The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice

DONATE!
Sign up for our emails.
  • RACHEL CORRIE
    • Rachel’s Emails from Palestine
    • Rachel’s Words in Print
    • Rachel Corrie Memorial Archive
    • The Rachel Corrie Court Trial
  • ABOUT RCF
    • Mission & Guiding Principles
    • Board of Directors & Staff
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Internship & Volunteer Opportunities
    • Contact Us
  • PROJECTS
    • A Tale of Two Cities: Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural Project
    • Gaza Projects
      • RCF Gaza Resource Page
      • Rachel Corrie Gaza Sport Initiative
      • Palestinian Cultural Palace – Youth Performances
    • Olympia Arab Festival
      • Shuruq 4.5 Olympia Arab Festival 2020
    • Peace Works
    • RCF Educational Scholarships
      • Birzeit University Women’s Scholarship
      • Rachel Corrie Memorial Scholarship
  • BDS
    • Palestinian Call for Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
    • Protect Your Right to Boycott! Fight Back Against Anti-BDS Legislation
    • Get Involved!
  • EVENTS
  • WAYS TO GIVE

Celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Repairing the Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural

We noted in August that the Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural, a public art installation inspired by the life of Rachel Corrie, had been recently vandalized. The defacement targeted one of the leaves that makes up the mural’s central olive tree, a leaf designed by artist Gail Tremblay of the Onondaga and Mi’kmaq nations in collaboration with geographer Zoltán Grossman. The leaf depicts four maps comparing the settler colonization of Native American nations by the United States to the settler colonization of Palestinian land by Israel. This image exhibits the importance of global solidarity in acknowledging and resisting settler colonial annexation of Indigenous lands. The targeted defacement of this leaf was an egregious act intended to silence and disrupt Indigenous solidarities. 

But this intent to silence solidarities instead emboldened our community, who rallied to reverse the effect of this erasure. Last weekend, in preparation for celebrating today as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the mural was repaired and the images depicting ongoing settler colonial violence in the United States and Palestine were restored. Olympia based artist Carrie Ziegler, along with representatives from the Rachel Corrie Foundation, Art Forces, and the Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural Project, relished the early autumn sunshine as they labored to repair the mural.

While it is impossible to know who is responsible for this defacement, we do know that other acts of settler violence continue every day in our communities. This violence is, in fact, the foundation of every settler state. For those of us who are settlers, while we rightfully commemorate and celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we must also think about the concrete steps we will take to progress from acknowledging settler structures to ensuring their dismantlement. One vision of this process is outlined in the Red Nation’s 10 point program, a resource that should profoundly inform individual and collective commitments to ending settler violence. Additionally, the Indigenous Environmental Network has developed A People’s Orientation to a Regenerative Economy, a detailed vision of a political-economic future in which Indigenous sovereignty and values are front and center in the fight for a collectively sustainable future. We strongly urge you to support these organizations, to learn, and to engage with these platforms moving forward.

In Continued Dedication to Indigenous Futures,
The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice

  • About
  • Rachel Corrie
  • Projects
  • BDS
  • Event Archive

Connect with RCF Online

Facebook     flickr     Instagram     Twitter     YouTube     Join our Mailing List

The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice
203 East Fourth Ave., Suite 402
Olympia, WA 98501

Phone: 360-754-3998
Click here to email us.

MENU
  • RACHEL CORRIE
    • Rachel’s Emails from Palestine
    • Rachel’s Words in Print
    • Rachel Corrie Memorial Archive
    • The Rachel Corrie Court Trial
  • ABOUT RCF
    • Mission & Guiding Principles
    • Board of Directors & Staff
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Internship & Volunteer Opportunities
    • Contact Us
  • PROJECTS
    • A Tale of Two Cities: Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural Project
    • Gaza Projects
      • RCF Gaza Resource Page
      • Rachel Corrie Gaza Sport Initiative
      • Palestinian Cultural Palace – Youth Performances
    • Olympia Arab Festival
      • Shuruq 4.5 Olympia Arab Festival 2020
    • Peace Works
    • RCF Educational Scholarships
      • Birzeit University Women’s Scholarship
      • Rachel Corrie Memorial Scholarship
  • BDS
    • Palestinian Call for Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
    • Protect Your Right to Boycott! Fight Back Against Anti-BDS Legislation
    • Get Involved!
  • EVENTS
  • WAYS TO GIVE