Designers Against Genocide: A Statement of Solidarity for the Liberation of Palestine
November 4, 2023
What this is and who this is for
This is a public act of solidarity unequivocally condemning Israel’s genocide of Palestine and Palestinians. We are individuals from all over the world united by our craft and profession as designers, who are standing up to say we are AGAINST genocide, and we will not look away from it, nor stay silent.
We as individuals – who work as human-centered designers, interaction designers, experience designers, interface designers, service designers, graphic designers, user experience designers, product designers, design researchers, design leaders, futurists, and technologists – know that at the heart of all that we do is a commitment to designing for the better, both for people and the planet. We design for better futures and we prototype better futures in our work, every day. We cannot, in good conscience, therefore stay silent during a brutal genocidal, and displacement campaign of a people while claiming to work for better futures.
We pledge our names to condemn the dehumanization of Palestinians. We reject the framing of any one group of people as inherently evil who deserve violence. We unequivocally stand for the safety, freedom, and liberation of the people of Palestine and reject the notion that the brutal genocide and oppression of one group of people determines the security and safety of another. We recognize the lethal nature of this intentional framing and we reject it. We are unequivocally against Islamophobia, anti-semitism, racism, and the willful persecution of people. We understand that no state government is representative of a faith tradition.
We sign our name to say we stand against genocide, to say that under no circumstances whatsoever is genocide justified, to say that we stand against the military occupation of Palestine and the apartheid society created by Israel under which Palestinian people are subject to inhumane conditions under “normal circumstances”.
We can not be designers who stay disconnected from brutal war crimes while claiming to operate from a space of empathy when we design for spaces, technology and interfaces. Empathy is the ability to feel. To not feel anything when you see grieving and wailing parents carrying remains of their children who were bombed, men pulling out corpses from rubble with their bare hands, hospitals and ambulances being bombed carrying the injured, white phosphorus raining down onto people that will burn through skin and flesh to the bones upon contact - to not feel, to stay silent, means something in US has extinguished - and this ALSO is something we pledge to fight against. There is nothing normal about staying silent or indifferent while a population–half of which is children—is being annihilated. We reject the efforts to keep us silent, to keep us inactive. We reject efforts to disconnect us from our sense of humanity in fear of professional retaliation.
We pledge our names below to say that we did not look away, that we bore witness. The power of showing our names and showing up is not lost upon us. We hope to collect as many signatures from designers as possible from around the world, to show our stance and condemnation of genocide.
We invite all designers, no matter where they are in the world, to stand against genocide.
*This statement and effort is inspired by WAWOG - Writers Against the War on Gaza.
Why should we care? Whether as designers we are passionate about the climate catastrophe, issues related to sustainability, youth, education, safety, feminism, maternal health, ecologies, health, biodiversity, decolonization, mental health, inclusion, surveillance technology, security, community building and community health - this genocide touches on every issue. Many of us also like to call ourselves life-centered designers. As professionals, we can not in good conscience claim to practice life-centered design, while ignoring genocide, a catastrophe designed to have devastating effects on both people and the planet. Dropping 12,000 tonnes of bombs from the sky, is certainly not good for the environment, on top of the fact that it kills families, children, and all life below it.
We as professionals stand with our Palestinian colleagues, who have faced in their life story exile, displacement, loss of family, and the mental anguish of seeing an ongoing effort of censorship of their histories. We recognize the violence in that. We recognize that the genocide in Gaza and the apartheid system in which Palestinians are subject to exist under in Israel/Palestine is neither a religious conflict nor an issue of safety for any religious group - this is about land and resources.
We are not blind to the fact that there are global strategic censorship efforts taking place to stop people from taking a public stance against this genocide, to frame it as a complex issue. We recognize that it is hypocritical for our societies to be proud proponents of free speech and democracy, while making concerted efforts to demonize Palestinians and criminalize the support of Palestinian liberation.
Beyond our profession, we take a stance against genocide because we are human.
The situation on the ground in Gaza is getting more and more harrowing with every passing day. Israel has cut off water, electricity, food, and fuel to the population of Gaza, creating fertile ground for a domino effect of violent humanitarian catastrophes to unfold. As of November 3rd, 2023: 3,826 children have been confirmed killed by Israeli airstrikes. Thousands remain under rubbles and pummeled buildings. The number of people confirmed killed in Gaza on day 29 of the genocidal campaign surpasses 10,000. 16 hospitals are out of service due to the siege imposed by Israel, and 32 medical care facilities are out of operation. As of October 24th, Israel dropped 12,000 tonnes of explosives on the population of Gaza. 42 bombs are dropped every hour, at least, in Gaza since the start of this particular aggression. The sheer scale of orchestrated and well-designed violence is unimaginable, and the speed of human life being violently taken in the most gruesome circumstances is chilling. It must be condemned. Compounding the violence of airstrikes is the violence of orchestrating an environment rife for disease outbreaks, and a complete collapse of institutions and healthcare to humanely manage for the injured or the dead.
31 journalists have been killed, some with their entire families. Churches, schools, entire neighborhoods, crowded refugee camps, evacuation routes, hospitals have been bombed by Israeli airstrikes.
As of October 15th, 47 entire family lines were wiped out by Israeli bombings in Gaza - as in all living members of every generation of an entire family line were killed. The number now is considerably higher.
The images and videos coming from Gaza from Palestinian reporters on the ground show what we need to see - people in fear. Not in military gear. We look at what they are wearing, what their state of being is and we see that this is by no definition a war. A war happens between two sovereign states, in which both parties have military capacity for combat. What we see happening in Gaza is genocide.
The intent for genocide has also been made explicit by Israeli officials with ample evidence of dehumanizing language projected towards Palestinians. Top UN officials have resigned citing a textbook case of genocide unfolding in Gaza.
We recognize that silence is the most political stance one can take at this moment. In this moment there is no apolitical stance.
By signing this pledge, we commit to learning more about Palestine - especially from Palestinians. We commit to amplifying the stories and realities of Palestinians. In this moment, we demand a ceasefire - as the bare minimum.
We call out apartheid for apartheid- a society where one group of people are subject to a different legal system, must identify themselves with designated IDS, take different roads, have different license plates for public transportation, be monitored for their movements, are prevented from entering spaces, and are imprisoned unjustly for indefinite periods of time without trial or charge. We acknowledge the root causes of violence and we commit to learning and sharing human stories of Palestine. We commit to stand against the deliberate erasure of Palestinian reality.
We will not engage with anyone advocating for violence, using violent language, or enabling a genocidal campaign.