Arts and Culture 18 February 2014
Fusing together spoken word poetry and motion graphics, the visually compelling video is a collaboration between Kanazi and Suhel Nafar, director, animator and co-founder of the hip hop group DAM.
The poem “deconstructs and debunks the multitude of talking points against divestment on university campuses and makes a clear case for cutting our complicity with Israeli occupation and apartheid,” Kanazi writes in a text accompanying the video.
“Given the recent momentum in the US on the growing campaign for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against the state of Israel, I felt the message of this video was a timely one.”
New York-based Kanazi is a poet, writer and activist and author of Poetic Injustice: Writings on Resistance and Palestine.
He is the editor of Poets For Palestine and an organizing committee member for USACBI (the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel).
For more of his work, you can visit PoeticInjustice.net and follow him on twitter: @remroum.
Comments
We shall never forget.
Permalink Robert Clark replied on
Bravo. Bravo. Bravo. There can be no freedom without justice. We shall never forget. Those still in Palestine shall stay. The rest shall return-not a threat but a promise. It is in the roots. It is in the earth. It is in the DNA. It is inevitable.
Every year, during the Nakba commemorations, Palestinians Refugees and their descendants who are outside Israel should walk toward their homes, stores, farms and factories in what is now Israel. Those in Israel should walk within Israel toward the the remains of the decimated villages that one were. By so doing, the Palestinians and making a declaration they have not abandoned their properties or rights.
The Palestinians all have legitimate a claim to their Property. This is a right that is as legitimate as the Holocaust survivors' claims are. There cannot be two standards; One for Jews and another for Muslims and Christians.
Of course, the present Israeli regime would never allow this. They will deny the Palestinians entry and access to their property. In so doing, they will show Israel's true colors. Their are many people, including many Jews, who see this injustice and will help.
If holocaust survivors have legitimate claims, and I think they do, then so do the Palestinians. It is high time international community, the Israelis and Jews everywhere, did something about it. That something is to correct this great injustice. This travesty that has been allowed to fester for decades, resulting in loss, pain and agony for all involved.
However, the first step must be take by, YOU, the Palestinians.
I say WALK. WALK for Palestine. WALK so that others can see what has been done to you. WALK so that others may walk with you toward peace and justice for all.
that was fantastic!
Permalink karen replied on
that was fantastic!
I have seen the spectacle of a student divestment vote where all the speakers against divestment said the same singular argument: singled-out, and uncomfortable.
but as a taxpayer, I feel uncomfortable. where are my rights to divest my own money? and if I support divestment from other intransigent ethnic cleansings funded by my own government, then why is this one singled out for denial?
it should not be. it is way overdue.