What Was Lost: An Introduction
Snapshots of Organizing in the District
By Shedrick Pelt and Serena Zets
On April 30, 2024, hundreds of people gathered at the Peace Monument on the Western side of the U.S. Capitol Complex to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. The Capitol dome stood stark in the distance behind the gathered protestors’ large signs, banners, and Palestinian flags. The April protest, six months into Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza, was just one of many undertaken in the District — often planned by, and always attended and grown by, DMV locals — in the year since October 7, 2023.
Hamas’s coordinated attacks on southern Israel that day killed an estimated 1,189 civilians. While the crisis in Gaza did not begin on October 7th, the frequency and intensity of Israel’s assaults on the region have escalated in that time. At the time of writing, Gaza’s Ministry of Health reported that at least 41,252 people, including nearly 16,500 children, had been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7.
In that year, the political decision-making power centralized in DC has led national and international organizations committed to Palestinian liberation to coalesce locally to collaboratively plan actions. Meanwhile, DMV organizers have found themselves at the forefront of the national conversation about the U.S. response to the crisis, and have also brought many new activists into the fold — both to oppose the violence in Gaza and to provide mutual aid at home and in Palestine.
Some of the organizations we’ve seen mobilizing DC residents include: DMV Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, DC for Palestine, Anera, Maryland 2 Palestine, Jewish Voices for Peace (JCP), If Not Now (INN) No Pride in Genocide, Party for Socialism & Liberation (PSL), local university chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine, José Andrés’s World Central Kitchen, and the Occupation Free DC coalition. This regional organizing has largely been driven by the Palestinian community and diaspora residing in the DMV and has led to actions happening in wards across the city.
The growth of the Palestinian community and diaspora in the DMV, as in many major cities around the world, traces back to the Nakba — the mass and forced expulsion of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War after the establishment of the State of Israel. Organizers say that learning this history helps contextualize today’s events and understand the conditions that led to this current moment of mass crisis, trauma, and grief. The Nakba expelled half of Palestine’s then-population from their homes, prompting a period of displacement, dispossession, and statelessness that persists for Palestinians today, though many have held onto the keys to their family homes, hoping to one day return.
Over the next few weeks, this three-part series will honor “What Was Lost” and uplift some of this past year’s local organizing in support of the movement for Palestinian liberation — through writing from 730DC’s Serena Zets and photography by Shedrick Pelt. In documenting a history where so much has been lost, Shedrick makes the intentional choice to use analog film. It brings a tangibility to both the growing global movement for Palestinian liberation and the evolving archive of the DC community response to this crisis.
Many authority figures try to discount and undermine movements for change by claiming they’re driven by “outside agitators” but through this series, we want to remind you of the home-grown power and strength of this particular local movement. We have witnessed the ways DC has been transformed by this past year’s organizing; we hope you join us in recalling and reflecting on this monumental movement-building as we work together to build a better future. As part of this recollection, next week will focus on some of the art and creative expression of DC’s movement for Palestinian liberation to ground you in its visual landscape.
More from “What Was Lost”:
Part I: Introduction
Part II: Art of the Movement
Part III: DC Students Organizing for Palestine
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