In an interview on The Michael Slate Show, Refaat Alareer and Laila El-Haddad, talk about "Gaza Unsilenced," the then-continuing siege of Gaza by the Zionist regime, the horror brought down on the Palestinian people in Gaza, and the spirit of resistance highlighted in Gaza Unsilenced. During Israel's lengthy 2014 assault on Gaza, voices within and outside Gaza rose in desperate protest. Using numerous creative means, Palestinians and their allies bore witness to the Israeli attacks- and to the crushing siege that still strangled Gaza's 2 million people long after.

Refaat Alareer And Laila El - Haddad with Michael Slate

Katie discusses the life, death and legacy of poet Refaat Alareer with his colleagues at Electronic Intifada, journalists Ali Abunimah and Nora Barrows-Friedman and his former student and current writer and translator Mahmoud Alyazji.

But first Katie talks to law professor Sahar Aziz and writer and analyst Mitchell Plitnick about their new report “Presumptively Antisemitic: Islamophobic Tropes in the Palestine-Israel Discourse” which looks at how accusations of antisemitism stifle criticism of Israel and empower its systematic violations of Palestinians’ human rights. We also talk about the witch hunts and censorship on college campuses which are distracting from Israel's crimes.

Link to piece remembering Refaat Alareer: https://electronicintifada.net/conten...

Ali Abunimah is Director of http://electronicintifada.net. Author of “One Country”and “The Battle for Justice in Palestine.” 

Nora Barrows-Friedman is a staff writer and associate editor at The Electronic Intifada, and is the author of "In Our Power: US Students Organize for Justice in Palestine"

Mahmoud Alyazji is a translator, a writer and a video editor. 

Sahar Aziz is professor of law, Middle East Legal Studies Scholar, and Chancellor’s Social justice Scholar at Rutgers University Law School. She is the author of "The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom" 

Mitchell Plitnick is the president of ReThinking Foreign Policy and a frequent writer on the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy. He is the former vice president at the Foundation for Middle East Peace, director of the U.S. Office of B'Tselem, and co-director of Jewish Voice for Peace. He is the co-author of "Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics," and former

The Assassination Of Refaat Alareer & The Witch-Hunt On College Campuses

VIDEO for this soundtrack is here https://vimeo.com/912853067

“IF I MUST DIE,” a music of protest, is a tribute to Refaat Alareer (1979-2023). The orchestral sound and pulse of the piece unfold like a slow in- and out-breath from a single vibrating string ground, as do do the vowels and words of the poem; it’s both simple and pure (voice), and harsh and complex (brass and percussion), all at once, and one at time.

Alareer was a leading Palestinian poet, English scholar and professor of literature and creative writing at the Islamic University of Gaza. He co-founded the WE ARE NOT NUMBERS collective that brought together older, more experience authors with younger writers in Gaza; its central idea was and is the power of the human voice and storytelling as a form of resistance.

On 6 December 2023, Alareer was killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza, along with his brother, sister and her three children.

His tragic death is a great loss to the world cultural community. Anyone who heard him speak in any of his many interviews noticed his perfect, deeply resonant, command of English. “IF I MUST DIE” was his last poem. Poet Mosab Abu Toha has written, "My heart is broken, my friend and colleague Refaat Alareer was killed with his family"

If I must die, 
you must live
to tell my story 
to sell my things 
to buy a piece of cloth 
and some strings,
(make it white with a long tail) 
so that a child, somewhere in Gaza 
while looking heaven in the eye 
awaiting his dad who left in a blaze
-and bid no one farewell
not even to his flesh
not even to himself-
sees the kite, my kite you made, 
flying up above
and thinks for a moment an angel is there 
bringing back love
If I must die
let it bring hope 
let it be a tale

“IF I MUST DIE,” a music of protest on a poem by Refaat Alareer

TASCAM DR-44WL

If I must die

Someone Call Bob Geldof

Composer. Writer. Photographer. Former conductor & founder of the ASKO ensemble.

On a bike/ski/hike trek of the Pacific Northwest studying native plants & climate breakdown 🌲 from sagebrush sea to whitebark pine. Composing off-grid the whole way.

#Sun2Sound 🌕 on X

THINKING LIKE A STONEPINE, a soundpoem manifesto https://vimeo.com/844665859

“LOVE & WATER, three thought poems w/ coda, PHAROS for small orchestra, “Nightwind”” https://vimeo.com/847079690 

CURRENTLY on mt bike/ski/climbing trek through Pacific Northwest, working on a photobook about WHITEBARK PINE COLLAPSE and CLIMATE CRISIS. BASES in the WALLOWAS | AMSTERDAM | ALPS. 

WEEKLY photo/poetry updates at www.picture-poems.com & THE CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE new music, poetry & dance performance project at www.cs-music.com

ALWAYS ON THE LOOKOUT for progressive, tech-savy, instrumental virtuosi interested in dialogue & collaborative undertakings.

CONTACT cliff@picture-opoems.com
Or on SKYPE or FACETIME @cliffcrego

MUSIC? The one thing humans do,
that makes the rest of nature jealous.

Writer for Revolution newspaper. Host and Producer of The Michael Slate Show on KPFK 90.7 FM

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The Katie Halper Show takes a humorous look at the news, politics, pop culture, and the arts through news segments and conversations with writers, journalists, activists, artists and political comedians.

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