Study & Action for Palestine 2025:

Fighting fascism at home & abroad

An Online Course & Learning Community held and hosted by Comrades Education

LATE REGISTRATION RUNS THROUGH APRIL 4. You can jump straight to registration here.

CO-SPONSORS: US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Jewish Voice for Peace, Adalah Justice Project, Highlander Center, SURJ, Catalyst Project & Rabbis for Ceasefire

FACILITATORS: Eleanor Hancock and Chris Crass

WITH GUEST TEACHERS: Noura Erakat, Huwaida Arraf, Ahmad Abuznaid, Rabbi Alissa Wise, Sumaya Awad, Rama Ali Kased, Rochelle Watson, Sophia Elena Gurulé, Andrew Kadi and Jemma Pasch

“In order to resist fascism, we have to fight it on two fronts of U.S. state violence: at home and abroad.” 

- Noura Erakat (The Boomerang Comes Back)

“Far from being siloed, the Palestine solidarity movement is actually on the frontlines of the fight against the far-Right. None of us will be free until Palestinians are free.” 

- Jewish Voice for Peace (The Wire)

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. Read all about it, below! Jump straight to registration here.

  • This year’s course is designed to be responsive to the current moment, focusing on campaigns and organizing efforts within the context of the Trump administration and volatile circumstances on the ground in Palestine. This includes a focus on the way in which fighting fascism at home is intimately intertwined with fighting against US state-sponsored violence in Palestine.

    Participants are welcome to join us and apply analysis & organizing lessons to their own work at this time, whether their primary focus is on Palestine solidarity or something else. All of our struggles are connected! 

    All six sessions include curated study materials, engaging guest teacher discussions, and opportunities to share, reflect, receive support, and inspire one another in small and large group formats. 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. 

    Comrades Education (formerly White Awake & based in the U.S.) has outlined community guidelines and expectations for this learning community in our Course Structure, Agreements & Ground Rules document for the program.

  • Designed to be a community of support for study and taking meaningful action, course content includes:

    • Campaigning and organizing skills that can apply to anything you are working on, brought directly to the group from Palestinian, Jewish, Christian & labor organizing for a Free Palestine right now!

    • Camaraderie and support for your involvement in solidarity struggle whether you are new to activism or a seasoned community leader

    • A material analysis of U.S. imperialism, settler colonialism, and the struggle for a free Palestine that strengthens all of the work that you do

    • Sustainable ways to contribute to the solidarity movement for Palestine and the broader struggle for collective liberation (at home & abroad) for the long haul

    Homework materials and in-session discussions will cover themes that are essential to the Palestine solidarity struggle - such as the relationship between U.S. imperialism and the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and a commitment to fighting against antisemitism that rejects the weaponization of Jewish trauma - while supporting your leadership in the fight against fascism wherever you are holding the line.

Session Topics & Guest Teacher Line-Up

Session One | March 16:
ORGANIZING AGAINST FASCISM

with Noura Erakat & Rabbi Alissa Wise
How does the Palestinian solidarity movement intersect with fascism at home? What organizing strategies do we need to employ to confront these forces & win? 

Session Two | March 30:
EFFECTIVE GRASSROOTS CAMPAIGNS

with Ahmed Abuznaid & Jemma Pasch

With Ahmed (Director of USCPR) and Jemma (JVP Director of Grassroots Organizing) we will consider ways to plug in right now, as well as best practices for grassroots campaigns.

Session Three | April 6:
US IMPERIALISM, ZIONISM & CAPITALISM

with Sumaya Awad (co-editor Palestine: A Socialist Introduction)

What is the relationship between US imperialism, Zionism & capitalism? How does this knowledge help us confront all three?

Session Four | April 20:
SOLIDARITY WITH STUDENTS & LABOR FOR PALESTINE

with Rama Ali Kased (EdD) & Sophia Elena Gurulé

Learning from Rama's solidarity w her students & Sophia's labor organizing for Palestine

Session Five | April 27:
BDS CAMPAIGNS THAT WIN

with Andrew Kadi

Stories and strategies from years of Boycott, Divestment & Sanction campaigns. How can we participate in boycotts as individuals? How can we organize BDS campaigns as a collective?

Session Six | May 4:
STEADFASTNESS IN SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINE

with Huwaida Arraf & Rochelle Watson
How can we stay steadfast in our commitment to a Free Palestine? What role does this play in the intergenerational struggle for a liberated world?

Course Details

Six live, online sessions:

March 16, March 30

April 6, April 20, April 27

and May 4

4:00-6:30pm ET • 1-3:30pm PT

Live attendance is not mandatory.

Sessions will be recorded. 

Suggested registration fee: $175-325*

No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

*a portion of proceeds from the course will be donated to direct, on the ground relief efforts in Palestine

Guest Teachers

Noura Erakat

NOURA ERAKAT is a human rights attorney and legal scholar with a distinguished career

Huwaida Arraf

is a Palestinian-American human rights attorney, activist and organizer who co-founding the Nobel Peace Prize-nominated International Solidarity Movement (ISM)

  • 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 his leadership with 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

was a staff leader at Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) from 2011-2021 and is currently the Lead Organizer of Rabbis for Ceasefire.

Sumaya Awad

is a Palestinian writer & organizer, and is the Director of Strategy and Communications with the Adalah Justice Project

  • 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.

Andrew Kadi

is a member of Al-Shabaka: the Palestinian Policy Network and has extensive experience leading campaigns within the BDS Movement.

  • 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.

Jemma Pasch

is the Director of Grassroots Organizing at Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)

  • JEMMA PASCH is the Director of Grassroots Organizing at Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), where she works to build powerful, locally-rooted organizing at national scale so that anti-zionist Jews in the US can play our strongest possible role in ending the US-Israel alliance that enables and profits off the genocide of Palestinians. Jemma loves thinking about how we build practices & structures that build trust, deepen political alignment, and allow us to move in disciplined, collective formation when it's time to act. 

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.

  • Rochelle’s 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.

Sophia Elena Gurulé

is a deportation defense attorney and member of UAW Labor for Palestine and Critical Resistance.

  • Since 2017, Sophia has worked as a public defender for criminalized and incarcerated working-class people facing deportation. She is also a member of UAW Local 2325, the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys and its chapter unit, The Bronx Defenders Union. As a UAW member, Sophia organizes towards building a democratic, rank-and-file led labor movement that respects the Palestinian picket line and supports divestment from settler occupation for a free Palestine from the river to the sea.

Rama Ali Kased (EdD)

is an Associate Professor in Race and Resistance Studies in the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University.

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”. 

What past participants say about the course

  • Many of the activist spaces I have been in used shame tactics to bring people into the movement, and it was really meaningful (and healing!) for me to be in a space that instead focused on what we can do starting now and what our individual and collective capabilities are.

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  • I thought the course was an amazing example of reflective racial solidarity that is neither self-aggrandizing nor navel-gazing. Instead, it modeled a practical, pragmatic, and deeply respectful way to engage with the movement for collective liberation in a way that foregrounds the values of integrity and solidarity. This is rare and wonderful and I hope to take more courses in the future.

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  • This was also the only progressive space I've ever been in that explicitly took a stand against antisemitism. So that meant a lot to me. I really felt everyone's commitment to collective liberation regardless of background.

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  • I am Jewish, raised in a Zionist family, but thought I'd left all that behind. Still, I knew there was a lot I didn't know. And BOY, was that true. My intentions were more than fulfilled.

    ❖

Course co-sponsors

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 well resourced & dignified life.

This course is actively supported by our Advisory Council Members:

Katrina Messenger

Betty Burkes

Bonnie Duran

"Why do you charge for your work?"

We believe the work that we do is significant, and we want to do it well. To this end, we charge a modest fee for our online programs, and solicit donations from participants and supporters, in order to meet our financial needs. This allows Comrades Education staff and instructors to focus their time and energy on the educational work this project promotes, for the benefit of all.

Comrades Education and our instructors support a transition away from capitalism, imperialism and white supremacy; we support reparations to historically targeted groups, communities and Peoples; and we make our work available to all regardless of financial means.

If you have further questions, please contact: info@comrades.education

Banner image credits: Artwork by Yasmine Abulhab / protest photo by Nikolas Gannon on Unsplash / Gaza photo by Naaman Omar via apaimages