My heart is in Palestine

I can't write about the brown body experience of love and sex whilst Palestinians are being deprived of fundamental rights and their basic humanity.

Abbas Momani/AFP via Getty Images

This newsletter is called Brown Bodies — and since October 7th, I’ve watched as 7k+ brown bodies¹ have been killed and another ~20k injured in Palestine. The UN calls it an act of mass ethnic cleansing which is another way of saying genocide.

I can’t write about the brown body experience of love and sex whilst Palestinians are being robbed of their fundamental rights, their basic humanity, their joy and their loves. Their whole lives. This week, I dedicate my tiny online space to them and I pray for their survival, for ease, for their peace, for an end to their suffering and for their love and courage to be inherited by generations to come.

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We watch in horror from the safety of our warm homes that have running water, 24/7 electricity, speedy wi-fi and fridges filled with essentials. Yet, we feel how cheap our lives are deemed to be. How cheap their lives are deemed to be. They’re calling it ‘their right to defend’ after the sad attacks of 7th October in Israel. But when was killing 3k+ children and injuring thousands more self defence? This line of reasoning omits 75 years of Israeli violence and occupation in Palestine, Israeli settler violence and the Israeli calls for a complete wipe out of Palestinians. Not to mention the absolute barrage of misinformation and dehumanisation of the Palestinian people to remove their humanity.

I am horrified at how problematic voices for Palestine are being represented to be — those voices calling for an immediate ceasefire, an end to war crimes, immediate humanitarian relief and a resolution for Palestine and its people to have a homeland and self determination. Voices in support of Palestine are so problematic that people are calling their workplaces to get them fired and pulling the rug on partnerships and sponsorships because they believe them to be antisemitic. Anti Zionism is NOT antisemitic.

One of my family members is Palestinian and another of my family is a survivor from a previous genocide. I don’t have the option to do nothing — even though that’s all I have wanted to do. I deleted my socials and have had all my conversations on the topic in private because I can’t unsee the videos of destruction, I can’t unhear the audio clips filled will fear, I can’t erase the last words of Palestinians no longer with us from my mind. But I do have one thing I have been able to do. Write. I’ve written to ministers, members of parliament and to people in my industry calling for a ceasefire, to speak their thoughts with their money, to not side with genocide. And now, I’m writing this publicly. Because if it makes only one person take some kind of action, like write to their local MP or join a protest so the people who are meant to represent us get off their arses and apply global pressure for a ceasefire and then a resolution for Palestine, then it was worth it.

From today’s Birmingham protest courtesy of Alia OB

So this week, I want to share with you some things to read, some places to support and some Palestinian voices.

1. Write to your MP. It takes 2 minutes. If you’re in the UK, you can use templates from MAP, Islamic Relief or Amnesty International. If you’re in Europe, you can write to your MEP.

2. Let's Talk About Palestine
   is a Substack by independent journalist
   Sylvie Harker
   breaking down some of the politics around Palestine. She says, “The ongoing genocide should not have to directly impact you or your loved ones for you to do something or say something. The only difference between you and them is that you were born somewhere with the privilege to remain silent and unaffected. Don’t be complicit in genocide.”

3. Tahmina Begum
   wrote this piece full of resources and further reading.

4. Letters from Gaza

5. The war on love

6. Amaliah, a media platform, has two excellent resources for you to read.

   • Eight tips for talking about Palestine and Israel at work

   • Resource and activism guide

7. Charities you can support who are trying to get support to those who need it on the ground:

   • Islamic Relief

   • Medical aid for Palestinians

   • Doctors without Borders

If you have further reading or resources, please do share in the comments.

queeringthemap

A post shared by @queeringthemap

1. Not all Palestinians are brown or describe themselves as brown. Arabs can tick brown, white or Black on demographic questions. However, the media often crudely categorises Israelis as white and Palestinians as brown — a thought process that comes from the British.