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There’s no eloquent way to write this.
My best friend Tan (Tania Safi), was aboard the Handala as part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition; a civilian ship carrying desperately needed food, baby formula, and medicine to starving Palestinians in Gaza. The flotilla was intercepted in international waters by the Israeli military, and the entire crew was kidnapped and imprisoned.
They are now on hunger strike in protest. They are being punished for bringing life-saving aid to dying people.
In case there was any doubt: this isn’t a distant conflict. This affects us all. And this is my friend of 19 years. This is one of the most luminous, crazy, courageous people I know—a queer MENA filmmaker, a human rights activist, and a person whose heart beats for liberation in every sense.
I know it can feel overwhelming. This tidal wave of grief, rage, helplessness. But see what’s rising, too? People with clarity. With soul-level conviction. Ordinary citizens with a refusal to be silent, still, or numb in the face of systemic cruelty.
We don’t get to choose the times we’re born into. But we do get to choose what kind of people we are inside them. Our actions: where the spiritual rubber hits the road. If our practices—our tarot, our mantras, our astrology, and meditations—don’t root us in love and courage, what are they for?
This is a moment to remember that it’s not peaceful to turn away from injustice. It is not healing to avoid discomfort. Right action is devotional. Right speech is sacred. Right relationship is the path.
Joy helps…
Please don’t think that joy is not a part of this. Especially now. I feel an immense joyful pride in the value-led choices and hopeful, joyful actions of those on the Flotilla. Palestinians have shown over the last 20 months that joy is defiant, life-giving, and deeply necessary in struggles against oppression.
When powerful systems want us flattened by grief, when they weaponise despair, joy is a refusal. So sing, dance, affirm and assert your dignity, your imagination, and your humanity as you take action in the name of freedom for all.
An action for today
Email the Australian government and demand they act to bring Tania Safi and fellow activist Robert Matthews safely home. For all other Handala crew members, see below for the contact details for their nation’s representatives. Feel free to edit my email template below, so it makes sense for your country.
DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade): enquiries@dfat.gov.au
Penny Wong, Foreign Minister: senator.wong@aph.gov.au
Suggested subject line: Urgent Action Required: Australians Detained by Israeli Forces
Dear Minister Wong,
I am writing with grave concern for Australian citizens Tania Safi and Robert Matthews, who were aboard the humanitarian Gaza Freedom Flotilla’s Handala vessel and have been unlawfully detained in international waters by Israeli forces. These citizens are now on a hunger strike. I urge you to call for their immediate release, provide consular support, and publicly condemn this illegal interception.
I also urge the government to implement immediate sanctions against Israel for its violations of international law and human rights, amid the Gazan genocide.
Australia must act with moral courage and in accordance with our stated values.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
Emails aside, there are also all your usual options for calling on your governments—from local to federal—through meetings, weekly protests, online actions, donating to vetted Gaza organisations and citizens, holding vigils, praying, spell work, and more. To what works according to your ability.
Whether you are loud or quiet, online or offline, grieving or galvanised—your presence matters. Your voice matters.
Let us not leave the sacred work of justice only to the brave few. Let us speak in solidarity. Let us sing out in defiance. Let us act as if we were already free. Because we are. It’s the systems of domination that would like us to believe otherwise.
For Tan. For Gaza. For a free Palestine. For all beings resisting colonial violence. For all of us, everywhere, who deserve freedom and safety. And for our own hearts, which long to be in right relationship with the world.
ALL EYES ON GAZA. ALL EYES ON GAZA.
Xo Jerico
Emails sent, thank you for your searing words of rage and emboldened hope, Jerico. Mobilising towards the immediate liberation of Palestinians should never leave our minds and I hope our gutless government has a change of heart asap. Thinking of Tan and Robert ❤️🩹
This is exactly what I needed to read today. Thank you for putting it into words.