We Want Representation: Students Speak Up for MENA Category
2021-03-02 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
Join Undergraduate Student Government and the Arab American Cultural Center to share your voices, your stories, and your perspective on why a MENA category is important at the U of Illinois. Speak about your experiences and what you would like to see take shape on campus to support MENA students.
Event will be co-hosted by students Sarah Hassan and Malak Kanan
Real-time captioning will be provided
for questions email us at: arabamcc@uic.edu
Event is being co-sponsored by Students for Justice in Palestine – UIC, Students for Justice in Palestine – UIUC, Arab Student Association at UIUC, Relief or Yemen at UIC, Palestine Children’s Relief Fund at UIC, Muslim Student Association at UIC

Abdul El-Sayed and Micah Johnson (livestream) A Citizen’s Guide to Medicare for All
2021-03-02 19:30 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Doctors Abdul El-Sayed and Micah Johnson join us via livestream to present a simple guide to America’s most debated policy-in-waiting. Using their book Medicare for All: A Citizen’s Guide as a base, they relate how, although healthcare policy is notoriously complex, what Americans want is simple: good healthcare that’s easy to use and doesn’t break the bank. And two-thirds of Americans want the government to provide universal health coverage. Is Medicare for All the solution? El-Sayed and Johnson offer a serious examination of this complex subject, offering viewpoints on how Medicare for All would transform the way we give, receive, and pay for healthcare in America. Don’t miss this conversation that is perhaps more significant than ever before.
Abdul El-Sayed, MD, DPhil, is a physician, epidemiologist, public health expert, and progressive activist. He rebuilt Detroit’s Health Department after the City’s bankruptcy as the youngest big-city health commissioner in a major US city. He ran for Governor of Michigan in 2018 on a state-level single-payer platform in a bid endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, The Nation, and Current Affairs. He holds a doctorate in Public Health from University of Oxford where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and a medical degree from Columbia University.

Policing Somali Refugees: Somali Refugee Resistance to State Violence
2021-03-03 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
For Somali refugees, San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood and the camp at Dadaab, Kenya are connected carceral spaces. Both are governed by militarized techniques and technologies of surveillance and militarism, and both demand counter-technologies through which refugees survive and even thrive.

Mohamed Abumaye is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at California State University, San Marcos.
Additional co-sponsor: UW Center for Human Rights

Palestinian Fatayer with Nadia Tommalieh
2021-03-04 17:00 - 19:30, 2021-03-22 17:00 - 19:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
The universal practicality of packing deliciousness into a portable dough package ranges from Cornish pasties to empanadas to fatayer, a type of savory pie eaten throughout the Middle East. In this class, NADIA TOMMALIEH will guide you through the Palestinian take on this most perfect of mezze. You’ll layer a citrusy spinach filling into dough triangles to make fatayer sabanekh, fold cheese and herbs into boat-shaped fatayer jebneh, and make open-faced spiced beef sfeeha.
This is a live, hands-on cooking class held in your kitchen via Zoom. Class is meant to be as interactive as it would be at our table, with the instructor teaching you how to prepare each recipe. Each class ticket is for one kitchen, and we welcome group cooking on the same screen. To learn more about how class will go visit our FAQ PAGE.

There are two options for gathering ingredients for this class! You can shop for your own ingredients or we are happy to pre-measure ingredients and assemble them into a 4-serving kit. And if you like to sip wine while you cook, consider adding a lovingly paired bottle with your kit!
You can preview the ingredients and equipment needed by FOLLOWING THIS LINK. One week before class we will send out a detailed shopping list, and a few days before class we will email you a detailed recipe packet and Zoom link. All classes are listed in Pacific Time.

Movie: EAST JERUSALEM/WEST JERUSALEM via St Marks
2021-03-05 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
EAST JERUSALEM/WEST JERUSALEM
American, Israeli, and Palestinian musicians record a new album. And, in defiance of Israel’s dark realities, start a new program for children living under occupation.
Israeli singer-songwriter David Broza sets out to realize his dream of cooperation and dialog between Israelis and Palestinians through music. During 8 days and nights of joint creation by his mixed Jewish and Muslim band in an East Jerusalem studio, a hopeful message of equality and unity arises. Featuring Steve Earle and Mira Awad.
Learn more here.
with guest speaker: TBA
Contact info@saintmarks.org to be added to the Mideast Focus Ministry mailing list, or use this form. (Check the box marked “Mideast Focus.”)

Palestine Writes Cultural Spotlight: Ibtisam Azem: The Book of Disappearance
2021-03-06 09:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
We are excited to announce the Palestine Writes Cultural Spotlight. These zoom webinar events will offer registration and live-streaming on facebook.
This month, we are featuring Ibtisam Azem and her incredible novel, The Book of Disappearance. The event will be co-sponsored by the Institute of Palestinian Studies and moderated by Laura Al Bast, a digital editor at the Institute for Palestinian Studies. Please register for the event here!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScrZw-Cv6Q2BdV7p_7kPdVNNUIQcM9KGV7Hve4gBt8ntYBOoA/viewform

Eggstraordinary Objects: ostrich eggs as luxury items in the ancient Mediterranean
2021-03-06 10:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Dr. Tamar Hodos, University of Bristol
Decorated ostrich eggs were traded as luxury items from the Middle East to the western Mediterranean during the second and first millennia BCE. The eggs were engraved, painted, and occasionally embellished with ivory, precious metals and faience fittings. While archaeologists note their presence as unusual vessels in funerary and dedicatory contexts, little is known about how or from where they were sourced, decorated and traded. An ongoing project between researchers at Bristol University and the British Museum has established techniques to identify where the eggs originated and how they were decorated. This talk shares the results of our study, revealing the complexity of the production, trade, and economic and social values of luxury organic items between competing cultures of the ancient Mediterranean world.
Register Here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMscuGhrzMvGdB8aReWTG8Q5DLaMX2vLsSP

Part of Creating Art with Islamic Patterns Series
2021-03-06 14:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Ages 12 and older.
Presented by Amina Quraishi.
Arabesque art is one of the main components of Islamic art and consist of rhythmic linear motifs with floral and vegetal foliage. Learn to draw an arabesque pattern with step-by-step instructions and paint with watercolor.
Supplies needed: Pencil, ruler, printed handout (this will be emailed to you).
Optional supplies: Tracing paper, tape, art or watercolor paper, watercolors or coloring medium of choice.
Please register. You will be sent a Zoom link.

Virtual Art Exhibition: Legacy Trilogy: Past Edition
2021-03-07 - 2021-03-08
ArteEast is proud to present the Legacy Trilogy series of exhibitions celebrating the organization’s legacy as a forum for contemporary art practices from the Middle East North Africa region. This fundraising exhibition consists of three parts: Past, Present, and Future.

Women’s History Month English-Arabic Storytime Online
2021-03-08 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
She Persisted and Think Big, Little One with Sari Mira

Join us for a Women’s History Month-themed English-Arabic Storytime from the comfort of your home! Children ages 2-6 and their parents are invited to tune in as resident storyteller Sari Mira reads the books She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World and Think Big, Little One, in both English and Arabic.
She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World introduces young readers to thirteen inspirational women who never took no for an answer, and who always, inevitably and without fail, persisted.
Think Big, Little One introduces eighteen trailblazing women, ranging from writers to inventors, artists to scientists; like influential modernist painter Mary Blair, environmental activist Wangari Maathai and architect Zaha Hadid.

The Storytime will go up at 1 p.m. EST on Monday, March 8 on our Storytime page, where you can also check out previous Online Storytimes.

Arabic Conversation Hours Spring 2021 جلسة الحوار بالعربية
2021-03-09 14:30 - 15:30 (America/Chicago)
Join us for a fun hour of conversation in Arabic. Do you want to practice your Arabic without being judged? Do you want to learn some new words or ways of saying things? Do you want to meet other people who are trying to learn or strengthen their Arabic?
Pour You coffee or tea and let’s talk
You will receive a zoom link after you RSVP
March 9 @ 2:30-3:30
April 8 @ 1-2
For assistance or accessibility, email us at arabamcc@uic.edu

RSVP

Virtual Book Club: The Wandering Palestinian with Dr. Anan Ameri
2021-03-11 19:30 - 21:00 (America/New_York)
FREE with RSVP
Join Dr. Anan Ameri, founding director of AANM, at the next Virtual Book Club! Dr. Ameri will give a live reading from her recently published book The Wandering Palestinian, and discussion hosted by AANM deputy director Dr. Jumana Salamey. The Wandering Palestinian is a memoir of Dr. Ameri’s journey from immigrating to Detroit, Michigan to becoming a driving force of her community.
Please note that the event is free, but books are for sale. We encourage readers to purchase books from Nicola’s Books: hardcover, paperback.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Anan Ameri played a pivotal role in the creation of the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. The Wandering Palestinian chronicles her life from 1974 in Beirut, Lebanon to Detroit, Michigan as she learns how to adjust to culture shock, finds her independence and becomes a driving force in Detroit’s large and politically active Arab American community—an involvement that helped her break away from her isolation and resume her activism, and paved the way for her to become a recognized and respected leader in her community.

Smithsonian Sampler Series: Tatreez
2021-03-12 12:00 - 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
For generations, Palestinian women have gathered with their daughters to work collectively on embroidery projects, bonding with one another over a cup of tea. Guided by Wafa Ghnaim, who began her training in embroidery with her mother at age 2, learn the basic Palestinian cross-stitch and how to create a tatreez sampler, using a standard size sheet of Aida cloth fabric and one that can incorporate numerous patterns and eventually become a wall-hanging.
If you have already begun a tatreez sampler, this workshop will teach you traditional patterns and stitching strategies to further develop your piece. You are not required to take all three workshops in this winter series (Jan. 29; Feb. 26; and March 12)—you may take one, or all. The purpose of the sampler series is to develop your stitching skills, introduce you to new patterns throughout the region’s history, as well as learn more about textiles produced in the Holy Land throughout the centuries.
Open to students of all skill levels, learn the history and meaning behind traditional Palestinian patterns, basics of transferring a pattern to fabric, threading a needle, various cross-stitching methodologies, how to keep the back of your cloth clean, color theory and design, project planning, and motif repetition. No experience is required.
Download the supply list for this class

Free Virtual Screening of the Film "The People's Patriarch" Produced by Dr. Lily Habash
2021-03-13 09:00 - 10:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Saturday, March 13, 2021
12:00 PM 1:03 PM
Palestine Museum US (map)

Times are based on US ET zone
The screening of the film will be followed by Q&A discussions with film producer Dr. Lily Habash and audience.
To register for this event please click here.
To view the film trailer please click here.
About the Film
Patriarch Michel Sabbah: An Arab, Palestinian and Christian believer from Nazareth. In 1987, Pope John Paul II appointed him as the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1987, to be the first Arab Patriarch to hold the office in the Catholic Church’s history. He made an honorable history during his work as a Patriarch. His work marked significant milestones in the struggle against injustice and oppression to bring peace to the country of the Prince of Peace. He is still active in many initiatives and activities to spread his human and spiritual message in Palestine and the world. The film is a humble contribution to honor the Patriarch and shed light on some crucial moments in his life, his thought, and his constant obsession with the consolidation of love, justice, and peace.

Middle Eastern Galleries Now
2021-03-15 - 2021-03-31
This March, Artsy celebrates artists and galleries who are based in or identify with countries in the Middle East and North Africa. We will showcase online exhibitions and gallery shows to highlight artworks that are both innovative and timely. This is a chance for collectors to discover and support the work of these important artists.

https://www.artsy.net/fair/middle-eastern-galleries-now

P&P Live! Nicholas Freudenberg, Abdul El-Sayed, and Micah Johnson — American Healthcare: What's Broken and How We Can Fix It
2021-03-15 20:00 - 21:30 (America/New_York)
CLICK HERE to join the Live! event

There are few issues as consequential in the lives of Americans as healthcare–and few issues more politically vexing. Every single American will interact with the healthcare system at some point in their lives, and most people will find that interaction less than satisfactory. And yet for every dollar spent in our economy, 18 cents go to healthcare. What are we paying for, exactly?
Healthcare policy is notoriously complex, but what Americans want is simple: good healthcare that’s easy to use and doesn’t break the bank. Polls show that a majority of Americans want the government to provide universal health coverage to all Americans. Medicare for All: A Citizen’s Guide is the roadmap to America’s most debated policy-in-waiting
—–
At What Cost confronts how globalization, financial speculation, monopolies, and control of science and technology have enhanced the ability of corporations and their allies to overwhelm influences of government, family, community, and faith. As corporations manipulate demand through skillful marketing and veto the choices that undermine their bottom line, free consumer choice has all but disappeared, and with it, the personal protections guarding our collective health. At What Cost argues that the world created by 21st-century capitalism is simply not fit to solve our most serious public health problems, from climate change to opioid addiction. However, author and public health expert Nicholas Freudenberg also shows that though the road is steep, human and planetary well-being constitute a powerful mobilizing idea for a new social movement, one that will restore the power of individual voice to our democracy.

Vaccine Apartheid, Grassroots Resistance and Transnational Connections
2021-03-16 10:00 - 11:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Rachel Corrie: Commemorating 18 Years
Join the Rachel Corrie Foundation for a roundtable discussion commemorating Rachel Corrie’s life, legacy, and commitment to Palestinian solidarity. Huwaida Arraf, Ahmed Abu Artema, Dr. Yasser Abu Jamei, and the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project will be discussing vaccine apartheid, grassroots resistance, and transnational connections in Gaza and abroad.
Registration link: http://bit.ly/2MHVjgC
Livestream link: https://youtu.be/hybPB0EZARQ

NGP Talks with Susan Muaddi Darraj
2021-03-17 17:00 - 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Susan Muaddi Darraj’s (NGP Member) short story collection, A Curious Land: Stories from Home, was named the winner of the AWP Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction, judged by Jaime Manrique. It also won the 2016 Arab American Book Award, a 2016 American Book Award, and was shortlisted for a Palestine Book Award. Her previous short story collection, The Inheritance of Exile, was published in 2007 by University of Notre Dame Press.
In 2018, she was named a Ford Fellow by USA Artists. Susan also is a two-time recipient of an Individual Artist Award from the Maryland State Arts Council. She has also been awarded a Ruby’s Artist Grant from the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance and a grant from the Sustainable Arts Foundation.

In 2019, she launched the viral #TweetYourThobe social media campaign to promote Palestinian culture. Later that year, she was named winner of the Rose Nader Award, by the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), an award given by the Nader family to a person who “demonstrates an unwavering dedication and commitment to values of equality and justice.”
In January 2020, Capstone Books launched her debut children’s chapter book series, Farah Rocks, about a smart, brave Palestinian American girl named Farah Hajjar.

Readings & Conversations with Laila Lalami
2021-03-17 19:30 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Join us for a lecture with Laila Lalami, novelist, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and author of The Moor’s Account and The Other Americans.
LAILA LALAMI was born in Rabat and educated in Morocco, Great Britain, and the United States. She is the author of four novels, including The Moor’s Account, which won the American Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Her most recent novel, The Other Americans, was a Los Angeles Times bestseller, a best-of-2019 selection from NPR, Time, and Kirkus, and a finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction. Her essays and criticism have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Harper’s, the Guardian, and the New York Times. In fall 2020, she will release Conditional Citizens, a nonfiction exploration of how the rights, liberties, and protections of American citizenship are not always uniformly applied.

Lecture at San Jose State University: Laila Lalami
2021-03-18 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
The acclaimed, award-winning novelist–author of The Moor’s Account and The Other Americans–now gives us a bracingly personal work of nonfiction that is concerned with the experiences of “conditional citizens.”
What does it mean to be American? In this starkly illuminating and impassioned book, Pulitzer Prize Finalist Laila Lalami recounts her unlikely journey from Moroccan immigrant to U.S. citizen, using it as a starting point for her exploration of the rights, liberties, and protections that are traditionally associated with American citizenship. Tapping into history, politics, and literature, she elucidates how accidents of birth–such as national origin, race, or gender–that once determined the boundaries of Americanness still cast their shadows today. Throughout the book, she poignantly illustrates how white supremacy survives through adaptation and legislation, with the result that a caste system is maintained, keeping the modern equivalent of white male landowners at the top of the social hierarchy. Conditional citizens, she argues, are all the people whom America embraces with one arm, and pushes away with the other.
Brilliantly argued and deeply personal, Conditional Citizens weaves together the author’s own experiences with explorations of the place of nonwhites in the broader American culture.

Arab Film Series Online: 7 x 7 // 7 Artists, 7 Years
2021-03-19 16:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
7 p.m. EDT Friday, March 19
Online Stream – Register for Free
AANM, Arab Film and Media Institute, ArteEast, the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College, the Department of Art History at Pomona College and Youth of the World Together, in total partnership, are pleased to present the public premiere of two experimental short films by Yemeni-Bosnian multi-media artist Alia Ali: Conflict is More Profitable Than Peace and مهجر // Mahjar. Immediately following the premiere will be a dialogue with Alia Ali hosted by AANM Film Curator Dave Serio.
Marking the seventh year of the war in Yemen, this event will launch 7 x 7 // 7 Artists, 7 Years: a film presentation of short films by seven Yemeni filmmakers, that collectively push back against binary portrayals of Yemenis as victims and/or villians, and instead provide an expansive view on how Yemenis present themselves, on their terms. Following the live premiere, all films will be available to stream for 48 hours.
Featuring the following films/filmmakers:
Carrom dir. Nashwan Sadek / 9 minutes / Documentary
Ozazah dir. Ala’a Hafed / 6 minutes / Documentary
Made of Gold dir. Saber Wasel / 6 minutes / Documentary
The Last Resort dir. Noordeen Morgan / 10 minutes / Documentary
Scene 2 dir. Abdulrahman Alward / 21 minutes / Fiction
The Helmet dir. Osama Khaled / 9 minutes / Sci-Fi
Please note that some of these films may address difficult and sensitive topics, such as war, trauma and sexual harassment and may be triggering for some.

Movie: There is a Field via Mideast Focus Ministry
2021-03-19 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
THERE IS A FIELD
This film by local filmmaker Jen Marlow, tells the story of a 17-year-old Palestinian peace activist, killed by the IDF. It is told through the lens of Black Lives Matter activists in the U.S.
In October 2000, a police officer shot and killed unarmed 17-year-old Asel Asleh. His story is tragically familiar for Americans, but Asel was not killed in Ferguson, New York City, Atlanta, or Minneapolis. Asel was a Palestinian teenager who was murdered by Israeli police as he participated in a demonstration, calling for an end to the Israeli occupation and settler-colonization.
Learn more here.
with guest speaker: TBA
Contact info@saintmarks.org to be added to the Mideast Focus Ministry mailing list, or use this form. (Check the box marked “Mideast Focus.”)

The Ethnic Cleansing of Sheikh Jarrah - Screening of Short Films & Discussion with Mohammed El-Kurd
2021-03-20 09:00 - 10:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Please click here to register for this event.
A virtual screening of two short films about Sheikh Jarrah followed by a discussion with Mohammed El-Kurd.
Mohammed El-Kurd is an award-winning writer and internationally-touring poet from Jerusalem, Palestine. His work has appeared in The Nation, The Guardian, and Al-Jazeera among others. He is from Sheikh Jarrah, a neighborhood battling ethnic cleansing since 1972. Today, his family, among 12 others, is ruled to be displaced from their homes by August 2021.

Cherry Street Village presents Nadia Tommalieh making Ka’ak Fallahi
2021-03-20 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Join Cherry Street Village in welcoming cooking instructor and Instagram foodie influencer Nadia Tommalieh (@nadiatommalieh). This is a live cooking demonstration held in the comforts of your living room via Zoom. To join you must register at: http://bit.ly/CSVNadiaZoom
Those who register will be sent the recipe to enjoy after the demonstration.
Nadia Tommalieh will be showing us how to make Ka’ak Fallahi, a traditional Palestiian sweet cookie made to celebrate the upcoming Easter, Eid or Arabic Mother’s Day holidays. There will also be time for questions and answers.
Nadia shared this about our afternoon demostration: “Our celebrations are never complete without these melt in your mouth traditional Palestinian date stuffed cookies. Also known as “ Ka’ak Fallahi” which translates to farmer’s cookies or “Asawer” which means bracelets. The dough is made from a mix of flour and semolina, kneaded with ghee and olive oil and loaded with aromatic spices. The perfect treat for any occasion!”
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Silence is a Sense: Layla AlAmma
2021-03-20 14:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Joining us today from the UK (hence the weekend starting time) where she is pursuing doctoral work on ‘the intersection of Arab women’s fiction and literary trauma theory’ is Kuwait-born novelist Layla AlAmmar. She has written two novels, both to much acclaim, the second of which has become her first to be published in the U.S., Silence is a Sense (Algonquin). A woman has fled her homeland of Syria because of the civil war there, coming to the UK – and trying there to reckon what it has all meant, even if words aren’t there for saying it.

“Silence Is a Sense is a fierce novel. The prose is ferocious, the pace is ferocious and the beguiling central character, known as The Voiceless, conceals behind her inability—or reluctance — to speak, a striking, visceral intensity. She obsessively watches the people around her to silence her own trauma, but every now and then it can’t help but break through. Layla AlAmmar has skillfully woven a narrative of memory and grief with an illuminating social critique of the position of asylum seekers within contemporary British society. It is daring and devastating.” —Fiona Mozley.
“Kuwaiti-American author Layla AlAmmar masterfully depicts that silence is a refuge, too, for people affected by the unspeakable . . . AlAmmar succeeds in challenging the refugee or asylum-seeker stereotype, including the one of a young Arab woman.”—The Markaz Review.

Opera Singer Zeina Barhoum in Virtual Concert at Palestine Museum US
2021-03-21 09:00 - 10:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Please click here to register for this event.
Please click here to hear Zeina’s trailer.
Renowned opera singer Zeina Barhoum will perform in a virtual concert at Palestine Museum US. She will sing in Arabic and other languages, including the songs “Sanarjeo Yawman سنرجع يوما”, “Jerusalem زهرة المدائن”، “Oh mio babbino caro” and several others.

Tatreez & Me: Motherhood, Palestinian Identity, and Embroidery
2021-03-21 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Palestinian embroidery, or tatreez, is centuries-old folk art, traditionally passed from mother to daughter over a cup of tea. The traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, also known as the thobe, has traceable origins from the beginning of the sixteenth century and the tatreez, or embroidery, has an iconographical and symbolic significance that ultimately dates back to Chinese symbols found around 5,000 BC.
Award-winning Palestinian embroiderer Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim began passing the endangered art form to her daughter Wafa Ghnaim at two years old.
This Mother’s Day, we will celebrate the Palestinian art of embroidery and Palestinian stories through a conversation with Feryal and Wafa about motherhood, Palestinian identity, and embroidery. Bring your mom and your girlfriends for what is sure to be a thoughtful, engaging, and heartwarming conversation.

Water, Health and Human Rights: Marking World Water Day, from the U.S. to Palestine
2021-03-22 16:00 - 17:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
World Water Day March 22, 2021
The UN designated March 22 as World Water Day in 1993.
In the years since, various UN agencies have declared water to be a human right that “should be treated as a social & cultural good, and not primarily as an economic good.” The UN General Assembly formally recognized water as a human right in 2010.
These declarations have not stopped large corporations from turning water into a commodity to be bought and sold for a profit. In Indigenous lands in the U.S. and around the globe water resources have been plundered and polluted, with devastating consequences for traditional ways of living and the environment. The ongoing seizure and diversion of water to drive Indigenous peoples from their land have been tools of colonial domination from the Americas to Palestine and beyond.
In the U.S. communities of color have disproportionately faced the poisoning of their water and environment. In some American cities water shutoffs for nonpayment of bills have forced people to leave their homes, paving the way for gentrification.
Wars are already being fought over water and this is only going to continue as we confront the devastating effects of climate change. Texas recently experienced a ‘Gaza Strip’ moment, when the impact of a freezing storm and deregulated grid left people without power and drinkable water.
The era of the Covid-19 pandemic has brought many problems into urgent focus, and access to clean water is one of them.
Find out how you can get involved in campaigns for water justice at our March 22nd webinar, Water, Health and Human Rights: Marking World Water Day, from the U.S. to Palestine. It will focus on water struggles in Detroit, Flint, Indigenous lands, prisons and Palestine and help build public support for legislation to stop water shut-offs in the U.S. during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Register here.

Discussion: Palestine is a Feminist Struggle
2021-03-24 09:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Palestinian women have always been at the forefront of our resistance to Israeli settler colonialism. We are excited to be hosting two remarkable Palestinian feminist organizers, Soheir Asaad of Tal’aat and Sarah Ihmoud of the Palestinian Feminist Collective for a conversation about emerging Palestinian feminist movements. Join us on Wednesday, March 24 at 12 noon EDT (9 am PST & 6 pm Palestine) to learn what we mean when we say: There is no free homeland without free women! Palestine is a feminist issue.
Co-sponsored by the Palestinian Feminist Collective and Middle East Children’s Alliance
Register today: bit.ly/PalFeminists

If you haven’t had a chance to support the Palestinian Feminist Collective’s pledge affirming that Palestine is a Feminist Issue, sign on today and spread the word near and far!
