Lisa Savage / went2thebridge / September 6, 2025
Guest post by Jamila Levasseur
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| Source: Parkersburg News & Sentinel, “Palestinian children wounded in Israeli strikes cry outside a hospital in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)” |
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| Today I’m sharing a report back by my friend Jamila Levasseur who attended last week’s conference in Detroit with several other members of the Maine Coalition for Palestine. Photos and links to video coverage of the conference were added by me. |
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| Seven of us from Maine recently returned from the People’s 2nd Annual Conference for Palestine. As I write this, it’s hard to believe that only a week ago I was on my feet clapping and chanting in the Anas Al-Sharif Hall along with most of the other 4500 attendees. |
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| The level of energy at the conference is indescribable. My life’s focus has been Palestine for almost two years now. I needed this event in so many ways. Yes, it was an amazing place for strategizing with some of the greatest minds in our movement, for connecting with others from around the country and around the world. But I also needed it to heal my soul, and there is nothing like solidarity with thousands of likeminded people to ease the pain, to restore one’s faith in humanity, to know it’s still possible to smile amidst the tears. |
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| Gaza is the compass. That was the theme of the conference, and every speaker shared their insights about how that is so true. Gaza, and Palestine, is the compass in so many ways. |
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| This genocide has revealed core injustices, revealed the character of our global system designed to benefit a few at the expense of the many. The only solution is to transform the world that has allowed this to happen. And Gaza makes that crystal clear. Freedom for Palestine means freedom for everyone, from every river to every sea. |
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No matter who holds a compass, it always points to the truth. This compass points to freedom and justice for the entire world. It is a moral compass, a mirror into who we are. Do you support fascism, apartheid, genocide? Or are you against it? There is no middle ground.
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| But words do not bring freedom and justice. Only actions do. If you say you are against this genocide, what are you willing to do? Will you stand up and speak out? Are you willing to take risks? Disrupt business as usual? Because silence is complicity. |
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| One of the speakers said that courage is knowing the cost of your actions, feeling the fear, and still standing where humanity needs you to stand. History is watching. Like the sign Lisa often carries, “Your silence will be studied by your grandkids.” |
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| I am still synthesizing some of the notes I took at the conference, rewatching some of the plenaries and sessions, and catching up on sleep while continuing to write and organize. There were so many dynamic speakers, and I urge you to watch as many as you can here. |
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| One of the speakers, a doctor, told the story of a nine year-old girl who arrived in the hospital where he was working after a bombing. She carried her two year-old brother. She was barefoot, covered with dust. |
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| When their house was bombed, the rest of her family was killed. She dug her injured brother out from the rubble and carried him through the night, making her way across rubble and broken glass, the only light being that from quadcopters, drones and missile strikes. For this child of Gaza, obstacles didn’t matter. |
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| If a nine year-old child in Gaza can forge ahead no matter what, determined to save her only living kin, there is no excuse for us being silent. Gaza fights back, and its spirit will not be broken. If they can fight, so must we. Palestinians don’t have the luxury to lose hope, and neither should we. |
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| We get backlash because we are doing the right thing, because we are winning. So the more they repress us, the more we must fight back. It’s the only way. Step outside your comfort level, do more and more. |
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| While Zionists indulge in online screeching about our “antisemitic, Hamas” speakers, I came away from the conference with renewed clarity, a sharpened sense of purpose and a heightened belief in the power of the people. Together, we are so strong. |
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Dearborn Blog 