‘It’s a privilege to say I am Palestinian’: a conversation with Nancy Mansour

Nancy Mansour on the horror unfolding in Palestine and the need for international solidarity: “I ask every human being on this earth to think about Palestinians, their continued struggle for freedom and to do whatever in their power to support them.”

The Language of Grief in Minor Detail

Adania Shibli’s spare and haunting novel charts the shift in consciousness between the Nakba era and contemporary times, but also the trajectory that remains constant: racist violence.

Crisis at the Whitney: ‘no safe space for profiteers of state violence’

New York City’s Whitney Museum of American Art is one of the most celebrated art institutions in the world. Its legendary Biennial exhibit opens on Friday. But the Whitney has a problem. Not just a problem, a crisis, and it’s coming to a head tomorrow, May 17.

47Soul in DC: Shamstep is on the move

On a wintery Friday night in Washington DC the Palestinian electronic debke band 47Soul played a sold-out club show at the Tropicalia. Kim Jensen interviewed the band about their music that fuses elements of electronic dance, trance, reggae, and rock with Palestinian percussion and the mijwiz—a traditional Arab reed instrument—driving the vibe. February 14, 2019.

Existence is Resistance celebrates 10-year anniversary in New York

Marc Lamont Hill delivered an inspiring keynote address to a standing-room only celebration of radical organizing for Palestine as the organization Existence is Resistance celebrated its 10-year anniversary in New York City, January 31, 2019.

 

‘I don’t think we can convert people with talk’– says Larry Commodore, First Nations passenger on Gaza boat
Larry Commodore, a First Nations activist aboard the al-Awda boat to Gaza, speaks to Kim Jensen about the sing-a-longs on the Freedom Flotilla, his treatment once detained in Israel, and how he got into activism to support Palestinians, August 13, 2018.
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The story of Dareen Tatour is the story of Falasteen
Kim Jensen writes, “Everything about the trial of Dareen Tatour was like fiction. Everything required the willing suspension of disbelief. From the opening pages, it was impossible to digest the premise that an unknown young poet from a small town in the Galilee would be hauled off by Israeli police and border guards for a smattering of posts on the internet. To get the truth, sometimes you have to quit and start from scratch. August 9, 2018.
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‘Hallucination of a poet convicted of terrorism’ — an interview with Dareen Tatour
On July 31, Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour faces sentencing for alleged incitement due to her Facebook posts and expects to be imprisoned. In an interview with Kim Jensen, Tatour reflects on her commitment to one country with equal rights for all and to solidarity among women, and reveals that her rape is the subject of a forthcoming novel. July 24, 2018.
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Open Letter to Ben Jealous: Please take a progressive stand on Palestine
Ben Jealous, the former President and CEO of the NAACP, is running for governor of Maryland. Kim Jensen and Laila El-Haddad are encouraged by his stances on public education, worker’s rights, and single-payer healthcare but say his position on BDS reveals a troubling inconsistency in his platform as a progressive. January 22, 2018.
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Ben Cardin, free speech, and the art of the dodge
Kim Jensen reports on a town hall meeting with Maryland Senator Ben Cardin that was taken over by protesters opposed to his support for the Israel Anti-Boycott Act — under which businesses, organizations, and even individuals who join in the international movement to boycott and divest from the state of Israel can potentially face astronomical fines and even jail time. September 8, 2017.
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On boycotts, Palestine, and resistance: a review of ‘Assuming Boycott’
Kim Jensen writes: Why do critics of cultural boycotts insist on framing them as a form of censorship, rather than as an invitation to imagine and enact more principled forms of engagement? Are cultural and academic boycotts an effective strategy when some artists and allies may be marginalized in the process? August 23, 2017.
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The Battle for Palestine on US Campuses: a review of We Will Not Be Silenced: The Academic Repression of Israel’s Critics
Kim Jensen reviews “We Will Not Be Silenced: The Academic Repression of Israel’s Critics,” Edited by William I. Robinson and Maryam S. Griffin, a collection of essays about censorship and the pro-Israel lobby sweeping across U.S. campuses. July 6, 2017.
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How grassroots activists defeated anti-BDS legislation in Maryland
Monday, April 10, 2017, marked a significant victory for social justice activism in the state of Maryland. After a vigorous and well-organized campaign, legislation targeting the BDS movement was roundly defeated for the third time in four years. Kim Jensen talks to the activists who went up against powerful outspoken anti-BDS advocates like Dennis Ross, Governor Larry Hogan, and Senator Ben Cardin and won. April 24, 2017.
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‘With furious cruelty’–Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour still facing prosecution in Israel
The trial of Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour who faces up to eight years in prison for a poem she wrote continues with expert witnesses testifying about the meanings of her words when translated from Arabic to Hebrew. April 13, 2017.
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The trial continues: Dareen Tatour and the crime of posting while Arab
Dareen Tatour, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, faces the possibility of eight years in prison for “incitement” and support to a terror organization–for a Youtube poetry video and two Facebook posts. February 28, 2017.
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The Trials of Dareen Tatour: A year of detention and no end in sight
It was exactly one year ago that Dareen Tatour’s ordeal began. In the pre-dawn hours of October 11, 2015, Israeli police and border guards stormed into Palestinian poet’s family home without a warrant or an explanation for the shocking and disturbing intrusion. They arrested, interrogated, and eventually charged Dareen Tatour with the crime of ‘incitement to violence’ for posts she made on Facebook. A year later, there is no end in sight. October 11, 2016.
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Green Party vice presidential candidate Ajamu Baraka on Palestine and Syria
Kim Jensen interviews Green Party vice presidential candidate Ajamu Baraka about Israel/Palestine, and the broader Arab world. October 3, 2016.
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The trials of Dareen Tatour: racism, negligence, and the G4S connection
In the late afternoon of July 26, 2016, Dareen Tatour briefly found herself a free woman. For a fleeting, puzzling hour and a half, the young Palestinian poet who is being aggressively prosecuted by the State of Israel for “incitement to violence” found herself standing alone by the side of the road outside Damon prison when she should have been getting transported home to continue her court mandated house arrest. August 2, 2016.
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Poet on Trial: A visit to an Israeli court
Kim Jensen reports from Nazareth at the third hearing in the Israeli government’s case against Dareen Tatour, the 33-year old Palestinian poet who is being prosecuted for “incitement to violence” on the basis of a YouTube clip and two alleged Facebook status updates. Jensen writes, “The wheels of justice grind slowly in the State of Israel, at least for Palestinian activists who endure de facto and de jure inequality under the law.” July 20, 2016.
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‘I Am a Human Being’: A visit with Dareen Tatour
At about 3:00 am on October 11, 2015, Israeli police and border guards kicked open the door of the Tatour family home and hauled Dareen Tatour off in her pajamas. The police had no warrant and offered no explanation for the shocking pre-dawn raid. It was only after twenty days of imprisonment and four interrogations that Tatour and her family finally learned the exact nature of the charges. She was being held for “incitement” because of two Facebook posts and a poetry video clip that she posted on YouTube. Nine months later, an Israeli court issued Tatour a 48-hour pass to visit her family in Reineh, a small Palestinian town outside of Nazareth, where Kim Jensen talked to Tatour about her case, her work, and her aspirations as an artist. July 13, 2016.
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The Trial of Dareen Tatour and the Madness of Being Israel
Israeli prosecutor falsely accuses Palestinian poet of encouraging violence.
April 18, 2018.