Free Dareen Tatour
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- Published on Friday, 23 September 2016 12:15
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Subject: Dareen Tatour r50 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Last year, Dareen was arrested, imprisoned, and then placed under house arrest.
Dareen is facing trial for writing poetry. Help us raise the alarm -- chip in $18 to fund our ad in The Nation magazine.
. TAKE ACTION . . .Last month, I wrote to you to tell you about the horrifying case of Dareen Tatour, a Palestinian poet.
In case you didn’t see that email, here’s a quick reminder: In October of last year, Dareen was arrested, imprisoned, and then placed under house arrest. Why? For posting a poem called “Resist, my people, resist them” on YouTube. Now she’s facing trial, and potentially a long prison term -- for writing and sharing a poem.
So, together with our partners at Adalah-NY, we raised the alarm. Over 7,000 Jews and allies signed our petition, calling for Dareen to be released. Among those 7,000 people are hundreds of leading lights of the literary world, standing up for one of their own. Authors like Dave Eggers, Naomi Klein, Claudia Rankine, and Alice Walker have added their names to our campaign.
Shortly after, we got some good news, and it showed us that the pressure we’re building works. Not long after we released the letter, Dareen won the right to return to her village of Reineh. That decision was a small but significant step to lift some of the burden of detention from her and for her family. But Dareen remains under extremely strict house arrest -- imprisoned and on trial -- for her poetry, and the fight for her basic rights and freedom must continue.
If it took ten Pulitzer Prize winners speaking out to change the location of her detention, it’s going to take a lot more to get her free. So we’re forcing the issue. We’ve reserved an ad in the Nation magazine, due to run next week, to show the Israeli government we aren’t backing down..
Earlier this morning, we sent our ad to the Nation. They’ve reserved a space for us in the next issue, but we need to find $15,000 before the end of the week if we’re going to be able to run it.
We need your help Mic. Click here to chip in $18 for our ad in the Nation.
Dareen’s case is monstrous -- but the way she’s been treated isn’t rare.
Over 400 Palestinians have been arrested in the past year alone for posting on social media, and other artists and cultural workers have been targeted too. A clown -- yes, a clown -- who teaches children with learning disabilities has been imprisoned without charge for over 6 months.
It’s easier for the Israeli government to silence artists and cultural workers like Dareen than it is for them to change their oppressive policies. And it’s easier for defenders of Israel’s racist status quo to look the other way than it is to acknowledge what’s happening in front of our eyes.
No more looking the other way. No more ignoring the political and cultural repression happening everyday in Israel/Palestine. It’s time for us to make our voices heard-- and that starts with our ad, running in next week’s Nation.
Audre Lorde, one of my very favorite poets, wrote that “poetry lays the foundation for a future of change.” Dareen is laying the foundation for a future where all people are truly free. That future scares the defenders of Israeli apartheid, so they’re silencing her with every vicious legal maneuver in their arsenal.
So we’re fighting back. Thank you for fighting with us.
Onward,
Stefanie
Stefanie Fox
Deputy Director
Jewish Voice for Peace is a national membership organization inspired by Jewish tradition to work for the freedom, equality, and dignity of all the people of Israel and Palestine. Become a JVP Member today.
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