Drawing inspiration from a gathering held in September in the Belgian capital Brussels, prominent figures from various fields such as art, literature and media, including actors Jyothirmayi and Nikhila Vimal, filmmaker Aashiq Abu, and singers Sitara Krishnakumar and Resmi Sateesh, joined an event held at Vanchi Square in Kochi, Kerala, on Thursday evening in solidarity with Gaza, titled the ‘Names of Gaza’, where participants read out the names of children killed in Israel’s genocidal attack.
The event was organised by the Chinta Ravi Foundation, in association with the Palestine Solidarity Forum, and was conceived as a continuation of international solidarity efforts that first began in Europe, with the idea of reading aloud the names of Palestinian children who lost their lives in the conflict.
It brought together writers, activists, students, educationists and members of Malayalam cinema who shared the stage and recited the names, while wearing black-and-white keffiyehs as a mark of solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
The evening saw a blend of remembrance and resistance, as groups of college students performed dabke, a traditional Palestinian folk dance that has become a cultural expression of resilience, while placards bearing messages such as ‘Long Live Gaza’ and ‘Peace for Palestine’ were displayed prominently.
The organisers explained that the initiative aimed not only to pay tribute to the victims but also to ensure that the names of thousands of children were not lost as statistics, and that each life was remembered as an irreplaceable loss.
Abdullah Abu Shawesh, the Palestinian Ambassador to India, inaugurated the event virtually and participated by reading the names of members of his family who had been killed in Gaza, stressing the scale of destruction inflicted on Palestinian society.
His words highlighted how the war had personally touched almost every Palestinian family, as the number of children killed in Gaza has now crossed 18,000 since the Israeli offensive began on 7 October 2023, following the Hamas attack.
Several prominent voices from Kerala contributed to the programme, including veteran journalist and media entrepreneur Sashi Kumar, art curator Bose Krishnamachari, Justice P K Shamsuddin, and educationist Mohan B Menon, who reflected on their own connections to Palestine, either through professional engagement or humanitarian involvement, as they read the names of children aloud to the audience gathered at Vanchi Square.
Actors Jyothirmayi, Nikhila Vimal, Divya Prabha, Irshad, Lali PM, Pooja Mohanraj, filmmaker Aashiq Abu, and singers Sitara Krishnakumar and Resmi Sateesh also joined them on stage to read the names, voicing their solidarity with Palestine.
Writer N S Madhavan, who conceived the programme, emphasised that the event was rooted in a moral responsibility to raise voices against what he described as one of the gravest injustices of contemporary history, and he explained that the names were compiled from international sources, including The Guardian, in order to ensure authenticity.
The organisers announced that the initiative would not remain confined to Kochi but would travel across districts of Kerala, with upcoming programmes scheduled in Palakkad and Wayanad, eventually covering other regions so that every name of the 18,000 children believed to have been killed is spoken aloud in public spaces.