Patched - responding to genocide and war

Hello and welcome to Patched,

In between my regular newsletter I send out Patched - a members-only series where people can ask me a fashion (or fashion-adjacent) question, and I'll reply with a short letter from an anti-capitalist perspective. This particular letter has been paraphrased from a conversation I had recently.

If you have a question, please email me at: DearPatched@proton.me

The title Patched is a reminder that at this critical time we need repair and regeneration as well as analysis. I will keep unpicking and unravelling the fashion industry but Patched makes space to explore mending - finding solutions to both personal and structural problems.

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What can I do to support Palestine?

Dear Patched,

My heart is breaking from what is happening in Palestine. I feel helpless and so angry. It's genocide and yet it is still happening day after day.

I have made fashion and anti-sweatshop activism my main focus but I am wondering if I should change focus to better support Palestine? (I don't mean this in a mean way, but I don't want to have picked the 'soft option'.)

I have been on some of the big demonstrations in London but am wondering what else I can do as I just want the cruelty to stop and I want to know I am doing something that counts.

Yours, Anon.

Dear Anon,

I hear you loud and clear on this one. Since I received your letter things have gotten worse - the attacks on Iran by Israel and the USA, the murder of more than 70 Palestinians queuing for food, and the likely banning in the UK of protest group Palestine Action. The situation calls for urgent action by everyone in the world.

If you want to do more Palestine solidarity work then definitely go for it. If Palestine and anti-war activism is what is calling you at this time then use that energy for the greater good.

It might be helpful to know that there are people who have created campaigns to combine anti-sweatshop activism with Pro-Palestine activism, for example Anti-Sweatshop Activists Against Apartheid. This approach recognises the links between the fashion industry and imperialism, it invites fashion activists into Palestine solidarity work without making people choose between the two.

Whatever you decide, remember that garment worker solidarity activism remains a vital global cause and is not a soft option. Look beneath the glossy surface of fashion and you see Land-based violence, gender-based violence, the fight for women’s rights, for labour rights and for environmental rights. All of which are being deliberately intensified by right wing governments around the world. Our opposition and solidarity must continue in the face of war and crisis.

That said, it is right that we do not lock ourselves into a walled garden, but rather that we make our political work intersectional and actively connected with aligned causes.

Ideas for Palestine

A crime as large and as terrible as genocide can be immobilising. Climate activist Mary Annaïse Heglar recommends tackling feelings of helplessness or overwhelm by changing the question you ask yourself. Instead of asking what can I do? instead ask yourself what can I do next? This is a much more manageable question that allows you to identify a specific task.

1) Join a Palestine Solidarity group. If you are in the UK you can join the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which has over 60 local branches around the UK. An established group is the best place to get news and ideas and to join in activities.

2) Don't Buy Apartheid - join the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement instead. Support Palestine by boycotting Israeli produce and Coca-Cola. There is also a current campaign against Reebok.

3) Write to, and lobby, your government to place sanctions on Israel. Here is a UK form for emailing your local MP. Here's one from Amnesty to ban imports of Israeli settlement goods.

4) Go on street demonstrations in support of Palestine and demand an end to genocide and war. It is incredibly important that public demonstrations take place and disrupt the pro-war narrative. Palestinians also need to see that millions of people have not forgotten them. Take part in actions that disrupt business as usual - for example protests at arms factories and arms fairs.

5) Make a donation to Medical Aid for Palestinians. In 2024, MAP provided vital healthcare and humanitarian aid to nearly one million Palestinians across Gaza, working with 16 local partners.

6) Hold a fundraiser to raise money for The Sameer Project which is supplying tents and emergency aid to Palestinians. If you have time but not money, why not organise a film screening, a talk, a concert, a sponsored walk, a workplace or classroom whip-round, a dinner, an online comedy night, a clothes swap... Get your network together and raise much needed funds. The Sameer Project's beloved camp manager, Mosab Emad Ali, was killed this month and they welcome donations in his memory.

7) Wear your resistance. Keep wearing and displaying your watermelons, Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, political t-shirts and Palestinian flags.

8) Keep sharing news, art and music. Fact checked, reliable news that documents the atrocities must be shared. Art and music that celebrates and raises up Palestine must also be shared. Do not let the narrative be one of complicit agreement with genocide.

9) Read and share work by Palestinians. Support the Palestine Festival of Literature.

10) Support Palestinian journalists. At least 170 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war in October 2023. Many more have been injured and others are missing. This fundraiser by the French National Union of Journalists (SNJ) is ongoing and frankly needs some help to make its target.

This list is just a start but I hope it gives you some ideas.

In solidarity, Tansy.

Three pieces of news from me to you

1) This week I finished writing my book and handed in the manuscript to the publisher! There is a long road ahead and publication is likely to be mid-late 2026 but at least I now have 78,876 coherent and interesting words collected together in a single document. Watch this space and I'll send updates when I have them.

2) If you've been reading my newsletter for a while, I am so happy to report that the Resistance exhibition, curated by film director Steve McQueen was a huge success. Over 130,000 people went to the exhibition at the Turner Contemporary in Margate, and the accompanying book (which I had a chapter in) became the best selling exhibition related item in the gallery's history. If you are in Scotland, you can go and check out the exhibition - it is brilliant and inspiring: https://www.nationalgalleries.org/exhibition/resistance

3) Teaching Schedule. For the rest of the year I am teaching the following courses online through the Centre for Investigative Journalism.

• 11 September 2025: Supply Chain Investigations
• 23 October 2025: Intro to Information Security for Journalists
• 11 November: Module 1 - Open-Source Intelligence.

I have also started being booked to speak at universities next academic year. If you'd like to book me for a guest lecture for your fashion or journalism course, please contact me. I can provide an insightful introduction to the politics of fashion, or an academic deep dive into issues like labour rights, environmental sustainability, supply chain journalism, consumerism, and fashion ethics. I can tailor lectures to course requirements.

Thank you so much for reading. Wishing you hope and solidarity in tough times.

In solidarity, Tansy.