Pitch List – Palestine

1. Summer Activism Recap
   A recap of Palestinian activism and student solidarity with Palestine over the summer months.
2. Reactions to Palestinian Solidarity On Campus
   Reporting on reactions to revitalised student activism as the new school year begins. Also noting any students facing aggression for wearing Palestinian symbols to class / on campus.
3. Student Government and Solidarity
   Interview with VUSAC regarding their goals for the year in relation to calls for Palestinian solidarity.

Claim a pitch or send your own to Karim at [email protected]

1. A One-Year Retrospective
   A reflection on one year of escalating genocide in Gaza, increased assaults against Palestinians in the West Bank and the whole of Occupied Palestine, further harm and marginalization to the Palestinian diaspora, and the reactions since.
2. Solidarity with the Palestinian Struggle and Impacts of Western Colonialism Around the World
   • An Indigenous perspective on the connection between Indigenous genocide, erasure, and occupation, and Palestinian genocide, erasure, and occupation. (Indigenous students will also receive an honorarium).
   • Irish reactions and alignment with Palestine as a result of a mutual history of British occupation and Western imperialism.
3. The Investment Question
   The role of universities in profiting and increasing revenue from investments in arms and weapons industries, specifically complicit in Palestinian genocide.

Claim a pitch or send your own to Romina at [email protected]

1. Cultural Creation and Preservation
   How has Palestinian culture (cuisine, industry, symbols, places and their names) been co-opted and appropriated? What aspects of Palestinian culture should be spotlighted and celebrated as Palestinian? How is it being preserved? How does history and power of narrative affect and erase Palestinian culture? How do Palestinians create culture amidst a genocide in Gaza, apartheid in Israel and the West Bank, a diaspora of Palestinians across the Middle East and the world?
2. Palestinian Art, Symbolism and Creating in Crisis
   How have artists used art as a form of expression and resistance, as a method of documentation, as a means to communicate?
   Describing the history and use of different symbols of Palestinian culture and resistance, a non-exhaustive list includes:
   • Jaffa oranges, olives and olive trees, Palestinian poppies, Gaza strawberries
   • The keffiyeh, watermelon, a red triangle, the right of return key
   • The Al-Aqsa mosque, Handala, Tatreez
3. The Role of Media and Language in Shaping Narrative and Establishing Truth
   How has mainstream and/or social media affected how people around the world view the “conflict” or “war” or “crisis” in Palestine/Israel/Israel-Palestine/Gaza/the West Bank/Occupied Palestine/the Middle East? What is the impact of specific language choices?
4. Mobilising On and Off Screen
   Cultural criticism regarding the broken telephone effect on boycotts, and its subsequent online discourse.

Claim a pitch or send your own to Alexa at [email protected]

1. Palestinian Academia, Scholarship, and Research
   • An exploration of the historical and modern contributions of Palestinian scientists.
   • The activities and works of Palestinian campuses and universities and the effects of their subsequent destruction.
2. The Role of Big Tech in Israeli Apartheid and Palestinian Occupation
   How do tech companies and technological progression fit into the conversation? What role do Palestinians have in the research and development of industries such as surveillance, data, AI, engineering?
3. Preserving the Land for Its People
   An exploration of Palestinian ecology and environment and a breakdown of the Zionist myth of “making the desert bloom.”
4. The Role of Science in the Horrors of War
   A scientific (biological, chemical, ecological, epidemiological etc.) perspective on the different forms of Israeli biological warfare.
   • The poisoning and/or depletion of water resources
   • The spread of disease during siege and occupation
   • The destruction of Palestinian food systems, or symbols of it, such as the olive tree 
5. War, the Military-Industrial Complex, and the Climate Crisis
   The carbon impact of war and the military-industrial complex, and how war relates to the climate crisis.

Claim a pitch or send your own to Silas at [email protected]

1. Any works about your lived experience as a Palestinian person.
2. Contemplations on complicity within colonialism.
   An example includes Juliana Spahr’s The Transformation, which touches on processes of identity formation and complicity as settlers in a colonial system. Rewrite, repeat, and try to be indefinite.
3. Any expression of solidarity with Palestinians.
   Try something like Di Prima’s Revolutionary Letters. This type of thing is significantly easier. Express yourself in crystallized, hyperpolitical statements, and, remember: “you can have what you ask for, ask for // everything(.)”
4. Violence expressed through rhyme, meter, metaphor, the poetic media.
   Try something like Djanikian’s Armenian Pastoral, 1915. This type of thing is exceptionally difficult to write tastefully. Be careful with the extent to which you can ‘represent’ unthinkable violence.

Claim a pitch or send your own to Patrick at [email protected]

1. Breakfast on the Quad
   Illustrate why UofT was correct in prioritizing the true and life-changing experience of having breakfast at King’s College Circle.
2. UofT’s Message to the Community
   Parody the UofT admin emails regarding the People’s Circle for Palestine.
3. Reporting Without Details
   Parody the vague language used by major media outlets minimizing, distracting from, or downright avoiding the ongoing Palestinian genocide. The only place they belong is in the satire section.

Claim a pitch or send your own to Audrey at [email protected]