Writing while expecting to die

http://mondoweiss.net/2023/10/writing-while-expecting-to-die/
Date Written:  2023-10-22
Publisher:  Mondoweiss
Year Published:  2023
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX25095

"Can you kindly publish the attached stories if I die?" This is what we have been hearing from the young writers we work with from Gaza in the We Are Not Numbers project.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

Abdallah al-Jazzar composed A Plea for Solidarity with Gaza on his phone while crammed into a house in which at least 40 people were sheltering.

"To be alive right now is nothing short of a miracle, and the opportunity to speak directly to you is both a privilege and an uncertainty," he wrote. "I may be gone by the time these words reach you, but I assure you, it’s never too late. Gazans have spoken from the grave in the hopes that someone, somewhere, finally listens. Will it be this time? The next time? Any time?"

"I am five wars old," the young WANNers of Gaza used to joke with each other. "I have a bachelor's degree in war [a war for each year of study], and now I’m working on my master's."

Mere children when Hamas was elected into power back in 2005, our WANNers are now six wars old.

By all accounts, Israel's current bombing of Gaza is several orders of magnitude the worst aggression and has the characteristics of an impending genocide. Our young writers are trapped inside Gaza with its dwindling food, water, and fuel supplies; its destroyed power, sanitation, and healthcare infrastructures; and its ongoing subjugation to constant bombardment. As their statements in this article attest, several have told their mentors that they expect to die.