by Lealina Evangeline Reyes
On January 15, 2025, the ceasefire deal for the ongoing war against Palestine was announced and the world celebrated with joy. After 15 months of unending assault towards the Palestinian people, a halt to the atrocities has finally come.
Since the October 7, 2024 attacks, about 47,000 children, women, and men, along with health workers, journalists, and aid workers have been killed. These attacks demolished the Gaza strip into mere rubble, destroying hospitals, schools, and homes, and leaving the people with little to nothing left of their lives.
This war is an internationally broadcasted humanitarian crisis that begs empathy and action from us, the witnesses of such heinous acts. Most importantly, it pleads with leaders who are in the position to stop the war to show humanity. But, as the tale as old as time tells, the powerful have little care for the powerless.
This lack of regard for human life by these leaders prompted people-led initiatives to take concrete actions for Palestine. In the span of these 15 months, people from all over the world have found a sense of unity by standing in solidarity with Palestine.
Social media was utilized as a primary way of broadcasting the war and as an avenue to donate and help the victims. People also took their stance beyond their screens into the streets and in their daily lives. Protests from every part of the world were conducted, and the flag of Palestine was raised in all the places except its own land. But the biggest action that people did was boycotting companies that aided the war.
And it worked. Big companies started to lose customers, profit, market value, and employees. But the moment the ceasefire deal was announced, the so-called supporters of Palestine were quick to revert to consuming the products whose owners have blood on their hands.
Was it all performative, then? Did these consumers take part in the boycott for the sole reason of looking good and the illusion of a ‘good’ image? Were values thrown out of the roof the moment McDonald’s chicken was craved?
Disregarding the boycott after taking part of it for over a year is a confusing stance to make, to say the least. The excuse of doing it because of the announced ceasefire is confusing as well. The people who have stood in solidarity with Palestine must know that the oppressors would most likely break the ceasefire deal and continue to take what is not theirs.
Since the deal was announced, over 100 Palestinians have been killed and more than 200 injured by Israeli attacks. Before the ink had the chance to dry, blood had already been spilled again, drenching the soil of the holy land.
People must be reminded that the ceasefire deal is a fragile one and the fight for Palestinian freedom does not end when the shooting does. Immediately returning to consuming blood-stained products only presents that people who do so were not truly part of the fight and were only there for the sake of being there.
So if we really want to forward Palestinian liberation, let us not abandon what we have accomplished in the past year. May we continue to have the courage to contest inhumane acts and the strength to stand for freedom through little acts of resistance. The fight does not end until the flag of red, white, green, and black waves freely in its own land. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
