Crips for eSims for Gaza is a disability justice-led mutual aid project co-founded by Jane Shi, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, and Alice Wong to get life-sustaining internet access directly to Palestinians in Gaza. Amid repeated attacks on cellular and WiFi infrastructure, eSIMs allow people in Gaza to temporarily regain connectivity—helping families find one another, journalists document conditions on the ground, and communities remain in contact with the outside world. Launched on December 25, 2023, Crips for eSims for Gaza mobilizes disabled people and allies around the world to pool resources, fund eSIMs, and distribute them through trusted networks when traditional aid channels are blocked.

This award honors the legacy of Alice Wong, co-founder of the project, who understood Palestinian liberation as inseparable from disability justice and used her platform to amplify disabled Palestinian voices and refuse silence. Crips for eSims for Gaza continues Alice’s legacy of tangible solidarity—keeping people connected, visible, and alive in the face of erasure.