the below post was first written during Israel attacks on Sheikh Jarrah in May 2021, it remains brutally, heartbreakingly relevant today

"When we see what Palestinians are going through, it can be overwhelming, particularly, if you, like me, can’t stop checking Muna al-Kurd’s instagram for updates, Mohammed al-Kurd’s interviews, Mariam Barghouti’s statements, and many other Palestinian activists who are broadcasting their everyday reality.

But it’s important not to look away. It’s important to remember that we can’t rely on others to do the work all the time. We have to show up and do our part, by sharing news, talking about Palestine, screaming into the void that is our political system until we are heard, and attending protests. You don’t have to do everything - we’re all only human and we’re all still learning (notice again my own realisation about language above). But we can’t forget or disengage simply because we’re tired or because other people stop doing it.

Here’s the thing. For the first time in many years, the whole of Palestine, whether in ‘48, the West Bank, Jerusalem, or Gaza, is standing up together and demanding their right to live, wholly and without apology or fear, in the land that they hail from. They are standing up to one of the most well-equipped militaries in the world with stones and phone cameras and a vision of a decolonised world that literally everyone on this planet could benefit from.

This is a struggle that we all need to win, not just to end the oppression of Palestinians, but because standing up to injustice in one part of the world will help us act in another part of the globe. It’s no surprise that BLM activists and Black liberation giants like Angela Davis show up for Palestine - when Black people are subject to racist mass incarceration, it is relevant to fight for the liberation of Gazans who live in the biggest open air prison in the world. When Kashmiris are fighting for their right to self determination and live in one of the most policed and militarised places on the globe, it’s easy to see how this also happens to Palestinians. In countries across the world where indigenous communities have been marginalised and persecuted through racism and colonialism, we can see this in Palestine too." - from a longer piece by our bookseller Noor Hemani HERE and here.