Actionable resources for unanswerable times

The Seventh Wave deepens its commitment to and solidarity with oppressed, occupied, and marginalized people and communities worldwide. We feel, and fear, for our Jewish, Muslim, and Arab contributors as we watch, in real time, the surge in antisemitism and Islamophobia around the world — just as we have feared for our Black, Indigenous, Asian, diasporic, queer, and trans contributors, and contributors of all marginalized identities. We will continue to dedicate resources toward collective healing and solidarity. Below are a few resources, which we will continue to add to:

• Act. For those looking for concrete actions, a few places to donate: Save the Children, Doctors Without Borders, International Committee of the Red Cross, UNICEF, UNRWA, Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. Call or email your representatives in Congress via Jewish Voice for Peace. Demand a ceasefire and immediate de-escalation. Find a protest near you and show solidarity at this time of global reckoning. There is also a national march on Washington taking place on November 4 at Freedom Plaza.
• Sign. Join the Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG), an ad hoc coalition of writers, editors, and other culture workers modeled on American Writers Against the War in Vietnam, an organization founded in 1965, or Writers in Solidarity with Palestine, a coalition of writers who have put forth several calls to action for writers and their institutions.
• Read. We’ll be sharing resources that we’ve created for writers, artists, and activists — like this list of 25 questions for unanswerable times — as well as resources that others have created — this resource list put together by the Palestinian Youth Movement, this reading list from Verso Books, this prayer for Gaza by Elena Dudum published in The Offing, or this NYT piece asking why Palestinians still need to audition for our empathy, by Hala Alyan — to uplift the voices of those who have long been doing the work. A few incredible pieces by writers writing about the times:
  • Fady Joudah’s “A Palestinian Meditation in a Time of Annihilation” for Literary Hub
  • Kimberly Rooney and Saba Keramati’s “Why are newsrooms manufacturing consent for Palestinian genocide?” for Prism
  • Mosab Abu Toha’s “Gazan Family Letters, 2092” for The Nation
  • Hala Alyan and Talal Alyan’s Palestinian reading list for Electric Literature
  • Saree Makdisi’s “No Human Being Can Exist” for n+1
  • Anne Boyer’s resignation from The New York Times Magazine
  • Staff editorial from the Los Angeles Times
  • Siham Inshassi’s “Coming Out of the Palestinian Closet” for AAWW (from the archives)

• Write. Starting on Sunday, Nov. 12, The Seventh Wave will be holding space for community write-ins for folks who want to create alongside others during this tumultuous time. This will be a largely silent Zoom space for folks to be in community together while they write, with an optional time held at the end for resource sharing, decompression, and witness. Keep an eye out for our link to register to join in the coming days.
• Create. We have always viewed art — the practice, creation, and community of it — as a form of response. As a way to advocate for and demand change. Our call for submissions for Issue 17: “The Cost of Waiting,” is now open, and as always, our calls speak to the most pressing issues of our times. We have always been dedicated to uplifting marginalized creators, and to championing perspectives and voices that have too often been silenced or sidelined. If something in this call resonates with you, we want to hear from you.

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As words are what hold us together in space and time, we’ll end with a quote from Palestinian-American writer Hala Alyan, whom we interviewed in 2020 about her book, The Arsonists’ City. Our interviews editor asked Hala what she thought about the phrase “rebellious joy,” which was the topic for our issue at that time, and this is what she said: