Thank you for visiting the SSCAA. This web page was created to encourage awareness and activism with regard to the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Updated: October 2024
By Sergio
Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian occupied territories. Source: un.org, March 2024.
Help the People of Gaza!
Background:
United Nations officials have labeled the ongoing conflict in Gaza, between the Zionist state of Israel and historically native Palestinian people, a genocide.The Associated Press estimates over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed due to the ongoing conflict. Thousands of Palestinians, including women and children, are currently displaced and lack basic necessities, including access to food, baby formula, and medicine.
Video Source: Al Jazeera, September 29, 2024.
Why you should care:
As of October of 2024, the US has spent a record 17.9 billion dollars on the war in Gaza. War not only drains resources needed for free healthcare and education, it also causes immense suffering for the people of Gaza, military members, their families and civilians alike.
How can we help?
The first step towards helping is by becoming insightful and passionate about the issue at hand, only then can we spread much-needed awareness and share our insight with others, not through argument or debate, but by engaging in peaceful conversation and exchange.
Another powerful way to help is by becoming a political activist. An effective way to engage in political activism is by writing to your elected officials to endorse legislation S.J.Res.111, a joint resolution proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders to limit funding to Israel.
Last but not least, you can give directly to the United Nation's Human Right's Council (OHCHR). The OHCHR has been described as "the backbone of aid delivery" for Palestinian Refugees in the embedded Fault Lines Documentary (14:13).
1. Write to your state representative:
Follow the link below to learn more about joint resolution S.J.Res.111 and other efforts to limit funding to Israel. Templates have been provided for Illinois residents to make it easy to write to your representatives.
2. Support The UN's Human Right's Council
Other Ways to Help
Other ways to help include:
Creating informational content. Make flyers, videos or podcasts about a political issue and share them on social media outlets.
Creating artwork! Historically, artists and political protest have gone together like peanut butter and jelly. Some art experts even speculate the origin of protest art to go as far back as ancient Egypt (examples and more on this will be added later).
Becoming a politician. Okay, just hear me out! (Random disclaimer: If you slept through biology class, or dislike metaphors feel free to skip the remainder of this section). Many people are unaware that the human immune system is built to prevent the growth of cancer cells. This is because random mutations sometimes produce cancerous cells as common byproducts of cell division. Consider that the average human undergoes 10 ^ 16 growth-and-division cycles during a lifetime (1x10^16= 10 quadrillion, by comparison the Great Lakes hold 6 quadrillion gallons of water), according to BioNumbers, Harvard University's database of useful biological numbers. With this in mind, errors are bound to occur. To tackle this issue, nature has devised numerous safeguards, including T-cytotoxic cells (also called CD8 cells) and Natural Killer Cells (NKCs); two types of immune cells found in all healthy humans with healthy immune systems. With the help of powerful microscopes, these amazing warriors have been seen infiltrating tumor cells, and forcing cell apoptosis (another word for cell death). So, one may wonder: what does this have to do with activism? The point I'm getting at is this: sometimes the only way to cure tissue that's sick, out of control and no longer serving the body as a whole, is from within.
T-cells killing colon cancer cells. Source: Nanolive Youtube Channel. All rights reserved.
Conclusion:
By writing to your state representatives, you are showing a willingness to act for the greater good during times of uncertainty.Together, we can create the changes necessary to make our world a better, more peaceful place for all.
Other Resources
About
The Southside Coalition for Arts and Activism was founded in 2024 to encourage activism through community engagement and art. The coalition's mission is to ultimately help create a better future for people from all walks of life by providing free resources and education.For more information, or to join the coalition, please email the webmaster via the link below.Lastly, please feel free to support this project via the linked content, if you can. Thank you.
The contents of this page were written by a human and edited by ChatGPT.