AND IF YOU MISSED A DAY, THERE WAS ALWAYS THE NEXT, AND IF YOU MISSED A YEAR, IT DIDNT MATTER, THE HILLS

People do not realize that when we say Israel is a settler-colonial state, we mean it was literally devised in junction with European imperialism around the turn of the century.

Political Zionism was founded by Theodore Herzl. Originally, Zionists were not specifically interested in the land of Palestine as a colonial project. In fact, Herzl was debating making Argentina the focus of mass Zionist migration, which is quite ironic considering Argentina's colonial and Aryanist past. British-controlled Uganda was also offered as a possibility by Joseph Chamberlain, a Conservative imperialist.

To encourage mass Jewish migration to Palestine, he worked with the British, who had recently drove the Ottoman Empire out of the Levant, and now boasted political dominance in the region, thanks to the Sykes–Picot Agreement between the UK, France, Italy, and Russia which covertly authorized British influence in Palestine, which had become a target of colonial expansion. He specifically wished to collaborate with Cecil Rhodes, a British imperialist who played a lead role in colonizing Zimbabwe and Zambia, and later took inspiration from his time spent extracting wealth from Africa as the founder of mining conglomerate the British South Africa Company.

Herzl’s personal goals for Zionism were colonial. He said in a letter to Rhodes:

“You are being invited to help make history. It doesn’t involve Africa, but a piece of Asia Minor; not Englishmen but Jews […] How, then, do I happen to turn to you since this is an out-of-the-way matter for you? How indeed? Because it is something colonial […] I […] have examined this plan and found it correct and practicable. It is a plan full of culture, excellent for the group of people for whom it is directly designed, and quite good for England, for Greater Britain [...]”

At that time, Palestine was predominately populated with Arab Muslims and Christians, as well as Arab Jews (Old Yishuv) and Druze. Jews made up around 6% of the population. The Ottoman government specifically released a manifesto at the start of Zionist migration condemning the colonization, stating:

“[Jews] among us […] who have been living in our province since before the war; they are as we are, and their loyalties are our own.”

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 on behalf of parliament, officially established the British Mandate of Palestine, sowing the seeds for the modern state of Israel, by means of the UK's ongoing occupation of the region.

Zionism was never about promoting Jewish culture or safety; it has always been tied up in Western (settler-)colonial expansion. !من النهر إلى البحر

nothing that a haircut and a wardrobe update and a detox and a sex change and a fake ID and getting medicated and selling all my stuff and faking my death and moving country can't fix

— Lorde, Sober II (Melodrama)

“The lights are out on all of us. We go on in our dark fogs. Unless someone else turns to look your way & lights the light.”

— Molly Brodak, from Bandit

han kang, winner of the nobel prize for literature, refused to celebrate because of the wars: 'With the war intensifying and people being carried out dead every day, how can we have a celebration or a press conference?'

toshiyuki mimaki, co-chair of Hidankyo, the A-bomb survivors’ group that won nobel peace prize, said: 'Gaza right now is like Japan 80 years ago' and had thought the prize would go to those working hard in Gaza, not to Hidankyo.

arundhati roy, winning the PEN pinter prize, in her speech at the british library: "Not all the power and money, not all the weapons and propaganda on earth can any longer hide the wound that is Palestine."

alaa abdel fattah, who was named PEN Writer of Courage by Roy, is in egyptian prison. but in 2021 his mother brought his letters from prison on gaza: Free Jerusalem; tranquil Alexandria, Bride of the Sea; Beirut, the Sheltering Tent — the symbols seem more real than the cities. But Gaza and Cairo are both cities that resist romanticization and so elude song. No one sings to Cairo, but it is the capital of the Arabs. No one sings to Gaza either, but it remains the indisputable capital of Palestine. Both are always present in a crisis. [...]

Do I have the right to dream of escaping to Gaza? Do I have the right to dream of a road to Cairo that passes through Gaza? Does a captive have the right to ask for help from the besieged? I know that these questions show how ancient I am, but I’m an Arab and Palestine’s always on my mind. And, in my defense, I’ll say that I refused to be humiliated in my country, and I never lowered my banners, and it should count that I stood in the face of my oppressors: an orphan, naked and barefoot, and my solace is that the tragedy I’m living is but my share of yours. I call out to you: you are always on my mind."

these are the things the brave and intellectual people of our time are saying. it is possible to be principled. it is always possible to be principled. it is also possible to be less than that—look around and you'll see it in all the writers and artists of our time who are abdicating their roles within humanity. we're living in a time of perfect clarity.

Goya (Luciano Emmer, 1950)

Quatre nuits d'un rêveur (Robert Bresson, 1971)

the doppelganger in horror and science fiction should be studied

currently reading:

except for palestine: the limits of progressive politics by marc lamont hill & mitchell plitnick

palestine: a socialist introduction, ed. by sumaya awad & brian bean

on my non-fiction reading list:

the question of palestine, edward said

the hundred years’ war on palestine, rashid khalidi

palestinian identity, rashid khalidi

ten myths about israel, ilan pappé

the ethnic cleansing of palestine, ilan pappé

on palestine, noam chomsky & ilan pappé

blaming the victims: spurious scholarship and the palestinian question, ed. by edward said & christopher hitchens

the case for sanctions against israel, ed. by audrea lim

justice for some: law and the question of palestine, noura erakat

freedom is a constant struggle, angela davis

the butterfly's burden, mahmoud darwish

on my fiction reading list:

minor detail, adania shibli

enter ghost, isabella hammad

salt houses, hala alyan

men in the sun, ghassan kanafani

More of my playlists :)

To Live Forever- a TSH playlist (songs I think fit) 

 matchbox cars- for driving all around Tokyo with friends (futuristic and retro at the same time) 

coming of age- if I made a teen show, this would be the soundtrack

House Arrest- for cleaning the house with a robot version of you

summer- for wasting your days with your small group of friends

mockingbirds- songs I’d listen to when I fake my death

clementines- for laying on your bed, feeling full and complete 

sunflowers- based on that Holly Warburton painting