Tuesday, December 4, 2018

The Cause that Dare Not Speak its Name

Four heartfelt and highly apposite tweets from Palestinian-Australian journalist Jennine Khalik, posted in response to CNN's firing of commentator Professor Marc Lamont Hill for daring to call for a "free Palestine, from the river to the sea" at a UN gathering for the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (29 November):

"It is scary that to simply say that Palestinians are human and deserving of dignity, safety, security and justice is a fireable offence. Blacklisted even. Something must change. It terrifies me, as a Palestinian in the media industry, to simply own my identity, culture, history.

"I write this now with great hesitation. It might be okay to be like teehee hummus! Teehee I love the Old City of Jerusalem! Teehee I come from a family of refugees coz of a thing that happened! But to talk about it properly, to elaborate, makes me targetable. And I know this.

"It's been made clear to me many times, in many different ways, that to be Palestinian and to be a journalist is incongruent & incompatible. My, our narrative, is off-limits. I have had people try to disrupt my career many times. Many tears and anxiety-filled days later, I'm still here.

"But I'm a little tired, hey."

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