literary bite of the day

personal archive of quotes

[mordere-diem]

Saint John the Evangelist - Mateo Cerezo (1655)

[skyethel]

turns out sometimes the best thing you can do with your day is look a stranger in the eyes and listen

[penflicks]

They don't want us to call what's happening in Gaza a genocide not because there's not been an official ruling but because these things don't get set in people's minds via official ruling. Instead it is the oral history that sets an event into place in mass consciousness.

Us calling it what it is - a genocide - means they can't wriggle out of it in years to come. They can't continue to call it a conflict or a war if we cement it in public consciousness as a genocide.

So don't tone down your language. Call it what it is. Make sure the history books know what happened and the genocides that took place in Palestine, Sudan, Congo.

[time-being-deactivated20250813]

Denial and control of language is a powerful tool for genocide supporters, especially for soft supporters.

Genocide relies on a lot of acquiescence and denial and complacency and pretending it's not happening.

Genocide relies on a lot of what Sartre calls "bad faith" ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_faith_(existentialism) ). This is different from the rhetoric of lying to another, but is about lying to oneself.

Calling these genocides what they are challenges that comfortable self-deception and challenges the load bearing lie that "I am a good person if I just collaborate with power".

[ibtisams-deactivated20240709]

My father was martyred by Israel on 10 October 2023 after sacrificing his care in hospital so the injured children could take priority. Today would have been his 60th birthday. He was always selfless, kind, and giving for others. My father gave up everything for me to be able to have a better life, because that is what he always dreamed for me and my sister. The world suffered a great loss when he died, and my heart is always with him and every Palestinian who has lost someone.

In his honour and memory, I would love for anyone who is able to do so to consider donating to The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.

The PCRF is an amazing organisation that does so much for those in Gaza right now, including helping provide food, water and medicine. You can donate any amount you are able to- there is no minimum! My father would have given his very last cent if he saw the way Palestine was continuing to suffer after over 100 days with this limited aid, so I know celebrating him by helping others is the least he would have wanted.

I saw @parrot-parent do a very successful donation match and I thought it was such a good idea so I will also match all donations up to $500! If you feel comfortable sending me proof of the amount of your donation, I will match it as a donation at the end of February. (My messages are set to mutuals only, but if you donate and we aren’t mutuals if you send an ask with the proof I will make sure to answer it privately.)

[ibtisams-deactivated20240709]

I received over $500 worth of proof of donations already so I am now upping it to $1,500! This will challenge me to save even more by the end of the month to donate, and we will be able to give a combined total of $3,00 to The PCRF in honour of my father

[theinwardlight]

“Even now, after centuries of reductionist propaganda, the world is still intricate and vast, as dark as it is light, a place of mystery, where we cannot do one thing without doing many things, or put two things together without putting many things together.”

— Wendell Berry, ‘In Distrust of Movements’ (1998)

[firstfullmoon]

Ahlam Bsharat, “How I Kill Soldiers,” trans. Fady Joudah

[firstfullmoon]

Summer Awad, “Syllogism for Palestinian Grief”

[mordere-diem]

"It is not poetry’s job to wipe away tears. Poetry should dig a trench where they can overflow and drown the universe."

Zakaria Mohammed, Untitled from A Date For the Crow

[mordere-diem]

"The story maker never becomes a stranger and that is your consolation."

Amna Muhammad Abu Safat, Crucifixes of Beit Sahour

[mordere-diem]

"The moon morphs into a crescent; it must be grieving a fallen star."

Mona Kareem, Nights

[mordere-diem]

"Birds are born for the horizon  Playing on the edges Of the universe  With their wings  While people are born for the land  to crawl and walk and fall  on their knees"

Rasha Nahas, Toyour (Birds)

[probablyasocialecologist]

The primary difference, then, between when Israel commits its crimes against Palestinian civilians and when Palestinians do it stems from an international network that legitimizes, clarifies, and codifies the logic behind Israeli military actions. This gives it an appearance of respectability, even when the underlying rationale appears deeply flawed or seemingly justifies the large-scale killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. When reviewing the literature of any Western and Israeli military think tank, it becomes evident that urban warfare, for example, is inherently complex. Such combat scenarios frequently lead to numerous civilian casualties and might necessitate striking civilian facilities, including hospitals, as highlighted in certain research papers. Israel has often used this to prepare international audiences for the mass killing of Palestinians. These military justifications then trickle down to the mainstream media, where they are often cloaked in narratives that fault Palestinians for Israel’s systematic lethal actions. This is also echoed by American spokespersons who shrug off these massacres by repeating the mantra that “war leads to civilian deaths” in Palestine, yet are horrified by the same conduct in the context of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Hamas can remain barbaric, and Israel can remain a strong “democratic and liberal” ally of the United States. The first engages in a mindless act of profane violence, while the second engages in calculated and methodical strikes, a sacred form of violence. And the whole dichotomy forestalls the question of whether there was any operative military rationale in the Palestinian offensive maneuver on October 7. 

Abdaljawad Omar, Hopeful pathologies in the war for Palestine: a reply to Adam Shatz

[firstfullmoon]

I know it’s not much in the face of everything but I have been finding hope & resilience in palestinian poetry these past few weeks and I created a google drive file of poetry collections by palestinian poets that I will keep updating as I keep on reading. I also recommend checking out @fiercynn’s palestinian poets series for more poets + poetry available online

[firstfullmoon]

I’m unable to share it because I bought the kindle version but HIGHLY recommend maya abu al-hayyat’s collection you can be the last leaf translated by fady joudah. some poems were published here and here

[probablyasocialecologist]

Free Ebooks for a Free Palestine!

Publishing books on the struggle for justice in Palestine has been a central part of Haymarket’s mission since we published our first book,

Publishing books on the struggle for justice in Palestine has been a central part of Haymarket’s mission since we published our first book, The Struggle for Palestine, in 2001. Now as ever, we recognize the root cause and ongoing perpetrator of violence in Palestine to be Israeli settler-colonialism and apartheid, and we stand in solidarity with Palestinians in their struggle for freedom.

Haymarket Books are making three ebooks free to download:

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights, by Omar Barghouti

Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, Edited by Jehad Abusalim, Jennifer Bing, and Mike Merryman-Lotze

Palestine: A Socialist Introduction, Edited by Sumaya Awad and Brian Bean

[stuckinapril]

please take everything you read with a grain of salt. misinformation spreads everywhere like wildfire, and i've been having major trouble wading through false journalism to get actual updates on everything. some resources i've compiled for myself and anyone who's interested:

fact sheet: israel and palestine conflict (october 2023)

live updates - intense israeli bombardments strike gaza as the war rages on

mondoweiss has on-site journalists, newsletters for periodic updates, media analysis concerning israeli-palestinian coverage, and articles on palestinian culture.

a dangerous new phase in the israeli-palestinian conflict - expert commentary by the foreign policy research institute (FPRI)

the global conflict tracker (israeli-palestinian conflict)

the arab-israeli war of 1948

the 1967 arab-israeli war

the 1973 arab-israeli war

mohammed el-kurd is one of very few writers whose twitter i check for updates.

dr. ghassan abu sitta is a doctor on-site who's also been reporting about the atrocities transpiring in gaza.

also some palestinian aid orgs to donate to. if you have some money to spare/know anyone who does, please consider donating/spreading the word:

palestine children's relief fund

palestine red crescent society

medical aid for palestine

gaza emergency appeal

donate to arab.org with one click

the middle east children's alliance gaza emergency fund

help UNRWA USA reach their palestinian aid fundraiser goal

[mordere-diem]

I also follow @motaz_azaiza & @byplestia on instagram as well as @eye.on.palestine

Adding the Decolonize Palestine Reading List here. These are my favorites that I've read so far:

The Palestine Laboratory by Anthony Loewenstein

Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis

On Palestine by Ilan Pappe and Noam Chomsky

Hollow Land by Eyal Weizman

Rifqa by Mohammed El-Kurd

I'll be happy to provide PDFs if you can't access them!

[mordere-diem]

A woman speaks to a tree in place

of her son. And olives come.

A child’s poem says,

“I don’t like wars,

they end up with monuments.”

He’s painting a bird with wings

wide enough to cover two roofs at once.

Naomi Shihab Nye, Jerusalem

[mordere-diem]

How would you explain the popularity of this narrative that the oppressed have to ensure the safety of the oppressors? Placing the question of violence at the forefront almost inevitably serves to obscure the issues that are at the center of struggles for justice.

Angela Y. Davis, Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement