#stopkillingchildren

"Everything collapsed… and we were left alone under the ashes."

My name is Amani, and I’m a mother of three: Mohammad (17), Moath (14), and Habiba (10). We used to live in a small home in northern Gaza. It wasn’t fancy, but it was filled with love, memories, and safety.

One day during the war, everything changed. There was a loud explosion… then screams… then silence. When the dust settled, our home was gone.

Everything we owned — clothes, family photos, Mohammad’s school books, Habiba’s favorite doll — was buried under the rubble.

We fled with nothing but the clothes on our backs. Since then, we've been living in a tent, exposed to the cold, the heat, the fear, and the hunger.

💔 “Mom, when will we go back home?” Mohammad asked me.

I have no answer… because there is no home to return to.

Mohammad, at 17, should be finishing school, but he had to stop because we can't afford even a notebook.

Moath, 14, is deeply traumatized. He barely sleeps at night.

Habiba, only 10, has forgotten what it feels like to sleep in a real bed.

💢 Life became a daily struggle:

We often sleep hungry.

There's no medicine when my children get sick.

I have no job, no support, and no future in sight.

All I have now… is my voice.

🙏 Please, help us survive.

We don’t ask for much — only for the chance to live with dignity.

Your donation — no matter how small — could:

Provide food, blankets, or clean water.

Help Mohammad return to school.

Give Habiba a reason to smile again.

🕊️ Save Amani and her children

You can help rebuild a life destroyed by war. Your kindness can bring hope to a family lost in the darkness.

Please donate. Please share. Please don’t look away.

11月14日（金）open 12-19

肌寒い金曜日、オープンしております。 陶芸家の小菅幸子さんが制作された、パレスチナへのチャリティーグッズが本日届きました！ 幸子さんのおうちのレモンちゃんがモデルになった、「Free Palestine」「パレスチナに自由と平和を 」とメッセージの入った、ミラーと缶バッチです。 ミラーは大きいものと、小さいものの２種類で、1枚目の写真で一番右にあるのが缶バッチ。 店頭で今日からお手に取っていただけます。 余裕がありましたら、通販の対応もしたいと思っています。 幸子さんの描く、柔らかな線と色彩、かわいいけれどパレスチナの国旗を力強く掲げるレモンちゃん、かわいい！！ ぜひ皆さま応援ください🇵🇸 売上から、ガザの人々の命を守るための継続的な支援に繋がる井戸水プロジェクトへ寄付されます。 中川の店頭にもポスターを貼っているので、目にされた方も多いかもしれません。 でも読んで寄付、と即実行に至る方はなかなか多くはないのではないかな、と想像するので、こうして自身でものを作り出せる作家の方々が、たくさんの人にグッズなどを購入してもらうことで寄付につなげる、というみんなの代表役を買って出てくださること、本当に頭が下がります。

中川では他にも、藤岡拓太郎さんのカード、坂本千明さんのカードや缶バッチ、洋裁と愉しみ多多さんのポストカードセットなど、寄付に繋がるグッズの販売や、フリーペーパなどの配布、掲示などしておりますので、是非お出かけの際はご覧くださいね。 また、考えるきっかけをくれる作品を発表している作家さんのzineなども一緒に並んでいます。

社会的な活動や発言には、尻込みしてしまう方も多いと思われますが、私はいつも当たり前の気持ちをまず大切にしています。 わからないことや、理解できていない事だってたくさんあるけれど、はっきりわかっているのは、「戦争はいやだ」ということ、「命を理不尽に奪う、奪われる、のはいやだ」ということ、「大切なものを破壊されたり奪われたりするのはいやだ」ということ、それらを知らぬままに自分が協力してしまうこともいやです。 そんな話を、お出かけくださる方々と話せる時はとても心強く、勇気をもらえます。 いつも皆さまありがとうございます。

そしてここのところ毎日のように心を痛めている熊のニュース。 中川のレジ前募金箱ですが、昨日は一般財団法人 日本熊森協会さんへ一部を募金させていただきました。 熊を処分するだけでは解決しない問題。 熊森協会さんの投稿では、いつも様々なことを知り学べます。 中川では主に助けが必要な動物に関する団体への寄付を続けています。 いつも一任して預けてくださる皆さま、本当にありがとうございます。 直接自分で何かをしよう、と思うとハードルが高かったりしますが、いろんな形で意思を伝える手立てがあります。 画面越しに意見の異なる知らない誰かを攻撃する前に、自分の意思をまずは自分のできる形で表してみませんか？

The only thing I am thankful for today is that the Wampanoag and other indigenous American peoples survived the apocalypse and genocide and are still with us today. And I am struck by many people celebrating “Thanksgiving” as newer genocides continue across our planet. In Palestine, in South Sudan, in Tigray, in Congo, and others. If you’re not uncomfortable today, you're not listening.

Anti-colonial myth work is very important. We need to challenge our “this is just the way it is” assumptions. We need to interrogate mythologies because they are often created by colonialist, white supremacist, and capitalist ideas. These are the rotting and poisonous foundations to so much evil in the world. The people in power rely on these narratives to keep everyone else violently oppressed.

For the white people reading, you basically have 3 choices with all the harm being perpetuated in the world right now:

1. Actively support systems of oppression,

2. Remaining “neutral” (passively supporting the status quo, which is the system of oppression!) or

3. Actively oppose systems of oppression.

Whiteness is the only reason many even have a choice to be “neutral” – consider the privilege there. Neutrality is also equivalent to sticking your head in the sand. I see this happening a lot among folks who advocate for shutting off the news, disengaging, all in the name of “self-care” or remaining positive.

Part of the system of oppression is to push each individual so hard that they can’t help their community. Drain them of energy — physical, mental, and emotional — to the point that they need to disengage in order to survive. That disengagement then serves the status quo. If those individuals band together instead, forming mutually-supportive communities, they are much harder to control — and more capable of generating meaningful change.

As long as individuals are struggling to simply survive, though, we aren’t able to band together. And we aren’t able to use our rest to become strong — just to avoid dying. Are you perpetuating that cycle?

This is not to say that self-care isn’t important. But a lot of our Western ideas of “self-care” are fucked up and perpetuate systems of oppression by focusing on individual disengagement and distraction — again, reinforcing the status quo — rather than focusing on communities of support.

There is a way to do self-care that isn't fueling systems of oppression. We must try to move away from rugged individualism and the goal of productivity (or remaining “useful”) under capitalism.

Rest should be used so you can maintain the energy to keep fighting oppression. That should be our goal. And remaining neural or hiding from problems does not get us there. Also recognize that being able to rest at all is a serious privilege. But there is a fine line between revolutionary rest and toxic positivity, which fuels oppression myths.

I struggle with this myself: rest is often only for bare survival and society is actively dangerous to me (my physical safety comes from isolation, meaning no flow of community care). Rest becomes a purely physical need to not die “today.” I recognize that that is also by design, and that it is a self-perpetuating cycle. I cannot usually get beyond the first level of Maslow’s pyramid of needs.

People are celebrating a day that represents indigenous genocide. In the name of good food and family? In the name of a holiday rest and rejuvenation? With over 4500 children dead in Palestine? This day feels more appropriate as a day of mourning and reflection.