A ride in Portland on Saturday will be a show of support for Palestinians and their ongoing struggle against Israel. The Gaza Sunbirds Solidarity Ride will coincide with dozens of similar rides across America and the globe. The rides are being coordinated by Native Women Ride: Indigenous Cycling Collective and were inspired by Gaza Sunbirds, a team of para-cyclists based in the Gaza Strip who are raising money for war victims.
The local organizer of the ride is Ruandy Albisurez of Warpaint Mag, a Portlander we profiled in February last year.
Albisurez says the idea behind the ride is to, “Bring people together in a peaceful manner in solidarity with the Gaza Sunbirds and the Palestinian people, as we continue to advocate for a permanent ceasefire, and an end to the occupation.” The ride will also aim to raise funds for three Palestinians living in Portland who are helping families flee Gaza.
Saturday’s ride is billed as an easy, family friendly event open to everyone. The route will leave from Irving Park in northeast Portland and take participants on a 5-6 mile loop. The ride meets up at the south end of Irving Park at 1:00 pm and rolls out at 1:40 pm. Expect about an hour ride at a family pace where no one gets dropped. For more information, see Warpaint’s post on Instagram or the Shift Calendar listing.
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Performative events like this are more alienating than constructive. I could not in good conscience expose my children to the likely ill-conceived and poorly thought out assertions that will likely be cheered at this event, no matter how well-intentioned those assertions are put forward.
Protesters in Portland have long tried to conflate disparate social issues into one grand, interconnected scheme, where any group they assert is oppressed is in common cause with all other groups they assert are oppressed, e.g. “Trans rights are Palestinian rights,” “Land back for all indigenous peoples,” and vapid calls for “decolonization.”
These assertions are ridiculous on their face, but they also reveal the deep historical and cultural illiteracy of the people who assert them. There is no objective standard underlying who typically gets labeled as oppressee/opressor, just poorly read history, raw emotions, and the ephemeral politics of the Western radical left.
Don’t go on the ride. Thanks.
That was a lot of words to tell us you support ethnic cleansing.
Hi everyone. I’m closing comments on this post as of 9:12 am on Friday January 5th.
I 100% support the Gazan people and the best way to support them is to liberate them from Hamas.
The way towards actual peace is to advocate for the removal/surrender of Hamas.
If Hamas, which is the government of Gaza and has been since 2007, would surrender then there would be a ceasefire that very day. With Hamas gone, then UN, US and Israeli supplies could actually get to the needy populace rather than being spent on missile fuel, guns and tunnels.
With Hamas gone, the Gazans could actually vote for people to represent them as they haven’t had a chance to since elections were cancelled many years ago.
If Hamas cared one bit for the Gazans they would stop fighting and use some of the billions that they somehow acquired over the years to make Gaza the Middle Eastern Monaco it could be and should have been.
https://nypost.com/2023/11/07/news/hamas-leaders-worth-11bn-live-luxury-lives-in-qatar/
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/gaza-plagued-poverty-hamas-no-shortage-cash-come-rcna121099
Whatever you think of Hamas, or of anything else, does not justify Israel’s slaughter of thousands of innocent people including children.
We honestly don’t know if thousands of innocents including children have been killed. News reports continually quote the numbers announced by the Health Authority which is run by Hamas and it is in their interest to inflate numbers.
Do you remember when the Health Authority claimed an Israeli air attack killed over 500 at the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital? It was then proven without a doubt it was several dozen in the parking lot due to a rocket that failed that was launched by Islamic Jihad.
The casualty counts can’t be trusted.
If you want peace, ride in protest of Hamas.
“We honestly don’t know if thousands of innocents including children have been killed.” — There is literally hundreds of hours of video showing scores of bodies, most of which being children, teens and young adults. This is the most documented genocide in human history. It is being filmed by both the victims and the attackers of both sides. The day after Christmas I watch IDF bombs destroy 12 blocks for one man, in the area Israel said they would not attack people fleeing to. Hundreds killed, to kill one man. Documented for eternity.
Both things can be true at the same time, and in this case I think they are.
Hamas was created by the “Likud knesset”, Israels far-right political party. Hamas was created to destabilize the PLO’s growing political influence of the Palestinians, That seems to have failed the Likud knesset. Run by Nutty-boi. Please know what you are going on about before you do. Thank you!
Also, using Main Stream Media as your source will discredit you with almost everyone these days.
The conflict in Gaza is heartbreaking, and the responses to it in the US have also been tough to see. It’s not a conflict like Ukraine/Russia that can easily be broken down into one side bad, one side good, and it’s impossible to understand the current fighting in a vacuum. But everyone thinks in such black and white terms these days….
Why can’t we all acknowledge that neither Hamas nor the IDF/Netanyahu have the best interest of their citizens at heart, and that there will never be peace while either is in power? The innocent people of both Gaza and Israel are the victims. You can criticize the actions of Netanyahu and the IDF without being antisemitic, and you can likewise denounce Hamas without supporting the tactics of the IDF.
I have a lot more thoughts on the conflict but this isn’t the forum for them, and to avoid this turning into a huge debate thread I won’t be replying under this.
Actually the side that is killing thousands of innocent people is the bad side. It’s really not so complicated.
Hamas stated goals and political platform calls for eliminating Jews from the Middle East.
They took and are keeping women and children hostages?
Women and LGBT people have no role in the society they are pursuing.
This is the Good side for you?
You took that really thoughtful and nuanced argument and made it black and white.
If a ride were being organized to support the people from Congregation Neveh Shalom in SW Portland who have lost loved ones in the tragic events of Oct 7 would that be allowed to be promoted here? Asking for a friend.
Please look into Jewish Voice for Peace.
Most likely yes. Bikeportland is a community bulletin board. I post stuff that is happening in this community. Posting does not equal endorsement.
I know you’re trying to be accurate, but the idea that the ride is in support of Palestinians grates on my sense of fairness here. Why couldn’t you have said it’s a ride for peace? When you say it’s a ride for Palestinians, then it kind of sounds like the other side are the bad guys, which seems unfair given the massacre of October 7th.
Even if you don’t personally have a dog in this fight, the way you frame issues has an impact on people.
I’m not “saying” anything! I’m sharing information about what other people are saying. What part of news media do you not understand?
Family friendly. Based on the behavior at other “pro Palestinian” activities lately that remains to be seen.
The level of complete non understanding of the issue is so typical of Portland “protestors” it is laughable.
At the Burnside bridge protest a couple weeks ago there was a “Gays for Palestine” poster. Pure Genius.
Blocking the road to the airport to ruin the day for people trying to get to the airport was also real political idiocy.
Hopefully this group does just a harmless bike ride to get some exercise.
I am sure it will convince Bebe to end the war…
We’re trying to convince our congresspeople to stop funding the slaughter. It is not a war.
Blocking the road to the airport to simply disrupt ordinary peoples lives is a great strategy to change congresspeople’s minds…
You have zero clue about the issue it is clear.
Can you find Gaza on a map?
When is the ride to support the hostages and families of the 1400 murdered, which started this conflict? Unbelievable Bike Portland is doing this. Stick to your core mission.
“He started it, Mom” does not justify murdering thousands of children.
Asking this is like asking when the “straight pride” or “white history” ride will be held. The Oct 7th tragedy doesn’t need an awareness campaign – it’s had round the clock news coverage for months. Literally everyone has heard about it, and 10s of billions of dollars of public money has moved in response.
Awareness campaigns happen for people whose plight doesn’t already have widespread awareness and understanding. This isn’t a difficult concept.
There’s a clear need for greater awareness of what the people of Gaza are going through right now, and if you find that assertion threatening I’d like to encourage you to pause and take a moment to ask yourself why.
It does need an awareness campaign on the horrors that were inflicted.
I’ve seen a lot of denial of the brutal sexual trauma/assaults that Hamas inflicted on Israeli women during the initial attacks and subsequent hostage taking despite the videos that Hamas themself took of the events.
No one’s saying you can’t raise awareness, which is always a good thing. What’s grating is that it feels as though BP framed the issue in a way that forces people to take sides.
I agree with the first commenter who said you probably would be implicated in thoughtless rhetoric (“From the river to the sea” etc) if you took part in this ride. I couldn’t support an effort that is thoughtlessly pro-Palestinian any more than I could an event that is thoughtlessly pro-Israel. These are really complicated issues that can’t be solved by knee-jerk reaction.
Is it just me, or have people’s comments on reflective clothing gotten much angrier and massively more hostile since this Gaza ride post was put up?
I just read over them and they seem just as angry, snarky and territorial as normal.