Climate Culture: Free Palestine Edition

In 'Climate Culture', Gerard Mazza shares what he's been reading, listening to, or watching that's had him thinking about the climate crisis.

'Hind's Hall' by Macklemore, May 2024

Who would have thought that during an ongoing, live-streamed genocide, Macklemore would be the high-profile hip-hop artist to provide the soundtrack for student protests around the globe? The appeal of 'Hind's Hall' is more than just political. When I first saw the music video as an Instagram Reel, I watched it again and again. On a Friday evening, fairly late, it sounded great when I heard it bumping from an open car window at a set of traffic lights. It sounded its best when I heard it playing from a portable PA during a short occupation of the Engineering Pavilion at Curtin University. Genocide in Gaza has widened a political divide between those who are content with the status quo, and those who are appalled by it and want nothing to do with it. A generational shift is occurring, and the consequences could be far-reaching. I hear that in 'Hind's Hall': "The blood is on your hands, Biden, we can see it all/And fuck no, I'm not voting for you in the fall".

'Heatwave amid a genocide' by Ruwaida Amer, The Electronic Intifada, 1 May 2024

An example of how the climate crisis exacerbates other injustices: Displaced Palestinians in Gaza's south have been forced into conditions of extreme heat without proper shelter. “There is nothing to protect us from the sun’s rays,” says a grandmother quoted by The Electronic Intifada. “I hope this will all end soon.”

'Revealed: repairing Israel’s destruction of Gaza will come at huge climate cost' by Nina Lakhani, The Guardian, 6 June 2024

Meanwhile, Israel's attacks are also exacerbating the climate crisis. Research cited in The Guardian's report says the greenhouse gas emissions created by aerial and ground attacks in the first 120 days Gaza exceeded the footprint of 26 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations. To rebuild from the damage will create even more emissions.

'The Urgent Call of Palestine' by Zeinab Shaath, music video directed by Ismail Shammout, 1972

'Hind's Hall' sent me looking for more pro-Palestine protest music. I found 'The Urgent Call of Palestine', a folk song by Egyptian-born Palestinian singer Zeinab Shaath. I also found a fascinating article from In These Times that details how the song came to be, how Israeli forces seized the music video, and how it was recovered years later. The song, as well as others by Shaath, was reissued earlier this year. 'Can't you hear/The urgent call of Palestine?', goes the chorus. It's haunting and made more so because that call has become no less urgent. In the music video, there are photos of children and parents that could have come from my Instagram feed during recent months. Throughout, the camera lingers on the leaves and branches of olive trees. In the final shot, it pans up to take in the whole of one particularly distinctive specimen. A displacement is a disconnection from a place. A belonging to a place, and a love for its distinctiveness, make a place a home.

'Palestine and Climate Activists Are Joining Forces at UK University Encampments' by Clare Hymer, Novara Media, 9 May 2024

In the UK, pro-Palestine activists and climate activists are working together and connecting their demands. I see something similar beginning to happen here in Australia, too. One march through campus during the Curtin Gaza Solidarity Encampment ended outside the university's Engineering Pavilion. A student organiser spoke beneath a huge billboard for Mineral Resources, a company pursuing gas projects. She paired her call for divestment from arms manufacturers with one for divestment from fossil fuels. I hope the student encampment movement might bolster the fossil fuel divestment push, which student groups in Western Australia have been pursuing for years. When we bring these issues together, we more clearly show the systemic reality underpinning both.

Disrupt Burrup Hub's statement on the Curtin University students' encampment, 14 May 2024

In full:

DISRUPT BURRUP HUB has formally endorsed the Gaza Solidarity Encampment set up at Curtin University.

DISRUPT BURRUP HUB's mission is to prevent governments and corporations from expanding fossil fuel production and thereby committing human rights violations. We stand against all human rights violations, including those committed against the people of Palestine.

We are disturbed that the Australian government and institutions like Curtin University are complicit in genocide.

We fully endorse the courageous students who are taking direct action to demand Curtin cut ties with Israel. We hope the Curtin University administration will listen to the Student Guild and divest from both Israel and the fossil fuel industry - both of which are perpetrating grave injustices.