Advocacy Groups Hold Demonstration Calling for Support and Media Coverage of Electricity Blackout in Gaza Strip

Advocacy Groups Hold Demonstration Calling for Support and Media Coverage of Electricity Blackout in Gaza Strip
Boston MA – Last night 100 members of Jewish Voice for Peace Boston and local peace and racial justice organizations held a rally to support the people in the Gaza Strip (Palestine), who are currently enduring an electricity blackout. For the past decade, a deadly blockade has denied people in Gaza access to nearly every aspect of a normal, decent life, from food and medicine to building supplies and electricity. Now, the Gaza power crisis has reached a critical point, with homes in Gaza now receiving electricity for only 2-4 hours daily. 
At 7:00PM, attendees gathered on the front steps of the central branch of the Boston Public Library in Copley Square and unfurled a large banner reading “Shine a Light on Gaza.” A human rights activist from Gaza and member of the Gaza Mental Health Foundation, Ayman, addressed the crowd. “Right now we have just 2 hours of electricity per day. People cannot leave Gaza into Israel or Egypt. We lack basic food supplies,” Ayman said. “Please speak up for the people of Gaza, because we are human.”
As the sun set at 8:00PM, attendees held up flashlights and light up informational posters, “shining light,” both figuratively and literally, in support of the people of Gaza. Attendees also read poems written by Palestinians and gathered signatures for a petition demanding that the NYT and Washington Post cover the electricity blackout.

Cosponsors of the rally included:
Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine 
Cambridge Bethlehem People to People Project
Gaza Mental Health Foundation –http://www.gazamentalhealth.org/
United for Justice with Peace 
Massachusetts Against Hewlett-Packard 
Massachusetts Peace Action 
UUs for Justice in the Middle East-MA
Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment 
The Network La Red

Photos (Credit Amanda Chin)