We are a group of cultural workers in Chicago–library workers, museum workers, archivists, artists, writers, and others. We have been horrified by Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinian people. We refuse to stand by silently as the Israeli Occupation Forces murder Palestinian civilians, including writers, journalists and artists who are documenting their crimes.

Read our statement below and join us in calling for an end to these atrocities by sending a letter to your federal representatives now.

What is the weight of a library, poem, or museum when an estimated 20,000 Palestinians have been murdered? We know that there is no greater art than the life and dreams of a person. The project of genocide is not limited to mass murder; Israel seeks to erase the culture, history, and humanity of Palestine. This process is an attempt to convince the world that Palestine’s culture is not rich and complex, that the Palestinians are less than human. Through this erasure Israel gives itself permission to murder Palestinians with impunity, and gives the world permission to turn its eyes from clear apartheid and genocide. We refuse to let that happen.

Israel is destroying Palestinian cultural institutions. Israeli bombs have destroyed more than 100 cultural landmarks in Gaza, including the Great Omari Mosque and the Church of Saint Porphyrius, have incinerated thousands of documents from the central archive of Gaza City, and have badly damaged the building that housed them. The Rafah Museum in the south of Gaza has been razed to the ground by air strikes. In late November, Israeli forces destroyed Gaza City’s main public library. Ancient archaeological sites may have been irreparably damaged. Israel’s targeting of these cultural heritage sites is another aspect of this genocide.

Against this backdrop of libraries, museums, religious spaces, and historical documents being removed from the collective memory, 1.9 million Palestinians have been displaced, at least 64 journalists have been murdered, nearly 20,000 civilians–over half of whom are children–have been murdered, and the blockade of access to food, water, medical care, and energy resources is slowly and silently killing thousands more.

Cultural institutions are vested with public trust and influence. They have the power to legitimize, or refuse to legitimize, entities and narratives that promote zionism. As cultural workers, we have a responsibility to hold these institutions accountable and push for divestment from the Israeli apartheid state. Additionally, as workers in the United States, we recognize our country’s funding and support is the engine that powers this suffering and death.

Palestine is geographically far from our city, but its people are our people, its culture is our culture. Chicago is home to one of the largest Palestinian communities in the U.S.–85,000 people. Our community is made up of Palestinians; they are coworkers, library patrons, and museum visitors. They are also writers whose words should be on our shelves and artists whose creations should be in our galleries, but whose works are largely missing because of an ongoing campaign of censorship. We demand our representatives acknowledge the incredible pain, grief and loss their constituents are experiencing, and recognize that they want Land Back, liberation, and Return.

As cultural workers in Chicago, we demand:

1. That our federal representatives denounce this genocide of Palestinians and call for a permanent ceasefire. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, as well as the U.S. House Representatives from Illinois, must publicly call for a permanent ceasefire and an end to all federal military and other aid to Israel - no money for weapons, no money for genocide. Our federal representatives must also call for international inquiry into Israel's targeting of Palestinians' cultural heritage and acknowledge that this is genocide, not war.

2. That Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago City Council support and pass the resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza (R2023-0006422) sponsored by Alder Daniel La Spata.

3. That Chicago cultural institutions end their complicity with the atrocities committed against the Palestinian people by refusing to accept funding from entities that support the Israeli apartheid state and from war profiteers whose money comes from supplying weapons and military equipment to Israel. The Crown family, whose wealth is closely tied to massive military contractor General Dynamics, is a major donor at many Chicago cultural institutions.

4. That Chicago cultural institutions sign on to the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel and lend their support to the Palestinian cause.