It started when Zohran and I met for coffee after volunteering on Pastor El-Yateem’s race. We had an amazing conversation about Zohran starting a Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at his university, and I shared about the Palestine work that I was doing in New York City. We thought about what it would be like if we could actually bring Palestine into electoral politics.
Years later, after Zohran got elected to the state assembly, I was a part of this collective of Palestine activists and organizers who were thinking of new ways to engage on the issue. The movement for Palestine often consists of large street mobilizations, but it did not feel successful in penetrating local office. We wanted to bring the issue of Palestine into local office. We heard from Palestinian clients of the Center for Constitutional Rights about the Israeli settler attacks on their homes. We realized that there were all of these organizations in New York State raising millions of dollars to fund the violent displacement of Palestinians from their homes, and they were getting tax deductions because they were considered charitable organizations.
The movement for Palestine often consists of large street mobilizations, but it did not feel successful in penetrating local office. We wanted to bring the issue of Palestine into local office.
We sought to create a mechanism to stop this pipeline of funding going from New York State to fund occupation in Palestine. This was also something that would act as a catalyst for people who care about the issue of Palestine and wanted a way to engage with it that was not just mobilizing into the street.
We knew that bringing a bill around this to Albany would confront the “progressive except for Palestine” dynamic that exists within the Democratic Party, where people are progressive on all issues, but when it comes to Palestine, they don’t say a word. When we first introduced Not on Our Dime, it was a group of eight people…
Auteur: Aber Kawas
