engage-voices-of-activism

[engage-voices-of-activism]

Rafiki: The Solidarity Across Borders

Rafiki, a passionate activist, is a member of the All African People's Revolutionary Party, the African Parties for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau in Cape Verde, and the Coordinating Committee of the Black Alliance for Peace. Advocating against U.S. militarism, Zionism, and its impact on Palestine, he was present during the Land Day protest located in DC on March 30, 2024.

In his fight against colonialism and imperialism, he correlates the intersectionality of what is faced by Palestinians and Africans. Rafiki said: "The struggle of the Palestinians and the struggle of the Africans is one. They're fighting the same settler-colonial imperialist enterprise that African people are engaged in a fight with."

For Rafiki, more than a need, it's essential to be unified in fights against the same opponents. He said:  "The only way to defeat them is to come together and unite and work in coordination".

Rafiki testified of how Palestinian and African youth, in their activism, refreshed his way of advocating for his causes: "I began to work with them and they have given me so much energy and so much life and to see them come together, to see them organize like they've been doing, to see them gain an understanding and knowledge over just a short period of time, to me, has been amazing."

Rafiki emphasizes that the best way of action is collective actions, especially to help marginalized communities. Solidarity knows no border for him, with the power of collaboration and his way of confronting systematic injustices, Rafiki is a monumental activist who gives hope for a future equitable justice world. 

By Rachelle Papillon

Photo by Rachelle Papillon ( It's NOT copyright-free pictures)

Link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4WNkZ4yFaQI

#protests #land day #activist #activist portrait #activism #palestinian genocide #portrait #politics #washington dc #human rights #journalism #free gaza #gaza #gaza genocide #photography #photographer #protest photography

[engage-voices-of-activism]

Reclaiming Roots: Mimi's Fight for Palestinian Identity and Justice

During Land Day on March 30, 2024, standing on the back of a truck, a microphone in her hand, a Palestinian keffiyeh covering her hair, Mimi chanted for the freedom and ceasefire of Palestine: "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free".

Mimi is a Palestinian activist living in the DMV (D.C., Maryland, Virginia) area. She was at the march in remembrance of the Palestinian Land that commemorated the event of March 30, 1976. Mimi said: "Land Day is a day that commemorates Palestinian resistance to the Zionist occupation of our land. An announcement came that the Zionist regime was going to steal thousands of dunams of land from the territories of Palestine. And so Palestinians struck and organized and protested against this decision and on this day, six Palestinians were killed and hundreds more were injured."

Land Day also coincides with the Great March of Return that begins on March 30, 2018. This date marks a series of protests and demonstrations held in the Gaza Strip to demand the right of return for Palestinian refugees to their ancestral homes and lands in what is now Israel. For months, Palestinians have gathered at the fence that separates them from Israel. Mimi said: "Two hundred and thirty Palestinians were killed, tens of thousands were injured. And yet this day is about resistance. It's about commemorating those who came before us and those who will come after us as well, and paved the path for us to be able to resist in all forms against our oppressors, against the occupation, for the right of return of all Palestinian refugees in the diaspora, no matter where they are in the world."

She links the commemoration and resilience to the situation of Gaza today: "We're also here today to demand an immediate and permanent cease-fire, for the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners, to lift the brutal siege on Gaza, to end all U.S. aid to the Zionist state and to end the year-long occupation of Palestine."

Mimi connects her activism with her family's heritage: " My ancestors fought for their land and they paved this path for me. Being in the diaspora, being somebody whose grandfather was uprooted from his land, who was displaced, who has not seen his homeland since the 1960s.. "

She roots her activism as part of her identity: "It's important for me to reclaim that part of him (her grand-father) and part of myself and part of my heritage and my identity to fight for my people in Palestine, to fight against the oppressive systems … It's my responsibility, not just as a Palestinian, not just as an Arab, not just as a Muslim, but just as a human being who believes that liberation for Palestine means liberation for us all.

Moreover, as a phoenix that's reborn from its ashes, Mimi, even after being separated from her ancestor's land and her community and culture does not give up and it strengths her, even more, to fight: "I feel this push to organize more and this pressure to bring in all of the Palestinian diasporas that are in the West that have been disconnected from their culture and bring them into politics, educate them about our heritage, about our identity, about our revolutionaries, our thinkers, our academics."

Mimi finds her force to organize and advocate thanks to her roots: "It's that connection to the land that keeps me going. It's the connection to our olive trees, our citrus trees. It's the connection to, just how holy our land actually is. Connection to the sea. And just again, the connection to everything that my grandfather was uprooted from."

Emotionally, she narrates her travel to her native land that happened last year, " It was my first time back home and it was the most beautiful experience of my life. It's something that I'll never forget, to see where I came from, to see where my ancestors walked, to see Yaffa (يَافَا), which is now colonized, to just walk the same path that my ancestors did."

This travel made her activism and conviction stronger and pushed her to organize more in the U.S.: "It was a very beautiful moment, but it also exposed me to the on-ground harsh reality of the Zionist occupation and pushed me to do more when I came back here."

By Rachelle Papillon

Photo by Rachelle Papillon ( It's NOT copyright-free pictures)

Link 'It’s Bisan From Gaza, I’m Still Alive After Six Months Of Bombing' : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK7oytWs7vQ

#protests #protest #human rights #palestine #free gaza #gaza strip #gaza genocide #gaza #palestinian genocide #journalism #activism #activist #politics #oppression #portrait #activist portrait #washington dc #land day