Resonate in the Moment
If I could write a million words,
Not one would suffice,
If I could speak a million fables,
Not one would ring true,
If I could whisper with the wind,
It would never carry,
Never echo,
Always fail to reach the ears,
Which we seek to address,
Resonating in the moment,
Until nothing is left.
If I was an artist,
I could paint the walls,
Of your soul,
I could draw the world,
On the palms of your hands,
So there was nothing,
You could claim you didn’t understand,
I would spread the colours,
Of your smile,
Across the oceans,
Over mountains,
Through the deserts,
And the storms,
I could carry your spirit,
To places it had never been before.
If I was not I,
Maybe these words would suffice,
And these eyes would be dry,
But when I ask you to smile,
I see your smile as mine,
Because it brings with it peace,
Allows me to believe,
That there is good,
In these words which I speak.
I Want To Tear Down The Flag…
I want to tear down the flag you placed above my head,
Because under the flag of a tyrant my heart will never rest,
I want to tear down the barriers you built to suppress,
So I can stand by the side of my sister, who you fought to oppress,
I want to destroy the remnants of your empire,
The walls will come down,
Because in the heart of my homeland,
My people still stand proud,
I want to see the end of your reign,
Your throne as it rusts,
I want to see the downfall of the regime,
From within the belly of the beast,
I want to witness the rise of our children,
I want them to see what it means,
For us to truly be equal,
To truly be free from the chains of evil,
I want to witness a world,
Where justice will reign,
Where my sister will be free,
From your conflict and it’s pain.
I want to tear down the flag you placed above my head,
For it doesn’t represent me, or the tears which I shed,
Nor does it hide the guilt of your crimes,
Or help justify the lies which I was fed.
I want to tear down this flag which you placed above my head,
Because I don’t wish to be anything it represents,
Not the bloodshed’s, or the massacres,
Nor the wars which killed my friends,
The humanity that runs through my veins,
Will always struggle to comprehend,
With the vision of the flag,
You placed above my head.
Ask Your Lord
Say I cannot fight,
I tell you I’m gonna win,
You say that I don’t live,
See that’s the thing,
You name the birds by their colours,
I hear the songs that they sing,
Praising the Lord,
Everyday as it begins,
Lord I need to fly,
When will you give me my wings?
I feel trapped,
The dust lines my lungs,
This prison isn’t a place,
For the brave or the young,
See the brave will be martyred,
The young will grow old,
And we will hear the stories,
That line the graves of the bold,
My Lord if you hear me,
Please send us a sign,
Because the oppressors will not rest,
Until my mother’s eyes have cried.
They say justice will not prevail,
But they cannot prophesize a lie,
They say that they will win,
They cannot see what I feel inside,
See I see us as we depart,
From the battlefield,
Hearts drenched in love,
For justice is divine,
It is given from above,
When our hearts are true,
Our battles will be won,
Lord will you give us strength,
To be those who we must become.
Our perception may be riddled,
With imperfection,
It may be stained with hatred,
But a tyrant will be a tyrant,
Through any human eye,
And a human will be human,
Though you dehumanise,
So this flag of justice,
Will always be raised,
Above my head,
And ahead of my step,
It’s path will be paved,
For I asked my Lord for wings,
And this is what he gave.
“And your Lord said, ‘Call on Me and I will answer you. .” (40:60)
Keep Fighting, I will regardless..
The struggle of a people is not defined by the crimes against them but by the strength with which they stand up against all odds and fight. Our bond with their struggle is not drawn by blood or heritage but by our humanity and our natural instinct to create a better world, however suppressed that instinct may be. Our idea of peace isn’t drawn by individuals but by a universal idea of a world without war, injustice and tyranny but so many people still choose to ignore the fact that though we may be physically detached from the struggle, it will always be one.
I speak out for Palestine and in the eyes of many around me that defines a huge part of who I am, yet my bloodline ties me to Kashmir, another place of pain where my heart is deeply embedded and whose pain is clearly echoed through my words. I write about Iraq, I know of Burma and the struggle of the Latin Americans too. Afghanistan’s women, children and men clearly display the strength which I try so hard to resonate in my words, so that you hear them too. The children of Africa’s plight cannot be ignored and though in many cases their stories are abused and their land is raped for capitalist gain their pain still speaks volumes and their plight is also ours.
Peace is a concept that has been fought for centuries before I set foot on this path and if nobody had stood before me, before us, then many more people today, would be facing injustice. Wherever good people remain silent evil prevails and that shouldn’t be a risk that we are willing to take because it only proves that we are willing to forsake the lives of future generations to live in comfort and accept a lie. It shows that another’s children are of less importance than ours, but how can we ensure that the tables will not turn and that those children will not one day be ours? In my eyes they always have been and always will be ours.
If a child in a Brazilian Favela was asked whether he would rather fight for an education and a right to life, than live a life of crime and hardship in his Favela, what do you think that he would say? He would want a chance, he would want to be able to earn for his family and help them to progress. Help his people to remove them from the life they were forced into by an unfair and unjust system. If he cannot do that for himself then why is it that we human beings, who can speak for him, who can act on his behalf and work together to give him that opportunity, without placing ourselves in any comparable danger, don’t act?
See this concept is not abstract, nor is it possible to be detached just because physically we are not in their shoes. That is only a weak attempt at justifying our own wrongs and allowing ourselves to believe that what we are doing is in some way just but it is far from that, in fact it is quite the opposite.
My work as an “activist” is really my responsibility as a human being. That’s our responsibility. It’s our collective action in response to the cry for justice of our people all over the globe. Our work is not easy and our job is far from over, but from within the belly of the beast our role in the struggle is very important.
Keep doing what you are doing, whether you are writing, shouting, standing in front of tanks or singing about the struggle. Every piece of our intifada is connected, every action for the good of another plays a part in our quest for justice and I want to thank everybody who continues to fight every single day regardless of the outcome or the implications because in their hearts they believe that justice will come.
Without each other we are nothing. So even in my silence I am with you, for my spirit will always be bound to this struggle and my heart will always be with our people.
I will cry their tears so that someday they can smile.
San’aa Sultan
Open Eyes
Behind closed eyes,
Another world exists,
Behind closed ears,
Another song is missed,
Behind a closed mind,
We do not exist,
Behind a closed book,
Is the inability to resist,
Torture in any form it displays,
To refuse to accept,
The error of your ways,
To insist you are right,
Though the fact’s disagree,
To succumb to a lie,
And create your own misery.
In my eyes it’s a crime,
An abuse of a right,
Others die to protect,
Yet you choose to neglect?
It’s an error in the process,
A blow to the heart,
When you choose to be blind,
Accepting the dark,
As your truth in the light of their hope,
Stealing their lives,
In the pursuit of your own.
A real heart is warm,
Refuses to cool,
Indentifies the true,
And educates the fool,
A real mind is aware,
Refuses to close,
Rectifies the wrong,
Chooses to be alone,
Even where it belongs,
Real eyes speak,
Volumes to me,
Real doors to the souls,
That many refuse to see,
A real hand acts,
Always strives to give,
Matches the heart,
That strives to forgive.
A real human blossoms,
In the darkest of nights,
With the harshest of rains,
Because the sun if a gift,
That relieves all its pain.
In front of open eyes,
Lie hope and dreams..
Brave Hearts – القلوب الشجاعة
اليوم هو يوم الأسير الفلسطيني
في قلوبنا كل يوم هو لهم
في ذهني كل فكر هو لهم
ودموعي هي بالنسبة لهم
The sun and moon of our detainees may be different,
But our Lord is the same,
The world may be silent, but we know their names,
You may have orphaned our children,
But they are not in pain,
They fight along the path which their fathers paved.
The mental torture you inflict on their minds,
Is inflicted on mine,
The way you detain our children is a crime,
A violation of international human rights,
I stand here and watch knowing,
That the silence of the world breeds consent,
But we are sure that justice will come,
It’s just a matter of time.
We are unafraid of the threats that they make,
We are unafraid of the prison cells they use to enslave,
We are not afraid of the blood stained hand of the oppressor,
الشجاعة هي التي رسمت في قلوبنا
الطغاة ترتجف في وجودنا
نحن أطفال فلسطين
ذروة نضالنا
جبل من قوة
They thought they imprisoned my father,
His soul is at home with us,
They thought they took away his life,
It is in the hands of my Lord,
They think that our struggle is over,
Our Intifada is brewing within the walls of their fort.
Abdullah Yassin – A prisoner from Bil’in
Today I spoke to Iyas Abu Rahmah a young photojournalist from the village of Bil’in who photographed his best friends arrest in order to show the outside world the crimes committed against the Palestinian people. This is a job well known to the courageous youth of Palestine and a job which Abdullah Yassin also called his own.
On Thursday the 12th of April Abdullah Yassin a 21 year old photographer was arrested during the seventh International Bil’in Conference in Hebron. As the conference was in its second day Israeli forces began to arrest activists in an attempt to thwart the resistance.
Abdullah whose family are indigenous residents of Bil’in was at the conference to show his solidarity with the people of Bil’in, photograph the conference and show his right to the land of his ancestors birth. Abdullah is the youngest of four brothers and his father has passed away. His mother is in good health but is missing her youngest son dearly.
Abdullah was previously arrested in 2005 at the age of fourteen, for two and a half months due to his involvement in peaceful protests against the Apartheid wall that ran through the land of the villagers of Bil’in. As a child he had tasted life inside a prison of the occupation and seen the violations of human rights the occupiers were willing to enforce in order to silence the resistance of the Palestinian people.
Iyas said “I am sad at his arrest and I’m upset because Abdullah’s mother is worried. Tomorrow is the first court session and his mother is eager to see him this helplessness breaks my heart. I feel lonely because Abdullah is not here but I am proud of him. Israel is violating international human rights laws, for Abdullah please do not remain silent. I want the international community to call for sanctions against Israel for its daily violations of human rights against my people.”
Arrests like Abdullah’s are common in Palestine and many young people are arrested for merely photographing demonstrations or throwing stones in order to tell others who wish to do the same that this is not going to be tolerated by the occupiers but regardless of the threats of detention the youth of Palestine continue to fight against all odds.
It is our duty to have these stories heard and to put a name to the individuals who are struggling so hard for justice.
Return Iyas’s best friend to him, return Abdullah to his mother.
Dry the eyes of our beloved Palestine.
Free Abdullah. Free Falasteen.
Rado Ikhlas the Voice of Sincerity – 4th of April 2012 San’aa Sultan and Shareefa
During this show I interviewed Shareefa a student activist about the current situation in Burma.
Listen here : http://soundcloud.com/sanaa-sultan/sanaa-sultan-talking-point
Radio Ikhlas the Voice of Sincerity – 27th of March 2012 San’aa Sultan and Mitra Qayoom
During this show I interviewed Mitra Qayoom about the current situation in Afghanistan and the 11th of March massacre in Kandahar.
Listen here: http://soundcloud.com/sanaa-sultan/sana-sultan-talking-point-with
يوم الاسير الفلسطيني – Palestinian Prisoner Day
Every year on the 17th of April Palestinians commemorate Palestinian prisoner day. Palestinian prisoners live under harsh conditions suffering from violations against their basic human rights on a daily basis, for long periods of time. These daily violations and aggression against the prisoners include high levels of medical neglect as diseases run rife within prisons. Many prisoners have died in detention due to medical neglect. Thousands of families are denied visiting rights and have no idea of the state of their loved once whilst they are in detention. Those who are permitted to visit go through humiliating ordeals. Prisoners are subject to naked searches and the occupational forces regularly enter into the rooms of detainees to physically and mentally abuse them.
Many prisoners are kept under administrative detention which means they are basically detained without charge or trial and this is a well known tactic used by Israel to try and silence weekly protests and break the spirit of the Palestinian people, especially the youth.
Another tactic used is solitary confinement and many leaders of the PLC have been held in solitary confinement and this sort of attack is used against leaders of the uprisings. The most recent attacks have taken place against Abbass El Sayed and Jamal Abu Haijah who have been kept in solitary confinement for over ten years. Their confinement is used to show others who wish to take the same path, that they will be punished.
This all occurs whilst the international community is silent, whilst the international humanitarian law makers are silent and the occupation continues to take the lives of innocent Palestinians.
Today more than 4700 Palestinians remain inside Israeli jails and are divided over 27 prisons and detention centres:
- 185 of them are children under the age of 18
- 9 of them are women
- 27 of them are deputees of the PLC mostly under administrative detention
- 1200 are sick prisoners suffering from illnesses and medical neglect
- 310 detainees are held under administrative detention without trail or charge
- 57 have spent more than 20 years inside jails
- 19 are held in solitary confinement
- 23 have spent a quarter of a century inside jail
- 202 detainees have died inside jails as a result of medical neglect
The ministry of detainees, Khans Younis, Gaza.
