We wrote and sent this to our members in early November 2023 but the need for a permanent ceasefire continues: 

SURJ DC’s Policing and Abolition team stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people’s struggle for liberation. We join organizers across the country and the world in demanding an end to the siege on Gaza and the Israeli occupation. 

The grief and trauma of the past month can feel overwhelming. But if we believe in racial justice, in liberation, and in calling out and fighting against state violence in all its forms, we must show up and take action for Palestinians now. 

As white people working toward abolition in the U.S., we are directly implicated in this violence. The United States has been Israel’s closest ally, providing it with billions in funding every year. American politicians have consistently given uncritical support for the occupation of Palestine and oppression of Palestinians. Our president refuses to call for a ceasefire and even questioned whether Palestinians’ accounts of their own massacre were real. 

It is no coincidence that American police forces across the country, which treat local residents as enemy combatants and operate as an occupying force, have attended IDF trainings in Israel. It is no coincidence that narratives around the murders of Palestinians mirror narratives around American police violence against Black and Brown people. Again we are being told not to believe Palestinians’ own experiences and our own eyes, and are being asked to believe that this horrific violence, a continuation of decades of occupation and displacement, is somehow justifiable.

We will not let our shared grief for all who have been killed immobilize us or push us into despair. Our grief demands action. The state of Israel is not the Jewish people or Judaism. It is not even all the people in Israel, many of whom have spoken out to condemn their government’s actions. We must join our Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and Jewish comrades in calling for an end to genocidal violence and for an immediate ceasefire - the first step toward ending the siege and the total liberation of Palestine.

Police and prison abolition means more than an end to the domestic U.S. carceral system. It means a global rejection of the violence of racial capitalism, imperialism, and settler colonialism. 

White people organizing for racial justice have a responsibility to take action NOW to support and protect our comrades in Palestine. None of us are free until all of us are free.

In solidarity and determination,
- The SURJ-DC Policing + Abolition Team

SHOW UP FOR PALESTINE RESOURCES

  • JOIN US on November 4th for the March on Washington for Palestine. Find out more here.

  • CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE and demand a ceasefire now. Find JVP’s tool to call Congress here. Find USCPR’s toolkit here.

  • AMPLIFY the demands of Palestinians in Gaza. A ceasefire is the immediate need but onnly the first step. Find a list of demands here.

  • TALK WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY about Palestinian liberation and the U.S.’s support for genocide. Find JVP’s 2016 conversation guide here

  • SUPPORT the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement. Learn more here.  

  • READ, LISTEN, AND LEARN about Palestinian stories, histories, and visions for liberation

    • ATTEND: Gaza in Context: A Collaborative Teach-In Series 

      • Jadaliyya is convening weekly teach-ins and conversations on a host of issues that introduce university communities, educators, researchers, and students to the history and present of Gaza, in context. To learn more about the teach-in series, click here. To view the first teach-in Gaza 101, click here. To view the second teach-in, Gaza in History, click here.

    • WATCH: US Campaign for Palestinian Rights’ “Palestine 101: A Course to Understanding Israel’s Oppression of the Palestinian People:” LINK

    • WATCH: The Palestine Film Institute “Unprovoked Narratives,” 12 films on the beauty Gaza: LINK

    • READ: Palestinian Prisoners’ Statement on Gaza and the Palestinian Resistance: LINK

    • READ: Free resources on the occupation of Palestine from Verso Books LINK 

    • READ: A ceasefire will allow for “everyone for everyone” prisoner exchange. LINK

    • READ: Fuck Your Lecture on Craft, My People Are Dying LINK