Put your soul on your hand and walk

THE EDITOR, Madam:

This is the title of Fatma Hassona’s movie. She was a photographer in Gaza. With the help of Iranian director Sepideh Farsi, what she filmed was made into a movie about her life as a witness of the genocide. On April 15, Sepideh called her with the news that her movie Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk was selected at the Cannes ACID film festival. The next day, April 16, the Israeli Defence Force bombed her home in Gaza killing her along with 10 members of her family. She was 25 years old, and was to be married a few days later.

The deaths and suffering in Gaza are unending. We know there is a genocide happening everyday while our own lives continue with normalcy even though nothing is normal. I don’t want to forget Fatma Hassona. I want to transform the grief into action. But I constantly doubt its consequence. Fatma’s loss is hardly a mention in the institutional media. I remember the coverage of Ukraine how the tragedy of the loss and disruption of their children’s lives were stories of sadness and injustice. The silence of these same people on Palestine and the massacre of Gaza’s children signals that you are other– that Muslims and black and brown people in Sudan, in the Congo in Haiti and the women in Afghanistan – are all expendable.

“ As spectators of genocide you’re meant to lose faith in action to stop organising and become a passive bystander. As international law is ignored and institutions stay silent, the message becomes that ­there is no justice. There is no law. No one is coming. This fractures solidarity, it discourages hope...” [decolonizinghealthoninstagram]

Fatma reminds me of students who worked with me at the University of Michigan for many years in the project called The Pedagogy of Action where their consciousness was on the table. She reminds me of Palestinian Salma Hammamy the winner of the MLK spirit award in 2024, who was a voice for the people in Gaza. The university rescinded her award despite the protests of the committee.

Today I am honouring Fatma’s wish as she knew that as a Gazan (and) as a photographer that she could die any time, any day. Over 166 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza, 120 academics and over 224 humanitarian aid workers. ( Aljazeera.com) She is not alone, except she was killed with 10 members of her family. Her refusal to be silent risked them all. But her voice extricated them from being victims.

“ If I die, I want a loud death, I don’t want to be just breaking news, or a number in a group, I want a death that the world will hear, an impact that will remain through time, and a timeless image that cannot be buried by time or place.” Fatma Hassona

NESHA Z. HANIFF