Grand Rapids celebrates Palestine's national poetry for Land Day
Grand Rapids, MI – On Wednesday, April 9, 20 people rallied outside Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids to commemorate Palestine’s Land Day. Held on March 30, Land Day is commemorated around world. It marks the 1976 killing of six Palestinians, with hundreds more injured by Israeli occupation forces for protesting the theft of land in the West Bank.
Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids, marked the event late due to inclement weather on the original day, and chose to celebrate the poetry and culture of Palestine.
Reading poems by writers like Mahmoud Darwish, Saed J. Abu-Hijleh, Refaat Alareer, and Maya Abu Hayyat, the speakers paid homage to Palestine’s rich national heritage.
During the rally, some passing drivers parked their cars in the road and joined the assembled protesters in chanting “From the river to the sea – Palestine will be free!”
Alongside the cultural aspect, the rally brought attention to Israel’s recent escalation of the genocide and the murder of nearly 1500 Palestinians since March 18.
Summing up the lasting resiliency of the Palestinian struggle for liberation, one of the poems read aloud – Passport by Mahmoud Darwish – reads near the end:
“Ask not the name of any tree.
Ask not the valley about its mother
From my brow bursts the sword of light
And from my hand springs the river's water...
The people's hearts are my identity.
Go, take my passport away from me.”