We gathered on May 15th at The People’s Forum, New York for a night of readings to commemorate 76 years of the Nakba, amplify the Palestinian liberation struggle, and demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
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Participants included Ibtisam Azem, Najla Said, Huda Fakhredinne, Maaza Mengiste, Ahmad Almallah, Mona Eltahawy, Emna Zghal, Nadia Saah, Suha Araj, Christopher Stone, Hafsa Kanjwal, Siddhartha Deb, Anna Arabindan Kesson, Mukoma wa Ngugi, Zohra Saed, Sean Jacobs, Christina Dhanuja, Anthony Alessandrini, Jee Leong Koh, Suneela Mubayi, Valérie Gruhn, Manan Ahmed and Omar Berrada.
Nakba Day marks the devastation of the Palestinian homeland in 1948 through ethnic cleansing and expulsion of a majority of Palestinian people. The Nakba, or the Catastrophe, is commemorated on May 15th of each year through demonstrations, strikes, protests and by memorializing the names of villages that were uprooted or destroyed. Nakba Day is about resisting expulsion and erasure.
Since October 7, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis, with 72% being women (over 9,100) and children (over 14,000). The indiscriminate nature of Israeli occupation attacks has led to widespread civilian casualties. Over 77,300 Palestinians have been injured, and with medical infrastructure destroyed, Gazans suffer from a severe lack of access to adequate medical care, which exacerbates their suffering. In the West Bank, settlers continue to violently drive Palestinians out of their homes. Universities, schools, historical sites and archives have been violently erased. Recently discovered mass graves in Gaza show victims’ hands were tied. 85% of Gaza’s population, around 1.93 million individuals, have been forcibly displaced from their homes.
Today, as we are witnessing another Nakba, the world is also rising up on every continent. We invite you to join in this resistance.
Participants from all walks of life are invited to take the stage. Share your thoughts, and express your solidarity through poetry, essay, spoken word, song or a personal reflection. We will honor the memory of the Nakba and reaffirm our commitment to the Palestinian struggle for freedom.
This event is part of the Publishers for Palestine coalition’s Exist, Resist, Return: A Week of Action for Nakba Day. This is a call to withdraw labor except for Palestine, boycott the war machine, pledge support to local campus encampments, amplify Palestinian voices and foster a sense of community and solidarity.