Work With Indies is donating 100% of our revenue from the month of October 2023 to organizations providing humanitarian assistance to families in Palestine.

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Work With Indies exists to bring people from all over the world together to make incredible indie games that we all can’t wait to play. Our core values are kindness and inclusion, which we extend to everyone regardless of race, religion, or background, with an emphasis on those from underrepresented groups. 

It is in adding these unique voices and diverse perspectives to our teams that we will create not just better games and better companies, but through our evolving understanding, empathy, and appreciation for the new characters that we play, the new co-workers we meet, and the new friends that we make, a better world.

One of the many reasons we love the indie games community (the people that collectively create and represent "indie games"), is their willingness to ask questions, to stand and speak up for each other, and to do things differently while demanding better and more of and for all of us. This is refreshing, but unsurprising given they self-identify as "indie" or "independent".

This combination of diversity and independence may be why we can always count on the indie community to amplify causes and issues they believe in, particularly when they concern and come from underrepresented voices. You may have seen that when indie games rallied in support for Black Lives Matter, fought against racial injustice and anti-Asian violence, stood up for Ukraine, and in their repeated calls for racial and gender equality, as well as for a Free Palestine.

In June 2021, in response to retaliatory airstrikes on Gaza, 1,063 game developers and 97,134 people from the indie community contributed $899,778 to the Indie Bundle for Palestinian Aid. 

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That’s 100,000 people, just in indie games, that came together to provide humanitarian assistance and raise awareness for the occupation of and living conditions in Palestine. Many more donated on their own while protesting both in the streets and on social media, sharing resources and information when our Western media failed to do so.

Those same Palestinian voices are being underrepresented again today. 

While Western corporations and governments have donated billions in aid to Israel in the form of cash, military gear, food, and household supplies, they have once again left the care and livelihood of Palestinian families in our hands. 

There’s no denying that what is happening in Palestine today is a tragedy and humanitarian crisis. 

Regardless of our politics, our religion, our race, where we were born, or where we currently live, none of us wishes to see innocent people suffer, lose their lives, or those of their family members.

Millions of people, families just like yours and mine, are without water, food, shelter, electricity, and medical supplies. They need our help.

We can help.

We can speak up. We can protest. We can raise awareness. We can donate what we can to organizations that are providing humanitarian assistance to families in Palestine. We can ask others to do the same.

If you have the means to make a donation, please consider joining us in contributing to one of the following organizations:
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Or, if you’re looking to grow your indie games teams with wonderful, diverse, and talented people from all around the world, you can list your open roles on Work With Indies (from now through October 31st) and we’ll forward your payment along with our contribution on your behalf.

If you are one of the millions who have protested or donated, or shared articles and resources, or even simply asked questions and read more on your own, I thank you. I appreciate you. I love you. Please. Keep. Going.

And if you’re reading this and the words “Free Palestine” offend you, I really wish they didn't. 

Free Palestine shouldn't be a controversial statement. The fact that it is is why we need to keep saying it.

Free Palestine isn’t propaganda. Free Palestine isn’t antisemetic. It’s a call for freedom from occupation and oppression. It’s a call for basic human rights for a people who haven’t been granted them. It’s a call for help.

We can help.

Sincerely, 

A father of two half-Palestinian daughters and a massive fan of both indie games and basic human rights

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If you’d like to learn more about the history and occupation of Palestine, I’ve found the following website and short documentaries to be informative.

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‍Decolonize Palestine

Decolonize Palestine is a fact-checked collection of resources provided by two Palestinians living in Ramallah, for organizers and anyone who wants to learn more about Palestine.

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Al Jazeera - How Israeli Apartheid Destroyed My Hometown (23:52)

In this deeply personal documentary, Dena Takrur spends a day in Hebron retracing the footsteps of her father, who was born and raised in Hebron. She talks to Palestinians who are subjected to daily harassment from the Israeli military and settlers. And she is guided through the city by former Israeli soldiers, who tell her why their conscience is now forcing them to speak out against the occupation.

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‍‍Vox - The Nakba: How Palestinians were expelled from their homes (16:25)

Around the time that Israelis celebrate Independence Day, Palestinians commemorate “The Nakba,” or “The Catastrophe.” The Nakba was a series of events, centered around 1948, that expelled hundreds of thousands Palestinians from their homeland and killed thousands. The Nakba isn’t the beginning of the story, but it’s a key part of Palestinian history — and the root of Israel’s creation.

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