In lieu of the video game news we usually cover and in solidarity with calls for boycotts and strikes worldwide, here is a roundup of important information and resources about the ongoing genocide in Palestine.
The website Ceasefire in Gaza NOW! has a variety of links and repositories for action that you can utilize depending on where you are.
The Working Families Party is tracking which American politicians have called for a ceasefire to Israel. A collective of journalists have also been tracking which celebrities and other public figures have made statements in solidarity and support of a ceasefire.
While further calls to action have unfortunately been more quiet and small in the wider mainstream games industry, there has been much momentum in independent spaces nonetheless: An indie games bundle for Palestinian aid ran on itch.io in June 2021 and all titles and the developers in its catalog can still be individually supported. If you’re questioning if this genocide started last October, that is certainly not the case.
Job board and career-building community Work with Indies has collectively called for more humanitarian assistance and fundraising to aid Palestinians, on top of sharing their own resources in a roundup.
People Make Games explores some of the history behind the genocide and media’s relationship to covering it, centering on GameSpot and Giant Bomb’s Tamoor Hussain call for the games industry to do better.
The Adalah Justice Project has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration and the Secretaries of State and Defense for their failure to prevent the genocide. Their website points out how much money the US government is spending on this mass killing, money which could go to helping those in need in our own country.
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), one of the United States’ largest labor unions housing over two million active members, has also called for a ceasefire and “a sustained end to decades of occupation, blockades and lack of freedom endured by the Palestinian people.”
If you are seeking to financially donate, the following are some good places to directly help Palestinians and the workers on the ground who are trying to aid civilians in Gaza.
And finally, the U.N.’s court has ordered Israel to cease their genocidal actions. While they did not call for a “ceasefire”, the term ceasefire is used only for true military actions, which the U.N. has deemed Israel is not taking. If Israel does not take the actions the court has laid out for them within a month, the Hague will pass further judgement on the country and will possibly attempt to charge them with genocide.
The Palestinian people deserve to be free. They deserve to live without worry of bombs and colonization. Israel is a genocidal state and should be treated as such, and shame on all governments who pretend otherwise. We urge you to donate to one of those charities, inform yourself further, and spread the word.
