Making The Effort
In a world full of distractions
“It’s worse than “Gaza is being starved and destroyed, and no one cares.” It’s that hundreds of millions *do* care and are powerless to stop it. We need a world where that can never happen, where the masses actually have political power.”
— Eman Abdelhadi
Under the harshest of conditions, Samah, 25, Israa, 31, Abdallah, 27, Majd, 24, Khulud, 28 and thirty-five other students have secured places at UK universities.
The UK government exclusively holds the power to bring these students in Gaza who have scholarships here safely.
Since 7 October 2023, the Visa Application Centre in Gaza has been closed, with UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) citing safety concerns for staff and applicants.
While there is a biometrics deferral protocol put in place in 2023, when students have requested to apply for a deferral, requests have been ignored..
Samah, Israa, Abdallah, Majd, and Khulud deserve better than an arbitrary and faceless bureaucracy getting in the way of their aspirations.
I ask you to please urge your MPs and ministers of state to facilitate a biometric visa deferral and open a route of safe passage for these students from Gaza so they can take up their places in September.
Bureaucracy shouldn't stop any student from pursuing an education.
According to Visualising Palestine, by August 2024, 9773 Palestinian students and 409 educational staff had been killed.
Those numbers pale in comparison to what they are now.
Life expectancy in Gaza has dropped dramatically in comparison to other recent wars.
The percentage of children killed in the Ukrainian war is 0.3%.
The percentage of children killed in the Gaza war is 37.7%.
Worlds extinguished. Lives destroyed. Genocide.
I know people have felt helpless for over a year. Here is an opportunity to do something that may have tangible outcomes. So more than a signature, I want you to forward this email/article or even better write your own and send it to the institutions you are connected to.
Imagine that they then send out their own email to their list of subscribers. And those recipients then forward it to theirs.and they all email their MP.
A call or WhatsApp message is just as good. Always include the link! Nobody likes to work harder than they have to. I've learned from over 15 years experience of campaigning that having to search for the link puts people off!
Only 4,870 people have sent emails to their MPs and ministers of state out of a population of 69 million so far.
We can do better.
Copy this link to sign https://newscord.org/action/gaza-students
(Newscord has made it easy for you)
Copy and paste this email template https://docs.google.com/document/d/14S23OHv-vhzWKM8GWertXFka324efYKp6sP09_Oak8c/edit?usp=drivesdk
(Outspoken Press have made it easy for you.)
MPs and ministers of state shouldn't be able to say they were unaware of these 40 students. (as well as another 40 waiting for scholarship decisions and private funding)
The thing with politicians is, they rarely miss an opportunity to maximise their chances of being re-elected. Both major parties are massively down in the polls. There couldn't be a better time for them to do something their constituents actually want.
Add in your email that any advocacy that results in tangible outcomes will secure them your vote in the next election.
There isn't a moment to lose.
I've been posting about Gaza and Sudan on Media Diversified's Instagram and X/Twitter and Bluesky for over a year. But lots of you aren't on social media. Simply put, it's just not enough.
"We can not give up. We have a duty as citizens of "democratic" states to resist and demand an end to complicity. Direct actions have proven to be effective time and time again.
Be brave, bold and creative. Use your skills, privileges, and connections."
— Ghada Sasa
I am very aware that genocide is not just a matter of individuals. People in both Gaza and Sudan are deliberately being annihilated by Israel, the UAE and the RSF in whole or part.
It didn't just start with famine, even though I know that seems easier to rally around.
I've collated a list of grassroots orgs, spotlight campaigns, and resources over the past year that you should take a look at here: https://linktr.ee/mediadiversified
Just doing one or two things a week could make a tangible difference.
Here's some more ideas from Let's Talk Palestine
Recently, an Israeli weapons firm advertised its drone technology with the help of war crimes footage. A Rafael Advanced Defence Systems “Spike Firefly” drone was advertised using a video in which it murders an unarmed Palestinian. Israeli weapons sold and exported are repeatedly tested on the Gazan population first, ensuring they’re “battle ready”.
The UK's largest arms fair is in September. The British government has always invited an official Israeli government delegation to the DSEI arms fair. Elbit Systems is a regular participant.
Yet In May 2024, France banned Israeli firms from participating in Eurosatory, Europe’s largest defence show, with the government citing Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
“At the request of the French authorities, Israeli companies will not be present at Eurosatory,” French Armed Forces Ministry said in an emailed statement. “Conditions are no longer suited to welcome Israeli companies to the French show, in a context where the President is calling for Israeli operations in Rafah to stop.”
Why is Keir Starmer inviting them here?
55 grassroots organisations have joined the "Big One" coalition to blockade and shut down the British defence industry's largest arms fair, on its opening day – Tuesday 9 September, Excel Centre.
https://thebigone.uk/ #TheBigOne
Late last year, Media Diversified published a series of articles.
— On Violence and The Wretched of the Earth
— Why imperial Western feminists need to permanently shut up about Muslim women
— The forgetting of trauma-manufactured intimacies
As always thank you to my paying subscribers. I can only justify writing this newsletter because of you 🙏🏿
If you open my newsletter each week (and I know lots of you do) and have read up until here, ask yourselves why you haven’t yet considered me/and or my work worth paying for. If you can’t answer that, please subscribe or even better drop some cash in my paypal.
Have a great week!