Stay Free

-No one has the right to wish for anything anymore. This is a personal reflection after 445 days. There is no Eid to celebrate, no holidays to enjoy, nothing left that feels worthy of celebration. These moments, once the height of spirituality & piety, have been stripped of their meaning by the very system that has enabled & justified the genocide of our Homeland—turning them (the holidays & our genocide) into hollow or mere “events.” How can anyone dare speak of joy? How can anyone dare speak of hope when 445 days have passed with nothing but words, never actions, as 2.2 million people from our kin have no hope, no joy, & no perspectives of future? I personally find comfort in knowing that my community has sacrificed everything in defiance of this reality. Still, I cannot bring myself to celebrate anything. & I do not want to. Nothing will ever be the same. Nothing is the same. By pretending that “normal” life still exists, people act as if the last 445 days never happened—as if this pain, this struggle, has not reshaped everything… & I find so much absurdity & cruelty in that.

& I care little for the “there is always hope” speech, because not everyone has earned the right to say it. Those who have mourned Martyrs & homes—those who piece together the fragments of their lives while preparing for the next battle against this ruthless Enemy that is the Empire—are the ones who have the right to hope. But those who were passive & remain passive do not… for a dying human is no spectacle. & hope cannot be an excuse for passiveness or a veil to justify an unwillingness to rise to the magnitude & immensity of the brutal war being waged on our existence by the Empire. Hope can only come from action… & not from hollow platitudes or complacency."

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