27th, December 2011

Gaza Commemoration

While most of the world celebrates the Holiday season hoping 2012 will be a brighter year carrying them out of the difficult economic crisis each family is facing, the Palestinian people bear a much larger burden that pends their day to day existence and survival. Homelessness, expulsion, displacement, occupation, checkpoints, access to medicine, food and water, annexation of lands and threats on day to day survival are just some of the many disgusting characteristics that have come to characterize the Palestinian experience. In the Palestinian case, the Holiday season is not one of irrational hopes, dreams and desires. At this time, we commemorate the lives of our brothers and sisters who were massacred in the 2008-2009 Gaza genocide by the Zionist entity. This attack reflected the culmination of over 60 years of a genocidal process and precludes the Palestinian future experience of suffering under occupation as the only alternative to forced expulsion.

Today, Palestinians in Gaza continue to live in the largest open aired prison in the world as the world watches on with usually one of two sentiments; 1) some sympathize and pity the Palestinians of Gaza and wish there is some way to "save" them; 2) others believe Palestinians are easily dispensed lives so long as it supports the Zionist colonial conquest. Today, we the PYM remember and mourn the lives of our brothers and sisters in Gaza and all those who have fallen victim as a result of this brutal colonial project. These memories remind us of the value of human life, the loss and suffrage our people have endured and fuel us to be true to the worthiness of our cause for justice and freedom. We know that until all Palestinians and Palestine is free, until the refugees return to their original homes, and until the world recognizes what is happening as Palestine as a traditional-foreign-settler colonial project; our work as a conscious generation will not be over. In tribute to all the martyrs and refugees, with conviction to the next generation of children who should grow as any child should without bearing witness to such brutality, and as the only alternative to our subjugation....PYM is committed to fighting for justice, freedom and return. We will join all those who work towards this, and we will welcome all those who believe in these principles as the fundamental principles guiding our work and commemorating our lost loved ones.

Through reflection, we remain thoughtful and grounded to our communities and people. Through collective conversation and processes, we remain humbled and accountable. Through action, we become living testament that our people have not suffered and died in vein. We will continue on the legacy of all those who have come before us and push through the barriers that want to silence, pacify and derail us as a new generation.