Amherst “Pots & Pans Protest” Calls Attention to Starvation in Gaza
"Pots and Pans Protest" for Gaza, July 24, 2025. Photo: RIch Karsten
Approximately 150 people gathered on the Town Common in front of the Amherst Town Hall on July 24 to protest the intentional starvation of 2.2 million Palestinians. Bisan, a journalist, humanitarian, and resident of the Gaza strip, reminded us on Instagram that we are not helpless as she called on us to, “Bang the pots, because the sound of our empty stomachs and the voice of humanity must be louder than their brutality. Bang the pots to stand for the most just cause in the world.”
Residents brought pots, pans, forks and spoons to call upon those who are staying silent to act for humanity; to call upon the nations of the world to force Israel to end the blockade of food, water, and medicine, critically needed by the people of Gaza. Speakers drew attention to the apocalyptic hell Palestinians are suffering under Israel’s military enforced blockade of humanitarian aid. There are hundreds of tractor trailer trucks that have been stuck at the border for months on end as children starve, die, and suffer irreversible physical and mental damage. Another speaker called for the immediate end of all military aid to the Zionist state of Israel until such time that the regime abides by international law and dismantles its apartheid system of dehumanization, oppression, and human rights violations against the indigenous populace of Palestine.
Voices from the Crowd
“Not that we don’t care, it’s that millions of us do care and we can’t stop it.”
“Privileged have a responsibility to speak for those who can not speak”.
“This Genocide has broken me in more ways than I would have thought possible” Palestinians and our supports are sick and tired of screaming. Tired of screaming as the war profiteers are lining their pockets while children die and become orphans everyday.
“Because Genocide is evil”
“If telling the truth is a crime then let us all be criminals. “
“It is an impossible feeling, a horrible burning sensation deep in the soul, to watch this live-steam mass mutilation of humanity in Gaza as a passive bystander and think you cannot do anything to stop it. This is the moral issue of our time and time has never been more urgent that we act, as individuals, as communities and as nations to regain our humanity and let Gazans LIVE!”
Videos:
Leyla Moushabeck shares a message from the Sumud school in Gaza. Part I
Leyla Moushabeck at the July 24 “Pots and Pans Protest”. Part 2
Let’s do this daily.
Let’s start here and maybe it will spread around the globe.
How about 6 pm? Suggest another time.
Bang pots or make any other sound to call for humanitarian relief in Gaza.
If you are in a place where you cannot make noise,
pause for a minute in silence to demonstrate your support for relief.
Call for peace, but with immediate humanitarian relief.
Innocent civilians – many mothers and children.
Suffer and die for the violence of Hamas and the Israeli military.
The vast majority had no part in the violence, and yet the are punished.
There is no benefit to this hateful inhumane practice.
Please join in a daily reminder that this tragic situation must stop.
Bob, I’m sorry I didn’t know about any resistance in Amherst. Did Barbara Pearson cover it? Please notify me about future demos or any way I can help spread the word. I like the sign “silence is complicity” at the demo on the town common.
There must be more than that we can do. Free Palestine lawn signs (although mine keeps being stolen), leafleting, spreading the word in many different ways and on many platforms, using alternative media since mainstream media is pathetic, boycotting the New York times for example (I recommend Consortium news and Caitlin Johnstone to start with), protesting in the middle of town, protesting the crackdown of free speech by Umass, for example even if it means being arrested, refuting the bogus claim of being anti semitic, using jewish voices, criticizing race and religion as sources of justifying war, and I’m sure we can come up with more. How about meeting to discuss and decide on strategy?
The hostages have been held prisoner in Gaza for 662 days. When is the “pots and pans protest” scheduled on the hostages’ behalves? Hungry children are a terrible thing. Abused hostages are also a terrible thing. We need to be opposed to all forms of abuse.
I am so tired of those who try their best to minimize the slaughter of close to 70,000 Palestinians. Mr. Sloviter tries to redirect the outrage against Israeli genocide by once again bringing up the hostages. There may be ten left, or twenty left, or maybe none. I too want them to be free, however many are left. We should not forget them, and they and their families have clearly suffered greatly and they should be freed immediately. But Mr. Sloviter minimizes mass starvation with the simple phrase, “Hungry children are a terrible thing.” There’s a lot more than hunger going on in the Israeli campaign: the complete destruction of homes, the indiscriminate murder of countless civilians, the death and maiming of children from starvation and targeted sniper fire by the IDF, countless arrests and imprisonment of anyone Israel wants to take off the streets… . So many people still try to blame Hamas for all of this, saying whatever they want to take the focus off of the atrocity that is before our eyes. The Israeli policy is clear: kill anyone, destroy their homes, take their land, starve them and keep moving them back and forth across Gaza until no one is left or some country has mercy on them and takes them in. What Israel is doing is pure, unadulterated evil. The fact that my country supports this makes me and every other American complicit unless we speak out and demand that it be stopped.
Yes, and of course anyone who dares to criticize the U.S. funded Israeli genocide of Palestinians is antisemitic and needs to have their first amendment right to free speech taken away and fired or kicked of campus. Plus of course if you are part of our government you’d better tow the line, and almost all of them do. Ditto for mainstream media, until quite recently. Fortunately, alternative media has yet to be shut down. I suggest reading a recent article by Caitlin Johnstone titled “It shouldn’t have taken this much for mainstream voices to start speaking up about Gaza”.
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/it-shouldnt-have-taken-this-much?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=82124&post_id=169527027&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=3arvp&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email