nakba

It's the 60th anniversary of what Palestinians call the Nakba, or the Catastrophe. It has now been 60 years since Palestinians were forced from their homeland and became refugees, many walking barefoot to Gaza and the West Bank, living in caves before the first refugee camps formed.

I talked with some old women and men in the Askar refugee camp outside of Nablus during my last stay in the West Bank. They remember being forced from their towns and villages, their homes, as soldiers invaded. They remember being told that they would be allowed to return home. Now, 60 years later, there is no end to the occupation in sight and Israeli settlements continue to be built in the West Bank. Now, 60 years later, Palestinians are still waiting.

unchained letters

A few months ago, a friend and I started a project called Unchained Letters: Fort Collins Prisoner Support. Jen came up with the name Unchained Letters after I spent many days unable to think of a good name. It is basically a prisoner support, via pen-pal correspondence, project. We have both a zine, which outlines our goals and activities and includes tips for writing to prisoners, and now a blog. I just put it online yesterday; it’s very basic and will hopefully be expanded upon. You can visit it at: www.fortcollinsprisonersupport.blogspot.com

A few days ago, I got my first letter back from an individual imprisoned here in Colorado. I had written to him after finding his name and address at an online political prisoner website. It felt really good to read the letter and listen to what he had to say. I was unsure how supportive just writing letters would be but, through his letter, he told me that he was very excited to correspond for several reasons. He said it was good just getting a letter, it helped to keep him in touch with the outside world and ongoing struggles there, and helped him to grow through discourse. I wrote him back yesterday and I really enjoyed writing the letter. It was much different than when writing to someone you already know—we have a lot of questions for each other and are interested in what the other thinks about, what inspires each other, and things like that. I am already very happy and excited to be involved in this project. And I’m looking forward to reading the next letter!

May Day

Happy May Day! Today is a good day to think about how capitalism and the state maintains its grip on our lives and the lives of those around the world (and hopefully take action with that in mind). Today is a good day to think about how to destroy or make obsolete capitalism and the state (and take action with that in mind). That's some of what May Day makes me think about.

Take Back the Night

I wrote a post a few days ago but then, before posting it, I got involved in some other things. By the time I got back to the computer it was gone--maybe I had accidentally closed it. At any rate, the post was about this year's Take Back the Night. I don't want to try to rewrite what I had written and the experience is not as fresh in my mind. So, I'll be short and to the point. This was the third time I've written about Take Back the Night on this blog. The event is always powerful and should be a wake-up call for all of us who have the privilege of not having to think about gender and sexual violence. I dream about a world in which there is no more Take Back the Night because there is no need for it.