The poems and art pieces chosen here reflect on themes of injustice, oppression and deprivation, and specifically starvation as a weapon of capitalist social organization and war The poems speak to a reality that has been ongoing in places where man-made famine and war have deprived people of their most basic necessities and rights ,including that to water.
In the current genocide, the denial of humanitarian aid, food and water, medical help, are such sadistic acts of power , as famines created by colonial forces have been throughout history. The Bengal Famine of 1943 is a case in point.Britsh colonizers starved an entire region for profit and militarism. They supplied their armies with Bngal and India’s food. Nearly 4 million were killed. Starvation as a weapon of war and simply showing off power, was a famed tactic of Nazis as well. Postwar photos certainly bear this out.
Destroying bodies , housing, food sources, water sources and all humanitarian assistance , the Occupation forces are enjoying their version of a war-party. But it behooves them to remember the words of the poets below, poets who know, in their very bones, that the human world must transform, to one in which the right to healthy land/housing, food, education, and health are priorities if we are to see human survival.
The genocide of Gaza has been disturbing enough but simultaneously starvation has wreaked havoc in Yemen, Syria, Guatemala, Haiti, and food deprivation is increasing –due to a tightening of the U.S embargo — even in Cuba. Weaponization of food is an old tactic used over and over again in histories of conflict. At its most basic level the class structure with its vast gaps in acquisitive power leave many people and their kids starving even while it’s business as usual.
What is horrifying in the current conjuncture is the inability of the international elites to muster up a shred of decency. I am forced to agree with Motaz Azaiza when he says, “They like to kill us. You like to watch”, for certainly zionists are not planning on changing their ways anytime soon. I am aghast at my own naivety, thinking some end could be in sight. But it seems developers, oil tycoons and tour operators and real estate agents are at the ready. It reminds me of how the media keep the obituaries of celebrities and politicians at the ready to be churned out as needed . They want to write the obituary of Palestine. But our humanity and the courage of the Palestinians will not let them. In the face of brutality and slaughter, to affirm life is the. most revolutionary and creative act. I’ve provided links below to NGOs providing humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza.
In Some Place, Nina Ferrari, (Trans. Kaushalya Bannerji)
in some place
with this rain
and this cold
a mother closes
the cupboard
not knowing
how to tell
her children
that there is no dinner today
and then
in that moment
the sum of all progress
of humanity
adds up to zero
“
Arms, M J Arce, Guatemala
You have a gun
And I am hungry
You have a gun
Because I am hungry
You have a gun
Therefore I am hungry
You can have a gun
You can have a thousand bullets
And even another
Thousand
You can waste them all on
My poor body
You can kill me one two three two thousand
Seven thousand times.
But in the long run I
Will always be better armed than you
If you have a gun
And I, only hunger.
Armas, MJ Arce, Guatemala
Tu tienes una pistola
Y yo estoy hambriento
Tu tienes una pistola
Porque yo tengo hambre
Tu tienes una pistola
Por lo tanto
Yo tengo hambre
Tu puedes tener una pistola
Tu pedes tener cientos de balas e
Incluso otro miles
Tu puedes malgastarlas sobre
Mi pobre cuerpo
Tu puedes matarme una, dos, tres, dos mil,
Siete mil veces
Pero al final
Yo estaré siempre mejor armado
Que tu
Si tu tienes una pistola
Y yo, solo hambre.
There is death here,
And promises of more:
There is life here.
Anyone hearing this is breathing—
Maybe hurting,
But breathing for sure.
If there is any light to come,
It will shine from the eyes of those
Who will look for peace AND justice,
After the rubble and rhetoric are cleared,
And the phoenix has risen.
Affirm life.
Affirm life.
We got to carry each other now.
You’re either with life
Or against it.
Affirm life.”
Suheir Hammad,Palestine/USA
https://donate.unrwa.org/-landing-page/en_EN
Ear to the Ground 