A year ago on Dec. 6, 2023 Israel murdered Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer in Gaza. His poems, however, remain, condemning his killers and beseeching us to honor our shared humanity.
Thank you for making me aware of the great poet, Refaat Alareer. Your elegy to his humanity and his legacy of words is deeply moving. I just purchased his last book of poems.
Thank you so much, Chris, for posting this moving reflection and so many of Refaat's words on your site. This is the day, Tuesday, when as many people as possible are being asked to buy his book as possible for the sake of his family and in honor of all Palestinians.
It is under the Biden administration that the genocide in Gaza began, not Trump's. I didn't vote for Trump because I feared he could be as bad, or worse then the Biden/Harris team in regard to the genocide being implemented in Gaza. Nonetheless it is Biden's name and his neocon cohorts, like Blinken whose names belong in this tribute to Alareer. People seem to forget that it was a neocon agenda meant to primarily benefit Israel that led to our many Middle Eastern wars that destroyed millions of lives , and I see this as no more then a continuation of it, and the recent overthrow of Assad really helped secure the realm, or perhaps not when one considers who will be in charge now.
You missed my point. This article, or writing was meant as a tribute to Alareer, his life, his family, his writing, his death. He died during the Biden administration, not Trump's , and supplied Israel with the weapons to carry out the genocide that killed him and many, if not most, in his family, as well as his fellow Palestinians. It has nothing to do with Gaza's past history, Alareer died in 2023. Biden is a die hard Zionist, and one who really got our 21st century wars off the ground by being a very strong advocate for the Iraq war. He's a neocon and throughout his political career Biden has always been an active supporter of war.
Yes, the zionists biggest opponents are words; they try to destroy those words by eliminating universities, schools, hospitals, journalists etc, but those words are out there already and the zionists can't destroy them. Those words have exposed the zionist colonialists in Palestine for what they are, evil, savage barbarians, and they know it. 80% of Israhellis totally support the destruction and murder of Gazans, in order to steal their land and history. I will never forget or forgive the Americans for supplying the Israhellis with all the weaponry and "ordinance" to slaughter children and women and old people, thus becoming complicit in the biggest genocide in modern history. The Americans know genocide, they have had their own in two occasions, but have also supported other genocides in the world, and will have others.
I felt so sad when I read the poems in your article, Chris, those wonderful men of words, words that went to the heart, to be extinguished by the most evil, sadistic humans the world has known. I despair for the Palestinians, their future is extremely bleak, with the Americans voting in another person contaminated by the zionist lies, deceit, and money. I'm left empty now, so will close out by saying Sykes/Picot and Balfour set the groundwork for the elimination of the Palestinians, and Biden/Harris/Trump/Starmer will enable the barbarians to finish it off.
Thank you so much Chris for this elegy for Refaat Alareer and for bring his words too. I felt so honored when I received his powerful AND loving poetry and prose. 🇵🇸
Thank you Chris. No Israeli will ever create anything as powerful and enduring as Refaat’s prose. All they are capable of is crude Tik toks. The west content to smear themselves in genocidal muck and smut. We will never emulate the beauty and nobility of the Palestinian soul.
Thank you Chris for this, a powerful elegy of the highest form of heroism. May we be inspired to awaken and respond, while we are still able, to our government's complicity which enables this excruciating tragedy.
Thank you for such a sad article. I am reading Refaat Alareer's book, 'If I Must Die" and your article gives his existence meaning as well as all the other writers mentioned. And you give Palestine life and hope by showing, in my opinion, that words and spirit can never die and will be remembered.
Yes, as Vin LoPresti says, My heart hurts. This is a truly beautiful piece. Please add Otto René Castillo to your list of murdered poets, a Guatemalan poet and revolutionary murdered by their fascist army in 1967.
Thank you for making me aware of the great poet, Refaat Alareer. Your elegy to his humanity and his legacy of words is deeply moving. I just purchased his last book of poems.
Thank you, Chris for deeply personalizing the struggle they face. My heart hurts.
Thank you so much, Chris, for posting this moving reflection and so many of Refaat's words on your site. This is the day, Tuesday, when as many people as possible are being asked to buy his book as possible for the sake of his family and in honor of all Palestinians.
I wish I did not have to read such words, however, moral arguments are wasted on sociopaths.
As Karl Marx said, force is the only effective force in history.I am not a Marxist, per se, but sometimes the man had insights.
It is under the Biden administration that the genocide in Gaza began, not Trump's. I didn't vote for Trump because I feared he could be as bad, or worse then the Biden/Harris team in regard to the genocide being implemented in Gaza. Nonetheless it is Biden's name and his neocon cohorts, like Blinken whose names belong in this tribute to Alareer. People seem to forget that it was a neocon agenda meant to primarily benefit Israel that led to our many Middle Eastern wars that destroyed millions of lives , and I see this as no more then a continuation of it, and the recent overthrow of Assad really helped secure the realm, or perhaps not when one considers who will be in charge now.
Let us be fair - Gaza was an open air concentration camp, long before Biden or Trump.
You missed my point. This article, or writing was meant as a tribute to Alareer, his life, his family, his writing, his death. He died during the Biden administration, not Trump's , and supplied Israel with the weapons to carry out the genocide that killed him and many, if not most, in his family, as well as his fellow Palestinians. It has nothing to do with Gaza's past history, Alareer died in 2023. Biden is a die hard Zionist, and one who really got our 21st century wars off the ground by being a very strong advocate for the Iraq war. He's a neocon and throughout his political career Biden has always been an active supporter of war.
I am aware of all that, but you interjected Trump, who is not currently president, AFAICT.
I didn't, but Hedges did.
Yes, the zionists biggest opponents are words; they try to destroy those words by eliminating universities, schools, hospitals, journalists etc, but those words are out there already and the zionists can't destroy them. Those words have exposed the zionist colonialists in Palestine for what they are, evil, savage barbarians, and they know it. 80% of Israhellis totally support the destruction and murder of Gazans, in order to steal their land and history. I will never forget or forgive the Americans for supplying the Israhellis with all the weaponry and "ordinance" to slaughter children and women and old people, thus becoming complicit in the biggest genocide in modern history. The Americans know genocide, they have had their own in two occasions, but have also supported other genocides in the world, and will have others.
I felt so sad when I read the poems in your article, Chris, those wonderful men of words, words that went to the heart, to be extinguished by the most evil, sadistic humans the world has known. I despair for the Palestinians, their future is extremely bleak, with the Americans voting in another person contaminated by the zionist lies, deceit, and money. I'm left empty now, so will close out by saying Sykes/Picot and Balfour set the groundwork for the elimination of the Palestinians, and Biden/Harris/Trump/Starmer will enable the barbarians to finish it off.
Thanks so much for writing this piece. It gave me some comfort amid the horrors I witness in the news every day.
Thank you so much Chris for this elegy for Refaat Alareer and for bring his words too. I felt so honored when I received his powerful AND loving poetry and prose. 🇵🇸
Linda Snider
Thankyou Chris. This made me weep.
I’ve just ordered “If I Must Die”
Thank you Chris. No Israeli will ever create anything as powerful and enduring as Refaat’s prose. All they are capable of is crude Tik toks. The west content to smear themselves in genocidal muck and smut. We will never emulate the beauty and nobility of the Palestinian soul.
Thank you Chris for this, a powerful elegy of the highest form of heroism. May we be inspired to awaken and respond, while we are still able, to our government's complicity which enables this excruciating tragedy.
Thank you for such a sad article. I am reading Refaat Alareer's book, 'If I Must Die" and your article gives his existence meaning as well as all the other writers mentioned. And you give Palestine life and hope by showing, in my opinion, that words and spirit can never die and will be remembered.
A beautiful tribute to the man, his work and his legacy. Thank you Chris Hedges
Thank you.
Thank you!🙏🏾
Thank you. I will now wait for Mrs Wong to read this very important piece as it should be heard.
Yes, as Vin LoPresti says, My heart hurts. This is a truly beautiful piece. Please add Otto René Castillo to your list of murdered poets, a Guatemalan poet and revolutionary murdered by their fascist army in 1967.