For Gaza – What Will You Do With The Sadness, The Rage?
Editor,
Since March 2024, the Center for People Power and Sonoma Valley for Ceasefire has raised the issue of how we move from local to global people power in a time when human rights violations and basic principles of care are ignored or violated with impunity.
Our capacity for care, where we direct that energy, is questioned daily, especially now, with the continued genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
On June 5, the Sonoma City Council refused to pass the ceasefire resolution on the agenda. They made it seem self-evident that what is taking place in Gaza would not, and could not, matter or affect us here in Sonoma. Yet, our connections are not limited to a mile radius, and the argument that we are isolated from this issue is fallible.
Is it possible to imagine the presence of global connection in the form of the recycled breath of the olive trees that no longer exist in Gaza? What other ways can we imagine connecting and building networks of care and people-power?
Author Cole Arthur Riley asks us, “What power do you have that you have not accessed? What will you do with the sadness, the rage?” CPP and SVFC invite you to act with them and refuse to ignore the genocide in Gaza.
During the City Council meeting on August 7, they plan to protest outside the building and march to the Plaza for a demonstration, reading and signing of the People’s Resolution. As our government officials continue to ignore our demands to call for a ceasefire, we must locate and enact the power and values that we collectively have. Free Palestine.
Zoë Bo Chapital
Sonoma
