For almost a 12 months, Palestinians dwelling in Gaza have confronted an limitless torrent of demise and destruction. For the reason that October 7 assault by Hamas, greater than 40,000 individuals (a minimum of 16,456 of them youngsters) have been killed in Israel’s assault on the Gaza strip. In all, The Lancet medical journal estimates the demise toll will attain greater than 186,000. Concurrently, a minimum of 115 Palestinian youngsters have been killed within the West Financial institution, triple the quantity within the earlier 12 months, in an space that’s ostensibly not a conflict zone.
Throughout that 12 months, a lot of the world has considered Palestinians solely by the lens of struggling—war-ravaged, oppressed, displaced. But lowering their existence to grief alone erases the spectrum of feelings animating them. Even amidst genocide, pleasure could be greater than a rejection of oppression; it may be a defiant assertion of humanity, a reminder that life can flourish even within the bleakest occasions.
It may also be a radical rebel, a transgressive declare to happiness within the face of fixed erasure. And so can neighborhood. That perception was the catalyst for this weekend’s Palestine Will Dwell Ceaselessly profit live performance, the brainchild of Gabriel Teodros and Maher Joudi.
Going down this Saturday, September 21, on the Seward Park Amphitheater, the profit will function performers together with Calina Lawrence, Essam, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, the Native Weapons, Nikkita Oliver, Macklemore, and Ijeoma Oluo. All proceeds shall be evenly cut up and donated to Palestinian support organizations, together with Pious Initiatives, HEAL Palestine, UNRWA, and Palestine Kids’s Reduction Fund.
Permit me to deal with these I’ve already seen and heard dismissing this pageant on-line as one thing it isn’t.
I perceive the emotionally pitched emotions as we close to the one-year anniversary of October 7. I ask readers skeptical of this pageant to grapple with this: What does it imply to excuse the disproportionate struggling and mutilation of a whole bunch of hundreds of people that had nothing in any way to do with the phobia assaults that day? It means a radical abandonment of an empathy that’s not zero-sum however reciprocal. With out that class of empathy, what could be our future aside from indefinite demise and destruction?
What I consider this live performance to be is pro-life within the truest sense of the phrase and a reminder of humanity in tragically inhumane occasions. Compassion for the Palestinian individuals—a individuals who Israel shouldn’t be at conflict with, in keeping with its emissary to the United Nations—doesn’t require a renunciation of the ache of the households who misplaced family members in Hamas’ assault or a perception in something past the demise and desecration of Palestine ceases.
For Teodros and Joudi, the hiphop showcase stands as way more than music; it’s a lifeline. For Teodros—a former KEXP radio host, musician, and author—artwork has at all times been a device to ignite change, mixing hiphop with a deep connection to world struggles. Maher, a Palestinian-American organizer, father, and neighborhood chief, has introduced this live performance to life not simply to boost funds for Gaza, however to remind the world that Palestinians haven’t forgotten their declare to all that life bestows: Jubilee and affirmation.
Together with almost a dozen different organizers, they’ve created a music pageant that amplifies defiance and hope, asserting that even within the face of unimaginable loss, Palestinian artwork, expression, and music stays a type of resistance. In a world decided to erase Gaza, and censor advocacy for it, they ask: What does pleasure seem like when survival itself is rebel? What does it imply to insist on the proper not simply to reside, however to thrive? I spoke with each to get that reply.
This interview has been edited for size and readability.
Each of you’ve gotten lengthy been outspoken about Palenstinain rights and self-determination even earlier than the genocide now happening in Gaza and the continuing atrocities within the West Financial institution. Why did you’re feeling that the car of a hiphop pageant in Seattle’s South Finish was an efficient technique to harness the feelings of this second that has seen a lot demise, displacement, and destruction?
Joudi: It’s humorous that you simply ask that query as a result of I truly posted a video about doing a music pageant within the midst of this that was posted on Instagram. It’s troublesome… The dichotomy of dwelling as a Palestinian America in America is tough. You are simply attempting to reside life.
I’ve two youngsters. I’ve a household. I’ve a job. I am personally blessed. However that is on the forefront of your thoughts on daily basis you get up. You’re occupied with Palestine always. You may be doom scrolling all day, you are speaking to individuals about it. It leaks into each dialog that you’ve got, and it actually begins to dictate the way you have a look at the world. So, the choice to even proceed with this did not come simple.
I’ve been a hiphop head my entire life. That’s the music that I’ve run to in occasions of pleasure and occasions of trauma. Hiphop is the primary place that I ran to to search out music that spoke about Palestine. It launched me to so many artists that I by no means even knew existed.The language of resistance discovered inside hiphop, significantly Palestinian hiphop, pulled me by some actually darkish shit.
The best way that these younger Palestinian artists had been capable of mesh trauma with resistance, I used to be identical to, we gotta attempt to determine the best way to get these guys out right here. Like, if I really feel this fashion, I do know all people else does.
What artists are you most enthusiastic about performing?
Teodros: The primary one which involves thoughts is Suheir Hammad. Having her share her poetry on the pageant is such an enormous deal, particularly presently. She would not carry out a lot in any respect, so it’s uncommon to even see her on stage. She was my introduction to all issues Palestine as a result of I learn her e-book Born Palestinian, Born Black someday within the late ’90s. And I might say this as an Ethiopian American hiphop artist, Suheir is the primary individual of any background that I felt gave me permission to face in all of my fact, share each a part of my story, and see that none of it contradicts. That’s what I felt after I noticed her inform her personal story.
Joudi: The primary time I heard her was on Def Poetry Jam in 2001. She carried out a poem that spoke to being Palestinian after 9/11. I used to be a 20-year-old Palestinian child in America and the towers had simply fallen. That was a heavy load. I bear in mind listening to that poem most likely every day for six months, and it introduced me to tears each single day. Suheir is unquestionably past this world for us as a neighborhood. However I additionally need to spotlight some others we’ve met on this journey we’ve been on the final two months, together with a brother by the title of Abe Batshon, out of Texas. After 5 minutes of speaking to this man, he put a battery in us to only go. He was like, “I do not suppose you guys perceive, how necessary that is.” That was the sentiment of so many individuals we talked to once we introduced up the thought of doing this.
Why did you’re feeling this live performance was so wanted domestically?
Joudi: We reside as Palestinians on daily basis. And on a regular basis, I really feel so grateful to be Palestinian, no matter what we have already gone by, and what we’re going by. The all-encompassing factor with this pageant is it shortly morphed into being not simply music (sure, they’re all musical artists) however we had been just lately on a three-hour Zoom name speaking about our messaging. It’s not a celebration. It’s part of our resistance. These artists had been very a lot hand picked due to what their message to the world is and what that message means on this present dynamic that we Palestinians discover our lives in.
So in some methods the live performance can be cathartic?
Joudi: It’s undoubtedly cathartic. No less than it’s cathartic for me. When the genocide in Gaza began in October, I used to be left greedy for straws and attempting to determine how do I make a distinction? I ended up connecting with a number of different Palestinians attempting to fulfill with congressionals to have our voice heard, and we began doing political advocacy work. We met with [Seattle] Mayor Bruce Harrell in November. We began assembly with [Washington Senators] Maria Cantwell’s and Parry Murray’s workplaces.
However the political stuff could be so depleting. There isn’t any vitality given again. So, once we began doing this, it felt like an vitality enhance as a result of as a lot work that’s gone into it, it actually fills my cup in a world the place my cup has been leaking since 2000.
Teodros: We’ve been getting messages from individuals throughout the map. It’s undoubtedly beginning to really feel like a vacation spot sort of pageant. One of many issues that Abe stated to us that basically stood out to me was that it is the first time he’s seen this many Palestinian hiphop artists from totally different generations share a stage. We now have people who’re our age, together with artists like Sammy Shiblaq, who’s in his twenties. You bought to look out for him as a result of his supply, his cadence, his entire vibe is totally different from anyone else on the invoice. He’s from Detroit and undoubtedly has his personal model.
We’re highlighting the Palestinian artists as a result of we must always. However there’s additionally a variety of artists, like myself, who aren’t Palestinian however who’ve simply been very outspoken in solidarity for years and years. We now have Native Weapons (Bambu, Kiwi, and DJ Phatrick), Rell Be Free, and Macklemore, who’ve all been constant on Palestine.
Hiphop celebrated its fiftieth anniversary final 12 months. One of many themes of the celebration was how, at its finest, hiphop is an artwork type of resistance. What are your ideas on that in relation to this live performance?
Teodros: There’s a movie that got here out in 2008 referred to as Slingshot Hip Hop, and it is all about hiphop in Palestine. That movie is certainly one of my favourite documentaries concerning the hiphop interval as a result of it showcases the way in which that the spirit of this factor that we grew to name hiphop has translated into totally different locations as a music of wrestle, a music of resistance, a music that fights for liberation.
On this documentary there’s this group referred to as DAM who’re referred to as Palestine’s first hiphop crew. They’re discussing watching Tupac’s video for his track “Holler If Ya Hear Me.” He’s rapping in a spot that appears like a spot the place the group was. Simply that imagery of hiphop supplies permission for the group to inform their very own tales. Seeing that movie was simply so deep to me.
Certainly one of my favourite recollections of hiphop tradition is that I bought to attach in an actual technique to different hiphop artists from Palestine and study their actual tales from them in individual. They’re not being interviewed on CNN. Probably the most highly effective expression of hiphop that I’ve seen in my life is hiphop from Palestine. I imply to be from a spot the place you’re dwelling beneath apartheid and also you’re dealing with tanks and you have got nothing however rocks, and also you’re rapping to inform your story. That is what’s necessary about this tradition to me. It’s a motion for freedom. Our motion for freedom as individuals of colour in America is intrinsically tied up with the wrestle for Palestinian Liberation.
Joudi: There’s a motive rising up that I felt a connection to NWA and Public Enemy, however I did not really feel a connection to the Purple Scorching Chili Peppers or Nirvana, regardless that I lived in Seattle. Hiphop talks about wrestle and trauma within the bloodline that’s generational. These are conversations that resonate with the Palestinian diaspora. The primary visuals that I noticed when Ferguson, Missouri popped off after the demise of Michael Brown was of youngsters within the Gaza Strip holding up indicators that stated I stand with Ferguson. They associated their wrestle to what was occurring there. All of our liberation struggles are related. If you happen to solely attempt to remedy one, you will by no means remedy any of them, proper? Hiphop helped me bridge that hole earlier than anything.
So how necessary do you suppose the imagery of this pageant is with the entire dangerous religion arguments and flat out misrepresentation discovered in lots of mainstream media sources across the motion for Palestinian liberation?
Joudi: The best type of rebel is neighborhood. Individuals who need to have interaction in dangerous religion can say what they need to say. Fortunately, I’m round individuals whose opinions I worth, who assist us, and so all the remainder of it simply fades away. No wrestle was ever gained with anyone rocking with the mainstream anyway. I imply, it would not be a wrestle if it was.
There are undoubtedly days the place that stuff might get to you, and also you get pissed off, for positive. The gaslighting is de facto loopy. However the motive why this time feels totally different is as a result of we beforehand lived in a world the place we needed to simply hearken to no matter mainstream information instructed you. There was no different useful resource. What made this so loopy is we bought cellphone movies from day one exhibiting us what was truly occurring. So you set that facet by facet with what CNN is exhibiting you, and also you name bullshit immediately. You realize what I am saying? Like now we have actual information, not CNN, not Fox. Now we bought actual information.
Teodros: On prime of that, hiphop is storytelling. We’re centering Palestinian tales on the finish of the day within the service of Gaza. And I really feel like that’s what legacy media misses. They by no means put a microphone in entrance of Palestinian individuals’s faces, ever. They by no means middle the voices of the individuals dwelling by this shit. What introduced me to hiphop, was that I by no means noticed my story mirrored within the media interval. So what do you do? You inform your personal story. You begin writing raps. You do graffiti. You do all these accessible types of artwork that come from Black innovation right here in America. I really feel like hiphop was social media earlier than social media.
I need to be clear that that is under no circumstances to attenuate both the rise in antisemitism or anti-Palestinian bigotry which have each elevated because the October 7 assaults. However I need to ask about a number of native social media personalities on the proper who’ve tried to color the pageant as anti-semetic for happening within the Seward Park neighborhood, which has a big Jewish neighborhood. Do you need to handle that in any respect?
Teodros: It’s typical. The dialog round this pageant began in a espresso store within the South Finish. I am born and raised within the South Finish. Seward Park is a spot that all of us went to rising up, for every little thing from Pista to Hispanic Seafair. So internet hosting it in Seward Park simply made sense. The Amphitheater is a venue that is accessible, the place we knew we might deliver a reasonably large crowd, and we wished to do that outside. It’s a neighborhood that homes Jewish and Muslim communities amongst so many others. Sure, this can be a Palestinian challenge however that is additionally a human rights challenge that touches all our communities. Anybody who doubts that ought to come out on September 21 and see for your self. Among the loudest voices now we have in assist of the pageant are Jewish.
So what’s your imaginative and prescient for this pageant after this 12 months?
Teodros: Every time I take into consideration an occasion of this scale, I like to consider the relationships and bonds which can be constructed by bringing individuals collectively and by time seeing what that grows into. We’re bringing lots of people collectively which have by no means shared a stage and even met one another. However that is one of many predominant superpowers that now we have as artists and organizers, bringing individuals collectively over a shared expertise, a shared mission, a shared imaginative and prescient. And when you deliver these individuals collectively and so they join over one thing that is actual, it is like seeing what they do with that’s simply, is de facto thrilling.
Joudi: I am excited for what the longer term is for all the explanations that Gabriel shared. I additionally suppose that there is going to be momentum that now we have to capitalize on afterwards, each neighborhood domestically and nationally. Lots of these artists are coming from a variety of totally different locations, and I believe have discovered avenues to precise themselves by music however possibly haven’t got the neighborhood round them to prepare past that time. I hope to offer an avenue for them to discover a neighborhood in us and in individuals which can be like minded and have come collectively for this pageant, to have the ability to transfer and proceed to push the message, to proceed to teach, to proceed to prepare, to proceed to withstand past simply the pageant. I believe if we do all of this and garner this a lot momentum after which simply let it fizzle out afterwards, then I do not suppose we have accomplished our job. I believe we have left rather a lot on the desk.
I simply hope all people that involves this pageant will get concerned, if they don’t seem to be already with the Palestinian trigger in any and each method they will. There’s a variety of artists I like that have not spoken up, and I do not know why however I actually hope this sort of pageant evokes extra artists to make use of their voice for justice. We do all of this in service of our individuals in Palestine, whether or not it’s marching, having conferences, or showcasing our artwork. All of that is in service to them and their resistance.
Palestine Will Dwell Ceaselessly: A Profit Competition for Palestine is Saturday, September 21, at Seward Park Amphitheater, 1-8 pm, $30, all ages.
