Of Weapons and Words

Of Weapons and Words brings together political commentary and analysis that offers a thought-provoking vision of Palestine and the wider region and responds to the martyred Palestinian writer Basel Al-Araj’s call: “Keep Palestine firmly within your sight."

Read translated essays by Mousa Alsadah, Sari Orabi, and Nidal Khalaf, which were previously published on their Substack, along with new essays selected exclusively for this chapbook by Abdaljawad Omar, Amer Mohsen, Vivian Aqiqi, Abaher El-Sakka, Lena Meari, and Mudar Kassis. The translations are by Shadi Hamada, Mohammed Elabadsa, Alaa Salaymeh, and Rouqaya Alkhateeb.

All proceeds will go directly towards commissioning further work from translators living in and connected to Gaza, Palestine.

Printed by Rebel Press in Wellington, NZ. 82 pages, 12 x 19 cm

Al-Rifaq is a Pōneke, Aotearoa New Zealand-based affinity group that has formed in the context of the US-Israeli onslaught against the people of Gaza, Lebanon, and the wider Middle East. Their members are Arabic and non-Arabic speakers from the Middle East and elsewhere, and their common ground is unequivocal support for Palestinian and Third World liberation.

Al-Rifaq work focuses on translating and publishing Arabic political commentary, analysis, and revolutionary theory, aiming to bridge the gap between radical political discourses in the Arab world and the solidarity movements of the West, which must, we believe, come to understand Al-Qadhiyyah Al-Falastiniyah (القضية الفلسطينية)—the Palestinian question—on terms that are consistent with that of the Palestinian and Arab masses and their historic mission of liberation.

You can read more of their work here and follow them on instagram here