Your Silence Will Not Protect You
“What are the words you do not yet have? What do you need to say? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence? Perhaps for some of you here today, I am the face of one of your fears. Because I am woman, because I am Black, because I am lesbian, because I am myself – a Black woman warrior poet doing my work – come to ask you, are you doing yours?” – Audre Lorde, The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action.
The following resources in Stuart Hall Library is a small but growing list of materials that speak to Palestinian thinkers, activists and artists. This includes stories of Palestinian life, the struggle of colonised people, voices of solidarity, love, liberation, queerness, survival, women voices, the media, joy and the future.
Staff Highlights
Funambulist, no. 50
Nakba, sumud, intifada : a personal lexicon of Palestinian loss and resistance by Rana Issa (The Funambulist; no. 50, pages 34-39)
In this article featured in the Funambulist magazine, Rana Issa interrogates the vocabulary used to articulate the loss and conditions of Palestine through the lens of a personal narrative around three significant words used by Palestinians: nakba, sumud, intifada. The article also reminds us that the sacralisation of political concepts is full of traps and that it is necessary for them to evolve through their practice to remain potent instead.
Dreams of a nation: on Palestinian cinema.
Dreams of a nation: on Palestinian cinema. Edited by Hamid Dabashi with preface by Edward Said.
In Dreams of a Nation, is the first anthology devoted to Palestinian cinema. Nine filmmakers, critics and scholars discuss the emergence of Palestinian cinema as a major artistic force on the global scene as well as the social significance rooted in historical struggles of self-determination and anti-colonial resistance movements.
Freedom is a constant struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the foundations of a movement
Freedom is a constant struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the foundations of a movement by Angela Y. Davis and edited by Frank Barat.
Activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis is known for her advocacy for the liberation of Palestine. She reminds us that ‘freedom is a constant struggle’ and in this book illuminates the connections between struggles against state violence and oppression throughout history and around the world.
Reflecting on the importance of Black feminism, intersectionality, and prison abolitionism, she highlights connections between Black freedom struggles and today’s struggles against state terror. In the speech, ‘On Palestine, G4S and the Prison-Industrial Complex’ given at the School of Oriental and African Studies in 2013 draws connections around militarised police power in Palestine and protests against police murder in Ferguson.
Made in Palestine
Made in Palestine: Station Museum, Houston, Texas, May-October, 2003. Preface by Tarif Abboushi; introduction by James Harithas ; essays by Tex Kerschen and others.
Made in Palestine is one of the first museum exhibitions in the US devoted to the contemporary art of Palestine. It features twenty-three Palestine artists living in Syria, Jordan, Germany and the US, some of which live in exile or under military occupation, depicting a historical story of the Palestinian people from the Nakba of 1948 to their dream for a homeland, through painting, sculpture, video, textiles, ceramics and photography.
Librarians and archivists to Palestine: DS128.4 Library of Congress call number for ‘intifada’ created through struggle by the librarians at Birzeit University
Librarians and archivists to Palestine: DS128.4 Library of Congress call number for ‘intifada’ created through struggle by the librarians at Birzeit University (Read online)
In the summer of 2013, sixteen librarians and archivists travelled to Palestine to explore issues of access to information and cultural heritage and issues of colonial struggles, sharing ideas with colleagues in Palestine, offering expertise and learning from theirs. The delegation offers a unique voice in support of the Palestinian-led movement for boycott against Israeli apartheid in the form of a zine.
Please note this is an ongoing blog that will continue to be developed. A much longer list of books, articles, zines and journals is featured in the Stuart Hall Library catalogue. We hope this will serve as a means to use for education, critical dialogue and collective care.
Last updated: 28 February 2024
