Over the last year, there has been very little public acknowledgement or support expressed in Germany in relation to the crucial work that Gazan journalists have been doing to keep information flowing to the outside world. Until this important open letter was published by journalists based in Germany, very little collective public solidarity with Palestinian media workers had been voiced.
As you most likely know, since October 2023, roughly ten percent of Gaza’s journalists and media workers—at least 130 reporters—have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza (many of them while bearing witness to the ongoing horror and shocking death toll that Palestinian civilians are enduring). Gaza-based reporters have faced physical threats for their coverage, as well as major obstacles in getting information out of Gaza (more info on that here and here). Journalists have far too often been targeted despite wearing protective gear identifying them as members of the press. Meanwhile, foreign news organisations are still being denied access to Gaza, except for rare and tightly escorted trips arranged by the Israeli military. It is crucial that we find ways to express our support for journalism on the ground, as it is crucial that we continue to receive information from and about those who are most directly and grotesquely impacted by the ongoing and widespread humanitarian catastrophe in the region.
For all of the above reasons, Berlin-based artist Candice Breitz has set up an initiative to raise solidarity funds for the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), an independent union that represents approximately eighty percent of Gaza’s journalists. You can join her in raising funds for PJS in one or both of the following ways:
You can donate to PJS by ordering one or more items from the ‘Never Again Means Never Again’ collection. All profits generated via the sale of items from this collection will be donated to PJS via the ‘International Safety Fund’ of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Production costs for each item account for roughly 15% of the item’s price. In other words, 85% of all income generated via your order will go straight to PJS. Given the approaching holiday season, the website via which the ‘Never Again Means Never Again’ collection is accessible also allows you to order gift cards for friends, allies or loved ones. Orders can be sent anywhere in the world.
All items in the collection are named after progressive Jewish thinkers who have faced scorn in Germany over the last year (to put it mildly) in backlash for their public opinions vis-à-vis Israel-Palestine. At this point, the collection includes items titled ‘The Masha’ (as in Gessen), ‘The Eyal’ (as in Weizman), ‘The Deborah’ (as in Feldman), ‘The Nancy’ (as in Fraser, not Faeser), ‘The Yuval’ (as in Abraham), ‘The Emilia’ (as in Roig), ‘The Tomer’ (as in Dotan Dreyfus), and ‘The Nan’ (as in Nan Goldin, who is about to open an exhibition of her work at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin). This is not to suggest, at all, that only Jewish thinkers have been impacted by Germany’s unhinged crackdown on solidarity with the Palestinian people, but certainly it is not my place to speak on behalf of the Palestinian community in Germany or further afield.
You can take a closer look at the ‘Never Again Means Never Again’ collection (and place your order) via this link.
In addition to any contribution that you are able to make by personally ordering items from the collection, it would be incredibly meaningful if you were willing to amplify this fundraising initiative by using your platforms/channels to spread the word to others who might be willing to support the cause.
That could mean forwarding the info provided here via e-mail or – perhaps more effectively – by sharing information about this fundraising campaign via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or whatever other channels you typically use.
