43. Ceasefire Now!
A rally in support of Palestinians
The peace and quiet in your neighborhood are suddenly shattered by the sounds of gunshots and screaming. Members of a well-armed gang have broken into a house in your neighborhood and you can hear the desperate cries of a mother pleading for the lives of her children. You feel you have to do something, so you
A. order food to be delivered so that the mother and her children do not have to die on an empty stomach
B. plead with the gunmen to take your first aid kit so the woman’s dying husband can be given Paracetamol and bandaids
C. call the emergency number, report the ongoing violent crime, and demand that the active shooters be stopped immediately and the woman’s wounded husband be given urgent medical treatment
Palestinians are suffering as the Israel Defense Forces bomb their families, homes, refugee camps, schools, ambulances, and hospitals in Gaza. More than 10,000 civilians, including over 4,000 children, have been killed in Gaza since October 7, when Hamas fighters entered Israel and killed over 1,400 Israelis and took at least 240 hostages. On October 30, Sari Bashi, Program Director at Human Rights Watch, reported that, since the October 7 massacre, the Israeli government has dramatically reduced the delivery of food, water, medicine, fuel, and other relief aid into Gaza.
“The Israeli government continues to obstruct this desperately needed humanitarian aid even as it carries out its campaign of aerial bombardment and expands its ground operations in Gaza.”
On October 28, Craig Mokhiber resigned his post as the director of the New York office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, writing:
“This is a text-book case of genocide. The European, ethno-nationalist, settler colonial project in Palestine has entered its final phase, toward the expedited destruction of the last remnants of indigenous Palestinian life in Palestine.”
On Saturday, November 4, I took part in a rally that was organized by the Palestinian Solidarity Network Aotearoa New Zealand (PSNA) here in Dunedin, New Zealand. Hundreds marched from the Otago Museum Reserve to The Octagon in a show of support for Palestinians and to call for an immediate ceasefire.
A selection of the photographs I took at the Dunedin rally are below. These are part of a larger set of full-resolution photos that I uploaded to a folder online. All are covered by a Creative Commons CC-BY License, so you are welcome to download and share the photos and the link to the folder: (https://tinyurl.com/rally4palestine).
What’s next?
As for Israel’s war against Hamas and the Palestinian people, who can predict what will happen next? Who can say what crimes the Israel Defense Forces are committing in Gaza as you read this? As long as Israel continues the communications blackout in Gaza, it will be very difficult for the outside world to know. We have to make an effort to see and hear from the Palestinian civilians who have managed to survive the onslaught in Gaza. And that is how the Israeli government wants it.
As for this Substack on street photography, I have the freedom to write and to share what I choose to photograph. I am fortunate to live in a safe place where I have access to food, clean water, electricity, medical care, and the Internet. I am limited only by my time, my abilities, and my preoccupations.
What do you think?
You are invited to leave a comment below.
Oh dear... you got political. Sorry, but I don't agree with your pro-Palestine rhetoric.
Thanks for covering this march Mark, the weather didn't deter anyone and you got some great action pics.