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Yaffa AS (They/She)
A free Falasteen is not fiction. A free Falasteen is literally a moment away. So close we can almost taste it.
In Islam, there's a verse in the Quran that says the Divine is closer to a human being than our jugular vein. In the same way I believe that a free Falasteen is that close. It is a single blink away, potentially a single night's sleep. A single meeting, a single meal, a single hug, a single anything.
The thing is that we don’t know when it will be here - it might be here by the time I’m finished writing this or the end of the time of you reading this.
As I think about the concept of utopia, a concept that in many academic spaces is seen as something created by white cis straight males - the same white straight males were also the fathers of imperialism, settler colonization and colonization - it has allowed me over the years to recognize that the world we live in is somebody's utopia, rather than thinking utopia is a far off place. For utopia is always here. The question is whose utopia?
Within Inara, the voices of 14 queer and trans Palestinians come together to say our utopia: a queer and trans indigenous utopia.
This work is a celebration of queer and trans Palestinians in all of our possibilities, moving us away from settler colonialism, colonization, imperialism, capitalism, ableism, and all the systems of oppression that we are told are indefinite. We are told that to dream of them no longer here is untenable. Yet, it is those same systems that have built this utopia for rich white cis straight males.
Utopia is not a destination and the journey is not grasping with the impossible, for utopia is always here.
Believing utopia as something unattainable is something that only benefits systems of oppression. As queer and trans Palestinians we are impacted by the world in a multitude of different ways. We are at intersects of marginalization that most people can barely comprehend. Our intersections go beyond these three identities. The vast majority of the contributors in this anthology are also disabled, many have Refugee and Immigrant experiences and when they do not, they have various levels of systemic displacement that has impacted their families for generations. We have all been impacted by settler colonialism as has every single Palestinian.
The vast majority of writers in this collection are not individuals who would normally identify as writers. For almost every single person within this anthology it is the very first time that they have explored the concept of utopia. Utopic writing is not the same as dystopian writing, as it is different parts of our brains that are engaged when we think of utopia versus dystopia. For many of us, we have never had the opportunity to develop these skill sets to engage that part of our brain, the one that is thinking about the things that we are told are impossible, and makes them a reality. As we explore utopic work we engage more and more with utopia as a practice, as a daily way of breathing, inhaling the world that exists and exhaling it out to utopia. Little by little we are able to reroute the parts of our brain so that utopian thinking becomes the norm. Utopia then becomes a probability that is closer to us than our own jugular veins.
Working through this, with the incredible writers has been such a blessing, witnessing, bringing in various modalities together, bringing essays and short stories, poetry, visual images, digital art, photography, and so much more. Throughout the collection you will notice transliteration of Arabic words and other words entirely in Arabic. You will find translations to anything not easily found online in footnotes or glossaries for the different pieces. Each writer brought in their own style, their own dialect, their own being, and we want you to witness the rawness of that.
It has been such an honor working with each of the writers and artists. For me, the benefit of doing this is not having a book in the palms of my hands at the end of this process, the benefit is that the process of working together feels utopic along the way.
I would love to invite you to reflect and claim feelings of utopia as you witness and embrace this book. Allow yourself to feel utopia. Utopia is not witnessed if it is not felt. This is your invitation to feel utopia with us.
The word Inara in Arabic means the action of lighting a light, a light that lights other lights. It allows us to really reflect on this concept of utopia–thinking about utopia, building utopia, envisioning utopia. Feeling utopia within a community is the process of one person lighting another who lights another who lights another who lights another until we are all lit.
That light already exists within us. It is not creating something new, it is not creating light from nowhere. It is honoring that light is inherently ours. We are light. Systems of oppression will do everything they can to extinguish that light.
We are so much greater than anything they can ever be. For Humanity inherently is to be light. Humanity is to be loving and compassionate and supportive, to be intuitive, to be connected. And humanity has been here far longer than any system of oppression despite what messaging they want to send us.
Welcome to utopia!
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Photos by Maria Zreiq
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Photos by Maria Zreiq
