While major U.S. cities such as Denver, San Francisco and Minneapolis are currently considering resolutions to support a Middle East Gaza ceasefire, and other municipalities have already done so, should local residents here pressure the Reno City Council to do the same?
The US campaign for Palestinian Rights has a calculator which indicates how much city residents contribute to the nearly $4 billion in American taxpayer funds for Israeli weapons.
For Reno’s population our part amounts to nearly $4 million, which according to the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights could instead fund over 400 households with public housing, over 40 elementary school teachers, 11-thousand households with solar electricity, cancel student debt for 100 students, three million respirator masks and over one thousand children receiving free or low-cost healthcare.
For those who say faraway non binding resolutions, protests and social media activism are performative, activists point to precedents in years of world pressure and then sanctions in helping topple apartheid in South Africa.
Speaking of South Africa, their officials have now charged Israel with genocide at the International Court of Justice. It’s become a conflict at the forefront of concerns for people especially in the 18-30 age range around the world.
The United Nations is taking it up in meetings on a daily basis, and its agencies are making continuously worsening statements.
“Everyone in Gaza is hungry! Skipping meals is the norm, and each day is a desperate search for sustenance,” the World Food Program said in a post on X on Tuesday. “People often go the entire day and night without eating. Adults go hungry so children can eat.”
There is also renewed interest in the Land for All initiative, previously known as the Two States, One Homeland movement, proposing a two-state confederation with freedom of movement and equal rights for all Palestinians and Israelis under two separate governments but in a shared space.
Currently, divisions within the Democratic Party are worrying party officials ahead of the 2024 elections, which with an aging Joe Biden at the helm remain a tossup at all levers of power. Recent polling indicates 80% of Democratic voters are calling for a ceasefire, which if it doesn’t happen, could dampen Democrat turnout come November.
Outside of party politics, many posts in Reno from local activists indicate being increasingly frustrated that there is not more of a protest movement both here and nationwide. Should our City Council step up to the plate?