Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Mohammed El-Kurd is a writer, poet, journalist, and organizer from Jerusalem, occupied Palestine. He is the Nation’s first-ever Palestine Correspondent and editor-at-large at Mondoweiss, the recipient of numerous honors and awards, and the author of the highly-acclaimed poetry collection Rifqa, which has been translated into several languages.
<p>“Great poets are truth-tellers, and the truth hurts. Mohammed El-Kurd’s raw eloquence and razor-sharp clarity will make you hurt and curse and cry and sometimes chuckle. A few will think, only to realize he is also talking about 'us,' the allies, the empathizers, even the comrades whose solidarity unwittingly demands the perfect victim. We are not completely free of Zionist lies; we are not decolonized. Mohammed El-Kurd has written a new <em>Discourse on Colonialism</em> for the twenty-first century. And like Aimé Césaire, he demands that we confront the truth, wipe away our crocodile tears, and take down Goliath once and for all.”<br />
<strong>—Robin D. G. Kelley, author of <em>Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination</em></strong><br />
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“Here's a river of fire. Dive in, if you dare. It will clear the fog.”<br />
<strong>—Arundhati Roy, author of <em>The God of Small Things</em><br />
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</strong>“In <em>Perfect Victims</em>, Mohammed El-Kurd recenters the Palestinian gaze as compass and metric unit.”<br />
<strong>—Noura Erakat, author of <em>Justice for Some</em></strong><br />
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“Mohammed El-Kurd’s voice is unequivocal in a hallucinatory media sphere that portrays the colonized and the occupied as either passive victims of an unnamable crime or the very perpetrators of unspeakable crimes they themselves experience. <em>Perfect Victims</em> is essay and memoir at its best. It portrays children forged by occupation and war and a humble people conditioned by the necessity of resistance for survival in the face of a twenty-first century genocide. Humility, irony, and irreverence are the languages of self-defense, and words are El-Kurd’s weapons.”<br />
<strong>—Nick Estes, author of <em>Our History Is the Future<br />
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</em></strong>“<em>Perfect Victims</em> is an astonishing achievement: precise, sharp, and poetic.”<br />
<strong>—Nicki Kattoura, <em>LitHub</em></strong><br />
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“<em>Perfect Victims </em>is punctuated with tonal shifts, a seamless blend of reporting, analysis, poetry, humor… With Perfect Victims, El-Kurd shows up as his full self: the journalist, the poet, the academic, the humorist.”<br />
<strong>—Kylie Cheung, <em>Jezebel</em></strong><br />
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“El-Kurd’s book offers a fresh, unapologetic, and powerful critique of mainstream modes of representation and the years of Palestinian politics of appeal that have only served to concede too much. It is an assertion of Palestinian dignity unshackled from the need for recognition, an insistence on a politics that does not hinge on the benevolence of an imagined audience.”<br />
<strong>—Abdaljawad Omar, <em>Mondoweiss</em></strong><br />
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“The writing in <em>Perfect Victims</em> demands empathy while rejecting victimhood. It echoes with anger and discards pretense. El Kurd deplores the insistence on humanizing Palestinians by denying them their rage. He calls this phenomenon the defanging of Palestinians. Then he bares his fangs.”<br />
<strong>—Ron Jacobs, <em>CounterPunch<br />
</em></strong></p>
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“Mohammed El-Kurd has written a new Discourse on Colonialism for the twenty-first century.”
—Robin D. G. Kelley
Perfect Victims is an urgent affirmation of the Palestinian condition of resistance and refusal―an ode to the steadfastness of a nation.
Palestine is a microcosm of the world: on fire, stubborn, fragmented, dignified. While a settler colonial state continues to inflict devastating violence, fundamental truths are deliberately obscured—the perpetrators are coddled while the victims are blamed and placed on trial.
Why must Palestinians prove their humanity? And what are the implications of such an infuriatingly impossible task? With fearless prose and lyrical precision, Mohammed El-Kurd refuses a life spent in cross-examination. Rather than asking the oppressed to perform a perfect victimhood, El-Kurd asks friends and foes alike to look Palestinians in the eye, forgoing both deference and condemnation.
How we see Palestine reveals how we see each other; how we see everything else. Masterfully combining candid testimony, history, and reportage, Perfect Victims presents a powerfully simple demand: dignity for the Palestinian.
author’s note(s)
one: the sniper’s hands are clean of blood
on dehumanization
two: the politics of defanging
on “humanization”
three: shireen’s passport
on the invention of the civilian
four: a life in cross-examination
on forbidden sentiments
five: tropes and drones
on discursive land mines
six: mein kampf in the playroom
on propaganda
seven: miraculous epiphanies
on testimony
eight: are we indeed all palestinians?
on identity
nine: “do you want to throw israelis into the sea?”
on irreverence
epilogue
- MASSIVE AUDIENCE: In the last six months, there has been a surge in interest in learning the history and politics of the Palestinian struggle. Rashid Khalidi’s The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine has been a mainstay on the New York Times bestseller list, and we’ve seen a major boost in sales for Angela Y. Davis’s Freedom Is a Constant Struggle, Light in Gaza, and El-Kurd’s poetry collection Rifqa. As the solidarity movement grows and deepens rapidly at a global scale, with hundreds of thousands marching across the world and in the US, the audience for this book will continue to grow.
- A LEADING VOICE OF THE MOVEMENT: With a huge social media following, including 1 million followers on Instagram (@mohammedelkurd), and appearances on the BBC, CNN, and Democracy Now! among other major news channels, El-Kurd is one of the most visible voices in the Palestine solidarity movement today. He is an exceptionally sharp speaker, as well as a widely published poet and journalist. El-Kurd has won numerous accolades, and currently serves as The Nation’s first Palestine correspondent, as well as Culture Editor at Mondoweiss.
- SHORT, STIRRING POLEMIC: In the tradition of Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò’s Elite Capture, Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny, Jason Stanley’s How Fascism Works, and Ta Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me, Perfect Victims is a manifesto that cuts right to the heart of its urgent subject, and will serve as both an accessible entry point for those looking to understand the Palestinian struggle and a welcome provocation for those already immersed in the solidarity movement. At a low price point and small trim size, this punchy pocket book is perfect for bookstores to display at the register, or on tables alongside other titles on Palestine and current affairs.
- INTERNATIONAL OPPORTUNITY: El-Kurd has extensive networks internationally, including the UK and travels there regularly, which gave sales for his debut poetry collection a huge boost in that market. Rifqa has sold more than 5,000 copies in the UK; Haymarket also organized several sold-out events for El-Kurd in London.
Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Mohammed El-Kurd is a writer, poet, journalist, and organizer from Jerusalem, occupied Palestine. He is the Nation’s first-ever Palestine Correspondent and editor-at-large at Mondoweiss, the recipient of numerous honors and awards, and the author of the highly-acclaimed poetry collection Rifqa, which has been translated into several languages.