The Politics of Dispossession

for Sharifa Barakat “The climax to this campaign  occurred when, in West Beirut, Israeli soldiers carted off Palestinian archives, destroyed the private libraries and homes of prominent Lebanese nationalists and Palestinian personalities, and literally heaped…

Washing the Dishes

While washing the dishes one should only be washing the dishes, which means that while washing the dishes one should be completely aware of the fact that one is washing the dishes. At first glance,…

One Day

When you are twenty-seven And at last done Done DONE with medical school We should do a marathon/festival of words Reciting poetry to each other Then writing off of the lines of Neruda, Szymborska And…

Fidel on Che

I view Che, furthermore, as a moral giant who grows day by day, whose image, whose strength, whose influence has multiplied throughout the world. How could he fit below a tombstone? How could he fit…

Take Your Pick/1

1. Rail against capitalism as you will, but recognize that since we are stuck with it, the test now is to make it work for the largest number of people. –William Schulz, executive director of…

Refusal (Muhammad Ali)

I came across the following when preparing tonight’s session of our reading circle of Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States  (the chapters on the Black Freedom struggle and the Vietnam War). Why should…

Weekend Meditation

A recent conversation with Sharifa led me to look again at one of Said’s many penetrating studies… 1. In fact, there is no way that I know of apprehending the world from within American culture…

The Right of Jim Crow to Defend Itself

“We do not believe the flotilla is a necessary or useful effort to try to assist the people of Gaza,” [Hilary] Clinton told reporters at a news conference with the visiting foreign minister of the…

Palestinian Identity

Sharifa, Apropos of our conversation today, here begins the opening paragraph (and after) of chapter 1 of Rashid Khalidi’s Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness… The quintessential Palestinian experience, which  illustrates some of…