Kink, Not Genocide

This petition is closed as of 11/8/23

We, undersigned members of the Bay Area Kink community, express our solidarity with the people of Palestine.  We add our voices to over 20,000 bay area protestors who marched on October 28th to demand an immediate ceasefire and end to the genocide of Palestinians.  As we witness American politicians fueling this genocide, the principles of our kink community call us to act.

As human beings, we are horrified by the atrocities.  We have witnessed Israel deprive food, water, and electricity to 2 million people it calls “human animals.”  We’ve witnessed Israel’s bombing campaign murder 8,000 people - including over 3,000 children.  And we’ve witnessed atrocities such as the bombing of Al-Ahli hospital (500+ killed) and the bombing of Jablia refugee camp (400+ killed).  Such actions are only the latest atrocities in Israel’s 75-year campaign of ethnic cleansing, military occupation, and Apartheid.  We refuse any justification for such actions and call them by their name: genocide.

As a pro-consent community that is outspoken against sexual violence.  We condemn the systematic use of torture and sexual abuse by Israeli forces.  On this week of November 2nd, we witnessed videos of Israeli soldiers torturing and sexually abusing bound Palestinians in the West Bank.  Sexual violence is foundational in the Palestinian genocide, beginning with mass sexual assaults in the 1948 Nakba that ethnically cleansed 600,000 Palestinians and massacred 15,000. Human rights groups have found that Israeli forces routinely use physical, psychological, and sexual torture against detained Palestinians - including children.

As a community that enshrines the principle of bodily autonomy.  We condemn Israel holding over 10,000 political prisoners - half of which have been detained in the past few weeks alone.    Israel holds over 1,200 Palestinian detainees without charge or trial at all.  Furthermore, Israel’s occupation and blockade of Gaza forces 2 million residents to live in an open-air prison.

As an often-stigmatized community of artists and performers, we condemn Israel’s repressions of Palestinian artists.  We oppose the imprisonment of artists like Dareen Tatour, who was jailed for her poetry.  And we mourn the killing of artists like Heba Zagout, who was killed along with her two children by an Israeli airstrike.

As a community for queer and trans liberation, we recognize the devastating impact of this genocide on the Palestinian LGBTQIA+ community.  We refute Israel’s branding campaign as an “LGBT friendly” state while it commits atrocities against LGBTQIA+ Palestinians.

As opponents of racism - we condemn explicitly racist statements by Israeli leaders calling Palestinians “human animals” and “children of darkness”.  We oppose Israeli practices that have been widely condemned as Apartheid - including racially separate laws, segregated roads, and police brutality.  We follow the long history of racial justice leaders from Angela Davis to Nelson Mandela, who have linked their liberation struggles with those of the Palestinian people.

As a community who exists on stolen land.  We stand against Israel's 75-year campaign of land theft, illegal settlement, and violent displacements that has created an estimated 6 million Palestinian refugees.  We recognize the parallels between Palestinians' experiences and those of Indigenous people in our own country. The Bay Area also consists of occupied Indigenous land belonging to the Ohlone, Ramaytush, and Muwekma peoples.  We encourage our community to research the land they occupy, using a tool such as https://native-land.ca/. And to act in meaningful solidarity with their local indigenous communities.  One such action could include paying into a Shuumi land tax. From Palestine to the Bay Area, we oppose land theft, colonization, and the genocide of indigenous peoples.

Finally, we make it clear that our resistance to Israeli genocide is motivated by the above principles of collective liberation for all people.  Such principles also include opposing anti-semitism.  We recognize the long and rich history of Jewish resistance to Zionism, and we are proud to stand side by side with Jewish community members acting in solidarity with the Palestinian people.  We decry the anti-semitism inherent in linking Jewish identity with support for the state of Israel.  We witness the harmful impact such claims have had on our Jewish community members who oppose Israeli violence.

We cannot sit by as American elected officials travel to Israel, openly support genocide, and provide billions in funding and weapons shipments.  We join the 20,000 Bay Area residents who marched October 28th to say - not in our name, and not with our tax dollars!

We are calling on our community to do the following:

1. Sign this letter using the highlighted links at the bottom.  Then share on your platform using bit.ly/kinknotgenocide
2. Join in protests, such as the upcoming coalition protest Saturday Nov 4th 1pm at Civic Center SF.  Organizations to follow for more actions include AROC Bay area, JVP Bay Area, and Palestinian Youth Movement.  The bay area group “Hero Tent” is also updating a shared calendar of actions across the bay.
3. Call your elected officials.  Here is an example script: https://bit.ly/stopgazagenocide 
4. Learn about Palestine.  Action must come from a place of meaningful education, and Americans must unlearn the deeply entrenched anti-Palestinian racism that pervades Western media.  Here are two resource collections from Palestinian Feminist Collective and Palestinian Youth Movement
5. Start conversations with friends, family, and your communities.

To our Palestinian community members in the Bay area: you are not alone.  We recognize and value your presence in our scene.  We condemn the horrific anti-Palestinian violence that has escalated here in America, including the murder of 6 year old Wadea Al-Fayoume.  We pledge to stand alongside you until all of us are free. ❤️

In love and solidarity,

Bay Area Kink Against Genocide

This petition is closed as of 11/8/2023

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