Debat, Institutionskritik, Offentligt rum, Ord, Performance, TekstilART WORKERS FOR PALESTINEMay 07, 2024Kulturarbejdere for et frit Palæstina, Palæstina, Palestine, Gaza, Christiansborg, København, EnglishComment

A PROTEST FOR PALESTINE: CHRISTIANSBORG II

On the 5th of May 2024 a happening took place in front of the Danish parliament Christiansborg. The happening is based on the poem If I Dust Die by the Palestinian writer Refaat Alareer. It is an artistic happening against Denmark's support of Israel's genocide on the civilian population in Gaza and censorship of art and cultural workers!

The kite carries quotes from the poem and thousands of bows are attached to the tail, which represents all the children in Gaza who have been killed since October, 2023. The kite is created by Danish visual artists and cultural workers. The event has the following statement, which will also be distributed in the form of flyers:

IF YOU MUST DIE
By Refaat Alareer,

If I must die
you must live
to tell my story
to sell my things
to buy a piece of cloth
and some strings,
(make it white with a long tail)
so that a child, somewhere in Gaza
while looking heaven in the eye
awaiting his dad who left in a blaze -
and bid no one farewell
not even his flesh
not even himself -
see the kite, my kite you made, flying up
above
and thinks for a moment an angel is there
bringing back love
If I must die
let it bring hope
let it be a tale

Art workers for Palestine. Christiansborg, 2024. Photo: JLScou.

Refaat Alareer was a university professor, writer, poet and mentor to young Palestinian writers and poets. He wrote the poem in 2011 and shared it with the world in November 2023, a few weeks before he was killed in an Israeli airstrike, along with his brother and sister and her 4 children. Refaat Alareers left behind a wife and 6 children.

On April 24 this year, another airstrike killed Refaat Alareer's daughter Shaima, her husband and their four-month-old son. We stand here today in memory of the 14,000+ children who have been killed in Gaza during Israel's siege. We stand here today in mourning with the parents and grandparents who have said goodbye to their children and grandchildren. Those grieving the loss of a sister or brother.

We stand here today, with the tens of thousands of orphans in our hearts, who are looking up into the sky for all that they have lost.

ART WORKERS FOR PALESTINE

Art workers for Palestine (Kulturarbejdere for Palæstina) is a danish initiative that supports a free Palestine and works against the current political censorship in the arts.