displacing Palestinians from their homes, Israel very intentionally attempts to fracture the relationship with the land that Palestinians have nurtured over generations.
That Israel can control Palestinians' access to electricity, food and fuel, and murder Palestinians with global impunity should make clear that this is not a conflict - but resistance against a colonial power. The history of the occupation cannot be summarized in a single instagram post or a single article. We are developing a land-justice response that we will be sharing with our community soon.
In the meantime, we‘ve included some resources in document linked here that do an excellent job of explaining some of the context, and we encourage all our supporters to delve deeper and read more.
It is the right of colonised and oppressed people to revolt against their colonisers and oppressors, it is their right to choose resistance after 75 years of oppression and settler-colonialism by a regime that normalises the murder of humans and more than humans.
As a land justice collective, LION will always stand with anti-colonial struggles for land - Palestinian land should be for Palestinian people.
We have also been critical of the recently announced Truce which you can read some of our thoughts below:
This Truce is NOT a Ceasefire.
It is a pause in the latest stage of Israel’s terror on the Palestinian people, land, water and all beings that live in Gaza. Persecution of Palestinian Olive Growers Continues. Settlement expansion & violence in the West Bank Continues. The truce does not repair damage to the land and water from decades of bombardment, chemical weapon use and pesticide spraying as part of colonial tactics to undermine Palestinian farmers. Access to water is at a critically low level with many people in Gaza forced to drink contaminated or salinated water, risking their health.
The Truce is not a solution - We need a Ceasefire
We need an End to the Siege
We need an End to the Occupation of Palestine
We need a FREE PALESTINE
Here are some more of our thoughts regarding the intersections of Climate Justice, Land Justice and Palestinian Liberation:
Land In Our Names sign The Open Letter from the Climate Justice Movement as we believe that Climate Justice is a Free Palestine.
Climate change is inextricably linked to colonialism. Colonialism is Ecocide.
European colonialism is the imposition of European intensive farming methods for profit, plantations and haciendas growing cotton, sugar, coffee and other monocrops. These same farming methods which relied on exploited labour, whether enslaved or indentured, depleted the soil, undermined biodiversity and did not provide the diversity of nutrients and produce needed to sustain communities.
This is something we see replicated in the ways that the Israeli state terrorises Palestinians. From controlling water, persecuting farmers, criminalising foraging, not to even touch on the effects of regular use of teargas and white phosphorous. Israel is a colonial settler entity in much the same way we have seen in other European colonial regimes. The Violence of Colonialism is not just to the people, but also to the land. To sever people from the land, from the plants that have sustained them for generations, is a form of cultural genocide. As descendants of colonised peoples, as children of the diaspora, we understand the heaviness of this loss, of living in the metropole of colonial expansion, and we long for the land. We stand unequivocally in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to resist occupation. We stand with Palestinian people's right to their land.
Land Back ! Climate Justice Now ! Free Palestine !
Other Events
We are very excited to be supporting this upcoming @logan_staats benefit concert at @wellspacecommunity with all funds going to @yintah_accessas they continue to resist the illegal Coastal GasLink pipeline the KKKanadian government continues to try to push through unceded and sovereign Wet’suwet’en territories. Pay what you can, suggested £15 - £25 but nobody turned away for lack of funds. The event will be kid friendly, and tea and snacks will be included as well. There will also be decolonial speakers and a screening of “Invasion”, a documentary about Wet’suwet’en resistance to Coastal GasLink. Please share widely and help spread the word! Down with settler colonial regimes! No more colonial violence! Land back now!
That's us for now. We're a lot more active on the cursed application owned by Meta, but we will try our best to share updates, events and opportunities through a newsletter. We recently moved from Mailchimp to Tiny Letter, only today to see an announcement that Tiny Letter will go defunct in February as Mailchimp as acquired it. If you know any free or cheaper-than-mailchimp alternatives please do let us know.
Love and Rage,
Ceasefire Now!
Free the People! Free the Land!
Land In Our Names