Tomorrow evening, May 15th, at the People’s Forum in Manhattan, the Radical Books Collective and The Polis Project will join forces to organize an evening of readings titled Nakba Then and Now: Refuse Silence to amplify the Palestinian liberation struggle, demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and raise money for the The Ghassan Abu Sittah Children’s Fund and UNRWA’s Gaza Emergency Appeal.
Ibtisam Azem, Najla Said, Huda Fakhredinne, Maaza Mengiste, Ahmad Almallah, Mona Eltahawy, Siddhartha Deb, and Kesivan Naidoo are just some of the writers and musicians who will be performing on the night.
Nakba Day marks the devastation of the Palestinian homeland in 1948 through ethnic cleansing and expulsion of a majority of the Palestinian people. The Nakba, or the Catastrophe, is commemorated on May 15th of each year through demonstrations, strikes, protests, and by memorializing the names of villages that were uprooted or destroyed. This year’s Nakba Day, of course, is one like no other before.
As the event organizers detail in their press release:
“Today, as we are witnessing another Nakba, the world is also rising up on every continent. We invite you to join in this resistance.”
This event is also part of the Publishers for Palestine coalition’s Exist, Resist, Return: A Week of Action for Nakba Day. This is a call to “withdraw labor except for Palestine, boycott the war machine, pledge support to local campus encampments, amplify Palestinian voices and foster a sense of community and solidarity.”
Nakba Then and Now is free to attend but space is limited so make sure to register here if you’d like to be a part of what promises to be an unforgettable evening.
