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Gujarat Dalit rights institute hosts event expressing grassroots support for Palestine

By Jag Jivan 
In a unique programme of solidarity with the Palestinian people, held about 20 kilometres from Ahmedabad at the Dalit Shakti Kendra (DSK)—an empowerment and technical training institute—Palestinian Ambassador Abdullah M. Abu Shawesh urged participants to use social media to express support for the Palestinian struggle for self-determination.
“All of you have a mobile phone in your hand,” he told hundreds of participants, including DSK students and Dalit activists from 14 districts of Gujarat. Emphasising the need to go beyond symbolic solidarity, he said, “While you must abide by local laws, there is a legal, diplomatic, and peaceful way to support the Palestinian resistance.”
Shawesh encouraged participants to share photos and videos depicting the current situation in Palestine. According to him, “There are powerful and corrupt leaders who want the war to continue. Flood them with images and videos of what is happening in Palestine today.”
Moved by the gesture of support shown at DSK, Shawesh reminded the audience that the “genocidal war” in Palestine over the past two years has claimed around 66,000 lives, including about 225 journalists. Gaza, he said, “has been reduced to rubble—a land of shattered houses and broken homes.”
Reiterating that peace must come before politics and humanity before all else, he described the extreme conditions faced by Palestinians, including surgeries being conducted in hospitals without anesthesia. “Yet, hope lives on,” he said.
He added that the friendship between India and Palestine has deep roots. “The Indian freedom movement supported the Palestinian revolution in the mid-1990s, and in 1988 India recognised Palestine as a separate state. India has supported and continues to support Palestine—and we strongly believe it will remain with Palestine,” he stated.
The two-hour programme featured the ambassador placing a traditional Palestinian scarf—the black-and-white keffiyeh—around the shoulders of Dalit rights activists, followed by the lighting of candles surrounding a symbolic coffin representing the Palestinian tragedy.
Welcoming the ambassador, DSK founder Martin Macwan said the event was intended to convey grassroots solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Stating that more than Rs 2 lakh have been collected and as much amount has been promised by grassroots people for humanitarian aid, he added, the Government of India permission would be needed to send the money across.
Speaking on the house occasion, human rights activist Gagan Sethi drew parallels between the discrimination faced by Dalits, tribals, and minorities in India and that endured by Palestinians.
After the event, DSK students and Dalit activists lit about 1,000 candles shouting "Jai Bhim" slogans in front of a huge Babasaheb Ambedkar statue. Inscribed on each candle was the message “Peace before Politics.”
Participants in the programme included former Planning Commission member Syeda Hameed and former National Institute of Design director Ashoke Chatterjee.

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