As you all know, my dear friend siraj ( @siraj2024 ) is a writer and journalist.
He had studied journalism and media studies and had just completed his masters a year before the zionist occupation began this genocide in palestine. He had been planning on pursuing his doctorate as well, before the occupation attacked with tanks and bombs, and destroyed the home he had taken a decade to build and that dream along with it.
Today he uses his blog to share with us daily updates- writing about the genocide and how it has affected not only him and his family, but also all people of palestine in all its gut wrenching reality.
Everyday he makes a 3km journey alone to get to a spot with stable internet connection, despite all the risks he may come across the way from the IOF. He spends an exorbitant fee to access the internet, just so he can reach out to us and share his writing with the world.
To put it into context, i would like to share a quote from Refaat Alareer who was a palestinian poet, writer, professor and activist.
"I'm an academic," Refaat Alareer said on day 3 of Israel’s genocide. "The toughest thing I have at home is an Expo marker. But if the Israelis invade ... I'm going to use that marker to throw it at the Israeli soldiers, even if that is the last thing that I would be able to do."
This your reminder that every time Siraj updates, every time he is sending you his poetry, every time he picks up his pen to write at all- it is an act of resistance.
Yes, Gaza has been known as an open-air prison for years now, and yes there are very few places left in Gaza that can be called safe from the violence and illness imposed upon them by the occupation. With borders closed, there is nowhere to run.
The intent is to kill, the intent is to destroy and the intent of genocide is to erase the proof that Palestinians were ever there at all. As colonial narratives goes, zionists will weave their false stories about they are the true indigenous population of the land, about how occupied Palestine was an empty, desolate place before Zionists came in to build it up. Gazans are being forced out of their own homes and off their own land, in a more horrifying repetition and continuation of the Nakba, in the attempt to make sure there will be no one to contest those lies.
I have observed that evacuation funds tend to get more traction here than those dedicated to rebuilding in Gaza.
This is your reminder that rebuilding is resistance.
This is Siraj is fighting the only way he can- through documenting and through reaching out to the free world, and attempting to rebuild what he had lost. As a writer, a journalist his voice is the only weapon he has against the bullets, and the bombs.
I want to present to you a poem Siraj has written and has kindly allowed me to share with you all:
You will not defeat us, Israeli occupier
My pen will remain a witness to your actions. Your planes bombed our workplace and destroyed the tools we used in journalistic work, but they will not be able to erase our identity.
I will continue to write every night before bed, with a worn out pen and a torn cardboard.
Yes, I will not stop, no matter how great the challenges are.
I will write about the tent, the drinking water crisis, the famine, the genocide, and the ongoing massacres.
I will never forget anything about what we were in this war. This occupier will not defeat us. We will keep writing no matter how long the darkness lasts.
Please pay heed to Siraj’s determination. Siraj has gotten this far, only because he knows that he has many friends in the free world who will listen to him.
Right now, he is inviting you to help in rebuilding his house- and thus, in helping him resist the occupation.
Do not disrespect him by ignoring this call to action.
He has currently only raised $24,584 CAD / $30,000 (short term goal)
He needs to reach $30,000 within the week.
This gfm appears on hussein @/el-shab-hussein and nairuz @/nabulsi’s list of vetted fundraisers (#219) so please dont hesitate to share!
