The holy days of Ramadan are among the most important on the calendar for the hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world. During Ramadan, Muslims are called to fast from sunrise to sunset, as the month enforces followers to get closer to God by abstaining from worldly distractions such as food, water, smoking, and sexual activity during daylight hours.
Ramadan falls as the ninth month in the Islamic calendar. Following the lunar cycle, every year the month rotates 10 days back. This year the month started for a majority of followers on March 11th, however, due to annual debates on the exact dates many started their fasts on the 12th and ended on Tuesday, April 11th.
For the diverse Islamic communities in New York, one of the most important places to commemorate Ramadan this year was the Knockout Center in Queens, where RamadanCon 2024 took place.
Led by the Asiyah Women’s Center, a women’s emergency center based in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, the day-long event featured entertainment, food vendors, and panel discussions addressing range of topics impacting the community, including the ongoing Israel-Hamas war since the October 7th attack on Israel that killed over 1,200 people.
“We were intentional about catering to the Muslim community, but we also wanted to be inclusive of folks that didn't necessarily identify as Muslim,” said Ratha Ali, operations manager at the non-profit.
Organized to ring in the Islamic holy month, this year’s RamadanCon 2024 was particularly special, as it brought together the Muslim community to reflect on the people of Gaza and show solidarity to the Palestinian people, as the war there extended into its sixth month.
The historic venue is named after the birthplace of the ‘knock down’ door frame. It was decked out in lights and an array of tables where local Muslim-owned small businesses were displaying their goods and services. There were halal food trucks in the outdoor sitting area.
Once past security and the open bazaar, attendees flooded the main stage as speakers and talent stood before a crowd of Palestinian flags and keffiyehs, the decorative head scarves emblematic of Palestinian culture.
The lively room was full of laughter and cheers, as participants were snacking at their seats. Then suddenly, the crowd went silent in respect for the first panel discussion, titled "Live From Gaza."
Journalists Reporting Live From Gaza
The first person to take the mic was Nerdeen Kiswani, chairperson and co-founder of WOL, Within Our Lifetime, which is a Palestinian-led community organization. Hailing from ‘Little Palestine,’ Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Kiswani is a respected figure in the Palestinian diaspora known for unabashedly advocating for the rights of Palestinians.
Throughout her time on stage, Kiswani commanded the audience for respect and silence.
“All our protests and everything we do is not a fraction of the respect that we owe our people back home in Gaza,” said Kiswani. The transcontinental call was made using Skype.
Ali, from the Asiyah Women’s Center, attributed the success of reaching journalists on-the-ground in Gaza to the organization’s executive director, Dania Darwish.
Darwish rounded up the journalists, all of whom had mutual enthusiasm, jumping at the opportunity to speak to the 1,500 attendees.
Kiswani consistently reminded the crowd that the special guests tuning in from Gaza were seven hours ahead, and perhaps more importantly, were experiencing freezing temperatures, famine, and starvation as the conversation was unfolding.
She implored attendees visible from the stage to refrain from eating as the televised video call panned to the live audience.
“We know the importance of these journalists in illustrating the truth, the injustice that our people face and the risk that they have to take every single day of their lives to do that,” Kiswani said.
She mentioned how the journalists speaking before the crowd were putting their lives at risk to speak via video call.
According to AccessNow, as of October 31, 2023, 15 internet providers are facing an ongoing complete shutdown of their mobile and broadband services. This directly affects an estimated 411,000 people using these providers in Gaza, as well as an additional 34,000 people in the West Bank. On at least two occasions during the earlier stages of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, the entire territory was completely disconnected from internet service.
Due to connection issues during RamadanCon, organizers resorted to phone calls being blasted through the handheld microphones via WhatsApp in order to maintain communication open.
(Above) The Gaza Strip is approximately 25 miles long with a total population of 2.23 million people. 80 percent of the population is internally displaced since Oct. 7.
Kiswani alerted the crowd at the edge of their seats that she had not prepared to act as the translator, and apologized for her broken Arabic. The crowd of young and old faces brushed off the comment, patiently waiting in between long pauses as the signal would cut in and out.
The first person to make the connection was Motasem Mortaja, a 29-year-old filmmaker and journalist, who is the head of a production company, Recordmedia.
“It has always been difficult being a Gazan, let alone a journalist,” Motasem Mortaja said, translated by Kiswani.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 97 journalists and media workers were among the more than 35,000 killed since the war began. Of those confirmed deaths, 92 were Palestinian, 2 Israeli, and 3 Lebanese.
Many working journalists on-the-ground have been reported missing, injured, and have been arrested, while facing assaults, threats, cyberattacks, and censorship, not to mention grieving the death of family members killed during this war.
Mortaja is a father of two young children. He welcomed his second child on the first day of Ramadan in the Gaza Strip this year. During his interjection at RamadanCon, the urgency of the current situation came through to the audience.
“He talked about losing a lot of opportunities, losing a lot of friends, losing cameras, losing lenses,” Kiswani said, summarizing his response to the state of his livelihood living under siege.
For the brief moments Mortaja was on the screen, he could be seen in the dark with a flashlight directly on his face.
The war in the region has led Israel to bar foreign journalists from accessing or reporting on the Gaza Strip for security concerns. Since then only local freelancers like Mortaja have been leading coverage directly on social media, and other larger publications.
“This is the very least that he feels that he can continue to do is expose this genocide, even though it causes him to be a target,” translated Kiswani as the audience looked on.
His final words to the crowd were of gratitude and honor.
“He's honored to be here to speak with you all and to spread the message of Gaza to the world,” said Kiswani on behalf of Mortaja.
Mohamed H. Masri
The one-hour panel stretched behind schedule, but the audience remained seated, squinting and sweating as the afternoon sun peeked through the windows behind the stage onto the rows of listeners.
The same questions would be repeated for the next journalist on the virtual panel, including what was your life like before October 7th and what was the difference in journalism before and after October 7th?
Mohamed H. Masri, a photojournalist based in the Gaza Strip, started by sharing his gratitude and respect for all those present in the audience at the Knockout Center, referring to them as “the free amongst the enslaved.”
In a dramatic lead-up to his comments, Masri asked Kiswani to pan the phone to the crowd and what he saw back were smiling faces and hands in the distance waving red, green, white, and black— colors of the Palestinian flag.
The crowd chanted at Kiswani’s command, Free, Free Palestine!
Hind Khoudary
The final journalist who was called to speak to the crowd for the remainder of the session was 29-year-old Al Jazeera English reporter, Hind Khoudary. This was before the Israeli government ordered the Qatari-based network to shut down its operations in Israel on May 4th, calling it a security threat to Israel. Defenders of the network argue it has played an important role in telling the stories of the civilian cost of the war.
“Well it's about 140 days now, it’s every single day we wake up and it's not ending,” said Khoudary.
Her call was short and sweet with audience members still at their seats. The moderators on stage alongside Kiswani and the Asiyah staff included Houston-native, Hamzah Saadah, a Palestinian content creator known for his web chat videos where he’s confronted with young Israelis and members of the Israeli Defence Force in Israel.
“I’m not sure what they’re teaching them there but it’s clear that a lot of hate is taught,” said Saadah.
At the door of Ramadan
The room full of heavy hearts would transition with attendees stepping out before the next panel began. The final talk with a smaller crowd on ‘Global Crises and Spirituality Shields,’ would be a reminder on intentionally practicing their faith while keeping the less fortunate in mind.
With a prayer given to start the panel, the night closed off on points to help the community heal, and cope in solidarity for Palestine. The month of Ramadan includes acts of charity as a form of worship and the night’s ticket sales and proceeds would go towards relief in Gaza, Congo, Sudan, and domestic violence survivors.
The high-spirited function appeased guests regardless of their faith. The attention to details across food selection, entertainment, and participation for addressing what was on the minds and hearts across the Muslim community was met and needed.
“Our intention was to show out for the community, and the community showed out for us as well." Ali said. “Everyone there was raving about the event."
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