And yet, they remind us that hope is a daily practice. It is essential in the struggle for a livable future for us all. We are inspired by healthcare and humanitarian workers in Gaza who provide life-saving care despite the resounding silence and abandonment of Western political institutions. These healers are in our thoughts and our hearts as they work day in and day out, without adequate rest or support within a collapsed healthcare system under attack 

We denounce the dehumanization of the Palestinian people rooted in Islamophobia that motivates militarized occupation and spreads moral apathy. We denounce Anti-semitism and recognize grassroots anti-occupation Israeli and anti-Zionist Jewish organizations’ efforts to envision a path for healing from generational trauma that does not depend on forced displacement or the marginalization of the diversity of religious and ethnic communities with whom they live alongside, even as they say prayers for loved ones lost on October 7th.

We refuse to be silent while witnessing these atrocities: all people have a right to freedom, safety and dignity! We stand with Palestine and demand an end to the cycles of mass death, dispossession, blockade and settler occupation. We condemn the United States government’s and other Western global powers’ complicity in the massacre and expulsion of Palestinians byway of unquestioned military support and continued arms sale to Israel ignoring their duty to prevent crimes against humanity. 

Our commitment to our values of social justice, decolonization, and radical thinking compels us to discern the ways in which this specific struggle connects us all. Grief is transformative, it generates affective resonances that power direct action, political movements, and social change. Above all, we believe that peace and justice are intertwined. 

In solidarity, 
The Collective for Radical Death Studies