Call for a "Poem in Kreol for Palestine" for a Reading In Grand River, Port Louis

04.07.2024

LALIT ena plezir pibliye invitasyon  ki Ledikasyon Pu Travayer  finn lanse a tu dimunn ki interese pu partisip dan linisyativ ‘Poem an Kreol pu Palestinn’. Dimunn invite pu partisip dan ekrir ubyin tradir enn Poem osi byin ki pu partisip dan enn sware Riyding apre.

 Ena tu detay konsernan sa linisyativ pu sutenir Lepep Palestinn dan let ki swiv.

Dear writer,

Call for a "Poem in Kreol for Palestine" for a Reading In Grand River, Port Louis: Deadline 31 July 2024

Ledikasyon pu Travayer, newly a member of SOMALP*, is today, by this letter to you, launching a "call for a poem for Palestine". We call for a poem, preferably in Kreol, as our mother tongue. A short poem -- the sort-of length of a Haiku -- or, at most, of a sonnet. A few lines to half a page. Any format. So, can you work on a poem to add to beautiful bouquet-of-cameos? As an act of solidarity? 

This call is in preparation for a "Poetry Reading" to be held in August at Grand River North West, Port Louis, in the ground floor of the "recovered" LPT building, flooded twice earlier this year, destroying our book shop and much else. We will meet in that place, reminding us of the destruction that surrounds the people of Gaza. The Palestinians suffer not from destruction by the forces of nature or man-made climate change, but from direct, intentionally inflicted ruination: a genocide.  

LPT, many of you will remember, held a similar Reading, a moving event, in January 2016 in support of the Palestinian poet, Ashraf Fayadh. Living as a refugee in Saudi Arabia, he was then under imminent threat of execution by the death penalty.  We, in a world-wide series of actions, helped save his life. Every grain of rice is weight in the scales of sudden change. His death sentence was quashed soon after. He was administered lashes instead. And he was released .... after six years. Victories take a toll, and they take time, and they take human will, volonte. And we do get them. And they are sweet. Remember always, that in all our defeats, there are the seeds of future victory, even if in all our victories, there are traces that remain of some element of defeat. Ashraf Fayadh was saved and is now free, though he suffered lashes and lost six years of freedom. But, the fact that he is free as a result of our collective action, gives us vision and strength to go on towards greater victories in the future.  

Now, we need to help save the whole of Palestine -- alongside people, especially young people, all over the world. Saving Palestine means saving Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and all the refugees who yearn to return and contribute to rebuilding a new society, where everyone lives as an equal. 

We are up against powerful forces. In constant cahoots and hell-bent on it, the USA and Israel are committing genocide against the Palestinians. Before our eyes. 

They do it, yes, before our very eyes. 

We must help stop this. We must save the lives of those next in line for the USA-Israel's planned slaughter -- they plan and execute massacres by means of bombs, tank shells, snipers' bullets, corralling Palestinians around Gaza as if they were animals, the intentional imposition of starvation, destruction of hospitals, torture during capture and imprisonment, imposed water shortages on every family and contaminated water supplies, all this leading towards lethal epidemics. We must save the children, the aged, the ill and infirm, the mothers and fathers, grannies and granddads. They, like Ashraf Fayadh when he was awaiting execution, are not in a position to save themselves. Palestine needs us. We, as Mauritians and as writers, understand the continued colonization by the USA-UK-Israel because we, here, suffer a similar military occupation: the UK-USA continue to colonize and occupy part of Mauritius, the Chagos, including Diego Garcia, after having cruelly expelled the totality of the Mauritians living there, the Chagossians, just as the same UK-USA alliance together with Israel, is forcefully expelling the totality of Palestinians from their land. Colonization dies hard. Military occupation, and a plague of US military bases, continues where colonization suffered defeat. It continues as long as we let it.

Right now, the Palestinians need us. 

Even a poem may help. 

Here are the guidelines for your poem:

Ena 4 diferan posibilite (tu poem bizin kurt - maximem lamwatye paz):

1. “Enn poem pu Palestinn” (avek tradiksyon, an Arabik ubyin Angle, pu Palestinyin kapav lir).

2. “Enn Poem kont zenosid/kont lager” (tradiksyon opsyonel).

3. “Enn Poem Palestinyin tradir an Kreol” pu ki dimunn Moris tann lavwa depi Palestinn an Kreol. (Ena buku poem onnlayn an Angle ki kapav servi si rode. Nu kapav gid u si u dimande.) 

4. Propoz enn poem ki deza existe, e.g. enn par fe Bam Cuttayen (Lide Kavinien), vinn lir li.

Ena ziska 31 Ziyet pu avoy poem la lptmail@intnet.mu

Nu pu reponn u deswit. Si u pa gayn enn repons depi nu, pu dir nu finn resevwar, dan lespas 2-3 zur, fer nu kone par enn korl lor 5 781 6256.

Lerla, nu pu fer kone ki dat pu ena enn "Sware Riyding" ki pu apel kiksoz kuma "Poem pu Palestinn." 

U poem, kan u ekrir, kan u lir dan riyding, li reprezant enn lexpresyon solidarite avek lepep Palestinyin. Invit lezot dimunn partisipe avek enn poem, zot osi.

Then, once you have submitted your poem, you will come and read it, or organize for a friend, colleague or family member, to come and read it, if you are not able to be present. The totality will be a moving act of solidarity. And it will be an anthology that we can put on line. 

Remember that it was collective action that brought an end to Apartheid in South Africa. Together we can end the apartheid imposed by the Israeli regime, too. It is urgent.

Please feel free to contact us any time at LPT (5 781 6256) for guidance or details or ideas. Meanwhile, greetings from all at LPT,

Lindsey Collen

for Ledikasyon pu Travayer

* Solidarite Morisyin avek Lepep Palestinn