I don’t find much peace in my sleep these days, and there have been too many of those restless nights fumbling and tumbling in my appropriately sized queen bed to recount. I find when I wake am promptly visited by the tick-tock pressure of time surging against them, Falastin, and I cannot stand it. Not one bit.
And so I’m propelled to my phone to listen to the library of news podcasts, and possibly write, if inspiring words wade through the airwaves of what I’ve heard or played whilst in slumbered state. And that’s exactly what I did at around 2 am, for the piece I published a little after 5… My other daily regiment tasks include reading and watching Al Jazeera English news, reporting and blocking Twitter bird social media bot farms accounts. I refuse for the little voice I have to be circumvented by fake algorithms of hate.
And there’s something else I do, to try and cast my voice as far as the internet’s bandwidth will allow. Once am done writing here, I publish the post to all my social feeds which include (and typically in the order I recite to you now):
Twitter post, Bluesky post, Instagram story, Facebook story, Instagram post, Facebook post, Snapchat story
The metadata behind viewership and subscription don’t depict much at all in terms of momentum from any of these cited channels, but… I honestly don’t think my heart can allow it if I did not try every single time (no matter how tired or disheartened I get), to reach one more heart, inspire one more voice… to care, to speak up, to try and save Falastin, and this whole world really…
And trust me, I’ve attempted my due diligence here, Substack, periodically searching for accounts and publications referencing the word ‘Palestine’ so as to immediately follow them all. Amplify their words so they too may raise mine high, for the heavens to acknowledge, for mankind to feel.
I don’t have much in terms of melodic verse to share right now, my eyes are tired, and my hands bother me some. I sense our tender flesh was not meant for the stress of continued banging at keys, of any sized device, mine are mostly my iPhone and MacBook Pro. But again, I fear I would suffer more unrest if I did not maximize due diligence on their behalf, read, listen and type most every day.
And so I share with you now all the information I’ve learnt on this wonderful Thursday… take from it what you can, what you wish. Just don’t hold it against me that I must share what I learn and know.
Viva la 🇵🇸
I. Genocide Anniversary
Today also marks the first International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica, recently designated by the United Nations to be observed every year on July 11 in remembrance of those whose lives were cut short. On this solemn day, it is fitting that we resolve to condemn genocide denial and rededicate ourselves to working across the international community to prevent future mass atrocities.
U.S. Department Of State | Statement By Matthew Miller, Spokesperson | July 11 2024
The genocide, Europe’s only acknowledged after World War II, occurred shortly after the break-up of then-Yugoslavia.
On July 11, 1995, Bosnian Serb forces forcible entered the United Nations-designated safe zone of Srebrenica. They separated at least 8,000 Bosniak men and boys from their wives, mothers and sisters and killed them.
Al Jazeera English | July 11 2024
🎥 Solidarity with Gaza: Bosnian genocide survivors recognize suffering
@Al Jazeera English | December 8 2023
II. Hala Rharrit
I quote two short excerpts from her interview below, it’s an hour in length, I hope you will have the time. It was an insightful listen...
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“I would try to dwindle it down to as horrible as it sounds the most important or the ones that would make the most impact for a Washington reader um and it was it was for lack of better word traumatic and difficult to try to choose which baby which image of which dead baby should I put in this report today”
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“Colleagues friends that I work with forget about the senior officials in Washington even just people that I've worked with throughout my 18 years not have the same emotional reaction to the killing of children in Gaza and that for me was such an eye opener on and it was devastating why are you not shedding tears how are you okay I am not okay I am not okay seeing all these children get killed in Gaza how are you okay is this normal for you it's almost this expectation that people in that part of the world oh people in the Middle East they just get killed all the time there's just wars all the time”
🎥 For 18 years she worked in the US government. Then came the war on Gaza | Hala Rharrit | Real Talk
@Middle East Eye | July 8 2024
III. Falastin
🎥 Israeli snipers accused of targeting fleeing Palestinians in Gaza City
@Al Jazeera English | July 11 2024
A Palestinian Man | Jabaliya Refugee Camp | July 6 2024
🎥 Palestinians create makeshift prosthetic limbs to help Gaza amputees
@Al Jazeera English | July 11 2024
"I dream of having ONE day of safety, I’m sure the world is too busy to remember our situation; six years had passed since we wrote our monologues and we are still under siege. Whenever we smell a solution in the air, it is destroyed before it reaches the ground; this breaks our hearts and destroys our morale and takes us to point zero over and over again.
When can we live in peace like the rest of the World?"
The Gaza Mono-Logues | Mahmud Abu Sha’ban | 2014
مع السلامة, ma'3a salama (for now) 👋
Shukran Diana. I suppose since they are only motivated by money and power then that is the way we must preside over them. Their hearts are no longer in the right place. I would hope that any human suffering was too much suffering… but we are approaching 10 months of genocide against a population of more than 50% children under 18. My heart is constantly breaking for what we are allowing..
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Thanks for your posts, Naj. I feel you about the social media sharing. It's a cruel irony that most of the platforms confine us to algorithmic bubbles where we end up preaching to the choir most of the time. I continue to do it because, as Norman Finkelstein says, what else am I going to do? Nothing? Not an option.