‘And if we don’t get it – SHUT IT DOWN’: University students rally for a new world

Originally published at NB Media Coop on April 29, 2024 “Please keep going because you are our only hope. And we promise we will hold our ground and tell you the truth, always,” says Bisan Owda, a Palestinian journalist who has reported live from Gaza, fled bombs, held children, flocked to and from tents, sobbed, and starved for over 200 days of genocide. Owda is in a dimly lit tent, a keffiyeh around her shoulders, her dark curls pulled back. Her face is strained. The bags beneath her eyes are deep and hollow out her cheeks. Her gaze is fierce,…

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“Under the rubble of our dreams”: Vigil honours university students killed by Israeli forces, as Western University graduation ceremonies unfold

Originally published at NB Media Coop on June 29, 2024 It is June 12th. Western University hosts graduation convocations. Families fill the halls. Names reverberate. Students traverse the stage; gowns billow, tassels sway, and degrees are photographed. There is warmth, nostalgia, glee, cheer, and peace. Among the tents and human rights slogans forming the student encampments, another graduation convocation unfolds. This convocation is cheerless. This convocation is filled with tears and red eyes. This convocation is a vigil. It is called “Honouring those who will never graduate” – a title strung on a banner facing rows of chairs. No students…

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Tatreez: Weaving Palestinian history

Originally published at NB Media Coop on February 11th, 2024 The Palestinian thobe fills my phone screen. It is black, originally indigo-dyed. It flares with orange, red, and jewel-coloured embroidery. The chest-piece is laden with intricate triangles, zigzags, and flower-like motifs. The front of the skirt bursts with a panel of squares bearing stars. The sleeves and sides are rich with greens, blues, and pinks that twine into branch-like patterns or descend in diamonds. The back is streaked with orange panels that border arching embroidery. In its entirety, the thobe is mesmerizing in the embroidery’s heaviness and vibrancy, handmade in…

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‘All of humanity should break out in a fever’: Seven days at Western University’s encampments

Originally published at NB Media Coop on May 24, 2024 Earlier this month, students at Western University in London, Ontario began organizing encampments demanding divestment from companies funding genocide. Western University currently invests $33.6 million in companies complicit in Israel’s violent occupation of Palestine. The first encampment was on May 1 and ran from noon to midnight; the second was on May 8 and was also planned from noon to midnight, but instead became indefinite from that point onwards. The following is an account of the encampment’s first seven days. *** “When one part of humanity aches, all of humanity…

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Nakba survivor and former PLO member recounts the history of Zionism

Originally published at NB Media Coop on August 6, 2024 On Saturday, June 22, Ahmed Abu Shawish spoke at the student encampments at Western University. A Nakba survivor who served in the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Shawish, speaking in Arabic translated by an attendee into English, delivered a critique of  the history of Zionism – the movement that led to the creation of Israel. The Nakba – “the catastrophe” – refers to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948 by Israeli forces. Thousands of Palestinians were ousted or killed; their homes were stolen, their villages destroyed; and millions were sentenced…

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