It’s done. fr this time.
It was actually done like a month ago but now the money is sent in and we r j chilling.
From October to November, a few friends and I organized a fundraiser for Palestinian Civilians. We tried to make it apolitical as possible, and we had to keep it to CNN levels of dialogue. I talked a lot about the context and the beginning of it in a previous email too, so def check that out here.
I sent that email a week before the fundraiser. It was a stressful week, but an exciting week. We were sharing our work, and seeing what people thought. We saw our reception, and we saw where people stood. Our support was loud. All of our timelines were filled with out art about palestine. We had pieces referencing the culture, freedom, immigration, youth, genocide, the media, and more. We were still on our schedule, and planned for a few group calls for the public.
Our first one was kinda stressful. A monday. I was thinking about it all day, and just terrified honestly. What do I say? What should we talk about? Who’s gonna show up? Is there gonna b backlash, or an audience full of haters? I was speculating till like 6pm, when we finally had the call. It was me, my team (@ anubis_3100 and @Natxlama), and an art collective called @makingit247 which Anubis is in. We had a 30 minute call, and the speaker was also an artist on our drop (@fnnngn on insta), which definitely made this a more comfortable experience. We didnt allow other ppl to come up and speak tho, but I think that was j cuz we wanted to keep things focused, and there was a time crunch. We just talked about our fundraiser and gave context. Nothing too fancy, but it was still a bit stressful. We did it tho, and all the people who came to listen were v satisfied.
Then came tuesday, the day before our drop. The last artists finished their pieces, and we all just waited. We were chatting, having some banter in our groupchat. As it costs eth to list pieces for sale on Foundation, we were in a bit of a mad dash to make sure everyone still had a piece ready to go. It was just nervous air all around. We didn’t know what to expect. And the day vanished, leaving us with Wednesday. The day our pieces open for sale.
Damn this was a stressful ass morning lmaooo. but, thankfully, someone didn’t list their piece up on time, and ended up opening it up for sale early. and an hour after waking up the piece got a bid! our first auction started before it even opened! which was honestly the ice breaker needed. and then someone with 400k followers reshared our fundraiser, and the groupchat did go hysterical for a bit. The clock struck twelve, and our auction was open to bid.
Almost all the pieces were under $200 as the starting price. the lowest was starting at $60. We wanted to be accessible, but didn’t want to price down the people’s works. Some of the artists have sold for several thousand, and we didn’t want to undercut them too much, but our focus was on raising funds - in the current market, we didn’t want to wait for so long until people were going to put several thousand on a piece. Especially as we wanted pieces sold as soon as possible.
We hop on a group call for a bit, chatting and being excited and all. within thirty minutes, we had ~20 of our 60 pieces live. Even mine! it was a mixed sense of relief and anticipation. I was hoping we would make $4k from this, as i rly wasn’t expecting the support. I’ve been retweeting a bunch and sharing about Palestine, and just using the interactions of that to figure out what the reception was gonna be. And it was so much more than we expected.
Within 24 hours, we had 47 of the 63 auctions that were live. this was around $8k.
As the time passed, more bids came in. Pieces that started at $100 ended up selling for $2k. Our bids were goin up, and the groupchat was hysterical. Its been so long since I felt this kind of companionship towards a goal. And I rly missed that feeling. People from all over the world came together to celebrate. We know that what brought us together was tragedy, but we were able to share our art and ideas, and celebrate this victory. Maybe it was to soothe our own souls too, but there was a fire within us that helped us inspire hope.
We had another group call on Thursday. We were closing up some of the auctions, and if anything we had too many auctions to close. Another negative side of crypto is that it also costs a bit of eth to “settle” (close) and auction. We had over 50 auctions live at the time, and we were all ecstatic. This time, our call was with the lovely @burritoDAO, which I am blessed to be a part of frfr. We talked more about our drop, and we were able to have a person from the fundraising organization, the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Organization, which was honestly rly cool. This call was also a lot more shits and gigs too, so that was a great celebration to our drop as well.
OH I FORGOT. we were expecting some kind of backlash or censorship to this drop, and we kinda got it (?). Our drop was done through a feature on Foundation.app called “Worlds” which basically lets funds be directed towards one wallet. This is also a heavily promoted feature in the website, so a lot of worlds end up on the front page. within 4 hours of opening, we had 30 sales live, and we were at least half of all sales that were happening through the Foundation website. And then we ended up on the front page!
***Semi Tangent* Crypto is known for being filled with straight white males, and that still is the case for NFTs. But there are also many zionists within the NFT and crypto space as well. Im still discovering new people who blocked me, but alas. *
Nobody expected to see anything related to Palestine on this website’s front page. There is rarely aggressively political art that circulates within NFTs, and its much rarer for something this controversial to be spotlighted the way we were. four hours later, our spotlight was taken down.
Our groupchat was in flames. Rightfully so, too. Most spotlights go for 24 hours, and ours was rly the only World that was actively making sales. at the time, we were 50% of all sales actively happening on the Foundation website. But we were nowhere to be found. Some of our members DM’d some of the people who worked their, but to no avail. They said all the updates are “automatic” and “through the algorithm”, but nobody has ever seen something change so quickly. While people wanted to take further action, I think we were all v excited to see our work on the front page of this platform. And for action for Palestine to disrupt this website.
We eventually showed up in a different page that was highlighting different worlds but still lmao.
A week later, all our artworks were settled and completed. We were ecstatic. The group chat was radiating joy. It feels corny but it rly did feel like a movie or something.
We expected to only make $4k, but we ended up making $15,000. It was absurd. A parent of one of the artists said they would match the price of the sales. They humbly retracted (but still donated a good amount of money lmao). I told my family and they were all truly gagged.
The hardest part after this was just getting funds out of eth and into Jordanian dollars. Jordan isn’t too keen on crypto, but alas we made it work. after a few weeks, $15,000 worth of jordanian dollars were sent to the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Organization. and our fundraiser was complete.
Afterwards me and the other team members j felt super aimless. over a month was spent on this. we had so many laughs, stresses, confusions, pains, and joys through this project. It made an incredibly hard time bearable, and it brought ppl together in ways nobody was expected. and $15k is crazy like omg. Now all we can do is pray and watch. We’re in touch here and there, but idk what to do now.
I guess we should start preparing for the next fundraiser :)
Much love, and thank you for everyone who supported throughout this journey.
frfr,
Faraz
Dreams and Foresight
This is more like a pt 2 to this email, but its still relevant and theres always so much to talk abt now that I j need to get to sharing stuff.
After this fundraiser I saw how people support Palestine. Some quietly, some loudly, some by sharing info, and some by sharing wealth. And after this, I believe in the future of Gaza.
I think it would be a global hub for medicine. We have seen so much death, and it is also going to be a space filled with disabled ppls. From physically disabled people from bombing and destruction. To more internal disabilities, from toxins in the air infecting parent, mother, fathers, and children. All work towards accessibility that we have seen around the world would be put to the test. We will see a focus on the cost of medicines as well, to grant Palestinians a long and healthy life (please just be free healthcare; even if it is free, I think understanding how to make it as cost effective for the government is also gonna b huge for medicine)
We will see earth and environmental science evolve as well. The land has been bombed, chemically attacked, flooded with saltwater, and just filled with toxins and rubble. People will be coming together to understand how to bring the land back to its best state. The Levant region was a part of the fertile crescent, and is meant to be a land lush with life. We will see olive trees grow, birds flock, and fish swarm all through the land. We will learn how to take care of land after a modern war, and that knowledge will be shared throughout the world, in places that nobody took care of after colonization.
We will see the power of religion. Where it isnt a voice for the rich and powerful to influence others, but we will see people come together and understand that there is more to life than just them. There is a greater purpose beyond vengeance and the self. We will see the unforgivable be forgiven. And we will see trust in a higher power that was never seen before. Mosques, churches, and synagogues will be built and rebuilt, letting people follow their faith to the fullest.
There will be no mental health tiktok account that’ll help in Palestine, but the things we will see in therapeutic and psychological studies will be amazing. People have no idea as to how to assist using psychology and therapy, as the trauma happening now has never been seen before. But what we have seen more is Palestinian resilience. There are ways out of the trauma the surrounds us, even if it is through. It won’t be easy at all. A moment of peace after all the destruction will lead to a moment of realization, where ppl can finally understand what they went through. It is incredibly scary, but the grandest advancements will be made to aid everyone through this.
We will see art. We will see literature. Theatre, rage, comedy, grief, love. People channel their emotions into their creations, and a free palestine will be filled with feelings. The next great artists and creatives will be from Palestine, and I am excited to meet them.
Education will thrive. We have seen the power of english in a natively arabic speaking country. We have seen how much Israel wants to remove their education systems. There is a yearning for knowledge that will grant all these changes.
And the reason for this is the youth of Palestine. Currently, there is a 9 year old new reporter in Palestine, named Lama Jamous. The children want to experience the world. They want to help the people around them. they want to understand.
As outsiders, we can best help financially, or by giving assistance that is specifically asked for. Not in a savior way, I hope, but in a way to create something sustainable, which Palestinians can maintain on their own. We will see people globally come together. From all continents and religions, people will want to help. We’ve seen too much death to sit idly by. We will see the great return of Palestinian people who have been dispersed throughout the world. Jewish people, Christian people, Muslim people, and even pisces/gemini ppl will come together to live, thrive, and find joy.
We’ll see a free Palestine soon, and I’m excited to see it prosper.
ofc,
Faraz
email fin xoxo, i tried to have all the @s be for IG but it may also be twitters idk tho