A HCW4Pal dietician described in great detail the devastating, lasting negative effects of malnutrition and starvation on the immune system, heart and other vital organs, cognitive ability, growth and development in children and increased risk of complications during pregnancy. A member of the Philly Palestine Coalition reminded everyone to keep our eyes focused on Gaza and not be distracted by the media circus around the U.S. presidential election.

Several members of local mutual aid groups — Food Not Bombs-South Philly, Punks with Lunch and People’s Kitchen — made the connection that food insecurity is rampant among oppressed people in Philadelphia while our tax dollars go to militarizing the police. Philly Food Kitchen donated food that was distributed to rally participants and passersby.

The rally ended with a talk from a Drexel University medical student who has been in contact with a Palestinian chef in Gaza supplying meals to his neighbors, who needs financial support to continue the work. The medical student, the grandchild of resistance fighters from Algeria who drove out the French colonizers, vowed to keep showing up until Palestinians too can return to their homes, and the occupying colonizers are driven out.