Statement of Opposition to Genocide
Food in Neighborhoods Statement of Opposition to Genocide
The Food in Neighborhoods Community Coalition is rooted in the understanding that stolen land, attempted genocide, and the forced removal of peoples from their land is the foundation of today’s destructive U.S. food system. What we are witnessing in Palestine is a genocide that mirrors the occupation of what is now the United States. Support for apartheid and genocide against Palestinians is a threat to all of our struggles for liberation.
As a multi-racial multi-sector coalition we understand that all systems of oppression are interconnected and that we all have a role to play in ensuring that these systems are dismantled. The legacies and current realities of occupation, settler colonialism, racism, and U.S. imperialism have devastated the lives and sovereignty of millions of our peoples around the world. We cannot stay silent in the face of genocide.
No matter who we are or what our belief systems are, all people deserve to live safe, dignified lives. We are responding to the call of our Palestinian siblings to join in solidarity with those being attacked. We commit to resist genocide in Palestine and wherever it rears its ugly head. We call on other anti-hunger and food and farm justice organizations and their members to be vocal and active in opposing this genocide and the United States’ role in funding it.
The occupation, forced relocation, and open-air imprisonment of 2.3 million Palestinians is an intentional effort to erase a people and seize their land. In Gaza, the Israeli government has waged a brutal siege for over 16 years, denying access to basic necessities like food, water, electricity, and medical care. As of December 19, 19,667 people had been killed by Israeli strikes since 7 October, and more than 52,000 people had been injured in the most prolonged and intense bombing campaign in history targeting a populated area. Thousands more victims are buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings. Schools and hospitals have been systematically destroyed and 1.9 million Palestinians have been displaced. Mass starvation is being used as a weapon.
What we are witnessing is a genocide. FIN unequivocally opposes this genocide and the U.S. role in supporting it, and calls on others to do the same.
We imagine that all individuals and organizations who care about food, land, worker, and farm justice, and the sovereignty and lives of people also feel the same. Now is the moment for us to raise our voices and take action to end the genocide and our government’s complicity in funding Israel’s military.
We want to be clear that we are not conflating Jewish people with the government of Israel, we know that these actions are not representative of all Israeli people, and we do not condone killing anywhere. We are in solidarity with our anti-Zionist Jewish siblings who are also calling for a ceasefire and the end to genocide. We encourage folks to follow the calls to action from Jewish Voice for Peace and the Arab Resource Organizing Center:
Call your elected officials and demand they defund the war – click here to learn more and for action suggestions.
Call for: an immediate ceasefire; an end to forced displacement; an end to U.S. funding for weapons
Challenge disinformation and the media blackout. Use your communications prowess.
Show up in the streets. Bring your community. Post on social media to show that you were there.
Support people, including policymakers and other organizations, who are being attacked for standing up for preventing genocide. The right to criticize a government’s actions must be protected. Challenge every attempt to criminalize solidarity.