Detaining a Poem - Poem by Dareen Tatour

 Detaining a Poem, by Dareeen Tatour

 

Translated from the Arabic by Andrew Leber

 

One day,

they stopped me,

shackled me,

tied up my body, my soul,

my everything…

 

Then they said: search her,

we’ll find a terrorist within her!

They turned my heart inside out—

my eyes as well,

rummaged through even my feelings.

From my eyes they drew a pulse of inspiration;

from my heart, the ability to sketch out meanings.

Then they said: beware!

She’s hiding weapons deep in her pockets.

Search her!

Root out the explosives.

And so they searched me…

 

Finally, they said, accusing me:

We found nothing

in her pockets except letters.

We found nothing except for a poem.

--------------

 

Dareen Tatour at the Nazareth Magistrates' Court, July 31, 2018, where she was sentenced to 5-months prison for her poetry by the Zionist.

 

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‘Resist, My People, Resist Them’ - Poem by Dareen Tatour

 Dareen Tatour

From the site Arabic Literature (in English), Dareen Tatour Palestinian poet was put under under house arrest in Tel Aviv charged with “incitement through social media, and now on 31st July, 2018, an Israeli court has sentenced her to a 5-month prison term.

Here, the poet Tariq al Haydar translates Tatour’s words into English:

Resist, My People, Resist Them

Resist, my people, resist them.

In Jerusalem, I dressed my wounds and breathed my sorrows

And carried the soul in my palm

For an Arab Palestine.

I will not succumb to the “peaceful solution,”

Never lower my flags

Until I evict them from my land.

I cast them aside for a coming time.

Resist, my people, resist them.

Resist the settler’s robbery

And follow the caravan of martyrs.

Shred the disgraceful constitution

Which imposed degradation and humiliation

And deterred us from restoring justice.

They burned blameless children;

As for Hadil, they sniped her in public,

Killed her in broad daylight.

Resist, my people, resist them.

Resist the colonialist’s onslaught.

Pay no mind to his agents among us

Who chain us with the peaceful illusion.

Do not fear doubtful tongues;

The truth in your heart is stronger,

As long as you resist in a land

That has lived through raids and victory.

So Ali called from his grave:

Resist, my rebellious people.

Write me as prose on the agarwood;

My remains have you as a response.

Resist, my people, resist them.

Resist, my people, resist them

From the site:

https://arablit.org/2016/04/27/the-poem-for-which-dareen-tatours-under-house-arrest-resist-my-people-resist-them/

My reply to an anti-Muslim Hindutva extremist in India

Nasir Khan, July 17, 2018

Hello Ruby Kaushal! Merely out of curiosity, I looked at your Profile and some comments you had made. Most of what you write is in Hindi, but a few small posts and comments are in English. You were exactly as I thought after reading your comment here on this link: A Hindutva extremist who tells Indian Muslims if there is anything they do not like then they should leave India and go to Pakistan! 

In fact, it is a popular solution which many anti-Muslim Hindus and their militant Hindutva organization freely offer to over 200 million Indian Muslims!

For instance, in your 9 July post while writing about Muslims, you say, “If u want religious supremacy just leave this place and move to your communal comfort.” By ‘this place’ you had meant India and by ‘your communal comfort’ you meant Pakistan! 

Unfortunately, your views as a Hindutva activist are meant to spread hatred and disinformation. You wouldn’t like others to expose the role and activities of the Hindutva either! Just look at what you post in your comments! No doubt, other Hindutva right wingers will support you for what you stand for. No surprise there!

To tell the facts about the activates and political crimes of the Hindutva are 'prejudiced views' in your words. So, no one should say anything about the Hindutva forces. If anyone in the world wants to know the truth about them, they should turn to the Hindutva for information! 

The Hindutva extremists and hatemongers against India’s religious and marginalized ethnic minorities do not like anyone, like me, to tell the facts about them. That is not difficult to understand why they do so.

But I will continue to expose these extremist right-wing forces and people. They are a danger to India’s multi-religious and multi-cultural State, its secular democracy and its democratic institutions.

The dominant anti-Muslim hatred in Indian Hindus

-- Nasir Khan, July 11, 2018

It is not the religion, Islam, but the follower of that religion, Muslims, who are the victims of social, political and economic discrimination by most Hindus, including even those who are not members of militant right-wing Hindutva parties and organizations. There is so much overt and covert anti-Muslim hatred and enmity towards the Indian Muslims that things look quite abysmal and bleak for these marginalized people now and in the future.

However, a tiny minority of progressive and tolerant Hindus is active to combat such communal forces, but they are in the minority and are struggling against the prevailing trend where the right-wing extremist forces have the upper hand.

---

http://caravandaily.com/portal/very-disturbing-to-see-particular-religion-being-targeted-taapsee-pannu/http://caravandaily.com/portal/very-disturbing-to-see-particular-religion-being-targeted-taapsee-pannu/

In memory of Stephen Hawking (1942- 2018)

-- Nasir Khan, July 2, 2018

A fine sculpture of Stephen William Hawking, who was a great theoretical physicist, cosmologist and writer whose contributions to the scientific explanations about the origin of the universe make him one of the greatest scientific minds in modern history. 

Despite his debilitating disease and his physical problems, he continued his research work and actively took part in many scientific congresses and important seminars worldwide to present his views. His endurance and struggle to overcome his physical disabilities is also a remarkable trait of this great human being.

Thank you Stephen Hawking for all what you did as a scientist and also laid to rest some some mythological accounts of the origin of the universe! 

Our memory for what you did and under which difficult conditions as a human being will continue to inspire thoughtful and inquisitive minds now and in the future!

Pervaiz Malik

3 hrs

Stephen Hawking
A Sculpture

Science and Scientific Thinking in Human History

-- Nasir Khan

“Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.”

― Carl Sagan (1934 - 1996)

When did the 'science' start in human history? And when did the 'scientific thinking' start? These seemingly simple questions can only be answered by a historian of science who has acquaintance with historical data relating to the issues. In other words, to find an answer we need the expertise of specialists.

However, we should keep in mind that science is not any static body of knowledge but rather an active process through the ages. Man's use of his near environment and his attempts to understand the phenomenon around him goes back to the times when he started to use his hands and much later in the history of his social evolution he started to use stones and flint, for instance, to hunt and skin off the animals for food and clothing. That is the time when man started to affect his near environment intentionally that was primarily to meet his practical needs for his survival. These can be called man's first steps towards 'science' in a general sense.

But the question of scientific thinking has a dialectical relationship with man's relationship with nature as he started to form some ideas about how things work. These were his early steps towards understanding how things worked. That process has gone on in history for long.

What we associate with scientific thinking' in contrast to idealistic, speculative and mythical thing (eventually becoming religious thinking) belongs to the period after the Renaissance period. But to a historian of ideas and science any such periodization is only for our convenience, not for its historical accuracy.

Jeremy Corbyn visits the Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan

 Nasir Khan, June 23, 2018

 Mr Jeremy Corbyn! Like many other anti-Zionist and anti-Fascist people, I am deeply elated that you visited the Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan. 

All right-wing parties and reactionary forces are allied with Israel, and very few leaders of the political parties in Europe dare to speak for or side with the victims of Israel. But in this struggle, you have spoken and stood with them, even though the Zionists have done everything to malign you. But their false charges and obnoxious lies have failed to deter you from your principled stand for a people under the occupation of a brutal colonial power. 

The Zionist leaders of Israel may even use their alliance with the King of Jordan to attack you if they choose to do so, or give a signal to the Israeli lobby in Britain to spread their misleading propaganda to discredit you. I am sure you know how Zionists operate in most countries of Europe, in the United States and Canada.

 ----------
 Jeremy Corbyn wrote on June 23, 2018

Today in Jordan, I visited one of the largest Palestinian refugee camps.
I talked to children and heard what they want to do with their education and with their lives.

The United Nations body that supports Palestinian refugees, UNWRA, is in the most serious financial crisis in its history after President Donald Trump’s decision to withhold millions of dollars of funding this year.
It is shameful that the UK Government has not already stepped up and pledged more funding to UNWRA.
Instead of reducing funds to life-saving refugee agencies, the UK must increase its funding, as the Labour Party pledges to do.