REVIEW: Home Away from Home – Voices from the Palestinian Diaspora
Omar Aziz, Associate Director - Palestine Deep Dive
Home Away from Home – Voices from the Palestinian Diaspora is a valuable publication by the Network of Photographers for Palestine amplifying Palestinian voices at a time when they need to be heard more than ever. It re-centres Palestinians at the heart of their struggle for liberation, giving them a platform to champion their own story, articulate their own discourse and reclaim the narrative.
It is often said ‘an enemy is a person whose story you have not heard’. By reading the selection of tales from the
diaspora in Home Away From Home, it becomes immediately clear that Palestinians across Europe and the U.S., like all of us, just long for a sense of belonging, a safe home with rights, freedom and dignity while being granted access to justice.
There is nothing more eloquent than the stories of suffering and oppression as told by the victims, and nothing more powerful than the stories of resistance and struggle as told by the survivors. And Home Away from Home typifies this; stories from the diaspora are rarely heard let alone published and yet they provide a wealth of valuable knowledge on the Palestinian experience, from the complexities of identity formation and the multifaceted experiences of dispossession and dislocation to the fire of hope and determination that continues to rage on.
“For too long the narrative has been set by those seeking to misrepresent Palestinians and their legitimate demands for justice.“
Autobiographical stories of everyday life can disarm those who seek to stand in the way of justice, reversing the relentless dehumanisation Palestinians so often endure by ruling elites and at the hands of the mainstream media. For too long the narrative has been set by those seeking to misrepresent Palestinians and their legitimate demands for justice.
We know that all true friends of justice, liberty and equality will be friends of the Palestinian struggle too if only they heard the Palestinian voice, for that is the essence of the struggle.
In the words of Ramzy Baroud: ‘To be pro-Palestine is also to respect the centrality of the Palestinian voice, because without the Palestinian narrative there can be no real or meaningful solidarity, and also because, ultimately it will be the Palestinian people who will liberate themselves.’
Copies available here.
