International
“Israel’s goal is to destroy memory,” says former Palestinian Minister of Culture
The writer and former Palestinian Minister of Culture Atef Abu Saif said that Israel’s goal is to destroy memory, eliminate Palestinian history and any evidence that unites the Palestinian people with their land.
“They are destroying museums, theaters, cultural centers… They try to eliminate our history,” said in an interview with EFE the author of ‘I want to be awake when I die: diary of the genocide in Gaza’ (2024), who traveled to Brazil to participate in a literary fair.
Cultural losses for Palestine due to Israeli attacks
The latest report of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported that, of the 120 sites it monitors through satellite images in Palestine, 69 were damaged since October 7, 2023, the day of the radical group Hamas attack on Israel that started the war.
Among them are religious sites, buildings of historical and/or artistic interest, deposits of cultural property, monuments and archaeological sites.
One of the key losses for the Palestinian people, says Saif, was the destruction of the Central Archive of Gaza City, which contained historical documents more than 150 years old, in December 2023.
The politician, who dedicated himself to writing stories from a very young age, pointed out that in Palestine “culture is not luxury and entertainment,” but “a tool of struggle and resistance,” and stressed that currently the residents of the Strip have their lives on pause.
“You live little by little, second by second. You’re fine now, but that doesn’t mean it will be like that in the next minute. It’s a constant fight against death,” he laments.
For Saif, this historical event will be remembered as “the first genocide of the 21st century” and the moment in which “the international community was silent.”
‘I want to be awake when I die’, his latest book
The author, a native of the Yabalia refugee camp, believes that it is a responsibility to talk about the suffering that the people of Palestine are going through.
“Of course I would like to talk about love, life, hopes and dreams. But I can’t avoid, for example, when I describe my characters, the fact that none of them can leave Gaza through the border posts. I would love not to talk about it, but what normal life can you have if no one is qualified to leave a place?” Saif wonders.
From that notion is born his latest book, ‘I want to be awake when I die: diary of the genocide in Gaza’, a story of his days in the Gaza Strip after October 7.
The book was translated into ten languages and its Portuguese version was recently presented at the Paraty International Literary Festival (Flip), the largest event of letters in Brazil.
Saif was in Gaza with his son for work when the Israeli offensive began and was trapped for three months with his relatives and more than 2 million inhabitants, so he saw no other way out than writing to tell stories.
“War is a machine that reduces us to just numbers. We are not numbers, we are stories, we are lives, we are part of a family. We are past, present and future,” said the author, who is displaced from his home.
“When people ask me where I live, I don’t know what to answer. Sometimes I say that I live in the world while I wait for the war to end so I can return to Gaza.”
International
María Corina Machado kidnapped and forced to record videos before being released, says opposition
The Venezuela Command, the campaign team of opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, denounced the “kidnapping” and subsequent release of political leader María Corina Machado after she led a protest in Caracas on the eve of the Venezuelan presidential inauguration.
In a post on X, the opposition team stated that the former lawmaker was “intercepted and knocked off the motorcycle she was traveling on” after leading a rally in the Chacao area of the Venezuelan capital.
“Gunshots were fired during the incident. She was forcibly detained. During her kidnapping, she was forced to record several videos, and then she was released,” the statement added, which was made public nearly two hours after Machado’s party, Vente Venezuela, reported that she had been “violently intercepted.”
International
Governor Jenniffer González expresses solidarity with Venezuela’s struggling opposition
Puerto Rico’s Governor Jenniffer González expressed her sorrow over Venezuela’s political crisis on Thursday and voiced her support for Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, just one day before President Nicolás Maduro is set to take office following the controversial July elections.
“I think it is sad that the Venezuelan people have to suffer the consequences of a dictator who came to power by deceiving the people. I recognize Edmundo González for his leadership,” the governor stated during a press conference, coinciding with a day of protests by Venezuela’s opposition.
“The Venezuelan community has my full support, and, as we have done in the past, we will maintain that line of communication with whatever we can collaborate on,” assured the Puerto Rican head of government.
González Urrutia is currently in the Dominican Republic, the last announced stop on his American tour, where he was accompanied by Dominican President Luis Abinader and former Latin American presidents from the Spain and Americas Democratic Initiative (Grupo Idea).
International
Hundreds of venezuelan protesters demand ‘democratic change’ in Rome
Dozens of Venezuelans demonstrated in central Rome on Thursday to show their support for opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia and demand a “democratic change,” on the eve of the presidential inauguration that has deeply divided the country.
The protest took place in the Roman square of Largo Argentina and gathered several members of the Venezuelan diaspora and refugees, who sang their national anthem and displayed signs with the slogan “Glory to the brave people.”
Around 150 participants were present, according to one of the coordinators of the protest, Celeste Puerta from the ‘Aiuto Venezuela’ Civic Movement, who spoke to EFE.
Similar actions have been organized in other Italian cities, including Bologna, Florence, and Milan in the north.
María Corina Machado kidnapped and forced to record videos before being released, says opposition
Governor Jenniffer González expresses solidarity with Venezuela’s struggling opposition
Hundreds of venezuelan protesters demand ‘democratic change’ in Rome
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