Children’s Suffering in Gaza Memorialized on Black Friday
One memorial contained 17 pairs of children’s shoes, with each pair representing 500 children of the more than an estimated 16,750 killed thus far.
By: Phil Pasquini
As Black Friday descended on San Francisco today and Christmas shoppers invaded downtown stores for the beginning of the holiday shopping season, a group of human rights and anti-war activists from RACCOON (Radical Anti-Capitalist Collective of Outrageous Noise) and CODEPINK demonstrated to mourn the continuing deaths and suffering of the children of Gaza in Israel’s war. On this International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, similar demonstrations took place in other cities around the globe.
CODEPINK organizer Cynthia Papermaster said, “This gathering is to mark this day and express our deep sorrow and anger that the genocide in Gaza is continuing despite the majority of people in the U.S. wanting it to stop and wanting the U.S. to stop sending weapons that are killing innocent children.”
The demonstration took place in front of the building housing the Israeli Consulate, where activists created several memorials dedicated to the memory of children killed in Israel’s war during the past 13 months. One memorial contained 17 pairs of children’s shoes, with each pair representing 500 children of the more than an estimated 16,750 killed thus far. Behind the shoe display, blocking the entry to the building, were the names and ages of some of the children killed, written on white cloth ribbons placed over a blood red banner supported by a barricade.
The banners were accompanied by signs reminding passersby that the children’s deaths were paid for with U.S. tax dollars, and horrifically that one child is killed in Gaza every ten minutes.
Activists also called for the U.S. to “enable aid to enter Gaza, enact an arms embargo on Israel, and restore funding to UNRWA.”
Sidewalk chalk art called for an end to the war, for the sanctioning of Israel, and an end to arms transfers along with the occupation. Speakers called for Netanyahu’s arrest as a war criminal based on the warrant recently issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Activists also called for peace in the region for all people.
Speaking to the crowd, Steve Zeltzer, a union labor news and radio journalist, remarked on how the AFL-CIO and national unions around the world have been opposed to a boycott on shipping arms to Israel. This, even though longshoremen at many ports have refused to load arms destined to be used in the war on Gaza.
One speaker, Leslie Angeline, who was in her 11th day of a solidarity hunger strike, spoke of her distress regarding the killings, destruction, and starvation inflicted by Israel against the residents in Gaza. Angeline joined the hunger strike started on November 1st by the Free Youth Movement in Amman, Jordan, that has now gained global momentum with members of Veterans for Peace in Washington, DC, Doctors Against Genocide in New York and one woman who has been present outside of the White House.
Angeline welcomed the arrest warrant by the ICC of Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and said that a warrant should be issued for Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken for their part in the ongoing genocide.
Accompanying the action, activists from RACCOON created lots of loud noise that echoed through the canyons of the Financial District.
Phil Pasquini is an award-winning photographer and journalist who has been a correspondent for the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs since 1998. He reports on Middle Eastern and Islamic events which occur in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. He is a recipient of the “Fairness & Integrity in Media” Award from the Council on American-Islamic Relations in 2010.
I’m not sure why CODEPINK isn’t the default organization for every single woman and man who participated in the Woman’s March on Jan 21, 2017? To paraphrase MLK: “love without power is anemic.”
This organization represents organized POWER against a patriarchal agenda (fill in blanks on what that means). Women should be flocking to this organization by the millions —not just showing up for one-and-done marches, etc. The former is about power, the latter is not.
I’m in awe of the woman who TRYS TO BREAK through to POWER by personally conducting a hunger strike. I just want us all to share the load.