Bringing the conversation to the skatepark

Montreal skateboarders merge skateboarding with activism

SportsAlice Martin — Published March 18, 2025 3 minutes

“Me and Layla were talking about our feelings on the skateboarding scene and the lack of action that we felt,” Diesel said. “After Oct. 7, I found myself putting a lot more energy into activism, or being really mentally affected by the situation, and because of that I haven't been skating as much. I think I have been putting a lot of energy into other things.”

Diesel and Layla, who omitted their last names to preserve privacy, found issues in the way their activist lives weren’t intersecting with their skateboarding lives.

“We both have talked about the lack of integration of [activism] into the general discussion of skaters,” Diesel said. “Basically, we just have been talking for a long time about gathering skaters to talk about, not just Palestine, but a lot of current issues, politics and fascism and just all the shit that's going on in the world.”

This dissonance prompted Diesel and Layla to facilitate a collective called Skaters Working Against Genocide, which aims to bring these discussions to the skatepark and within a skateboarding context. One of their first meetings was a viewing party of the short film “Epicly Palestine'd: The Birth of Skateboarding in the West Bank.” 

“[The film] goes into the roots of how skateboarding was brought in [to the West Bank], and how it became a form of resistance,” Layla said. “The act of skateboarding itself is anti-fascist in the way that it counters the use of space and the way that skaters reimagine spaces.”

Skateboarding has deep roots in anti-capitalism and anti-fascism, having been cemented as a symbol of rebellion and counterculture originating from the working class youth of 1970s California.

“In my opinion, skateboarding is inherently anti-capitalist, because you're occupying public space for free, and often, you're using it to create joy and to make it your own,” Diesel said. “You're going against the law in some cases, to skate these obstacles.”

Diesel and Layla both found inspiration in their activism in Skateboarders for Palestine Alliance (SPA), a U.K.-based platform that aims “to support the skateboarding industry in proactive solidarity with Palestine,” according to SPA’s Instagram account.

SPA’s Manifesto for the Global Skateboarding Community is a hand-folded paper zine that calls on skateboarders to support Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions within skateboarding brands and to actively “engage in raising awareness, advocating for change and amplifying Palestinian voices within skateboarding and beyond.”

The SPA manifesto reads, “In Palestine, where the struggle for liberation is ongoing, skateboarding can serve as a symbol of resilience and defiance against the oppressive powers at force. We must learn from Palestinian skateboarders, who despite facing immense challenges and dangers, continue to use their boards as tools for resistance and solidarity.”

SPA also advocates for community engagement within skateboarding, exactly what Layla and Diesel strive for and encourage. Diesel said this is especially important when people may be overwhelmed by information they see on social media about Palestine and the rise of fascism, leading them to feel disempowered.

“But everyone has the tools to do something, and especially as skateboarders we practice a lot of disobeying,” said Diesel. “The fight against fascism is people understanding that it's not one big thing, it’s integrating small practices every day into your life that can slowly create the world you want to live in.”

Both Diesel and Layla encourage people to start their own groups to actively include their activism in their hobbies and spaces, even if it’s not skateboarding.

“I was always really interested in this intersection between politics and skateboarding, and resistance as this joyous action and as a responsibility that I have to my community,” Layla said. “How can we build capacity within the communities, especially with the rise of fascism?”

This article originally appeared in Volume 45, Issue 11, published March 18, 2025.