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Reviews tagging 'Torture'
Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire by Jehad Abusalim, Jennifer Bing, Mike Merryman-Lotze
2 reviews
yourbookishbff's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
This anthology, compiled with support from the American Friends Service Committee, centers the voices and perspectives of Palestinians in and from Gaza as they reflect on the district's past and present while imagining its future. Published in 2022, many of the writers reference Israeli bombardment in 2014 and 2021, and it is a particularly harrowing experience to read their contributions now, in 2024, as Gaza is under far more deadly siege. Less than two years after his essay Gaza Asks: When Shall This Pass? was published in this anthology, poet and activist Refaat Alareer was killed in a strike that also killed his brother, brother's son, sister, and her three children. It's this stark contrast - the scale of death, displacement and structural devastation in today's Gaza and the cautious hope of Palestinians in 2021 and 2022 envisioning futures for another generation - that makes this anthology a challenging read.
While structured loosely around future visions of Gaza, the essays, poems and reflections range from highly academic to deeply personal, covering the lived environment and home construction, agrarian practices and the future of farming in historic Palestine, the use of AI in Israel's surveillance and oppression of Palestinians in Gaza, and so much more. The scale of creativity and resilience required for those living under military occupation and blockade is staggering - how do you build a home when you can't use concrete, how do you run a business when you don't have consistent access to electricity, how do you stock a library when you can't order books, how do you survive when arbitrary borders separate you from family, healthcare, employment, education and freedom? For those who've never experienced this level of surveillance and restricted movement - not to mention the constant threat of aerial attack, search and siezure, or imprisonment - the description of Gaza as the world's largest open-air prison takes shape into something visceral. By the time you get to the second-to-last essay, Let Me Dream, by Israa Mohammed Jamal, you begin to better understand the reality of multi-generational trauma and how it shapes those attempting to build lives in Gaza.
Another through-line in this anthology is Gaza's current population density and large refugee population. I hadn't realized that around 70% of those living in Gaza are refugees, and I appreciated how intentionally each contributor engages with the legacy and continuation of the Nakba in shaping Gaza's present and future.
I highly recommend this anthology to anyone interested in learning more about Gaza - its history, its present, and its people dreaming of survival. Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for an advanced listener's copy - I'm grateful that this new audiobook recording will make this collection more accessible to readers.
While structured loosely around future visions of Gaza, the essays, poems and reflections range from highly academic to deeply personal, covering the lived environment and home construction, agrarian practices and the future of farming in historic Palestine, the use of AI in Israel's surveillance and oppression of Palestinians in Gaza, and so much more. The scale of creativity and resilience required for those living under military occupation and blockade is staggering - how do you build a home when you can't use concrete, how do you run a business when you don't have consistent access to electricity, how do you stock a library when you can't order books, how do you survive when arbitrary borders separate you from family, healthcare, employment, education and freedom? For those who've never experienced this level of surveillance and restricted movement - not to mention the constant threat of aerial attack, search and siezure, or imprisonment - the description of Gaza as the world's largest open-air prison takes shape into something visceral. By the time you get to the second-to-last essay, Let Me Dream, by Israa Mohammed Jamal, you begin to better understand the reality of multi-generational trauma and how it shapes those attempting to build lives in Gaza.
Another through-line in this anthology is Gaza's current population density and large refugee population. I hadn't realized that around 70% of those living in Gaza are refugees, and I appreciated how intentionally each contributor engages with the legacy and continuation of the Nakba in shaping Gaza's present and future.
I highly recommend this anthology to anyone interested in learning more about Gaza - its history, its present, and its people dreaming of survival. Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for an advanced listener's copy - I'm grateful that this new audiobook recording will make this collection more accessible to readers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, War, Violence, and Colonisation
Moderate: Child death, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Medical content
Minor: Torture and Homophobia
cleansetolovers's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
5.0
Light in Gaza really broke open my brain in new ways. This moving anthology gives voice to the folks living in Gaza, using personal essays, photos, poetry and critical analysis of what Israel has inflicted onto Gazans and the ways they have focused on creating a meaningful life in the face of oppression. This book has taking me some time to reflect on, especially the rage I’ve felt over the death of contributing writer Refaat Alareer. It was such an informative, engaging and emotional work, especially the chapter on architecture for me. Human-centered architecture can really create a powerful bond for folks, and seeing how often Palestinians have had to be creative in their place making in the face of Israel’s bans is astounding. I got this collection for free on @haymarketbooks and I can’t recommend folks this book enough if you want to understand what Gazans have been dealing with even before 10/7. #palestine #lightingaza #lightingazawritingsbornoffire #refaatalareer #nonfiction #palestinewillbefree🇵🇸 #palestinesolidarity
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, Torture, and Abandonment
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