137 Comments

Write my name on my leg, Mama - --Zeina Azzam

“Some parents in Gaza have resorted to writing their children's names on their legs to help identify them should either they or the children be killed.” - CNN, 10/22/2023

Write my name on my leg, Mama

Use the black permanent marker

with the ink that doesn’t bleed

if it gets wet, the one that doesn’t melt

if it’s exposed to heat

Write my name on my leg, Mama

Make the lines thick and clear

Add your special flourishes

so I can take comfort in seeing

my mama’s handwriting when I go to sleep

Write my name on my leg, Mama

and on the legs of my sisters and brothers

This way we will belong together

This way we will be known

as your children

Write my name on my leg, Mama

and please write your name

and Baba’s name on your legs, too

so we will be remembered

as a family

Write my name on my leg, Mama

Don’t add any numbers

like when I was born or the address of our home

I don’t want the world to list me as a number

I have a name and I am not a number

Write my name on my leg, Mama

When the bomb hits our house

When the walls crush our skulls and bones

our legs will tell our story, how

there was nowhere for us to run

—Zeina Azzam

Found here: https://www.commondreams.org/further/this-is-how-we-live-people-come-together-die-together-are-buried-together-in-the-same-shroud

Expand full comment

Thanks for sharing this video. Chris is a saint navigating through our current living hell.

Expand full comment

That talk literally brought me to tears, which I didn't think was possible anymore.

Thank you Chris Hedges for elbowing my humanity in the ribs.

Expand full comment

the question that has never been answered fully is why? Why is this allowed in a post colonial world? Who are the "true" operators and their reasons. MIC for sure, WEF unlinked, Bank of London, Federal Reserve Bank, Black Rock, Vanguard, all operating in full force in Western nations, rarely mentioned when they fund all of this. Why aren't we directed towards them rather than this shit we already know as poet, Auden already said. This leads to the question not only about the number of Zionists in our government and institutions, but whether their loyaltly to USA is not usurped by their loyalty to Israel. My feeling is that we have traitors to the USA within our institutions and our government. Prove me wrong.

Expand full comment

made me cry. thanks for being a voice crying out in the wilderness...it's not your failure that so few want to listen. The children of Gaza, their parents and grandparents, and concerned people around the planet are grateful for your voice.

Expand full comment

Thanks again Chris. The censorship and distortions by the MSM is insane! here in Canada we have "Honest" Reporting Canada". That is merely a wing of Israel's Ministry of Truth. They attack even the most remotest revelation of conditions in Israel/Palestine, with weaponized anti Semitism. The editors are terrified of them. I have sent many many letters to the editors and just one was printed. I have been reduced to making driving protests with small Palestinian car flags and signs that first started with "Cease Fire" and has now turned into "Stop the Genocide in Gaza". Many drivers give thumbs up, waves or supporting honks. Only once did a passenger stick out his middle finger. It shows we are the majority. Trudeau is like Obama all looks and no substance. His father Pierre Elliot must be spinning in his grave, he gave American draft dodgers sanctuary! Most Liberal supporters are mad as He--, he will not survive the next election. Problem is we too have a Trump like Neo Con Christian fascist Pierre Poilievre a renowned Libertarian. He will be a Trump poodle if both he and Trump win. Trudeau is Genocide Joe's poodle now! Why American foreign policy is controlled by Zionist fascist Jews is outrageous and beyond belief, but still they say anti Semitism blocks their way. Killer Kissinger had blood on his hands over Palestine and the ME and the Bloody Torch was passed down to Bloody Blinken! What a hideous Joke!

Expand full comment
Dec 10, 2023·edited Dec 10, 2023

Thank you Reverend and journalist Chris Hedges. You are a voice of sanity in a western world gone mad.

Your experience and clear thinking stands up to the challenge, which ultimately must be defeated.

Expand full comment

Chris. Thanks. That’s the second time that letter’s brought forth tears. Fat lot of good they do.

Helpless to stop the barbarism. Bearing witness and refusing the lies to take hold is all that is left. Thank you for doing it so eloquently.

Expand full comment

Beautifully written, well delivered.

Expand full comment

I love how he connected the dots!!

I went and looked up the Armenian genocide, and Turkey has wiped most of the evidence of it, it's ficked up! They are talking like they are gonna help the Palestinians, but they are not doing much. And here Turkey & the US and many other countries started the same horrible way as Israel, wiping out & and open air enprisoning the indigenous survivors.

Expand full comment

This is just fact to fact to fact. He is an amazing speaker, those people are blessed to have him for a professor. It's so incredibly sad, and yet I feel powerless. I think there is some way to stop it. Protest everything. Everywhere. We live in an oligarchy 💯 his honesty is amazing! He has got to be on a kill list or 2.

Expand full comment
Dec 9, 2023·edited Dec 10, 2023

In recent weeks, Chris Hedges has had much, much more to say about the plight of the Palestinians than he has ever said about members of the U.S. working class who have been bullied into a state of fear, poverty and censorship by COVID tyranny ...

Here's one of his more memorable quotes that no longer rings true ... from his book WAGES OF REBELLION: "I do not fight fascists because I think we will win, I fight them because they are fascists" ... if he really practiced this principle, he never would have thrown the working class under the bus with COVID by quietly refusing to stand with us against the illegal and unconstitutional mandates and passports ... on this topic, he has only said: "it's a tough decision" ... when in fact, he never should have had a second thought about standing with us ...

Expand full comment
Dec 11, 2023·edited Dec 13, 2023

What a powerful, evocative essay! Respect for your commitment to the truth and to those whom the powerful would prefer to permanently bury under their bombs and lies.

Expand full comment

There is no "genocide in Gaza". Just stop. There is Israel trying to ensure the safety of its people after Palestinian terrorist brutally murdered, raped and kidnapped innocent Israel citizens.

WTF did the Palestinians THINK would happen?

Expand full comment

I have a Palestinian scarf, from Amazon. I wear it here but no one notices. I have sent an email to somewhere in the State dept. but that was months ago and I don't recall....it was being pissed off at Biden's support. And, saying none of MY tax money for $$ or weapons to Israel. ...have not heard back and obviously......

Expand full comment

I am 75 and autistic and just learning to write and I can no longer listen to Chris Hedges. He will not listen to his heart he is too stuck in his head. It is time to listen to John Ralston Saul he is a GIANT and you are chris hedges.

Robbie Burns wrote an Ode to a Louse you deserve your own Ode. Is it an Ode to pride or an Ode to love? Pride goeth before a fall. "There Ain't no cure for love." Leonard Cohen

Expand full comment