If I must die

If I must die

    Thursday, December 14, 2023   No comments

إذا كان لا بد أن أموت

رفعت العرعير

 

إذا كان لا بد أن أموت

فلا بد أن تعيش أنت

لتروي حكايتي

لتبيع أشيائي

وتشتري قطعة قماش

وخيوطا

فلتكن بيضاء بذيل طويل

كي يبصر طفل في مكان ما من غزة

وهو يحدق في السماء

منتظرا أباه الذي رحل فجأة

دون أن يودع أحدا

ولا حتى لحمه

أو ذاته

يبصر الطائرة الورقية

طائرتي الورقية التي صنعتها أنت

تحلق في الأعالي

ويظن للحظة أن هناك ملاكا

يعيد الحب

إذا كان لا بد أن أموت

فليأتي موتي بالأمل

فليصبح حكاية

If I must die

Refaat Alareer

____________
If I must die

You must live

To tell my story

To sell my stuff

And buy a piece of cloth

And threads

Let it be white with a long tail

For a child somewhere in Gaza to see

He stares at the sky

Waiting for his father who suddenly passed away

Without saying goodbye to anyone

Not even his flesh

Or itself

He sees the kite

My kite that you made

Flying high

He thinks for a moment that there is an angel

Brings back love

If I must die

May my death bring hope

Let it become a story

Refaat Alareer was killed alongside children and other family members by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on Wednesday December 6, 2023.

Rap of liberation from occupation... “Lowkey” and the mixture of languages and singing arts in “Palestine Will Never Die”

Rap of liberation from occupation... “Lowkey” and the mixture of languages and singing arts in “Palestine Will Never Die”

    Monday, December 04, 2023   No comments

British rapper Lowkey and his fellow singer Mai Khalil released a remarkable lyrical work entitled “Palestine Will Never Die,” which combines singing and rap, Arabic and English lyrics, and the arts of speech, poetry, prose, and lyrical performance.

Lowkey said that they were inspired to work by the works of the Lebanese artist, singer and composer Ahmed Kaabour, who is known for his works that carry the hopes and pain of the Palestinian people, the most famous of which are “I Call You” and “O Pulse of the West” (In the West Bank I have seven children) and others.

Lowkey added that the song - which is characterized by multiple rhythms and poetry - is “our humble contribution to this just cause and an attempt to empower young people in the West who have a passion for liberating Palestine,” considering that the words gave them goosebumps and reflect the current reality.

He added, "We hope that the song will give more courage and boldness to those who speak about Palestine, so that they are not afraid to confront the Zionist lobby in their countries," considering that the circumstances that inspired the song are "the feeling of impotence and political paralysis... and it is our right in the West to stand in solidarity with our people."

Lowkey pointed out that they chose to mix Arabic and English in the song, because that mix “reflects the reality in which we live,” stressing that they were inspired by traditional words to benefit new generations and deepen their connection to their past.

Regarding the use of different musical genres in one song, Lowkey said that they wanted to prove that "the Arabs are not in a state of cultural schizophrenia. On the contrary, our exposure to multiple arts leads to enriching our abilities to describe our bitter reality."

He said that he sees rap as "an important part of this process, especially how it makes people interact with others directly."   

  

The neocolonial food economy: How Bill Gates and others threaten Africa's agricultural future?

The neocolonial food economy: How Bill Gates and others threaten Africa's agricultural future?

    Monday, September 18, 2023   No comments

A report on the American “The Nation” website, under the title “The New Colonial Food Economy,” by Alexander Zaitchik, author of the book “Owning the Sun” - A History of the Medical Monopoly, spoke about the consequences of the actions of the global billionaire Bill Gates and other business giants in the areas of food. And agriculture, on small farmers in Africa and the countries of the South.

“Last summer, the global trading system finalized the details of the revolution in African agriculture,” the report stated, explaining that “under the project, the trade bodies sponsoring the African Continental Free Trade Area seek to restrict all 54 African countries to a model “It aims to replace farmers’ traditions and practices, which have persisted on the continent for thousands of years.”

He continued, "The main goal is farmers' human right to seeds and crops, and to share and cultivate them according to personal and societal needs."

"By allowing corporate property rights to replace local seed management, the protocol is the latest front in a global battle over the future of food," he adds.

Based on draft laws written by Western seed companies more than three decades ago in Geneva, the new generation of agricultural reforms seek to impose legal and financial penalties across the African Union on farmers who fail to adopt seeds manufactured abroad and protected by patents, including This includes genetically modified versions of local seeds, according to the report.

The resulting seed economy would turn African agriculture into a bonanza for global agribusiness, foster export-oriented monocultures, and undermine resilience during a period of profound climate disruption.

This new seed economy includes not only major seed and biotechnology companies, but also sponsor governments, in a more complex and controversial effort to re-engineer global agriculture for the benefit of biotechnology and agribusiness, not for the benefit of African farmers or the climate, the report asserts.

The author adds, “Tightening ownership laws on farms across the African Union would represent a major victory for global economic powers, which have spent the past three decades campaigning to undermine farmer-run seed economies and oversee their forced integration into global agribusiness value chains.”

These changes threaten the livelihoods of Africa's small farmers and their collective vital biological heritage, including a number of staple grains, legumes and other crops, which their ancestors developed and protected since the dawn of agriculture.

For farmers who are on the path to a global market drive to standardize and privatize their seeds, the risks are simply preserving their right to economic self-determination.

In a statement to the website, one of the farmers warns: “Companies have changed our food culture... They are now using threats to change our agricultural culture. If we replace traditional seeds with foreign seeds that cannot be replanted, what happens if the new seeds do not arrive? It is an attack on our survival!” .