Witnessing a genocide,

Darkest time of the year,

Gazans get buried under rubbles and numbers as we get buried into unbearable pictures and a feeling of stupefaction in front of the very fact that a blatant genocide would be allowed to happen in 2023, on our phones, in our so-called enlightened Western-ruled world.

From my own activist experience, I know that reacting to the political agenda feels necessary but can be deeply energy-consuming and demoralizing. After a long period of travel, including the two first months of the genocide in Gaza, going back to the place I feel home and meeting long-time-no-see loving friends being part of a network that cares and acts for its twin city and Palestine sparked an unstoppable urge to, simply, strive for a better world– right here, right now.

Out of practical considerations came up the idea of a collectively knitted Palestinian flag.

To get over the paralysis and enter a state of positive action, to scale the efforts according to what’s under hand, to get a result despite heading to the holidays. To get involved on a level that asserts, to play a visual game that gives satisfaction, to feel the strength of being among the ones who care and try to change the world, stitch by stitch– because we can’t fight these empires alone. To find strength and hope in involving ourselves into a collective action.

We aimed to display the flag in town during the Tromsø International Film Festival, to remind Palestine and the global breaking point it tragically embodies to the people who traveled from the film realm to watch movies, from all over the world to watch Nature’s wonders, from across the island to go through yet another day, contributing to the local and global energy in support of Palestine, and our humanity.

We aimed to make the flag and Palestine and the power of collective action visible in the polar night, in these darkest times, to foster awareness and care and involvement towards what may feel out of reach. To be the change we want to happen. To be the world we want to create. To nurture hope and energy, among ourselves, among those who care, and spread it through our coming together, weaving together, acting together.

And it worked. From the messages we got from our knitters (more than 70), from the energy and love we felt gathering to assemble the flag over a weekend in Tvibit, from the feedback we got from people in town, it worked. We kept hoping, thus fighting, for a better world.

And we want that feeling and that project to live on and further, among those who need to feel the love and hope that got born from our coming together to make something that shows, that warms, that is made possible by collective action, to join the fight for our humanity and world we want to live in and share.

Hence, we would like the flag to travel to other towns in Norway and join protests; we would like the flag to be displayed, alongside its story, in art festivals, political gatherings, events we haven’t heard of yet. So that people can see it, feel its size, witness its shades, read the names of the participants. In addition, we’re working on  a series of printed pictures taken during the creating process and the coming traveling of the flag in the Arctic landscapes.

//See the Get the flag to your event section.

Furthermore, we are willing to host workshops recreating the weekend we assembled the flag.

//See the Workshop section.

Finally, we are gathering tutorials and crafty initiatives to foster visibility of Palestine everywhere.

//See the Make your own and contribute section.

If you’re willing to contribute with anything, crafting your own, wondering if and how we can help you organize, gather, have a market, raise money for Palestina with it, you are very welcome to contact us.