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Hanan Sharifa

Each garment I create under my brand, Hanan Sharifa, embodies my belief that clothing should evoke a sense of daydreaming. I personally oversee every aspect of production—from designing fabrics digitally and screen printing to dyeing and sewing—occasionally working with a small team in NewYork.This hands-on approach reflects my deliberate choice to reject the mechanical processes of fast fashion. Each piece is crafted with meticulous care and love, telling stories that celebrate beauty, joy, the diaspora and the complexities of being human.
Ceramics, photography, performance, and video are integral to my work, shaping the world in which my clothing exists. My designs bridge the tangible and the spiritual, serving as conduits to liminality. Incorporating ceramics has enriched my process, providing a meditative, tactile practice that complements my fashion collections. These mediums converge to create pieces that empower wearers to feel shamelessly confident and beautiful.
Central to my artistic ethos is my Moroccan American identity, often expressed through Arabic script, particularly my name, ‘Hanan,’ meaning ‘tender’ or ‘compassionate.’ By incorporating these words into my designs, I aim to foster empathy and challenge misconceptions about Arabic language and culture.
Rooted in spirituality and romance, my art transcends fashion to offer a sanctuary from the demands of modern life. My work invites moments of inner peace, empowerment, and joy, encouraging wearers and viewers alike to embrace their beauty and strength.Through my work, I hope to inspire love and alignment, empowering wearers to navigate the complexities of this world with grace and resilience.
EIP: How does working with ceramics challenge or enhance your creative process compared to other mediums?
HANAN: Ceramics has helped me focus on the present moment, and step away from thinking about my business. I love its tactile quality and how it complements my collections. At the beginning of 2024, I felt a strong pull toward working with clay—almost like a download—and I’ve been answering that call since. I don’t see clay as a challenge but as another tool for expressing the language of my work and helps me get out of circular thinking. Working with clay is definitely a slower process than making garments, since it requires time to build, fire, glaze, and fire again. It also brings a layer of playfulness to my art that is a nice reminder when I go back to designing. At times I can get lost in the process of designing collections, and focus too much on what is marketable and what will sell, instead of what I like and the fun and energy that goes into the creation of it.
EIP: Are there recurring themes or stories in your work that reflect your personal experiences or cultural heritage?
HANAN: A recurring theme in my work has been writing my name in Arabic on my clothes either as a pattern or my logo. I started doing this because for a long time it was the only thing I could write in Arabic and it added to my story of my experience of the diaspora. It’s been an interesting journey writing it on garments, people either love it or fear it. I think the fear comes from not knowing what it says (even though I’m always explaining what it says), or people fear the language altogether. Hard to say which one it is, but I’m disappointed that Americans and the Western world fear the Arabic language so much, and—it goes without saying—fear the people who speak it too. I’m hoping I make it more approachable, more common to see.
EIP: How do you see your art evolving in the future, and what role do ceramics play in that vision?
HANAN: Last summer I had a salon style dinner party to celebrate my summer collection and soft launch the ceramics that accompanied the collection - I had all the guests wearing the collection, my friend Shauna of Joon Eats cooked us dinner at my friend Sunny’s beautiful loft in Bedstuy. And we had harpist Samantha and singer/composer-improviser Miriam Elhajli play music after dinner. I’m hoping to present more collections in this very intentional way, and have some more elaborate production, and funding to pay everyone involved. I think creating spaces like this for Arab women to come together and experience the clothing in this way - to gather in a space with the ceramics, to eat, and listen to music is a nurturing experience. Everyone said they felt healed afterwards!
EIP: With such a hands-on approach to production, what aspects of crafting garments do you find most fulfilling or challenging?
HANAN: I really feel blessed and honored to make the garments for those who buy from me. I think people can really feel the energy and love that I put into making them. I have moments where I stop and realize that I’m living my dream life and people pay me to make them my visions, and I feel very lucky for that. It’s easy to fall into a lack mindset, or have a desire to want more, which is fine, but being grateful along the way, looking around and seeing you have everything you need is important.
But I will say, at times I really get over re-producing everything. It’s a lot of work juggling all the hats of the business. I occasionally have interns, and work with small batch productions but the work sometimes makes me feel like a robot. I’m hoping to move production to Morocco this year and get some Moroccans paid. I think having production go there will still feel fulfilling for me and carry the same message and add to the story and the world I’m creating.
EIP: Your work exists at the intersection of the romantic and the spiritual. How do you balance these two elements when creating your pieces?
HANAN: I think loving, giving or receiving, in a romantic, or platonic way, is a spiritual experience itself. So I think the two are already in conversation with each other and it’s not something I actively think of how to communicate, but just comes out because I am those things. I don’t overthink what I want to make, and I make what I want to wear, and I don’t overthink that either. I love love, I’m a deep feeler, I love having fun. I love laughing and making other people laugh. I love going out and looking my best. I love helping other people feel that way when they wear my clothes. And these are all a part of my life purpose - uplifting people through how they look and how they feel on the inside.
I hope through my clothes and my ceramics I can offer a moment of inner peace for whoever experiences it. Living in this capitalist hellscape, women have been conditioned to not feel so deeply, not relax or flow like we’re naturally supposed to. Instead we’re told to grind, and overwork, and be a girlboss, (which is fine if that’s what you want to do) but it leaves us tired and exhausted. When in reality living like that is used as a tool to oppress and discriminate against us, specifically black and poc femmes. Because they know how powerful we are when our energy is aligned, we have the ability to shut current systems down. This is what I mean by wanting women to feel empowered and they’re best self when they wear the clothes or use the ceramics. I hope you feel that power that’s within us. •


More from: Hanan Sharifa
Keep reading:
Global Echoes of Resistance:
Artists Harnessing Art, Culture, and Ancestry
Samar Younes
{
"article":
{
"title" : "Hanan Sharifa",
"author" : "Hanan Sharifa",
"category" : "interviews",
"url" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/readings/global-resistance-art-hanan-sharifa",
"date" : "2025-02-04 15:33:00 -0500",
"img" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/uploads/Hanan_Sharifa_063.jpg",
"excerpt" : "",
"content" : "Each garment I create under my brand, Hanan Sharifa, embodies my belief that clothing should evoke a sense of daydreaming. I personally oversee every aspect of production—from designing fabrics digitally and screen printing to dyeing and sewing—occasionally working with a small team in NewYork.This hands-on approach reflects my deliberate choice to reject the mechanical processes of fast fashion. Each piece is crafted with meticulous care and love, telling stories that celebrate beauty, joy, the diaspora and the complexities of being human.Ceramics, photography, performance, and video are integral to my work, shaping the world in which my clothing exists. My designs bridge the tangible and the spiritual, serving as conduits to liminality. Incorporating ceramics has enriched my process, providing a meditative, tactile practice that complements my fashion collections. These mediums converge to create pieces that empower wearers to feel shamelessly confident and beautiful.Central to my artistic ethos is my Moroccan American identity, often expressed through Arabic script, particularly my name, ‘Hanan,’ meaning ‘tender’ or ‘compassionate.’ By incorporating these words into my designs, I aim to foster empathy and challenge misconceptions about Arabic language and culture.Rooted in spirituality and romance, my art transcends fashion to offer a sanctuary from the demands of modern life. My work invites moments of inner peace, empowerment, and joy, encouraging wearers and viewers alike to embrace their beauty and strength.Through my work, I hope to inspire love and alignment, empowering wearers to navigate the complexities of this world with grace and resilience.EIP: How does working with ceramics challenge or enhance your creative process compared to other mediums?HANAN: Ceramics has helped me focus on the present moment, and step away from thinking about my business. I love its tactile quality and how it complements my collections. At the beginning of 2024, I felt a strong pull toward working with clay—almost like a download—and I’ve been answering that call since. I don’t see clay as a challenge but as another tool for expressing the language of my work and helps me get out of circular thinking. Working with clay is definitely a slower process than making garments, since it requires time to build, fire, glaze, and fire again. It also brings a layer of playfulness to my art that is a nice reminder when I go back to designing. At times I can get lost in the process of designing collections, and focus too much on what is marketable and what will sell, instead of what I like and the fun and energy that goes into the creation of it.EIP: Are there recurring themes or stories in your work that reflect your personal experiences or cultural heritage?HANAN: A recurring theme in my work has been writing my name in Arabic on my clothes either as a pattern or my logo. I started doing this because for a long time it was the only thing I could write in Arabic and it added to my story of my experience of the diaspora. It’s been an interesting journey writing it on garments, people either love it or fear it. I think the fear comes from not knowing what it says (even though I’m always explaining what it says), or people fear the language altogether. Hard to say which one it is, but I’m disappointed that Americans and the Western world fear the Arabic language so much, and—it goes without saying—fear the people who speak it too. I’m hoping I make it more approachable, more common to see.EIP: How do you see your art evolving in the future, and what role do ceramics play in that vision?HANAN: Last summer I had a salon style dinner party to celebrate my summer collection and soft launch the ceramics that accompanied the collection - I had all the guests wearing the collection, my friend Shauna of Joon Eats cooked us dinner at my friend Sunny’s beautiful loft in Bedstuy. And we had harpist Samantha and singer/composer-improviser Miriam Elhajli play music after dinner. I’m hoping to present more collections in this very intentional way, and have some more elaborate production, and funding to pay everyone involved. I think creating spaces like this for Arab women to come together and experience the clothing in this way - to gather in a space with the ceramics, to eat, and listen to music is a nurturing experience. Everyone said they felt healed afterwards!EIP: With such a hands-on approach to production, what aspects of crafting garments do you find most fulfilling or challenging?HANAN: I really feel blessed and honored to make the garments for those who buy from me. I think people can really feel the energy and love that I put into making them. I have moments where I stop and realize that I’m living my dream life and people pay me to make them my visions, and I feel very lucky for that. It’s easy to fall into a lack mindset, or have a desire to want more, which is fine, but being grateful along the way, looking around and seeing you have everything you need is important.But I will say, at times I really get over re-producing everything. It’s a lot of work juggling all the hats of the business. I occasionally have interns, and work with small batch productions but the work sometimes makes me feel like a robot. I’m hoping to move production to Morocco this year and get some Moroccans paid. I think having production go there will still feel fulfilling for me and carry the same message and add to the story and the world I’m creating.EIP: Your work exists at the intersection of the romantic and the spiritual. How do you balance these two elements when creating your pieces?HANAN: I think loving, giving or receiving, in a romantic, or platonic way, is a spiritual experience itself. So I think the two are already in conversation with each other and it’s not something I actively think of how to communicate, but just comes out because I am those things. I don’t overthink what I want to make, and I make what I want to wear, and I don’t overthink that either. I love love, I’m a deep feeler, I love having fun. I love laughing and making other people laugh. I love going out and looking my best. I love helping other people feel that way when they wear my clothes. And these are all a part of my life purpose - uplifting people through how they look and how they feel on the inside.I hope through my clothes and my ceramics I can offer a moment of inner peace for whoever experiences it. Living in this capitalist hellscape, women have been conditioned to not feel so deeply, not relax or flow like we’re naturally supposed to. Instead we’re told to grind, and overwork, and be a girlboss, (which is fine if that’s what you want to do) but it leaves us tired and exhausted. When in reality living like that is used as a tool to oppress and discriminate against us, specifically black and poc femmes. Because they know how powerful we are when our energy is aligned, we have the ability to shut current systems down. This is what I mean by wanting women to feel empowered and they’re best self when they wear the clothes or use the ceramics. I hope you feel that power that’s within us. •"
}
,
"relatedposts": [
{
"title" : "Miu Miu Transforms the Apron From Trad Wife to Boss Lady: The sexiest thing in Paris was a work garment",
"author" : "Khaoula Ghanem",
"category" : "",
"url" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/readings/miu-miu-transforms-the-apron-from-trad-wife-to-boss-lady",
"date" : "2025-10-14 13:05:00 -0400",
"img" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/uploads/Cover_EIP_MiuMiu_Apron.jpg",
"excerpt" : "Miuccia Prada has a habit of taking the least “fashion” thing in the room and making it the argument. For Spring 2026 at Miu Miu, the argument is the apron; staged not as a coy retro flourish but as a total system. The show’s mise-en-scène read like a canteen or factory floor with melamine-like tables, rationalist severity, a whiff of cleaning fluid. In other words, a runway designed to force a conversation about labor before any sparkle could distract us.",
"content" : "Miuccia Prada has a habit of taking the least “fashion” thing in the room and making it the argument. For Spring 2026 at Miu Miu, the argument is the apron; staged not as a coy retro flourish but as a total system. The show’s mise-en-scène read like a canteen or factory floor with melamine-like tables, rationalist severity, a whiff of cleaning fluid. In other words, a runway designed to force a conversation about labor before any sparkle could distract us.From the opening look—German actress Sandra Hüller in a utilitarian deep-blue apron layered over a barn jacket and neat blue shirting—the thesis was loud: the “cover” becomes the thing itself. As silhouettes marched on, aprons multiplied and mutated—industrial drill cotton with front pockets, raw canvas, taffeta and cloqué silk, lace-edged versions that flirted with lingerie, even black leather and crystal-studded incarnations that reframed function as ornament. What the apron traditionally shields (clothes, bodies, “the good dress”) was inverted; the protection became the prized surface. Prada herself spelled it out: “The apron is my favorite piece of clothing… it symbolizes women, from factories through to serving to the home.”Miu Miu Spring 2026 Ready-to-Wear. SuppliedThis inversion matters historically. The apron’s earliest fashion-adjacent life was industrial. It served as a barrier against grease, heat, stain. It was a token of paid and unpaid care. Miu Miu tapped that lineage directly (canvas, work belts, D-ring hardware), then sliced it against domestic codes (florals, ruffles, crochet), and finally pushed into nightlife with bejeweled and leather bibs. The garment’s migration across materials made its social migrations visible. It is a kitchen apron, yes, but also one for labs, hospitals, and factories; the set and styling insisted on that plurality.What makes the apron such a loaded emblem is not just what it covers, but what it reveals about who has always been working. Before industrialization formalized labor into factory shifts and wages, women were already performing invisible labour, the kind that doesn’t exist on payrolls but sits at the foundation of every functioning society. They were cooking, cleaning, raising children, nursing the ill. These tasks were foundational to every economy and yet absent from every ledger. Even when women entered the industrial workforce, from textile plants to wartime assembly lines, their domestic responsibilities did not disappear, they doubled. In that context, the apron here is a quiet manifesto for the strength that goes unrecorded, unthanked, and yet keeps civilization running.The algorithmic rise of the “tradwife,” the influencer economy that packages domesticity as soft power, is the contemporary cultural shadow here. Miu Miu’s apron refuses that rehearsal. In fact, it’s intentionally awkward—oversized, undone, worn over bikinis or with sturdy shoes—so the viewer can’t flatten it into Pinterest-ready nostalgia. Critics noted the collection as a reclamation, a rebuttal to the flattening forces of the feed: the apron as a uniform for endurance rather than submission. The show notes framed it simply as “a consideration of the work of women,” a reminder that the invisible economies of effort—paid, unpaid, emotional—still structure daily life.If that sounds unusually explicit for a luxury runway, consider the designer. Prada trained as a mime at Milan’s Piccolo Teatro, earned a PhD in political science, joined the Italian Communist Party, and was active in the women’s rights movement in 1970s Milan. Those facts are not trivia; they are the grammar of her clothes. Decades of “ugly chic” were, essentially, a slow campaign against easy consumption and default beauty. In 2026, the apron becomes the newest dialect. An emblem drawn from leftist feminist history, recoded into a product that still has to sell. That tension—belief versus business—is the Miuccia paradox, and it’s precisely why these aprons read as statements, not trends.The runway narrative traced a journey from function to fetish. Early looks were squarely utilitarian—thick cottons, pocketed bibs—before migrating toward fragility and sparkle. Lace aprons laid transparently over swimmers; crystal-studded aprons slipped across cocktail territory; leather apron-dresses stiffened posture into armor. The sequencing proposed the same silhouette can encode labor, intimacy, and spectacle depending on fabrication. If most brands smuggle “workwear” in as set dressing, Miu Miu forced it onto the body as the central garment and an unmissable reminder that the feminine is often asked to be both shield and display at once.It’s instructive to read this collection against the house’s last mega-viral object: the micro-mini of Spring 2022, a pleated, raw-hem wafer that colonized timelines and magazine covers. That skirt’s thesis was exposure—hip bones and hemlines as post-lockdown spectacle, Y2K nostalgia framed as liberation-lite. The apron, ironically, covers. Where the micro-mini trafficked in the optics of freedom (and the speed of virality), the apron asks about the conditions that make freedom possible: who launders, who cooks, who cares? To move from “look at me” to “who is working here?” is a pivot from optics to ethics, without abandoning desire. (The aprons are, after all, deeply covetable.) In a platform economy that still rewards the shortest hemline with the biggest click-through, this is a sophisticated counter-program.Yet the designer is not romanticizing toil. There’s wit in the ruffles and perversity in the crystals; neither negate labor, they metabolize it. The most striking image is the apron treated as couture-adjacent. Traditionally, an apron protects the precious thing beneath; here, the apron is the precious thing. You could call that hypocrisy—luxurizing the uniform of workers. Or, strategy, insisting that the symbols of care and effort deserve visibility and investment.Of course, none of this exists in a vacuum. The “tradwife” script thrives because it is aesthetically legible and commercially scalable. It packages gender ideology as moodboard. Miu Miu counters with garments whose legibility flickers. The collection’s best looks ask viewers to reconcile tenderness with toughness, convenience with care, which is exactly the mental choreography demanded of women in every context from office to home to online.If you wanted a season-defining “It” item, you’ll still find it. The apron is poised to proliferate across fast-fashion and luxury alike. But the deeper success is structural: Miu Miu re-centered labor as an aesthetic category. That’s rarer than a viral skirt. It’s a reminder that clothes don’t merely decorate life, they describe and negotiate it. In making the apron the subject rather than the prop, Prada turned a garment of service into a platform for agency. It’s precisely the kind of cultural recursion you’d expect from a designer shaped by feminist politics, who never stopped treating fashion as an instrument of thought as much as style.The last image to hold onto is deceptively simple: a woman in an apron, neither fetishized nor infantilized, striding, hands free. Not a costume for nostalgia, not a meme for the feed, but a working uniform reframed, respected, and suddenly, undeniably beautiful. That is Miu Miu’s provocation for Spring 2026: the work behind the work, made visible at last."
}
,
{
"title" : "Honoring Indigenous Resilience",
"author" : "Water Protector Legal Collective",
"category" : "essays",
"url" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/readings/honoring-indigenous-resilience",
"date" : "2025-10-13 08:50:00 -0400",
"img" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/uploads/mni-indigenous-peoples-day.jpg",
"excerpt" : "Indigenous Peoples are not relics of the past – despite centuries of colonialism and systematic attempts at genocide and erasure, Indigenous Peoples are still here, stewarding world biodiversity, protecting land, water, and life for future generations. On this Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we uplift ongoing resistance struggles and honor the continued resilience of our relatives.",
"content" : "Indigenous Peoples are not relics of the past – despite centuries of colonialism and systematic attempts at genocide and erasure, Indigenous Peoples are still here, stewarding world biodiversity, protecting land, water, and life for future generations. On this Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we uplift ongoing resistance struggles and honor the continued resilience of our relatives.As climate disruption intensifies, Indigenous knowledge guides climate and justice movements, offering visions of futures rooted in kinship, stewardship, and collective survival.Honoring and supporting Indigenous resilience is not just a moral imperative - it’s a blueprint for a more sustainable, just future. We uplift the courage and commitment of Indigenous Peoples who safeguard the land, water, and life that sustain us all.From Standing Rock to Palestine, from Mauna Kea to the Amazon, Indigenous Peoples resist settler colonialism, land theft, and water apartheid.This #IndigenousPeoplesDay, we invite you to honor the resilience of Indigenous Peoples who, for millennia, have stewarded the land and waters, ensuring the preservation of 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity.In a world that often sacrifices frontline communities for profit, we believe in a future where people and planet thrive together. A future built on Indigenous knowledge, sustainable practices, and the dismantling of oppressive systems that harm both human and ecological wellbeing.Together, we can build a world that is grounded in care for our communities, for the Earth, and for the generations to come.Standing Rock #MniWiconiNine years ago, the historic, Indigenous-led resistance against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) ignited a global movement to protect sacred lands, water, and treaty rights. Over 100,000 Water Protectors gathered at Standing Rock to defend the Missouri River, a vital water source, from the threat of oil contamination.Today, DAPL still pumps 574,000 barrels of oil less than half a mile from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation despite evidence of environmental harm. A 2024 report revealed 700 unreported frac-outs, spilling 1.4 million gallons of potentially toxic drilling fluid into Lake Oahe, the Tribe’s main water source. The legal battle to shut down the pipeline continues with an appeal that will be filed next month in the D.C. Circuit.Water is Life.standingrock.org/donatewaterprotectorlegal.orgKū Kiaʻi Mauna #ProtectMaunaKeaFor over 50 years, Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) have resisted the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) atop Mauna Kea, a sacred mountain of immense spiritual significance now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Though kiaʻi stopped construction in 2020, TMT’s final design continues abroad and as of October 2025, there is a renewed U.S. funding push underway in Congress.The fight for Mauna Kea reflects a broader struggle for Hawaiian sovereignty, cultural preservation, and spiritual connection to the land. The struggle continues, demanding a future that respects ancestral lands and Indigenous rights. Sign the petition—1,349 signatures short of 500,000!@ProtectMaunaKea@MKea.info@PuaCaseProtect Chi’chil Biłdagoteel #SaveOakFlatChi’chil Biłdagoteel (Oak Flat) is a sacred site for the Western Apache facing destruction from a copper mine project by Resolution Copper, a joint venture between BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, the company that destroyed Juukan Gorge, a 46,000 year-old Aboriginal sacred site in Western Australia.Oak Flat, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is vital for spiritual and cultural practices. The mine would destroy the site into a 1,100 foot deep and 2 mile wide crater. Despite court setbacks, Apache Stronghold continues to fight for the land’s protection through legal and spiritual resistance. The San Carlos Apache Tribe continues an active lawsuit on NEPA grounds to protect Oak Flat from irreversible harm.apache-stronghold.com@ProtectOakFlatDefend the Arctic #NoAmblerRoad #ANWRThe Gwich’in Nation continues to resist oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The coastal plain, essential for caribou existence, is sacred to the Gwich’in. A 2025 law removes protections for ANWR and the Western Arctic (NPR-A), opening the door to oil drilling and resource extraction, threatening polar bears, caribou, migratory birds, and Indigenous ways of life.The Gwich’in, along with many Alaska Native nations, also oppose the construction of the Ambler Road, a proposed 211-mile industrial corridor that would cut through sacred lands and critical wildlife habitat to enable mining in the Brooks Range. Together, these extractive projects threaten to fragment one of the world’s last pristine ecosystems and accelerate climate destruction.For Arctic Indigenous Peoples, this is not only an environmental issue but a matter of cultural survival. Protecting these lands honors over 20,000 years of relationship, stewardship, and life in balance with the land and animals.@noamblerroad@native_mvmnt@defendthesacredak@defendbrooksrange@tananachiefsProtect the Great Lakes #StopLine5Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline runs beneath the Straits of Mackinac, threatening the Great Lakes’ ecosystems and water. For over a decade, Line 5 has pumped oil and natural gas through Anishinaabe territories, where Tribes including Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, have called for its decommissioning to protect the water and honor treaties. In 2024, a federal court ruled that Enbridge has trespassed since 2013, when its easements to cross Bad River lands expired and ordered Line 5 to shut down by June 2026. Over 30 Tribal Nations across the Great Lakes region united to call on the U.S. government to shut down Line 5 now.A potential spill could contaminate Lake Superior with over a million gallons of oil, devastating wild rice beds and fish central to Indigenous lifeways. Meanwhile, the proposed Great Lakes Tunnel project threatens this delicate area further. In March 2025, 6 Tribal Nations withdrew from discussions over the U.S. Army Corps’ plan to issue a permit on the heels of an executive order declaring a national energy emergency despite opposition from Tribal Nations. The struggle to stop Line 5 is ongoing.@narf@stopline5Restore Kapūkakī (Red Hill) & End Military Leases #OlaIKaWaiAfter 19,000 gallons of jet fuel leaked from the U.S. Navy’s Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility above O‘ahu’s sole-source aquifer in November 2021, contaminating the water system for nearly 100,000 residents, Hawaiʻi’s water future remains in crisis. The contamination forced the Honolulu Board of Water Supply to shut down the Hālawa shaft and two other wells indefinitely due to uncertainty about the spread of the fuel plume.Just a year later, 1,300 gallons of firefighting foam containing PFAS (forever chemicals) was spilled during a maintenance activity, solidifying the Navy’s mismanagement of the facility and deepening distrust in the military. Since its construction in 1943, the Red Hill facility has leaked between 200,000 and 2 million gallons of fuel into the delicate island ecosystem. The U.S. EPA and Department of Health are overseeing remediation efforts and decommissioning. Community calls for justice, transparency, and military accountability continue amid calls to end live fire training and military occupation of lands under 65 year, $1 leases of stolen Hawaiian kingdom government and crown lands, set to expire in 2029.sierraclubhawaii.org/redhill@SierraClubHI@OahuWaterProtectors@WCTanaka@HealaniPaleProtect Ȟe Sápa (Black Hills) #LandBackThe 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie designated the Ȟe Sápa (Black Hills) as “unceded Indian Territory” for the exclusive use of the Oceti Ŝakowiŋ (Great Sioux Nation), meant to last “as long as the grass shall grow and the rivers will flow.” However, when gold was discovered in the Black Hills, the United States broke the agreement and re-drew the treaty boundaries. In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the 1877 act of Congress, which unilaterally seized the Black Hills, was a violation of the Fort Laramie Treaty and an unconstitutional taking under the Fifth Amendment. Despite recognizing the Black Hills as stolen land, the court’s decision has yet to result in the return of these sacred lands.The Black Hills have long suffered from the destructive impacts of mining, and threats are once again on the rise. 233,000 acres or 1 in every 5 acres in the Black Hills are currently under mining claims. These mining claims range from uranium, gold, lithium, precious metals and others. Mining and exploration activities endanger surface and groundwater safety, with past mining already polluting water through acid mine drainage and spills of toxic chemicals.bhcleanwateralliance.orgndncollective.org@BHCleanWaterAlliance@ndncollectiveProtect Water in the Southwest #WaterBackIn the Southwest, there can be no environmental justice without water. Indigenous Peoples face ongoing water insecurity from extraction, contamination, and the U.S. government’s failure to honor treaty and priority water rights.The Havasupai Tribe is fighting uranium mining near the Grand Canyon that threatens Havasupai Creek. Navajo Nation continues the fight for access to water, after the Supreme Court held in Arizona v. Navajo Nation (2023) the government has no trust obligation or affirmative duty to secure water rights for the Nation.Across New Mexico, a renewed congressional push for Tribal water settlements would secure water rights for the Navajo Nation, Jicarilla Apache Nation, and 11 Pueblo Nations. Protecting water is protecting life.@puebloactionalliance@haulno@nofalsesolutionsIndigenous Resistance to Lithium Extraction #LifeOverLithiumAs the global demand for lithium to power “green” technologies surges, this comes at the expense of Indigenous Peoples, lands and waters. In Nevada, People of Red Mountain (Atsa Koodakuh wyh Nuwu), descendants of the Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone Tribe are defending Peehee Mu’huh (Thacker Pass), a massacre site and sacred burial grounds, against an open-pit mine on Paiute-Shoshone lands.In the drought-stricken region of Sonora, Mexico, the Rio Yaqui Nation is fighting to protect the Yaqui river from water-intensive lithium mining under Plan Sonora. The Eight Traditional Yaqui Authorities recently submitted a petition for urgent procedures to the United Nations CERD, supported by International Indian Treaty Council and Water Protector Legal Collective. Mapuche communities are also opposing lithium extraction in the Salar de Atacama of Chile and Puna Plateau of Argentina, demanding protection of water resources in the Lithium Triangle. Water contamination from lithium extraction could last over 300 years.This, along with air pollution and carbon emissions, contradicts the supposed green benefits of lithium extraction.peopleofredmountain.com(iitc.org)(https://www.iitc.org/)@PeopleofRedMountain@M.G.McKinney@IITCIndigenous Call for Amazon No-Go Zone #DemarcationIn Brazil, while deforestation in the Amazon decreased by 7% in 2024, forest degradation surged by 497%. Indigenous leaders across the Amazon are demanding that their lands be declared “no-go zones” for extractive industries. With increasing pressure from illegal logging, mining, and agribusiness, they are calling for clear, legally recognized land demarcation.In August, the IV Indigenous Women’s March in Brasilia brought together over 7,000 Indigenous women from the seven biomes of Brazil who marched on Congress under the banner of “Nosso Corpo, Nosso Territorio” to demand demarcation and protection of Indigenous territories, seen as living extensions of Indigenous bodies. As the world gathers in Belem for COP30 in November, the call for environmental protection increases. For Indigenous Peoples, this is not just about one of the planet’s most vital ecosystems, but a matter of sovereignty and cultural survival.@ANMIGA@AmazonWatch@COIABIndigenous Resistance in Ecuador #ParoNacionalAcross Ecuador, Indigenous communities are rising to defend their ancestral lands, rivers, and way of life. Government-backed mining and extractive projects threaten sacred territories and vital water sources that sustain thousands of families. The Shuar, Cañari, and other Indigenous Peoples are standing firm despite violent repression and criminalization of their leaders. Nationwide mobilizations, led by CONAIE, highlight widespread opposition to policies that prioritize profit over life, culture, and ecology. This resistance is more than a fight against mining - it’s a fight for water, for land, and for the survival and dignity of future generations.@kichwahatari@conaieLenca Defenders Resilience in Honduras #JusticiaParaBertaProtecting Indigenous territories comes at great cost: in 2024, 146 environmental defenders were killed or disappeared worldwide. Still, Indigenous Peoples persist. In Honduras, the resilience of the Lenca people to protect their lands, water, and cultural survival from destructive projects like the Agua Zarca Dam, is a testament to the power of collective strength in the broader struggle for environmental justice despite overwhelming odds.Lenca defender Berta Cáceres, a Goldman Prize laureate and COPINH’s co-founder, was killed for her activism but her words, “Lo vamos a lograr, me lo dijo el río” (We will succeed, the river told me so) and resilience lives on in the generations of Lenca and other Indigenous defenders who continue the fight for land, water, and justice. COPINH, now led by her daughter, Berta Zuniga Cáceres, continues to advocate for the defense of natural resources, standing against corporate interests and neoliberal policies that prioritize profit over people.@COPINHFree Palestine #RivertoSeaPalestinians in Gaza and the West Bank have long endured militarized occupation, settler colonialism, land theft, and water apartheid. A permanent ceasefire is only the beginning - the need for justice, accountability for 773 days of genocide and other crimes against humanity, and the recognition of Palestinian rights to land, water, and self-determination remains.In 1948, the Nakba (“catastrophe”) resulted in the forced displacement of over 700,000 Palestinians. From October 7, 2023 to the present, over 67,000 Palestinians have been killed and UNRWA reports over 1.9 million, or 90% of Gaza’s population, have been forcibly displaced.Despite repeated attempts at erasure, the Palestinian spirit endures, resisting occupation in a centuries-old struggle for freedom and self-determination. Palestine will be free.Ancestral Resilience Shapes the FutureJoin us:The Water Protector Legal Collective (WPLC) is an Indigenous-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit law firm and advocacy organization that protects the rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Earth, and climate justice movements. Born out of the #NoDAPL movement at Standing Rock as the on-the-ground legal team for Water Protectors facing criminalization, WPLC continues to serve as a legal holding line for the Earth and front line environmental justice communities.waterprotectorlegal.org/donateSlow Factory is an environmental & social justice nonprofit organization. Since 2012, Slow Factory has worked at the intersections of climate and culture to build partnerships and community to advance climate-positive global movements through the lens of human rights, science, technology, and fashion. We redesign socially & environmentally harmful systems – we want what’s good for the Earth & good for people. Slow Factory empowers people of the global majority to advance climate justice and social equity through educational programming, regenerative design, and materials innovation.slowfactory.earth/donate"
}
,
{
"title" : "100+ Years of Genocidal Intent in Palestine",
"author" : "Collis Browne",
"category" : "essays",
"url" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/readings/100-years-of-genocidal-intent",
"date" : "2025-10-07 18:01:00 -0400",
"img" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/uploads/1920-jerusalem.jpg",
"excerpt" : "Every single Israeli prime minister, president, and major Zionist leader has voiced clear intent to erase the Palestinian people from their lands, either by forced expulsion, or military violence. From Herzl and Chaim Weizmann to Ben-Gurion to Netanyahu, the record is not ambiguous:",
"content" : "Every single Israeli prime minister, president, and major Zionist leader has voiced clear intent to erase the Palestinian people from their lands, either by forced expulsion, or military violence. From Herzl and Chaim Weizmann to Ben-Gurion to Netanyahu, the record is not ambiguous:{% for person in site.data.genocidalquotes %}{{ person.name }}{% if person.title %}<p class=\"title-xs\">{{ person.title }}</p>{% endif %}{% for quote in person.quotes %}“{{ quote.text }}”{% if quote.source %}— {{ quote.source }}{% endif %}{% endfor %}{% endfor %}"
}
]
}