On December 6, Refaat Alareer, a poet and professor at the Islamic University of Gaza, was killed by an Israeli air strike. In the weeks following his death, his final poem, “If I must die,” was translated into more than forty languages in a global show of support for Alareer’s legacy and the people of Palestine.
At a time when politicians and media across the Western world are doing their utmost to disconnect us from the suffering we are witnessing in Gaza, the kind of intercultual connection embodied by translation has become a vital form of resistance. Compassionate translation rooted in global solidarity is now more than ever a necessary tool in the fight against colonialism—in Palestine and everywhere.
After the success of the first two “Writers for Palestine” fundraisers, the third event will spotlight literary translators sharing their work to raise funds for the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF). Inspired by the response to Alareer’s murder, the event also aims to demonstrate pro-Palestinian solidarity across languages, cultures, place, and time, and to provide an occasion to mourn the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.