This. "I do not want to normalize this. I do not want to pacify myself with phrases like compassion fatigue or activist burnout. I do not want a nervous system that adapts to genocide. I want to feel it all. I want to live in a body that refuses to forget. Because forgetting is what they want. Because the bomb does not kill only flesh—it kills memory. And it is memory that keeps us alive."
I have two initial reactions to this piece, which echoes my own daily struggle with the 21st Century Holocaust perpetrated by Israel in Palestine:
1) A quote from Latin American Liberation Theologist Ivan Illich, December 1970:
“I want to live in a transparent society in which each moment of life is surprising and with meaningful participation in mutual education…
“I want to live in mutual education up to the moment, and in the moment, of my death.”
2) A quote from Malcolm X, June 1964:
“We want freedom by any means necessary. We want justice by any means necessary. We want equality by any means necessary. We don't feel that in 1964, living in a country that is supposedly based upon freedom, and supposedly the leader of the free world, we don't think that we should have to sit around and wait for some segregationist congressmen and senators and a President from Texas in Washington, D. C., to make up their minds that our people are due now some degree of civil rights. No, we want it now or we don't think anybody should have it."
Salaam Alaikum, brother Ibsais, and to quote another soldier in the war on poverty: “Hasta la victoria siempre!”
We are in unchartered waters. Never before have we been so connected thanks to the leap in technology. Our minds and bodies are reeling under evolutionary pressures. The grief resides in every fibre of my being too. I hope the small choices I make everyday will join with all the others doing the same. Not to normalise but to break through. Many of us recognise we are walking wounded and just the act of resistance is the only cure for the heart ache. Keeping going is my reaction to each death and act of injustice. Free Palestine, free us all. Keep feeling and keep resisting!
Ahmad~I will pay attention. I know that sounds horribly inadequate.Yesterday at a weekly protest I attend, I brought up Gaza with fellow (anti tRump/Cabinet)protesters. I will continue. Of course there is more to say, but for now, I'm only adding myself to the people here who are letting you know that you are not talking to air. J.
Since before this last insults on humanity I gave watched Israel's long torture of Palestinians, I have never been able to look away but I have had to allow myself a few hours off to gain back strength to continue being a witness to this latest genocide. I write what I can, in the hope of encouraging those with the ability to make a stand for Palestine, physically, because at my age 85 I can not.
For years I researched why the Jews were always claiming victimhood, the further back I went the more I discovered they were not ever the victims but they were the ones who preyed on whichever country they moved into, to such an extent they were eventually kicked out. Considering their attitudes towards the local people, it's surprising that they were not it summarily killed each time.
Yet here we are again only this time using victimhood again, they then set about putting Palestinians in cages to make it easier for them to kill while again getting certain countries to collude in their genocide. So who are we going to kick out this time when so many are complicit in this Israeli murder of innocents?
Your work has touched my heart so much. I am sorry I have nothing to give besides my support and words. Thank you for your strength, as paltry and insufficient as that sounds.
Thank you Ahmad. Your words, your passion, in describing the hell that we from afar witness daily, speaks volumes to me. "The dehumanization of Palestinians does not begin with bombs. It begins with the quiet decisions people make every day to not know." So so true. And this... "The danger is not that we feel too much. The danger is that we begin to feel nothing at all." And this is exactly what the Zionists/the Westerners want. I will read your piece over and over, I will pass it on, today I will subscribe, because I have do to keep reading your amazing heart spoken pieces. Thank you for putting in words what my heart and soul feel daily.
This. "I do not want to normalize this. I do not want to pacify myself with phrases like compassion fatigue or activist burnout. I do not want a nervous system that adapts to genocide. I want to feel it all. I want to live in a body that refuses to forget. Because forgetting is what they want. Because the bomb does not kill only flesh—it kills memory. And it is memory that keeps us alive."
So much grief and pain, you have to be inhuman not to feel it. We know the ones who do and who do not.
I read and feel it everyday, so much of the day because I do not want to forget until Palestine is free and the Zionist state is no more.
Thank you for your words. I have been having trouble knowing how to navigate seeing so much grief along with everyone else.
I have two initial reactions to this piece, which echoes my own daily struggle with the 21st Century Holocaust perpetrated by Israel in Palestine:
1) A quote from Latin American Liberation Theologist Ivan Illich, December 1970:
“I want to live in a transparent society in which each moment of life is surprising and with meaningful participation in mutual education…
“I want to live in mutual education up to the moment, and in the moment, of my death.”
2) A quote from Malcolm X, June 1964:
“We want freedom by any means necessary. We want justice by any means necessary. We want equality by any means necessary. We don't feel that in 1964, living in a country that is supposedly based upon freedom, and supposedly the leader of the free world, we don't think that we should have to sit around and wait for some segregationist congressmen and senators and a President from Texas in Washington, D. C., to make up their minds that our people are due now some degree of civil rights. No, we want it now or we don't think anybody should have it."
Salaam Alaikum, brother Ibsais, and to quote another soldier in the war on poverty: “Hasta la victoria siempre!”
Thank you Ahmad. Read and received…
We are in unchartered waters. Never before have we been so connected thanks to the leap in technology. Our minds and bodies are reeling under evolutionary pressures. The grief resides in every fibre of my being too. I hope the small choices I make everyday will join with all the others doing the same. Not to normalise but to break through. Many of us recognise we are walking wounded and just the act of resistance is the only cure for the heart ache. Keeping going is my reaction to each death and act of injustice. Free Palestine, free us all. Keep feeling and keep resisting!
What a beautiful piece, thank you for putting into words what so many of us are feeling.
so powerful and captures much of what i’ve been feeling lately, too. thank you for sharing this, the dissonance is real and felt.
Ahmad~I will pay attention. I know that sounds horribly inadequate.Yesterday at a weekly protest I attend, I brought up Gaza with fellow (anti tRump/Cabinet)protesters. I will continue. Of course there is more to say, but for now, I'm only adding myself to the people here who are letting you know that you are not talking to air. J.
In Chicago, walking our dog in the Lakeview East neighborhood, reading your witness.
Palestinians have shown us what Israel is doing & we’ve tweeted, posted & demonstated.
To no avail.
We’ve failed.
Our empathy is useless if it changes nothing.
Yes, it does mean something.
Israel delenda est.
Since before this last insults on humanity I gave watched Israel's long torture of Palestinians, I have never been able to look away but I have had to allow myself a few hours off to gain back strength to continue being a witness to this latest genocide. I write what I can, in the hope of encouraging those with the ability to make a stand for Palestine, physically, because at my age 85 I can not.
For years I researched why the Jews were always claiming victimhood, the further back I went the more I discovered they were not ever the victims but they were the ones who preyed on whichever country they moved into, to such an extent they were eventually kicked out. Considering their attitudes towards the local people, it's surprising that they were not it summarily killed each time.
Yet here we are again only this time using victimhood again, they then set about putting Palestinians in cages to make it easier for them to kill while again getting certain countries to collude in their genocide. So who are we going to kick out this time when so many are complicit in this Israeli murder of innocents?
Your work has touched my heart so much. I am sorry I have nothing to give besides my support and words. Thank you for your strength, as paltry and insufficient as that sounds.
Heart Shattering. Thank you for writing this.
Thank you Ahmad. Your words, your passion, in describing the hell that we from afar witness daily, speaks volumes to me. "The dehumanization of Palestinians does not begin with bombs. It begins with the quiet decisions people make every day to not know." So so true. And this... "The danger is not that we feel too much. The danger is that we begin to feel nothing at all." And this is exactly what the Zionists/the Westerners want. I will read your piece over and over, I will pass it on, today I will subscribe, because I have do to keep reading your amazing heart spoken pieces. Thank you for putting in words what my heart and soul feel daily.