Statement of Solidarity

To the Bay Area Arts Community,

 

The undersigned members of the Queering Dance Festival Organizing Committee have made a commitment to inclusivity, diversity, equity, accessibility, and collectivity in support of our LGBTQIA2+ dance community. We are a committee made up of diverse ethnic backgrounds, abilities, genders, cultures and sexualities in the unceded Ohlone lands of the Bay Area. 

 

As American citizens living on stolen Indigenous lands, we recognize the importance of supporting Indigenous sovereignty and their struggles against ongoing colonization. Therefore, we must speak out against the US-funded violences in Gaza, the West Bank and across historic Palestine. This imperialist violence is deeply connected to the suffering that we witness everyday in the Congo, Sudan, Tigray, Puerto Rico, Papua New Guinea, Haiti, Hawai’i, and around the world - all of which goes against our organization’s values and principles. 

 

Queering Dance Festival wholeheartedly supports Palestinian liberation. We affirm Palestinians’ legitimate right to live in and return to their indigenous homeland. We recognize that the genocide against Palestine began long before October 7th, as instigated by the UK and the Zionist Israeli state – a settler colonial state which is not representative of Judaism or all Jewish peoples in diaspora. We are against genocide in any form against all peoples.

 

We also condemn the senseless murder of all victims of this crisis, as directly or indirectly caused by Israeli apartheid, their 75 years of colonial occupation, and Western imperialism. As queer artists, we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian LGBTQIA2+ community, who have been consistently erased and exploited. As a multiracial, multicultural coalition, we stand against Islamophobia, Jewish anti-Semitism, and all forms of identity-based discrimination. As folks with varying levels of ability, we condemn the mass disabling attacks, destruction of the Gazan healthcare system, and the resulting ableist neglect of disabled Palestinians.

 

We call on our community to join us in supporting Palestinian liberation. While this is not an exhaustive list, we ask that you consider doing any of the following: 

• Contact your government representatives to demand a ceasefire and an end to funding of Israel

• Take part in local demonstrations supporting Palestine and anti-Zionism

• Participate in the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions movement against Israeli products

• Donate to, volunteer for, and listen to local organizations supporting Palestinian sovereignty, including: Arab Resource & Organizing Center, Jewish Voices for Peace, and Palestinian Youth Movement, to name a few

• Read and sign the Bay Area Artists & Cultural Workers pledge with calls for further action

• Educate yourself on ways you can contribute personally to global decolonization movements

 

These are ongoing efforts that will require long-term commitment in order to end the occupation. The violence must end, so that everyone can mourn their dead and healing can begin. We demand an immediate, permanent ceasefire now, an end to apartheid, an end to US global imperialism, and peace between all peoples - in Palestine and around the globe.

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Sincerely,

Queering Dance Festival - Organizing Committee

Jessi Barber, Chibueze Crouch, Snowflake Calvert, Clarissa Dyas, and Deneka Siu