Doing what I can

cw - the Rafah tent bombing

[Edited to include links/actions items at the bottom of the post]

I drew today’s Daily Cartoon for the New Yorker:

after the bombing of a tent city in Rafah, a designated “safe zone” for Palestinians.

Late Sunday, after a wonderful last day at MCAF, I scrolled past horrifying footage of the carnage - charred corpses being pulled from the flames, a man in complete shock holding up a dead child, whose head had been torn off by the bombs — all recorded by people actively under siege and posted to Instagram in an effort to force the world to bear witness. And then in the morning I woke up and went to the spa for 8 hours with two dear friends.

I am bereft for the destroyed lives, the apathy and hypocrisy of our leaders turning a blind eye to genocide in the last designated safe zone. Since this bombing, Jewish schools and places of worship in my country and city have been shot at and set on fire. Which is horrifying!! These events are obviously connected and it’s heartbreaking. Violence only perpetuates even more hatred and violence. So what can I do about it?

While doomscrolling after the spa, I saw this post:

Black Liturgies on Instagram

and then was like,

I have this James Baldwin quote taped above my desk for the days when being a cartoonist feels like silly nonsense.

The role of the artist is exactly the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.

I have to remind myself constantly that my job as an artist is to translate into images what feels impossible to articulate in words, and in doing so to highlight injustice.

illustration from December

I feel tiny and insignificant in the face of so much suffering, but if one thing in my power is to convince my editor (to whom I am very grateful) to publish a cartoon, or to draw a picture in pencil crayon and post it to instagram, and I do it, then I’ve done what I can.

I write this in hopes that it will help you think of the small thing you can do with the power you have.

Some links and things you can do:

• attend a local pro-Palestine protest

• call your representatives to demand an arms embargo to Israel and a ceasefire

  • USA: 5 Calls

  • Canada: find your MP here

• Boycott, Divest, Sanction

• donate to urgent relief organizations to help people in Gaza: Operation Olive Branch, Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund, World Central Kitchen, Medical Aid for Palestinians

• Jewish Voice for Peace

• Independent Jewish Voices of Canada

Protect your neighbours, fuck antisemitism, free Palestine.

Thanks for reading,

Zoe