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On 17 September, Wembley will host Together for Palestine (T4P) the largest concert ever staged in solidarity with Palestinians. I am proud to support it by donating a slogan design sold online and at the event itself – LOVE PALESTINE. The overall aim is to raise £2 million for humanitarian aid in Gaza but the significance is larger than money - it is a public stand against the normalisation of genocide. That word is not used lightly. The International Court of Justice has judged Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocidal. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and leading genocide scholars agree.
Save the Children reports that more than 20,000 children have been killed in under two years, which is at least one every hour on average. Entire families have been erased. Forced starvation is being used as a weapon. Silence in the face of this is complicity, and that is why I am supporting T4P.
People ask: why Palestine, why now? My answer is: because human rights are universal, or they are nothing
I have campaigned for decades: against nuclear weapons, for workers’ rights, against climate breakdown. Gaza combines all these crises: mass killing, environmental collapse, poverty and occupation. People sometimes ask me why Palestine, why now. My answer is: because human rights are universal, or they are nothing. If you claim to care about justice but stay quiet about Gaza, you are choosing the side of oppression. This is not “complicated”. The evidence is clear. The destruction of Gaza is systematic, deliberate and unlawful under international law. I have always used clothes as a political tool. A slogan on a T-shirt is a protest poster you can wear. It is harder to ignore “CHOOSE LIFE.” “STOP WAR.” “SAVE THE FUTURE.” “CANCEL BREXIT.” These were designed to cut through indifference. A four-word message can walk into every room before you do. It can’t be scrolled past or muted. Fashion is communication. In the face of mass killing, communication matters.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of Choose Love. Their work with displaced people is fast, direct, and effective. I donated one of my slogans to them because I believed in what they were building. They turned compassion into a practical model for solidarity. T4P have partnered with Choose Love for Wembley. Aid raised from the concert will be distributed through Palestinian-led organisations providing food, medicine and shelter. The partnership matters because it ensures accountability and impact, but also because it symbolises a decade of choosing solidarity over silence.
Fashion is communication. In the face of mass killing, communication matters.
A T-shirt or a concert is obviously not enough – these are starting points. What matters is what comes after. Write to your MP. Demand a permanent ceasefire, an end to arms sales and an end to Britain’s complicity. Tell them they will not have your vote otherwise. Support Palestinian-led aid groups. They are the ones working under impossible conditions. Challenge misinformation. When people call this “complicated”, point them to the facts. More than 20,000 children killed is not complicated. This is not charity. It is justice.
My latest campaign is called END GENOCIDE. The newest shirt is LET GAZA LIVE, created with Annie Lennox and London art organisation A/Political. Proceeds go to Taawon’s Noor Gaza Orphan Care Program, supporting 20,000 man-made orphans. It follows earlier collaborations: “WELFARE NOT WARFARE” with Jeremy Corbyn, “STOP KILLING CHILDREN” with Lina Hadid. These shirts have been worn at protests across the world. They raise money, but just as importantly they give people a voice. They are not fashion statements. They are demands.
We are watching a genocide unfold in real time. Governments will only act when people force them to. I know T-shirts and concerts cannot stop bombs. But they can stop silence. They can remind governments that the world is watching. That is why I am standing with Together for Palestine. That is why I will keep using my work to insist on visibility, on accountability, on solidarity. Because if we don’t, history will ask why we stood by while children were slaughtered. LET GAZA LIVE.
Katharine Hamnett is a British fashion designer
LET GAZA LIVE slogan T-shirts for men, women, children and babies. Available in a range of colours and sizes, made from certified organic cotton and printed to order. Prices range from £15 to £30 with international shipping available. All proceeds support the Noor Gaza Orphan Care Program by Taawon. For more information: a-political.org/projects/wtfdowedonow NOOR Website: taawon.org/en
