Reviews tagging 'Racism'

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

6 reviews

maddieskeggs's review against another edition

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5.0

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applesaucecreachur's review against another edition

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5.0

Light in Gaza is a collection of works created and compiled by Gazans and their allies in the occupied territory and abroad. As such, it is dense with history and emotion while reading quickly. This was the first book on Palestine I read in print format; my copy is stained with pen ink and highlighters (and coffee) from the various insights and heart pulls within its pages. Through its twelve essays, three poems, and numerous photographs, this collection’s creators provide myriad insights upon which to reflect.

On a slice of land that is now one of the world’s most densely populated, Gaza’s people endure various manifestations of occupation. Discussions of Palestine and its colonization are rooted in the theme of land: Who belongs to the land versus who it belongs to, who has the right to build and farm on it, who calls it home. In the face of forced migration and the creation of refugees, permanence holds power. Agriculture is key in proving historical permanence (Palestine was never “a land without a people”) and asserting its future. Writer Asmaa Abu Mezied recalls her grandmother’s words: “Oh, my granddaughter, a lap covered in the soil is better than one covered with gold” (p. 60). Working the earth and sewing it with plant life is deeply Palestinian. Following the Nakba and annexation of Gaza, however, Israel seized and commodified the land. They destroyed local crops, plants, and wildlife to replace them “with fast-growing European crops like pine trees” to bolster Israeli trade profits (Abu Mezied, p. 68). This only exacerbated the monetary imbalance between the occupied and occupier. As fiscal power is crucial for a people’s self-determination, with both agricultural and monetary capacity stolen, modern Palestinians have become culturally and emotionally distanced from their land (Abu Mezied, pp. 73-74). As most colonial forces are deviously thorough, Israel’s attempts to exert control extend beyond land and trade economics into the intellectual realm. 

Stories are one of Gaza’s last bastions against the occupation. From Israeli book bans to Islamic film and music bans, repression of voices comes from multiple angles (Mosab Abu Toha, p. 163). It is a cruel irony that books like this one often never find their way in print into the occupied territory. Using phone cameras, irregular Internet connection, and in one case, “an assortment of used boxes and plastic buckets [as] shelves,” Gazans document their journeys and curate libraries of their own (Abu Mezied, p. 30; Abu Toha, p. 175). While such hopeful narratives may seem enchanting, a non-Palestinian must be wary of over-mystifying the struggle of the land and its people. Palestinian poet and writer Mahmoud Darwish “warns of glorifying Gaza to the extent of betrayal: ‘We do injustice to Gaza when we turn it into a myth, because we will hate it when we discover that it is no more than a small poor city that resists…’“ (Shahd Abusalama,p. 47). It is a nation of people who love and hold grudges and are imperfect in the chaos of war and of being human. Rather than mythologize Gaza, we must humanize it and recognize its dualities. As discussed above, permanence is a form of resistance, but the desire for travel still exists. Israeli travel restrictions and border crossings prevent Gazans from accessing essential medical care, attending family celebrations and funerals, and from the simple joys of recreation and self-development. To this point of family, Salem Al Qudwa explains how “In local Arabic, ‘Enta men dar/beit meen?’ (Which family/home are you from?) is the first question someone asks when you meet them. The Arabic words dar and beit both mean ‘house’…” thus highlighting family as the bedrock of Palestinian culture (p. 89). But as Yousef M. Aljamal proclaims, “That Palestinians still exist and function as a collective testifies to Israel’s failure” to dismantle Palestinian values at their base (p. 206). Truly, occupation is economic, environmental, geographic, and (agri)cultural. Gaza is under near total siege from all directions. As such, there are many angles from which to resist. 

Throughout the book, contributing writers make calls to action from the international community while stressing the antagonistic role of apathy. Says Basman Aldiwari in the book’s final essay, “What Palestinians need is for everyone to assume their responsibility. The international community and human rights organizations should exert real pressure, stop criticizing Palestinian resistance, and endorse the right of defense against Israel’s offensive and destructive use of force. Stop equating the occupied with the occupier. Put pressure on Israel to assume its responsibility and solve the Palestinian Nakba that it created.” And despite the power of stories and on-the-ground reporting, sharing information can only go so far. In her essay on AI’s use for both oppressive and liberatory tactics, Nour Naim asserts, “It is not enough to let the world know the truth — the world already knows the truth. We need to make the world take action, and we need to empower Palestinians and develop their ability to challenge the Israeli occupation in effective ways” (pp. 149-150). As with many peaceful solutions, Gaza’s is multifaceted yet simple. The way forward must be only through a ceasefire and an end to the Israeli occupation, allowing Palestinians to practice their right of return. 
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laurareads87's review against another edition

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Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire is a collection of writings by Palestinian authors.  It is extraordinarily diverse in terms of genre, including scholarly essays, poetry, first-person autobiographical narratives, and more. Informative, deeply impactful, and urgent. Reading this book right now - in early 2024, so soon after the murder of contributing author Refaat Alareer - is devastating.

As the introduction notes, this book "is an attempt to put into words certain aspects of the Palestinian experience in and around Gaza that have been ignored, underrepresented, and dismissed" as well as an "attempt to break the intellectual blockade and the political exclusion of Palestinian voices."  Thank you Haymarket Books for making this collection freely available.

Content warnings: colonialism, violence, racism, war, grief, police brutality, murder, forcible confinement, gun violence
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ska1224's review against another edition

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5.0

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letsgolesbians's review against another edition

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5.0

spent most of the last day of 2023 reading this wonderful book. i loved the format and layout of this book, a collection of prose, poetry, personal essays, and informational essays with a photo between each piece; my brain often feels like a pinball machine, fast and noisy and chaotic, and jumping from a poem to a photo to an essay to a photo to learning about architecture to a photo really worked for me. 

any adjectives i try to use will fail to capture how i felt about this book—interesting, enraging, sad, empowering. all the words i think when i watch videos by bissan and motaz and hind every day. there are three pieces in particular i want to mention:

❤️ lost identity: the tale of peasantry and nature by asmaa abu mezied, about agrarian practices and place attachment. recommend for anyone who enjoyed braiding sweetgrass by robin wall kimmerer
🖤 exporting oranges and short stories: cultural struggle in the gaza strip, by mosab sbu toha, looking at books and literature, libraries, art, cinema, and other cultural works of palestine. recommend for readers, book fans, and people angry about book banning in the us
🤍 in the haze of fifty-one days by dorgham abusalim, a personal essay by a gay gazan man during the massacre summer of 2014 
💚 and of course, i cannot write about this book without mentioning refaat alareer’s gaza asks: when shall this pass, may he rest in power
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thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

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3.75

light in gaza offers a relevatory look into gaza, its history, present, future and inhabitants, both from inside the area and those in the diaspora. i esp appreciate how the authors of the various essays included in the book each focus on a different aspect of the occupation and resistance, examining the past and present with their implications, as well as imagining a better future. 

while im not at all knowledgable abt certain topics explored - such AI and architecture - they are nevertheless enlightening and offer a truly unique, fresh perspective. i also particularly enjoy learning abt the deep bond between palestinians and their land thru peasantry, and the importance of humanitarianism that instead focuses on liberation and return. this is def a collection to be read and learned from, straight from palestinians themselves.
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