by Mazin Qumsiyeh, published on his Popular Resistance blog, ongoing….
Action without rational thought based on critical thinking can be dangerous, but rational thought and spoken words remain sterile without ACTION
Before we address what can be done, we need to know the problem (provide accurate diagnosis) and then think of appropriate therapy and prognosis. We must think globally and act locally and millions of people are doing this. We network with those “candles in the darkness“) and work together (organizing). For example, we in the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability are interested in changing people and protecting nature especially facing such challenges as human destructive habits including global climate change. With volunteers, we succeeded in significant accomplishments.
74 Ways to act for peace with justice (what YOU can do)
1) Educate yourself via reliable books (or at least videotapes) on the subjects you are interested on and expand your interest into other areas. See Suggested books and videos Recommened Books and Links
2) Educate yourself and track current information and key historical data via websites (and disseminate it). For example look into http://www.imemc.org/, http://electronicintifada.net/, https://mondoweiss.net, Encyclopedia of the Palestine Problem, Palestine Remembered, and similar websites.
3) Educate yourself by visiting areas of conflict and friction and where you can make a difference and writing about it. There are many organizations doing tours that inspire in many parts of the world including Palestine.
4) Practice using clear and unambiguous vocabulary including language to protest apartheid and colonization. See Alex McDonald “When They Speak Israel – A Guide to Clarity in Conversations about Israel”
5) Challenge media bias by first educating yourself and others about its existence and the extent of the bias. See for example http://ifamericansknew.org/,
6) Write to the mainstream media. You can do letters to the editor (usually 200 words) and/or opinion pieces (700-900 words).
7) Start your own group or join an existing organization that works for justice. Simply search/google your city with the word activism plus Palestine or any other subject that interests you to identify candidates.
8) Join the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability, International Solidarity Movement, the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program (EAPPI), Christian Peace Maker Team, PeaceCorps, or other groups doing work in the areas of need
9) Develop close working relationship with progressive parties and groups in your country.
10) Network and enhance groups working on sanctions and suspension of aid (especially military) to oppressive regimes such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
11) Lobby. This is done individually or by supporting/joining one or more of the many groups doing it, e.g. Council for the National Interest, American Muslims for Palestine, Citizens For Fair Legislation, American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine, and American Association for Palestinian Equal Rights
12) Hold a teach-in, seminar, or public dialogue. This is straightforward: you need to decide venue, speakers, and do publicity. This can be facilitated through such groups as Palestine Media Watch which have speakers bureaus.
13) Send direct aid and support for people on the ground through transparent and trustworthy groups.
14) Use youtube and google video to disseminate information
15) Challenge Israel and other oppressive regimes in local and International courts. If you are a lawyer, donate your time and start some networking and initiate cases (e.g. US congress is violating US laws by sending money to Israel, US Citizens can bring cases against foreign governments that harmed them). Groups with great interest and activism on behalf of Palestinians includes Lawyers Without Border, National Lawyers Guild, Al-Haq, Yesh Din, and Adalah – Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.
16) Help local groups that are shy to take on controversial subjects (insist that courage and honesty demand taking strong positions).
17) If you work in a group, suggest formation of local or national coalitions to increase the power by association.
18) Join the campaigns for economic boycotts. For example see successful examples here http://www.bdsmovement.net
19) Join or initiate a campaign for cultural and academic boycott.
20) Host an art exhibit or other art performance (music, dabka etc) that highlight the rich Palestinian culture.
21) Engage in civil disobedience actions to draw attention and change policies.
22) Develop campaigns to support the right to enter: see www.righttoenter.ps
23) Grow your own garden, reduce, recycle, and reuse
24) Donate to aid needy families and worthy projects (e.g. palestinenature.org)
25) Develop campaigns to ban Political Junkets to Israel.
26) Support the campaigns to end the siege on Gaza. See http://www.freegaza.org/, https://ifamericansknew.org
27) Work in your country against discrimination. For example
Arabs Against Discrimination: http://www.aad-online.org/
American Arabs Anti-Discrimination Committee https://www.adc.org/
28) Support Human Rights: Human Rights Watch: http://hrw.org B’Tselem:The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories http://www.btselem.org
29) Support the Right to Education Campaign: http://right2edu.birzeit.edu/
30) Promote education especially in younger generation
31) Work against home demolitions and other destructive actions. e.g. Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions: http://www.icahd.org/eng
32) Support empowering Youth from Palestine e.g. see http://www.yfppal.com/ and http://www.alrowwad-acts.ps
33) Write to and work with alternative mass media (like DemocracyNow, Public Access TV).
34) Create your own content and post it to the web
35) Utilize social networking sites to reach a mass audience (e.g. facebook)
36) Go into chat rooms, email discussions etc and spread the word.
37) Buy Palestinian Products, for example from www.palestineonlinestore.com.
38) Pray for Peace and Justice or if you are not religious, take time out to think and meditate on what can be done to achieve Peace with Justice
39) Make a podcast or public service announcement and spread it
40) Drop a banner from a traffic bridge or any other publicly visible location.
41) Put out an information table in a university student center, public gathering, festivals, or other places where people congregate.
42) Host a fundraising party or dinner at your home.
43) Show a documentary in a public setting and then have a discussion about it.
44) Organize a public debate between those who support Zionism and those who support equality and justice
45) Learn Arabic or if you are an Arab learn another language (including Hebrew) so that you can communicate better
46) Make a street theater
47) Engage in Civil disobedience acts (this may entail getting arrested).
48) Reach out to Christian religious leaders and ask them to act based on the Kairos Palestine document www.kairospalestine.ps
49) Challenge the Zionist attempts to doctor Wikipedia (ie. imposing a Zionist distorted version on this free web encyclopedia). Become a wikepedia editor/writer.
50) Start a genuine interfaith dialogue based on acting for justice rather than chatting to hide injustice.
51) Find a way not to pay taxes to governments that violate human rights and use your taxes for war and oppression.
52) Host a dinner with Arabic food and show people the rich cultural traditions like embroidered dresses that go back to Canaanitic times. Write to us to remind us of other ways to act.
53) Run for public office.
54) Put-up a billboard in your community that highlight a certain aspect of the struggle. Here is example http://stopbillionstoisrael.com/
55) Develop partnerships/twinning between universities, schools, colleges, churches etc with similar Palestinian entities.
56) Introduce a divestment resolution from Israel at your city or town council.
57) Pass-out flyers or stickers at a public event.
58) Host a speaker from your community who was in Palestine to tell personal stories and experiences
59) Ask your Church or University or other appropriate group to invite a Palestinain speaker.
60) What ever your field of work, you can find a way to network people in it with Palestinians in that work: librarians, professors, pediatricians, naturalists, journalists, farmers, small shop owners, workers etc.
61) Wear an armband on particular days to start conversations about Palestine. For example a black arm band on Nakba day (15 May) or a green armband on Land Day (30 March). A keffiyah any time. It allows you to tell a story to those who ask.
62) Hold a sign that says boycott apartheid in front of every visiting Israeli official in your country including artists or university faculty or others that represent Israeli institutions.
63) Do a flash mob at facilities that support Israel (like Starbucks).
64) Organize programs to support Palestinian political prisoners (more than 750,000 Palestinains were imprisoned since 1967).
65) Support sustainability projects in Palestine like the Palestine Museum of Natural History and its Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability (see http://palestinenature.org)
66) Help lift the spirits of a Palestinian child
67) Help pay tuition for Palestinian students in Palestinian universities
68) RECOGNIZE that the source of power enjoyed by the Jewish State is the support of organized Jewish Community in each locale (financial, political and spiritual) and hold them accountable after you educate them that ‘Israel’ is not good for Jews and has caused more Jewish deaths than anything else since WWII (documented) as well as caused increase in real Anti-Semitism (anti-Jewishness). You cannot create safety or fight discrimination by oppressing others.
69) Do a mob appearance at stores that sell Israeli products and shame them
70) Support the One Democratic State campaign https://onestatecampaign.org/en/ and also at https://ODSPal.net
71) Engage in environmental activism
72) Support initiatives for local food production especially regenerative and eco friendly agriculture (globally not just in Palestine)
73) Sponsor a young person, a student at a university or others (mentoring and also financial support)
74) Volunteer in Palestine for example at the Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability http://palestinenature.org See their annual report at https://www.palestinenature.org/annual-reports/PIBS-Annual-Report-2021.pdf
75) Sign petitions such as: https://www.change.org/p/to-stop-the-killing-we-must-right-the-wrongs-that-feed-it, https://odspal.net/call-for-a-palestine-liberation-movement
More ideas in this collection of activist experiences found in the Activist Manual (but this was not updated in many years and many links may not work
Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh previously served on the faculties of the University of Tennessee, Duke, and Yale Universities. He and his wife returned to Palestine in 2008 starting a number of institutions and projects such as a clinical genetics laboratory that serves cancer and other patients. In 2014, they founded (initial personal donation of $250,000) and run (as full time volunteers) the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (PIBS) at Bethlehem University. Dr. Qumsiyeh currently publishes on his blog, maintains an activist website and frequently tours western countries on behalf of his beloved Palestine.