Feminism in the Rubble: Bearing Witness to Gaza

In Gaza, the sky has fallen in ways no one should have to survive. Over 60,000 Palestinians many of them women and children, have been killed since October 2023. Entire neighbourhoods lie in ruins. Hospitals, schools, and shelters have become targets. And through it all, Palestinian women persist, resist, grieve, and care.

The Politics of Care in a Time of War

Women in Gaza are giving birth in rubble. They are feeding children through siege and starvation. They are burying loved ones and finding the strength to carry the living. In war zones, gendered labour doesn’t disappear, it becomes heavier. Palestinian women are carrying this unbearable weight on their shoulders.

At the same time, Palestinian feminists have long resisted both occupation and patriarchal violence. They are not only victims, they are leaders, organisers, educators, healers. From the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees to grassroots mutual aid groups, women have always been central to the struggle for liberation.

Decolonial Feminism Means Standing with Gaza

Mainstream Western feminism has too often ignored or sidelined Palestinian voices, treating their suffering as inconvenient or politically risky. This silence is complicity.

Decolonising  feminism demands more. It asks us to confront imperialism, militarism, and capitalism, systems that profit from war and call it peace. It asks us to see the connections between settler colonialism in Palestine and Indigenous struggles around the world. It asks us not to look away.

This is not about being “neutral.” This is about being human.

Grief Is Political

When we mourn, we must also rage. Against the arms dealers. Against the governments enabling genocide. Against the media narratives that erase Palestinian lives. But our rage must also feed action: calls to ceasefire, to end occupation, to dismantle the structures that allow this horror to happen again and again.

We can sign petitions, pressure elected officials, boycott arms manufacturers and complicit corporations, and donate to on-the-ground humanitarian relief. But more than that, we must amplify Palestinian voices, in our organising, our communities, and our movements.

We Reclaim the Raven for Palestine

As feminists, as people of conscience, we say: Gaza matters. Palestinian lives matter. Feminism that does not recognise this is not liberation, it is branding.

We reclaim our feminism from the dead language of “both sides.” We root it in justice, in grief, in rage, in care.

And we say, again and again: from the river to the sea, all people deserve to be free.

A message about Loki

Gna brings a message from Frigg who would like us to know that had she been able to find Loki she would have warned them that the consequences of their mischief could be quite severe.

We at Reclaim the Raven are wondering if having their own MCU series has gone to Loki’s head leading to this latest outrage.

Gna also wanted to say that the Gods are equally frustrated at this turn of events but not shocked, it is Loki after all, but she knows her friends at Reclaim the Raven value Frigg’s foresight and wisdom and that they are happy to echo Up Helly Aa for Aa in saying.

“We hope fellow islanders will consider the questions raised by the content of this protest rather than just the act itself and would encourage the affected institutions to reflect on why they were targeted.”

We at Reclaim the Raven are always happy to see Gna’s thoughtful interventions!

Feminist Art Activisms and Artivisms

With a title like this just had to cover this book it features a diverse range of contributors including Shetland’s own Roxane Permar, highlights included ( sorry Roxane I really enjoyed your chapter but we don’t want to be accused of local bias, though was fantastic seeing you featured in this).

Curating from a Black Female Perspective by Christine Eyene deals with women’s invisibility in the Art would and with whitewashing and how they intersect with each other and the journey of the artist using art to challenge but rather than say more, Christine can speak for herself “feminist curatorial practice is not aligned with a trend nor is it some sort of detached curatorial exercise.It is deeply inspired by my own experience, It is the prism through which I am touched by the creatives souls I work with and it continues to be ,motivated by the urgency to address all forms of inequalities as I witness them in society and in the arts.”

This is a really worthwhile and enjoyable read showing how art is routed in experience and the different feminisms cerated from experiences yes the plural is important, Katy Deepwell has done a great work as editor bringing this together and could I easily go on a lot longer but why when you could be reading this book.

Shetland Arts please feature more social engaged local artists the personal is political and vice versa and art can be at it’s best when it challenges and creates space for discussion.

Feminist

Welcome to Reclaim the Raven!

Our Website is finally live after some Covid induced delays, welcome everyone.

We would also like to take the time to thank everyone who supported Black Lives Matter in the past few weeks your work and support is important every journey starts with a single step and this was an important one for our community.