“It’s a pleasure to be here,” artist Nida Sinnokrot said quietly, before pausing. “‘Pleasure’ is not the right word—it’s good to be here, in company. We thank you for your solidarity, your shared sense of urgency, and for organizing this March Meeting that celebrates resilient community practices rooted in preservation and care.”

Along with his partner, Sahar Qawasini, Sinnokrot was here to discuss their art and ecology initiative, Sakiya, which is located on a rewilded hillside in the West Bank outside Ramallah. But “here” was not Palestine. In the presence of many of its leading cultural figures, we were in a small auditorium in a former boy’s elementary school in the emirate of Sharjah, in the home of The Africa Institute, where the Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF) was holding its annual March Meeting 2024 symposium (March 1–3) titled “Tawashujat,” the Arabic word meaning “intertwining, coming together, or the meeting of thoughts and ideas.” It was an event, as SAF president Hoor Al Qasimi explained in her welcome address, that “arrives at a time of crisis and struggle, both regional and global,” including ongoing conflicts in Sudan, Congo, Armenia, Kashmir, Haiti, and elsewhere. Forefront in the minds of the assembled temporary community—including Al Qasimi, with a keffiyeh draped over her black Free Palestine T-shirt—was “the ongoing genocide in Gaza as well as the cultural and infrastructural destruction inflicted on the whole Palestinian population for decades.” She reminded us that throughout history, movements for social justice “have repeatedly shown that strength lies in working together [and] only through the power of collective organization can we effectively challenge structures of inequality.”