Category: Middle East

The House of Zion

We shall return
the nightingale told me
when we met on a hill
that nightingales still
live there in our dreams
and that among the yearning hills
and people, there is a place for us
      -Sanarjou Yawman – فيروز – سنرجع يوما 
       (sung by Fairfous)

Publisher’s Note: In 2015, I asked Palestinian author, Ghada Karmi, the following question:

After the death of Yasser Arafat in 2004, you went to Ramallah as a consultant to the Palestinian Authority which had policed its own people opposing the settlements all over the West Bank and entered into deals with the Americans and with Israel.… Go to Article

No Peace without Justice

We will not “return to a living death” of siege and blockade, 
say Gaza civil society leaders.
[Editor’s Note: Readers can see from the signatures below that No Peace without Justice  is a sentiment shared by Palestinian community both inside and outside Gaza – people who are losing loved ones, people who have lost so much and who will not give up.
… Go to Article

Wretched of the Earth

Europeans, you must open this book and enter into it. 
After a few steps in the darkness you will see strangers 
gathered around a fire; come close, and listen, 
for they are talking of the destiny they will mete out 
to your trading-centres and to the hired soldiers 
who defend them.
… Go to Article

PShift Retrospective 2013

History is an angel being blown backwards into the future
He said: History is a pile of debris
And the angel wants to go back and fix things
To repair the things that have been broken
But there is a storm blowing from Paradise
And the storm keeps blowing the angel backwards into the future
And this storm, this storm is called Progress.… Go to Article

Towards Peace — a worker’s journey

Towards Peace – A workers Journey (PDF) by Phil O’Brien and Bernie Dowling [SHAPE – Social History Publishing Enterprise with LeftPress]

 Tunnelling through the night, the trains pass
in a splendour of power, with a sound like thunder
shaking the orchards, waking
the young from a dream, scattering like glass
the old men's sleep; laying
a black trail over the still bloom of the orchards.
… Go to Article