<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">Commemorating the 62nd Anniversary of the Nakba in Palestine, <br>please
join us for an evening of readings from the work of Palestinian writer
Ghassan Kanafani<br><br>Thursday May 20th, 2010<br>7:00 PM<br>Lewis Room<br>Cambridge
Public Library, Central Square<br>45 Pearl St, Cambridge<br>accessible
by bus and red line, Central Sq stop, wheelchair accessible<br>This
event is free.<br><br>Featuring: <br>Sameer Abu-Alsaoud<br>Laila Murad<br>Nada
Samih<br>Dara Bayer<br>Lana Habash<br>Spiritchild<br>Viviane
Saleh-Hanna<br>Gina Rodriguez-Drix<br>Marta Rodriguez<br>and <br>Ashanti
Alston, former political prisoner<br><br>There will be readings of
Kanafani's work, musical performances, and <br>Palestinian food.<br><br><br>From
Ghassan Kanafani's "Returning to Haifa", 1969: <br><br>"What happened
to you, Said?"<br>"Nothing. Nothing at all. I was just asking. I'm
looking for the true Palestine, <br>the Palestine that's more than
memories, more than peacock feathers, more than a son, <br>more than
scars written by bullets on the stairs. I was just saying to myself: <br>What's
Palestine with respect to Khalid? He doesn't know the vase or the
picture <br>or the stairs or Halisa or Khaldun. And yet for him,
Palestine is something worthy <br>of a man bearing arms for, dying
for.... Tens of thousands like Khalid won't be stopped <br>by the tears
of men searching in the depths of their defeat for scraps of armor and
broken flowers. <br>Men like Khalid are looking toward the future, so
they can put right our mistakes and the <br>mistakes of the whole
world..." <br><br>
<br>History: <br>This May marks the 62nd anniversary of the Nakba
(Arabic for "catastrophe") in Palestine in 1948 when over <br>935,000
Palestinians (85% of the indigenous population of Palestine at that
time) were forced off their <br>land, in some cases at gunpoint, in
other cases through massacres or threats of massacres like the massacre <br>at
Deir Yassin. As a result, 530 of an estimated 550 total villages were
completely destroyed or depopulated. <br>"Israel" was founded on the
racist ideology of zionism. It has followed the expansionist and
genocidal <br>logic of white supremacy and colonialism for over sixty
years. Today, the genocide in Palestine continues: <br>from the planned
expulsion of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank, to the
demolition of Palestinian <br>homes in occupied Al Quds (Jerusalem), to
the continued siege of the people of Gaza-- deprived of food, <br>water,
electricity, and medicine-- to the mass detention of over 11,000
Palestinian political prisoners. <br><br>Ghassan Kanafani, beloved
Palestinian writer, was murdered by Zionist forces in 1972. His work
reminds <br>us of the spirit of resistance that has sustained the
Palestinian people for generations. <br><br>Please join us.<br><br>**The
Cambridge Public Library is not a sponsor of this event.<br><div><br></div><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br></div>
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