March 16, March 30, April 6, April 20, April 27 & May 4 - 4-6:30pm ET (1-3:30pm PT) each session

note: last day to register for remaining sessions is April 4

Study & Action for Palestine: gathering our strength for solidarity & collective liberation

Online Course & Learning Community held and hosted by Comrades Education | CO-SPONSORS: US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Adalah Justice Project, Highlander Center, SURJ, Catalyst Project & Rabbis for Ceasefire

Session Topics & Guest Teacher Line-Up - Study & Action for Palestine 2025 — Comrades Education

Click here to register - Suggested registration fee: $175-325*
NO ONE WILL BE TURNED AWAY FOR LACK OF FUNDS

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FACILITATORS: Eleanor Hancock and Chris Crass | WITH GUEST TEACHERS: Huwaida Arraf, Ahmad Abuznaid, Rabbi Alissa Wise, Sumaya Awad, Rama Ali Kased, Rochelle Watson, Brandon Mancilla and Andrew Kadi

“These times require each and every one of us to step up. Whether you’re new to activism or a seasoned organizer, this course provides a powerful community for learning and support for individual and collective action. I encourage everyone to take advantage of this resource.” - Huwaida Arraf, guest teacher (ISM & Gaza Freedom Flotilla)

Study & Action for Palestine (Spring 2025) is an online course and a learning community for anyone who is committed to a Free Palestine and the well-being of all people, everywhere. The program consists of extensive study materials, six live sessions (recorded and open/available to anyone who registers) and an ongoing focus on action - both what participants are doing or can be doing right now, as well as how we can deepen our engagement in specific, strategic struggles and commit ourselves to the long haul. We are honored to be joined by an amazing roster of guest teachers, and we encourage participants to join the program with others they know.

Designed to be a community of support for study and taking meaningful action, this course will focus on the following themes:

• Historic and international context of the ongoing, genocidal violence against Palestinians under Israeli occupation

• Palestinian struggles for self-determination, and Palestinian leadership in liberatory movements

• Antisemitism, the weaponization of Jewish trauma, and Jewish leadership in liberatory movements

• Settler colonialism, Zionism, capitalism, imperialism, and the strong ties between the United States & Israel

• Organizing & campaign strategies designed for maximum impact in the midst of volatile and changing circumstances, brought directly to the group from Palestinian, Jewish, Christian & labor organizing for a Free Palestine right now!

Comrades Education (formerly White Awake & based in the U.S.) is re-offering this course in service of the energy and needs of the moment. Our goal is to help you gather your strength within a community of learning and support, exploring together how all of our liberation is connected. The focus of our sessions will emphasize the power of solidarity, and the importance of finding a political home, particularly in light of the unique challenges that a second Trump administration brings to our movements here in the U.S. 

To learn more about the community guidelines and expectations for the course, see the Course Structure, Agreements & Ground Rules document for the program. 

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Click here to register
Suggested registration fee: $175-325*
NO ONE WILL BE TURNED AWAY FOR LACK OF FUNDS

Sessions will be recorded. Live attendance is not mandatory.

*a portion of proceeds from the course will be donated to direct, on the ground relief efforts in Gaza and/or the West Bank

Guest Teachers:

HUWAIDA ARRAF  is a Palestinian-American human rights attorney, activist and organizer. She has been involved in legal and grassroots initiatives for Palestinian rights for the last two decades, including co-founding the Nobel Peace Prize-nominated International Solidarity Movement (ISM), and leading the Free Gaza Movement, which organized sea voyages to Gaza to confront and challenge Israel's illegal blockade of the strip. Huwaida was a 2022 House of Representatives candidate for Michigan's 10th Congressional District.

AHMAD ABUZNAID is the executive director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights and USCPR Action. Prior to joining USCPR, Ahmad co-founded the Dream Defenders, serving as its legal & policy director and COO during his time there. He went on to serve as the executive director of the National Network for Arab American Communities from 2017 to 2019. Ahmad is the director of the upcoming documentary film Shukran, which focuses on the connections between Black and Palestinian liberation struggles.

RABBI ALISSA WISE is a West Philadelphia-based organizational consultant, community organizer, educator, and ritual leader with over two decades of movement-building experience. She was a staff leader at Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) from 2011-2021 and is currently the Lead Organizer of Rabbis for Ceasefire. Rabbi Alissa co-authored the recently published book, Solidarity is the Political Version of Love: Lessons from Jewish Anti-Zionist Organizing, together with Rebecca Vilkomerson.

SUMAYA AWAD is a Palestinian writer and organizer focusing on Palestine, anti-imperialism, Islamophobia, immigration, and labor. She is the Director of Strategy and Communications with the Adalah Justice Project, a Palestinian-led advocacy organization based in the U.S. that builds cross-movement coalitions to achieve collective liberation. Sumaya is also a cofounder of the Against Canary Mission Project and the co-editor of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction, released by Haymarket Books in December, 2020.

RAMA ALI KASED (EdD) is an Associate Professor in Race and Resistance Studies in the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University. Originally from Brooklyn, New York and of Palestinian origin, Rama is a seasoned community organizer whose work spans major cities across the nation. She has served on the multiple boards of community-based organizations. Rama is currently a member of the Palestine Feminist Collective and the U.S. Palestine Community Network.

BRANDON MANCILLA is Region 9A Director for the UAW, and actively pushes for BDS divestment goals within the union. As a member of the UAW executive board he helped lead the charge within the union for the Ceasefire resolution. During the student encampments of 2024, Brandon supported UAW members of that region (which includes Columbia, NYU, the New School, UConn, and other schools) who were joining and getting arrested at student encampments for Palestine. 

ANDREW KADI is an organizer active for the past 22 years in support of Palestinian rights and working on civil society initiatives among Palestinians. He is a member of Al-Shabaka: the Palestinian Policy Network, spent 9 years with Adalah-NY and 9 years on the Steering Committee of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights. Kadi has written for or appeared in The Guardian, USA Today, NBC News, The Forward, TRT, CityLab, the BBC, Electronic Intifada, and Mondoweiss.

ROCHELLE WATSON works as staff with Catalyst Project and is a member of the leadership team of the new formation Christians for a Free Palestine. Her solidarity with the struggle for Palestinian liberation began after her friend, Rachel Corrie, was killed by the Israeli military in 2003 protecting a Palestinian home from being demolished. Rochelle co-founded Olympia BDS and has worked as National Organizer for FOSNA and Project Director for the Rachel Corrie Foundation.

Course facilitators:

ELEANOR HANCOCK built Comrades Education (formerly White Awake) from a small website to an organization of national significance. As founder and director of the organization, Eleanor holds a strong vision for Comrades Education’s work, and has built a supportive team of leadership to guide it. Her leadership grows out of years of experience as an activist, academic, artist, educator, and mother of a multiracial young woman. For more on how Eleanor frames her work, you can listen to this interview on Upstream Podcast.

CHRIS CRASS is one of the leading voices in the U.S. calling for and supporting white people to work for racial justice. He works with community groups, schools and faith communities to develop leadership and momentum for social justice action. He was a founder of the anti-racist movement building center, the Catalyst Project, and helped launch the national white anti-racist network, Showing Up for Racial Justice. He is the author of Towards Collective Liberation and Towards the “Other America”. 

~ a note on antisemitism & Palestinian liberation ~
Comrades Education rejects the idea that criticizing Zionism or the Israeli state is inherently antisemitic, and we reject the lie that liberation for Palestinians is synonymous with genocide or oppression of Israeli's or Jews at large. We purport as a concept and a reality that occupation, ethnic cleansing, genocide and apartheid do not lead to the safety or wellbeing of anyone. Comrades Education promotes a vision of multiracial, multiethnic, multicultural solidarity, peace, and justice that ensures everyone can lead a resourced & dignified life.

This course is actively supported by Comrades Advisory Council Members:

To read more about Comrade Education's mission and organizational oversight, see our About page. You can also reach out directly to: info@comrades.education

Instagram / @comrades.education