The Instagram account "Team Skate Gaza" has 169,000 followers. In the videos, Palestinian boys and girls are seen practicing "drops" amidst the rubble. In the background, songs like "Palestine Will be Free" play (sometimes with "From the river to the sea" and sometimes without). An instructor glides a toddler on a skateboard between the tents of a refugee camp. The song "Fuck These Fucking Fascists" plays in the background. The instructor mentions he has only two skateboards to teach the entire group. All of this has been filmed since the beginning of the ceasefire. Previously, the account also posted videos of mourning, funerals, heartbreak over the deceased, and photos of the team's uniforms buried under the ruins.
From Gaza to Ethiopia: the "Ethiopian Girl Skaters" Instagram account has nearly 80,000 followers. It is one of the accounts operated by Skateistan, a women-led non-profit organization that empowers primarily girls – but also boys – to "dream big and break barriers through skateboarding." This account is more cheerful than the one from Gaza, featuring girls documented on the covers of magazines considered to capture the spirit of the times, such as Dazed. In some photos, girls are seen skating in traditional attire; in others, in Western clothing. The girls sing, dance, and skate. They are always smiling. In Ethiopia, more than 40% of parliamentary seats are held by women, yet child marriage rates (under 18) remain high, as do rates of domestic violence against women. Girls under the age of 10 still spend vast amounts of their time performing "invisible" domestic labor.
Skateistan was also highly active in Afghanistan. The organization’s coordinator there is human rights activist Zainab Hussaini, who was the first Afghan woman to complete a marathon. That race took place in Bamyan – a safe and beautiful province – in 2016, about five years before the American withdrawal and the Taliban’s return to power. Even then, while Hussaini trained, men cursed her and children pelted her with stones. Today, operating in Kabul is far more difficult, yet the organization still manages to provide education (they teach more than just skating) to young girls.
The connection between skating, young girls, oppressed minorities, music, Instagram, and magazines like Dazed and Confused is a brilliant piece of marketing strategy known as co-branding. Through this lens, skateboarding is reimagined as a subversive counter-culture, while the political struggles of oppressed groups become photogenic and "share-worthy."
Do these initiatives have real value as acts of empowerment on the ground? Despite the inherent cynicism of our profession, we want to believe they do. We want to believe they carry meaning – perhaps not for the collective as a whole, but certainly in the private lives of every boy and girl who gains access to an act of freedom and a zest for life.
Skateistan was also very active in Afghanistan. The organization’s coordinator there is human rights activist Zainab Hussaini, who is also the first Afghan woman to complete a marathon. The race took place in Bamyan, a safe and beautiful province, in 2016, about five years before the American withdrawal and the Taliban’s return to power. Still, while she was training, men would curse at her and children would throw stones. Today, it is more difficult to operate in Kabul, yet the organization somehow manages to provide education (they don’t just teach skating) to young women.
The connection between skating, young women, oppressed minorities, music, Instagram, and magazines like Dazed and Confused is a brilliant marketing move called co-branding. Through it, the skateboard gains a new identity as a symbol of subversive counter-culture, while the political struggles of oppressed groups gain the chance to be photogenic and shareable.
Do these efforts have real value as acts of empowerment on the ground? Despite the inherent cynicism of our profession, we want to believe that yes, it has a meaning; maybe not for the collective, but definitely in the private lives of every young man and woman who gains access to an act of freedom and joy.
