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In Grief and Solidarity
The publishers at Brick Books feel compelled to add our voice to the chorus of voices from around the world calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the safe return of the Israeli and international hostages in Gaza and Palestinian political prisoners in Israel, and an end to Israel’s ongoing occupation. We add our voice to the voices pleading for the world to understand that this call is not about “Jewish” versus “Palestinian,” but about collective liberation for all versus genocide. We stand against the rise of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia worldwide, and we hold that the government of Israel should never be conflated with Jewish people, just as Hamas should never be conflated with Palestinians. The trend to demonize, punish, and silence speech that is critical of the Israeli government is profoundly dangerous.
When collective traumas are rekindled, only active circles of care from every corner and in every form can prevent cycles of violence and dehumanization from perpetuating and escalating. As Palestinian scholar Dana El Kurd wrote recently in an article that describes finding out about the October 7 Hamas attacks while visiting the Jewish Museum in Berlin: “The world [has] still not learned that the only way to guarantee safety [is] to understand safety is relational.”
This moment is calling us once again to pay attention, to educate ourselves, to listen, and to uplift Palestinian and Jewish voices calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and end to the violence of occupation and apartheid.
Here are some poems and resources that have been meaningful to us in these last weeks.
Poems:
Denise Levertov, “Making Peace”
Lee Maracle, “Remembering Mahmoud, 1986”
Mahmoud Darwish, “A State of Siege” (an extract)
Mohammed El-Kurd, “This Is Why We Dance”
June Jordan, “Apologies to All the People in Lebanon”
Kahled Juma, “Oh Rascal Children of Gaza”
Dionne Brand, “prologue for now – Gaza”
Mosab Abu Toha, “On a Starless Night”
Aurora Levins Morales, “Red Sea”
Articles, Essays, Resources & Tools:
Dana El Kurd, “Memory Voids and Role Reversals”
Mosab Abu Toha, “The Agony of Waiting for a Ceasefire that Never Comes”
“Palestinian Poet Mosab Abu Toha Released, Israel”
Jacqueline Rose, “You Made Me Do It”
Fady Joudah, “A Palestinian Meditation in a Time of Annihilation”
Jo Roberts, Contested Land, Contested Memory
Urgent Call for Action by Jewish Canadians
Room Magazine’s List of Resources to Educate Take Action and Aid Palestine
Petition to the Prime Minister
And because we also need, in times like these, poems that help us remember the sweetness of standing in solidarity:
Arecelis Girmay, “You Are Who I Love”
