Lines from the original composition of “A letter to an Israeli soldier,” written by Muin Bseiso and Mahmoud Darwish as they sheltered during the Israeli siege of Beirut in 1982. Courtesy of the family of Muin Bseiso.
Moments of decolonization, in relation to the recalcitrant Palestinian case, have been occasions for jubilation. We may recall the scenes from southern Lebanon in May 2000, when the Israeli military finally withdrew from the region. Israel had been in Lebanon, with the help of its right-wing Lebanese adjuncts, since 1982, when it invaded to evict the Palestine Liberation Organization from their Beirut headquarters. That summer, the Israeli military laid siege to Beirut for more than two months, bombing the densely populated city and killing thousands. While many Lebanese died, Palestinians were the principal targets of the Israeli campaign.
Among those huddled beneath the bombs were Muin Bseiso and Mahmoud Darwish, two of Palestine’s most prominent poets. They would both later produce book-length accounts of the siege, but over the course of one evening that summer, they wrote a poem as one.
A letter to an Israeli soldier, is what they named their poem. In one stanza, the two poets address the “inhabitant of the tank.”
We write to you Before a shell ignites us or ignites you Here is a message of the last besieged to the last besieged We write from a fragment you sent … to carry you From the darkness of the “ghetto” to our bodies … We write to you
Bseiso and Darwish ask:
Can one piss in a tank? Can he read in the tank? Can a person fly pigeons in a tank? Can one fuck in a tank? Or plant trees in the tank? … How long have you been in the claws of the tank? How long have you been safe?
The poem enacts an incredible reversal: the poets, themselves confined to an apartment at the mercy of missiles and mortars, taunt the soldier besieging them. The Israeli soldier is confined by the steel that is meant to protect him. They write in their letter, “You are in a dungeon, behind bars.” Many of the poem’s stanza’s end simply with the refrain Hal anta fi aman?—meaning, Are you safe?
Meanwhile, the poets have their own refrain: our siege is long.
Our siege is long We shall bake the stone We shall knead the moon We shall finish our journey Upon this beautiful day Our siege is long
From "Our Siege is Long," article by Esmat Elhalaby (published 27 October 2023)
SISYPHUS GETS A 9 TO 5
[spoilers for all of severance season 1. words by northernlion, brain worms by me]
Hi it’s time for my twice yearly “I have feelings about Ghost Trick” post
It’s a MOSSbuik :D
@glassshard
Face to face with a 90 year old turtle
🎥: Nicholas Breaux
What caste were the Kings of Alderode?
There were a few dynasties before the last was ultimately overthrown. The founding family were the Rortides, and they were Copper. The Rortides were supplanted by the Wauns who were knocked out by the short-lived Caziers. The Jet Allards managed two kings before the Wauns came back and had every one in the family scalped. They were in power when the Council War broke out.
Hi Ashley - I asked a question about Uaid about a month ago and wanted to thank you for responding so quickly. It didn't help, but left me more amazed at how well you kept him drawn so (mostly) consistently all these years. In any case, I posted my newest creation in the discord and several people said I should send this to you. I've loved the comic for years and have been wanting to make a creation based on Uaid and other characters for a long while now. It's taken me just over a year, but I finally finished. So here it is: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pepa_quin/albums/72177720309065124 Thank you so much for the great comic, I'm looking forward to everything else you have to show us.
I'm absolutely flipping out right now, this is ASTONISHING! Everyone go look!
The colours, Uaid's perfect round face, the astonishing detail of it. Uaid's interior is so good and on-model! Pink toe nails! I see Matty, Jivi, Cutter (lol), even pukey Starfish in his early story attire. Even the slave cart is full of slaves! Then as if that's not enough, look at the Wand'ring Root in the back! Duane putting the smack down on it and Sette wigging out!
This is just one of the coolest things I've ever seen. I'm honoured you took the time. Thank you for sharing it with all of us! <3
hey netizens! i'm not sure how many people are aware, but youtube's been slowly rolling out a new anti-adblock policy that can't be bypassed with the usual software like uBlock Origin and Pi-Hole out of the gate
BUT, if you're a uBlock Origin user (or use an adblocker with a similar cosmetics modifier), you can add these commands in the uBlock dashboard (under My Filters) to get rid of it!
youtube.com##+js(set, yt.config_.openPopupConfig.supportedPopups.adBlockMessageViewModel, false) youtube.com##+js(set, Object.prototype.adBlocksFound, 0) youtube.com##+js(set, ytplayer.config.args.raw_player_response.adPlacements, []) youtube.com##+js(set, Object.prototype.hasAllowedInstreamAd, true)
reblog to help keep the internet less annoying and to tell corporations that try shit like this to go fuck themselves <3
Hello! This is a tumblr blog. I do stuff. Actually I don't really do stuff, I just reblog things. Yup. That's about it. Banner art is by @painter-marx, icon is by @rifuye
157 posts