Craftivism for Palestine's 50-metre-long blanket to be displayed in Omagh

IRELAND Palestine Solidarity Campaign Omagh branch is honoured to welcome the display of a 50m long hand-knit blanket made by Craftivism for Palestine.

The blanket can be viewed from 1pm this Saturday, along Drumragh Avenue, Omagh, as part of a national day of action highlighting that ' There is NO Ceasefire'.

Volunteers are welcome to help hold up the blanket (approximately 30 minutes).

The 50 metre long, 1.6m wide blanket has been held by members of Craftivisim for Palestine and others in 29 counties across Ireland for viewing by the passing public

The blanket is the result of months of hard work by Craftivisim for Palestine's founders Anna Doyle and Niamh Bonner who came up with the idea of a visual interpretation of the huge death toll of Palestinian children in Gaza since October 2023. The aim was to highlight the Irish Government's inaction on the Occupied Territories bill.

The blanket consists of 2,900 6 inch intricate granny squares with each square representing 10 murdered children in Gaza.

Anna wrote to all the libraries and craft groups around the country (32 counties) and asked them to send squares.

"We got squares posted to us through advertising on social media and from other countries, such Venezuela, Canada, Pakistan, Greece, Germany and England.

"After a couple of weeks we organised to meet up to join the squares.

"Initially we met once a week but soon realised we needed to meet more often. A core group of 10 crafters met in the Beckett Locke Hotel in Dublin's North Wall Avenue.

We met approx 15 times in total over five weeks to join the squares because we had given ourselves a deadline to complete, of one week before Dáil summer recess."

The core group of crafters ranged in age from 50s to mid 80s.

Estimating an hour per square and every 100 squares taking about 40 hours to join the group spent approximately 4100 hours putting the blanket together.

The blanket not only represents the lives lost but also reflects the resilience of the people of Palestine.

'The collective rage of the crafters at the lack of government action to enact the Occupied Territories Bill echoes in every stitch.

Many of those who participated in the project are unable to join protests or social media campaigns, and their collective voices would otherwise be lost.'

This blanket is travelling across the island of Ireland to highlight the demand by the public on the Irish Government to enact the Occupied Territories bill in it's entirety.

For more information, email: ipscomagh@ gmail.com and check www.facebook.com/ IPSC Omagh page.