female:pressure is a worldwide network organizing for gender justice in music and arts. We also stand for women’s rights across the globe.
Many of us are grieving over the violence in many parts of the world, in particular the genocidal war on Gaza. We have long-term members in our network who live and work actively on the ground in Palestine/Israel for human rights and justice.
As a volunteer-based grassroots network of women, non-binary, transfemme, transmasc, and gender nonconforming people from diverse backgrounds situated transnationally, we took time to reflect, educate ourselves and open space for discourse within our network before writing this statement.
We want to recognize and stand against the devastating experiences of the people affected by torture and sexual assault in Palestine, Israel, and all areas of conflict around the globe where humanity is currently oppressed and subjected to the brutal aspects of capitalist and colonialist patriarchy: occupation, violence, slavery, forced displacement, and invisibility.
We strongly oppose the actions of Hamas leadership. We strongly oppose actions of retaliation by the State of Israel, militarization on all sides, and the subsequent restriction of humanitarian aid to where it is most required. We call for all sides to agree on an immediate and permanent ceasefire. We call for an end of the Occupation.
Given that many of our artists work and live in Germany, we also acknowledge and denounce the ongoing censorship and racist repression against Palestinians, their allies, migrant communities; and antisemitic profiling and censorship occurring against Jews, Israelis, and those standing up in solidarity against genocide.
The failure to recognize institutionalized racism and lack of space for dialogue have resulted in missed capacity for nuanced conversations where the context of each lived experience can be taken into account. We urge leadership in cultural sectors, and further, to begin intercultural and interfaith reparation.
Our articulation of this matter leaves no space for antisemitism, Islamophobia or any form of discrimination. Neither do we seek to relativise, by any comparison, any atrocities of the past.
Despite the world being violent and divided, we can repair, re-connect, and build a culture of solidarity that is based on listening, integrative debate, and mutual aid.
We will fundraise within our network community and amongst friends and families.
Funding Suggestions
Jordan Valley Activists: is a group of volunteers whose main goal is to help the Palestinian shepherd communities continue to maintain their livelihood in the face of the injustices of the occupation, and to protect them from violence by illegal Israeli settlers and the Israeli authorities.
We encourage the direct support of their work through donations and sharing of their platforms.
Palestine Red Crescent Society
Medico.de: see also their statement from Nov 10th 2023
Disclaimer: This statement does not represent the position of all members of the network. We continue to work on and within our network to develop our intersectionality and solidarity, potentially updating this statement as a part of that inner working.
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