He has nothing to offer but love; he is the man who stood firmly behind the agonised path which his beloved country had gone through, alongside other witty, conscious and intellectual individuals who are seeking peace out of the ongoing chaos in Palestine.
Refaat Alareer is the name, he is one among the few who dedicated his time in presenting the whole world the Palestinian consciousness through poetry and literature. Whats interesting about his talk were how memory became the most powerful tool in generating the utmost motivation for Palestinian to write. Its Gaza, writing back against the evil cruel Israel occupation and letting the whole world that they wont back down.
"Against barbarity, poetry can resist only by confirming its attachment to human fragility like a blade of grass growing on a wall while armies march by," - Mahmoud Darwish.
Like Darwish, Refaat believes firmly in the power of collective memory, the passing of stories in keeping the spirit of insurgency alive. These are the most significant factors which, at least to me in understanding their struggle. I never experienced war myself, neither do my parents hence I could not really relate to the Palestinian's misery caused by war, their exile and uprootedness. But the most beautiful thing with poetry is that the senses attached within each and every of it's constructions, relating one's emotion to the other. Through the reading of Refaat's poems I could easily grasp the notion of empathies, the fundamental of Palestinian's struggle and most importantly the agonising phase they have endured after all these years. During the session he kept on reflecting about the loss of homeland, the frustrations of being under siege of being occupied.
When being asked about in which aspect the endless conflicts and bloodbath in Palestine inspired poets and writers he responded that; to supplement readers imageries on Palestine's status and situation, personal senses and emotional aspects of one inner self is fundamental. Resistance literature taking its root from the oppression and occupation thus by blending human feelings and perspectives would subsequently produce a subliminal, conscious responds through writing. Gaza Writes Back, a compilation of resistance writings by selected poets and authors from Palestine utilised these elements in relation to memory and land.
And Gaza Lives On by Refaat Alereer
And another war in Gaza
Another day in Palestine
A day in prison
And we live on
Despite Israel’s very much identified flying objects
That we see more than our family and friends
And despite Israel’s death sentences
Like lead
Cast upon the head
As we sleep
Like acid rain
Gnawing at our life
Clinging to it like a flea to a kitten
And stuffed in our throats
The moment we say ‘Amen’
To the prayers of old women and men
Despite Israel’s birds of death
Hovering only two meters from our breath
From our dreams and prayers
Blocking their ways to God.
Despite that.
We dream and pray,
Clinging to life even harder
Every time a dear one’s life
Is forcibly rooted up.
We live.
We live. We do.
I could not help but to ponder on what kind of life the Palestinians have had gone through and will have to face since the Israeli's occupation. Despite of all the conflicts, the long nights of mortar bombings and molotov resistance, days full of uncertainties, children with parents who are nowhere to be found, they live on. And it hit me, hard, i mean how do we sleep at nights? Knowing the fact that on the other side of the world theres a band of Israelis army breaking through walls picking up children to shield their way against the Palestinian resistance who fight devotedly in standing their ground. If they could give us just one night of what they've been through, most of us would not last for seconds, we would give up on life certainly.
"We dream and pray,
Clinging to life even harder"
It come to my senses after reading some parts of Refaat's blog, and to finally meet the poet personally, on how ungrateful I am after all these years; for all the rants on what I could not have rather than being thankful of what I have. I could not have the whole world, but my parents are still home, alive and my prayers are answered always, my dream is still achievable and most importantly, my country is at peace. Unlike most of us, who are prone to give up hope hastily despite the fact we could achieve more than what we could, Alereer is still fighting, in a way still losing; not winning but constantly, willingly revolting for the love of his country and in the name of peace.
Additional reading:
http://bibliojunkie.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/i-saw-ramallah-by-mourid-barghouti/
http://muftah.org/palestine-the-war-is-in-the-media/
http://jfjfp.com/?p=50663
*You might want to check out the Jews for Justice for Palestine.