Oct. 16th, 2023Neurokin stands in solidarity with Palestine, and with all indigenous people who face discrimination, injustice, and the oppressive rule of settler colonialism. We unequivocally support Palestinians in their fight for liberation from the Israeli apartheid regime, which is committing genocide.
We don’t believe this is a complex issue, and we’ll explain why. We are a team of Bangladeshis operating from a personal understanding of how a refusal to condemn genocide erodes mental health outcomes for generations to come. Namely, we are writing this 52 years after the formation of Bangladesh, and today, we are invested in Palestinian freedom because it is impossible not to draw parallels to the historical context that led to our liberation war.
Our parents saw the impacts of genocide firsthand. Shupa’s father, for instance, was held captive as a prisoner of war for 5 years, and witnessed atrocities that hindered his physical and emotional wellbeing, and still affect his relationship with his family to this day. Maria’s mother, a toddler at the time, still remembers seeing bodies floating atop red rivers, and a mixture of blood and smoke from explosions creating a red haze in the air. This disrupted her developing brain and nervous system, completely robbed her of her childhood, and affects her sleep even now, in her 50s.
We are especially proud of our history because we know that our liberation would not have been possible without guerrilla fighters who, without existing military infrastructure or the access to weaponry that comes with it, formed a resistance movement against an oppressive regime seeking to control the basic elements of our lives, and martyred themselves for our freedom.
Time Magazine cover - December 20th, 1971.We will not be neutral because we understand that Palestinians have a right to retaliate and are entitled to their rage. We know that neutrality directly contributes to the erasure of Palestine’s history. Global superpowers have taken the side of an oppressive regime for their own interests, and have pushed this agenda through their control of mainstream news outlets, which claim to be objective and neutral. The result is that under the guise of bipartisanship, the rest of the world has turned a blind eye while an entire group of people, with a distinct culture and heritage, are being colonized by brute force.
If we as a collective watch this atrocity take place and don’t find a way to highlight the truth of what is actually happening to Palestinians, it will perpetuate the power imbalances we have gotten too comfortable living in, and history will continue to repeat itself. Future generations will hear a whitewashed version of the history of this land, that is so sacred to so many brown Palestinian people who have deep ancestral roots there, and it will not be dissimilar to the white supremacist lies we were taught in our elementary schools about the colonization of indigenous lands, ethnic cleansing, or the longstanding impacts and magnitude of slavery that has been the backbone of North American economy.
How we talk about this matters. This is not a conflict or a war. It is important to note that there is a clear power differential here - between an unarmed civilian population and a state with advanced tech and billions of dollars invested into their military infrastructure. The trauma caused by decades of Israeli military occupation is not the same as this one act of retaliation from a fringe group. Taking a neutral stance here does not give anyone moral superiority, and impartiality in these situations disproportionately harms oppressed people, and maintains the status quo of the oppressor.
A primary driver of psychological well-being is autonomy. When we consider that Palestinian children in the occupied territories have never been able to make a truly free choice because they have been raised in an open-air prison, it is impossible to take a neutral stance. Because we are in the mental health & disability justice spaces, we recognize the impact this collective powerlessness will have on Palestinian people, both at home and abroad, for years to come. So, we will not invalidate the justifiable response of Palestinians for the sake of diplomacy.
We recognize the emotional toll it takes to witness genocide in real-time and constantly be exposed to distressing news, but we have a moral obligation as human beings to be there for Palestinians. Sometimes, when all you’re doing is consuming content about something so large, it feels like a problem that is so big that your little action will not make any difference, so you might as well stay a passive passenger while world events occur. This is what the oppressor is banking on.
The fight for freedom is going to be a long one, and as much as we want to stay informed and be of service, we need to make sure we can be there for our fellow humans in a sustainable way - without burning out, wallowing in despair, or worse becoming desensitized. We need to create realistic expectations of how to manage our energy so that we can show up when it counts.
In the face of the genocide taking place in Gaza, we want to make a commitment to Palestinians at home and abroad: to bear witness to what is happening, to show unconditional support for and center the voices of Palestinians, and to preserve the identity and stories of Palestinians sharing their last moments, including civilians, journalists, and families forced to evacuate their homeland or stay and face what comes next. So, we will create a dedicated space on our platform where people can find informational resources and causes to support that create better mental health outcomes for refugees, people of colour who have been displaced by war and colonization, and those who face discrimination and marginalization at the hands of oppressive power structures.
Many online creators with sizable followings are using mental health speak to convince people that we should just stay away from our phones. We might have the privilege to avoid witnessing genocide, but Palestinians don't have the privilege to avoid experiencing it. Now is not the time to turn off our phones or delete social media for your mental health while an entire group of people is getting wiped off the face of the earth. Now is the time to show up.
Our request to anyone reading this is to not get sucked into respectability politics and fall for the “both sides” rhetoric, and to realize that the root cause of the violence we are seeing is settler colonialism and illegal occupation imposed by the state of Israel, NOT Palestinian resistance. Let us stand firm in our solidarity for Palestine. Palestine will be free one day, and we should all be on the right side of history when that happens.
We value and support the principles of justice and human rights, and we are committed to promoting a world where all individuals and communities can live safely, in peace, and with their dignity intact.
