Thursday, October 26, 2023
Open Call for an Immediate Ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and Israel
By Global Communities, October 18, 2023
#CeasefireNow: Open Call for an Immediate Ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and Israel to Prevent a Humanitarian Catastrophe and Further Loss of Innocent Lives
We have witnessed unfathomable death and destruction in the Gaza Strip and Israel. Thousands of people have been killed, injured, displaced, and nearly two hundred remain held hostage, including children and elderly.
In Gaza, the UN has said that water, food, fuel, medical supplies, and even body bags, are running out due to the siege. The UN warned that people – particularly young children – will soon start dying of severe dehydration. Neighbourhoods have been destroyed and turned into complete rubble. Palestinians in search of safety have nowhere to go. Many of those who relocated from northern Gaza to the south after the relocation order by the Israeli army were reportedly bombed as they attempted to flee or once they arrived in southern Gaza.
The events of the last week have led us to the precipice of a humanitarian catastrophe and the world can no longer wait to act. It is our collective responsibility.
On Sunday, October 15th, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator to the Occupied Palestinian Territory appealed to all parties to the conflict, and to Member States with influence, to urgently agree to a humanitarian ceasefire.
Today, we put our voices together and call on all Heads of State, the UN Security Council, and actors on the ground, to prioritize the preservation of human life above all else. During this ceasefire, we call on all parties to unconditionally:
- Facilitate the delivery of lifesaving assistance, including food, medical supplies, fuel, and the resumption of electricity and internet to Gaza, in addition to safe passage of humanitarian and medical staff.
- Free all civilian hostages, especially children and elderly.
- Allow humanitarian convoys to reach UN facilities, schools, hospitals, and health facilities in northern Gaza and commit to protecting them along with the civilians and staff inside them at all times.
- Rescind orders by the Government of Israel for civilians to depart northern Gaza.
- Allow patients in critical condition to be medically evacuated for urgent care.
The UN Security Council, the UN Secretary General and all world leaders with influence must take immediate action to ensure a ceasefire comes into effect. It remains our only option to avert further loss of civilian life and humanitarian catastrophe. Anything less will forever be a stain on our collective conscience.
Civilians are not bargaining chips. Families need a chance to bury and mourn their dead. The cycle of violence against innocent civilians needs to stop.
Global Communities is one of more than 300 organizations from 50 countries and counting to sign this ceasefire letter, with the most recent list of signatories shared below:
11.11.11
38 Degrees
50:50 NI
ABCD Bethlehem
Abductees Mothers Association
ACAT France
ACTION AGAINST HUNGER
Action Corps
Action For Humanity
ActionAid International
Africans Rising
Afro-Middle East Centre
Agriculture Developmrnt Associations PARC
Al Basma Club for the Disabled
Alliance Internationale -AIDL
Alquds center for Political Studies
Americans for Justice in Palestine Action (AJP Action)
Americares
Amos Trust
Anera
AOI
Arab foundation for civil society and human rights
Arab NGO Network for Development
Asamblea de Cooperación por la Paz
Asociación Otra Escuela
Association of War Affected Women
Avaaz
Baptist Union of Wales
Belgian Academics and Artists for Palestine
bina
Bond, the UK network for INGOs
Broederlijk Delen
Bytes For All, Pakistan
Caesar Families Association
CAFOD
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME)
Care International
Carolina Peace Center
CCFD-Terre Solidaire
Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights
Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC)
Center for Human Rights in Iran
Center for Peace Education, Miriam College
Centre for human Rights & Civic Education (CHRICED)
Centre for Peace Research and Advocacy -CPRA
CESVI
cfd – The feminist Peace Organisation
Change Horizons Forum
ChildFund Alliance
Christian Aid
Christian Aid Ireland
Church World Service
Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
CIDSE
CISP
CISS – COOPERAZIONE INTERNAZIONALE SUD SUD
CIVICUS
CNCD-11.11.11
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women Asia Pacific
COPE Cooperazione Paesi Emergenti
COSPE
Council for Arab-British Understanding
Council on American-Islamic Relations
CRIC – Centro Regionale d’Intervento per la Cooperazione ETS
Culturel Center Beethoven Bettounssi
DanChurchAid
Danish Refugee Council
Daraj Media
DC Peace Team
Defense Foundation for Rights and Freedom
Denis Hurley Peace Institute
Diakonia
Diverse Voices and Action (DIVA) for Equality
EL SPACE
Embrace the Middle East
Entraide & Fraternité
Episcopal Relief & Development
Escola de Cultura de Pau (School for a Culture of Peace)
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor
European Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
European Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (ECR2P)
Fédération Internationale pour les droits humains (FIDH)
Feminist Task Force
Fenix Humanitarian Legal Aid
Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI)
France Palestine Mental Health Network
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Friends of Nablus and Surrounding areas (FONSA)
Fundación Cultura de Paz
FUNDACIÓN MUNDUBAT
Futuro en Común
Gandhi Development Trust Phoenix Settlement Trust
Gender Action for Peace and Security
Gender Advisory Team
Genera: Red de mujeres feministas por la equidad de género en el desarrollo
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Global Communities
Global Justice Center
Global Justice Now
Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP)
Global Rights
GPPAC Pacific-Pacific Women Mediators Network
Haliéus
Handicap International – Humanity & Inclusion
Health Poverty Action
HEKS/EPER – Swiss Church Aid
Helen Suzman Foundation
HelpAge Interational
HIAS
Human Rights & Democracy Media Center “SHAMS”
Human Rights Sentinel
ICNA
ICNA Council for Social Justice
ICNA Council for Social Justice (ICNA CSJ)
IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation
IM Swedish Development Partner
Ina autra senda – Swiss Friends of Combatants for Peace
Institute for Security Studies
International Federation for Human Rights
INTERSOS
Islamic Center of Detroit
Islamic Relief
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions UK- UK
Jewish Network for Palestine
Jewish Voice for Democracy and Justice in Israel/Palestine jvjp, Switzerland
Jews against the Occupation Sydney
Jusoor Center for Studies and Development
Kairos Palestine
Kairos Palestine Sweden
Kenya Human Rights Commission
KURVE Wustrow – Centre for Training and Networking in Nonviolent Action e.V.
La Coordinadora de ONGD -España
Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights
Liberian Energy Network
Ligue Algérienne de Défense des Droits de l’Homme – LADDH
Lutheran World Federation
MADRE
Marib Girls Foundation
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
MDM Network
Medecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)
medico international
medico international schweiz
Mennonite Central Committee U.S.
Mercy-USA for Aid and Development
Middle East and North Africa Partnership for Preventing of Armed Conflict – MENAPPAC
Middle East Children’s Alliance
Migrant Roots Media
Min Haqi Foundation to empower women politically and economically
Misereor
Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Justice and Peace Centre (Australian Province)
Mouvement Social
Musaala Organization for Human Rights
Muslim Aid
Muslim Legal Fund of America
Mwatana for Human Rights
Naseef Muallem
National Cancer Control Foundatin – Yemen
Network of the independent Commission for Human rights in North Africa CIDH AFRICA
NGO SPES
NGOs Platform of Saida – Tajamoh
Nobel Women’s Initiative
Nonviolence Network in the Arab Countries
Nonviolent Peaceforce
Nophotozone
North American Imams Fellow
Norwegian Church Aid
Norwegian Refugee Council
Oxfam
Palestinian Human Rights Organisation “PHRO”
PAX
Pax Christi Australia
Pax Christi International
Pax Christi USA
Peace Direct
Peace Organization for Peaceful Coexistence
Peace Watch Switzerland
Peacemaker Trust
Permanent Peace Movement
Piattaforma OSC italiane in Medio Oriente e Mediterraneo
Plateforme des ONG françaises pour la Palestine
PREMIERE URGENCE INTERNATIONALE
Première Urgence Internationale
Project on Middle East Democracy
Protection Approaches
PVE for Peace
Rebuilding Alliance
ReThinking Foreign Policy
Revista La Mar de Onuba
Right to Movement Palestine
Romanian Peace Institute – PATRIR
Roshanka
Sabeel
Sabeel Kairos Norway
Sabeel-Kairos UK
SALAM NGO
SAM Organization for Rights and Libertie
Sanad alBasra Organization for Human Rights
Save the Children
SB Overseas Soutien Belge
Search for Common Ground
Secours Islamique France (SIF)
SEEN.TV
Seenaryo
Sheba Youth Foundation
Shining Star educational organization of Afghanistan
Social Development Hodeida Girls Foundation
Solutions for a Small Planet
SOS Children’s Villages Palestine
Study sky academy
SUDS – International association of solidarity and cooperation
Syrian American Medical Society
Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR).
Syrians for Truth and Justice
Tamkeen for Legal Aid and Human Rights
Tanzania Community Health Information and Support
Terre Des Hommes Foundation Lausanne
Terre des Hommes Italia
The Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation
The Episcopal Church
The Foundation for Middle East Peace
The Khalifa Ihler Institute
The Mosque Cares | Ministry of Imam W. Deen Mohammed
The Palestinian Return Centre
UK-Palestine Mental Health Network
UN Association of San Diego
United Against Inhumanity
United Nations Association – UK
University Network for Human Rights
UOSSM International
US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO)
Vento di Terra
Viva Salud
Vrede vzw
War Child Holland
War Child Sweden
War Child UK
War on Want
Welfare Association (UK)
WESPAC Foundation, Inc.
WeWorld – Member of ChildFund Alliance
Womankind Worldwide
Women for Peace
Women for Women International
Women in Black Vienna
Women Political Alliance – Kenya
Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC)
Women’s Institute for Leadership Development
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom UK
Women’s International Peace Centre
Womens Refugee Commission
Worldwide Women’s Forum
Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation
Youth Vision Society
Youths Volunteering for Sustainable Development (YOVSUD)
(Sources: Global Communities)
Read More »Top 10 things to know about the Day of the Dead
Día de los Muertos is celebrated across Mexico with skulls, skeletons, and graveside visits—but what does this beloved holiday really represent?
OCTOBER 15, 2022
PHOTOGRAPH BY TOMAS BRAVO, REUTERS
Here’s one thing we know: Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is not a Mexican version of Halloween.
Though related, the two annual events differ greatly in traditions and tone. Whereas Halloween embraces terror and mischief on the last night of October, Day of the Dead festivities unfold over the first two days of November in an explosion of color and life-affirming joy. Sure, the theme is death, but the point is to demonstrate love and respect for deceased family members. In towns and cities throughout Mexico, revelers don funky makeup and costumes, hold parades and parties, sing and dance, and make offerings to lost loved ones.
1. The holiday dates back thousands of years.
Flowers and candles set the mood during a Day of the Dead vigil at a cemetery in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Day of the Dead originated several thousand years ago with the Aztec, Toltec, and other Nahua people, who considered mourning the dead disrespectful. For these pre-Hispanic cultures, death was a natural phase in life’s long continuum. The dead were still members of the community, kept alive in memory and spirit—and during Día de los Muertos, they temporarily returned to Earth.
Today’s Día de los Muertos celebration is a mash-up of pre-Hispanic religious rites and Christian feasts. It takes place on November 1 and 2—All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day on the Catholic calendar—around the time of the fall maize harvest.
2. It has been recognized by UNESCO.
Cultural heritage is not just monuments and collections of objects. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) says that cultural heritage also includes living expressions of culture—traditions—passed down from generation to generation.
In 2008, UNESCO recognized the importance of Día de los Muertos by adding the holiday to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Today Mexicans from all religious and ethnic backgrounds celebrate Día de los Muertos, but at its core, the holiday is a reaffirmation of Indigenous life.
3. Altars are an important tradition...
The centerpiece of the celebration is an altar, or ofrenda, built in private homes and cemeteries. These aren’t altars for worshipping; rather, they’re meant to welcome spirits back to the realm of the living. As such, they’re loaded with offerings—water to quench thirst after the long journey, food, family photos, and a candle for each dead relative. If one of the spirits is a child, you might find small toys on the altar.
Marigolds are the main flowers used to decorate the altar. Scattered from altar to gravesite, marigold petals guide wandering souls back to their place of rest. The smoke from copal incense, made from tree resin, transmits praise and prayers and purifies the area around the altar. (Here's how marigolds became iconic symbols of the Day of the Dead.)
4. ...and so are literary calaveras...
Calavera means “skull.” But during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, calavera was used to describe short, humorous poems, which were often sarcastic tombstone epitaphs published in newspapers that poked fun at the living. These literary calaveras eventually became a popular part of Día de los Muertos celebrations. Today the practice is alive and well. You’ll find these clever, biting poems in print, read aloud, and broadcast on television and radio programs.
Known as the calavera Catrina, this skeletal figure is a Day of the Dead icon. There are endless variations of the Catrina sold in many forms during the holiday—and throughout the year in Mexico.
Marigolds and family photos decorate a Day of the Dead altar in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
PHOTOGRAPH BY CORBIS DOCUMENTARY/GETTY IMAGES5. ...especially the calavera Catrina.
In the early 20th century, Mexican political cartoonist and lithographer José Guadalupe Posada created an etching to accompany a literary calavera. Posada dressed his personification of death in fancy French garb and called it Calavera Garbancera, intending it as social commentary on Mexican society’s emulation of European sophistication. “Todos somos calaveras,” a quote commonly attributed to Posada, means “we are all skeletons.” Underneath all our manmade trappings, we are all the same.
In 1947 artist Diego Rivera featured Posada’s stylized skeleton in his masterpiece mural “Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park.” Posada’s skeletal bust was dressed in a large feminine hat, and Rivera made his female and named her Catrina, slang for “the rich.” Today, the calavera Catrina, or elegant skull, is the Day of the Dead’s most ubiquitous symbol. (Learn more about the dark history of the holiday's immortal icon.)
6. Families bring food to the dead.
You work up a mighty hunger and thirst traveling from the spirit world back to the realm of the living. At least that’s the traditional belief in Mexico. Some families place their dead loved one’s favorite meal on the altar. Other common offerings:
Pan de muerto, or bread of the dead, is a typical sweet bread (pan dulce), often featuring anise seeds and decorated with bones and skulls made from dough. The bones might be arranged in a circle, as in the circle of life. Tiny dough teardrops symbolize sorrow. (Read more about Pan de muerto.)
Sugar skulls are part of a sugar art tradition brought by 17th-century Italian missionaries. Pressed in molds and decorated with crystalline colors, they come in all sizes and levels of complexity.
Drinks to celebrate the holiday include pulque, a sweet fermented beverage made from the agave sap; atole, a thin warm porridge made from corn flour, with unrefined cane sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla added; and hot chocolate.
7. People dress in costumes.
Day of the Dead is an extremely social holiday that spills into streets and public squares at all hours of the day and night. Dressing up as skeletons is part of the fun. People of all ages have their faces artfully painted to resemble skulls, and, mimicking the calavera Catrina, they don suits and fancy dresses. Many revelers wear shells or other noisemakers to amp up the excitement—and also possibly to rouse the dead and keep them close during the fun.
8. Streets are decorated in papel picado.
You’ve probably seen this beautiful Mexican paper craft plenty of times in Mexican restaurants. The literal translation, pierced paper, perfectly describes how it’s made. Artisans stack colored tissue paper in dozens of layers, then perforate the layers with hammer and chisel points. Papel picado isn’t used exclusively during Day of the Dead, but it plays an important role in the holiday. Draped around altars and in the streets, the art represents the wind and the fragility of life.
9. Mexico City hosts an iconic parade.
Día de los Muertos is more popular than ever—in Mexico and, increasingly, abroad. For more than a dozen years, the New York-based nonprofit cultural organization Mano a Mano: Mexican Culture Without Borders has staged the city’s largest Day of the Dead celebration.
But the most authentic celebrations take place in Mexico. If you find yourself in Mexico City the weekend before Day of the Dead this year, make sure to stop by the grand parade where you can join in on live music, bike rides and other activities in celebration throughout the city.
10. Other communities celebrate in unique ways.
Countless communities in Mexico celebrate Day of the Dead, but styles and customs differ by region, depending on the region’s predominant pre-Hispanic culture. Here are a few places that stand out for their colorful and moving celebrations:
Pátzcuaro: One of the most moving Day of the Dead celebrations takes place each year in Pátzcuaro, a municipality in the state of Michoacán about 225 miles west of Mexico City. Indigenous people from the countryside converge on the shores of Pátzcuaro Lake, where they pile into canoes, a single candle burning in each bow, and paddle over to a tiny island called Janitzio for an all-night vigil in an indigenous cemetery.
Mixquic: In this Mexico City suburb, bells from the historic Augustinian convent toll and community members bearing candles and flowers process to the local cemetery, where they clean and decorate the graves of their loved ones.
Tuxtepec: This small city in the northeastern part of Oaxaca state is best known for its sawdust rugs. For days, locals painstakingly arrange colored sawdust, flower petals, rice, pine needles, and other organic materials in elaborate, ruglike patterns on city streets. Traditionally made for important processions, Tuxtepec’s sawdust rugs are judged in a contest held during Día de los Muertos.
Aguascalientes: Located roughly 140 miles north of Guadalajara, Aguascalientes—birthplace of engraver José Guadalupe Posada—stretches its Day of the Dead celebrations to nearly a week during its Festival de Calaveras (Festival of Skulls). The festival culminates in a grand parade of skulls along Avenida Madero.
(Sources: National Geographic)
