Come and enjoy the music, the lantern making and displaying, parachute games , henna decorations, Tatreez; learn from Palestinians speaking about their experience of education during the genocide, and hold hands with Palestinians as we sing to them over zoom at the end.
On Sunday June 22nd we will be hosting a Palestinian breakfast with spBR organiser Jawad.
He will be leading a discussion on ‘sumud’ – an all encompasing term which refers to the resilience of Palestinian people.
But it is more than simply a reference term. It has become an emblem of resistance and for many an integral part of how they live their life.
Below, Mustafa, who came to Sheffield in 2008 on the Al Asria dance tour describes what Sumud means to him.
Please join us at 10 am on Sunday 22nd June in the Palestine Voices Tent for breakfast and discussion.
What Sumud (صمود) Truly Means for me Mustafa Awad
Sumud means standing tall when everything is collapsing around you. It means not giving up even after losing your cousin, your family, your home — everything. It means crying every night, having nightmares, feeling broken, but refusing to be defeated.
Sumud is when your family calls and tells you they have no food — and even though your heart is shattered, you still speak out, you still fight. It’s when your mother, brothers, and sisters are starving, living without water or electricity, and the world just watches — but you still believe in justice.
Sumud is saying “I will never bow my head.” It’s screaming to the world that what’s happening is genocide — and you will never be silent. It’s being angry and hurt, but still strong. It’s losing family and still saying, “If I lose more, I will never give up.”
Sumud is refusing to be dehumanized. It’s shouting the truth when others stay silent. It’s saying loudly: “I have the right to be angry, I have the right to say ‘fxxk occupation’, and I have the right to never surrender.”
Sumud is when you teach your children to grow up strong — to never forget the uncles and aunts who were slaughtered on live TV while the world did nothing. It’s keeping their memory alive, turning pain into strength. It’s being tired, heartbroken, full of rage — but saying with pride: “We were born strong. We will die strong. Nothing will break us”
Play is one of the themes of this year’s ‘small Park BIG RUN’. Play is an important part of discovery, socialisation and wellbeing in our formative years. Many of us continue to engage in play in various forms as adults because it continues to provide for us in the same way when as children playing was so important. Play is about fun, informality, something which isn’t about duty or necessity, an activity which nourishes us and our relationships.
3-3 Palestine is a simple football activity open to anyone registered for SPBR – all ages and no previous football experience needed! Come and find the “3-3 Palestine” volunteers on the day, take the challenge as you complete the SPBR course and get a certificate and badge.
Palestinian women’s football team Diyar posing for photos with the Sheffield Lord Mayor Anne Murphy at the inaugural ‘small park BIG RUN’ in 2017.
Play can take many forms such as cultural and creative activity, imagination games and sport. Sport is a significant part of how we enjoy “play” throughout our lives and football continues to dominate as the sport which most people – children and adults – play.
It is a simple game, requiring just something to kick and a space to kick it in. It is also a uniting force; as a global game, anyone having a kickabout will know that elsewhere around the world millions of others are doing the same.
Whichever ways we might choose to engage in football – as participants, as spectators, as campaigners – we have so much potential to raise our awareness of and connect with our sisters and brothers in Palestine.
As participants, we feel how the exercise of playing football can not only lift the mood and improve our sense of wellbeing, but significantly also how the engagement in a sport can be a vital distraction, allowing us to focus on something apart from our troubles. We all deserve moments of joy and peace, however fleeting. Chasing a ball or playing with others can offer us that.
As spectators, we can enjoy sport as part of a community. We can identify with a badge, share the same chants and songs together and our mutual understanding helps us to bear the games lost and enjoy sweeter victories. We can watch as the people who represent us bring us recognition and pride, even when we are far from experiencing that ourselves.
The Palestinian diaspora plays a large role in the representative Palestinian teams, given the huge obstacles that Palestinians based in the illegally occupied West Bank and the Gaza strip have faced in keeping involved in competitive football over the recent decades. The continued functioning of representative teams is a remarkable achievement in itself. And when teams make their mark on the world’s stages, this can provide a defiant message of survival of a people whose identity is a continuing battle.
This year the Palestine men’s football team has gone the furthest ever in its history in the football World Cup qualification process. This brings a profile to the Palestinian state as a recognised entity – it is worth noting that the world governing body of football FIFA in spite of its flaws, has recognised the state of Palestine – and as a culture in a way that can resonate with people not otherwise engaged in Palestine solidarity. You can keep in touch with the progress of the team here: https://footballpalestine.com
While the Under 20’s Women’s football team recently declared ‘We played for Gaza’ as they won the West Asian Football Federation title. Read about it here: https://www.arabnews.com/node/2597092/sport
And sport is an incredible tool for campaigning. At elite levels fans can work as one community to coordinate huge displays of solidarity with oppressed communities. You can read on this thread how crowds at football clubs all over the world use their combined presence to show the people of Palestine that they are not forgotten:
Football activism has taken over the stadiums.
🧵🇵🇸 Here is a thread of all fan bases calling for solidarity with Palestine and the suspension of Israel from the beautiful game:
At grassroots level, community sporting events – football tournaments are a common example – are such an effective way of getting people together who may initially just want to come and play but then engage in so much more – learning, meeting activists, raising money, becoming involved themselves. Just think of all the things that ‘small park BIG RUN’ has achieved based on the nominally simple concept of an organised run around a neighbourhood park.
Even in the most difficult times, sometimes especially in those times the deep rooted and significant power of football – as a participatory activity, a spectator sport and a campaigning tool – belies its simplicity as a form of play.
Last year at small park BIG RUN a team from Footballers for Falasteen carried this football lantern for 24 hours! Photo: Kev Dunnington
The theme of small park BIG RUN this year is play and education. Under incredible pressure and in the face of terrible destruction, educators and students across Palestine both in Gaza and the West Bank, ensure schools and universities carry on.
The building are destroyed but the process continues. We have written a short page describing this in more detail and below we have a video from a woman called Banyas who has set up a tent education operation in Gaza. We were sent this video in October 2024.
For decades the watermelon has been used as an elegant and stylish symbol to display support for the right of Palestinians to self-determination and justice. Sharing the Palestinian national colours, it symbolises a deep connection with the land and depicts seeds of hope for a better future. Plus, it’s pretty to look at, and very tasty to eat!
For these reasons we’re using it on this year’s small park BIG RUN products.
On May 15th it will be Nakba day, the 77th anniversary when 750,000 Palestinian people were forced to flee their homes.
But the Nakba has continued: a determined attempt to remove Palestinians from their land by occupation, house demolitions relentless violence from illegal settlers and more.
In our thousands and in our millions we have to be Palestinians now; what does it say if we look away?
Please do one small thing to commemorate the Nakba, help us build a climate of International solidarity that will, one day, help liberate Palestinian people from occupation.
(The photos are of a house in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, Palestine, earmarked by the Israeli civil court for demolition by the illegal occupation. )
Indefatigable vloger , Wizard Bisan, has told her story with dignity and courage and pride over the past 16 months. We have seen her laugh, mourn , cry and take joy too from Palestinian resilience.
Recently she has told us about the foraging she remembers her grandmother doing and, as she has been able to roam a bit more, she has shown us the destruction of schools where she grew up.
In 2007 one of the small park BIG RUN organisers went to the West Bank. Through the lens of the devastation of Gaza today and the increasingly oppressive occupation in the West Bank, Kath looks back at her travels in the context of the genocide in Gaza that has been going on since October 2023.
You can download her reflections here . Please donate to Sheffield Palestine Cultural Exchange when you do. There are three ways to donate. We suggest £10.
By BACS: transfer funds to the Sheffield Palestine Cultural Exchange bank account using the reference ‘WBT2007’: Sort code: 05-08-18 Account number: 33129312.
Direct debit or credit card payment here (change the amount if you want to give less or more than £10)
We have been amazed at the work people in Gaza have undertaken in spite of the genocide. Whether this has been building tented schools, making films or offering trauma-easing structured play, our friends in Gaza have been heroes. You can read more in our Xmas 24 and Winter 25 newsletters
So we are pleased to ask you to save this date and help us make spbr25 the best ever.
The 15 months of bombardment and destruction has seen deliberate targeting of schools and universities. All six Universities that were in Gaza are now destroyed. Students have to go to extraordinary lengths to continue their education. Like Malak, a student supported by the Sheffield Palestine Womens Scholarship Fund.
Similarly we have seen the destruction of play facilities, amongst these the Qais Play and Therapy Centre for traumatised children – which tragically is now most children in Gaza.
So for this reason our theme this year is Play and Education. We are busy making plans to ensure we all have a fantastic day and celebrate Palestinians and their tremendous spirit. One big effort is to raise funds for the BIG SING, our seven-choir backed sing across to Gaza. Please help us if you can.
New this year: hoodie with waternelon badge and caption 'justice for Palestine' £25
