Bloody Handprints and Noise Draw Attention to Gaza Deaths
By Phil Pasquini
San Francisco: With the death toll in Gaza growing closer to 30,000, a small group of Palestinian and human rights activists from RACCOON the (Radical Anti-Capitalist Collective of Outrageous Noise) assembled outside of the Israeli Consulate on January 23 to demand an immediate ceasefire and end to US aid to Israel.
Using a variety of media including that of noise making instruments utilizing trash can lids and airhorns accompanied by pots and pans, the group also engaged in stamping bloody red handprints on the sidewalk accompanying chalked messages and in taping letters written by them to Netanyahu and the IDF expressing their outrage and grief while condemning Israel’s genocide.
Their goal was to curtail consular operations during their protest along with advertising the consulate’s presence and expressing their demands to passersby.
Bay Area activists are also credited with their overwhelming support for the recent passage by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors of a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Mayor London Breed had initially threatened to veto the resolution in a letter to Board members on January 19, but later changed her position after having met a great deal of resistance by activists who rallied in demanding she endorse the will of the citizens.
As reported by the Council on American Islamic Relations, CAIR, San Francisco Bay Area Executive Director Zahra Billoo in speaking to the passage of the resolution was quoted as saying “… we congratulate the thousands of people who advocated for the city of San Francisco to demonstrate moral leadership and join the global call for a ceasefire in Gaza. As the genocide in Palestine continues, so too we must continue to speak out.”
Elliot Helmon of Jewish Voice for Peace, Bay Area, characterized the resolution as one that “ is reflective of San Francisco’s progressive values” going on to note that “We are proud that San Francisco stands on the right side of history in this moment despite attempts by right-wing and pro-Israel advocacy organizations to circumvent the democratic process.”
(Phil Pasquini is a freelance journalist and photographer. His reports and photographs appear in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and Nuze.ink. He is the author of Domes, Arches and Minarets: A History of Islamic-Inspired Buildings in America.)
