Sumud (steadfast)

My inspiration to create this drawing and collage was sparked by a Palestinian girl whose steadfast spirit and words were originally captured in an interview shared by photographer and filmmaker Sakir Khader (@sakirkhader on Instagram and https://sakirkhader.com/Home). These are her words.

“They want to drive us out, but we won’t leave.

Whatever happens, we won’t leave.

This is the land of our parents and grandparents.

We are not leaving.

We are not leaving.

Steadfast, steadfast.

And again, steadfast.

I’m not scared of anyone.

I only fear God.

He’s the one who protects us.

If I die, I will die in my homeland.

If I leave the homeland, I will die somewhere else.

Fleeing the homeland doesn’t make you immortal.

No, I’d rather die here.

Like a martyr…”

Because of colonization, many of us don’t understand the concept of a homeland where we commune with, tend to, and survive and thrive through intimate connection to the land. Most of us have no idea what it’s like to live in a harmonious, symbiotic relationship with the Earth, as we are meant to and designed for. As Indigenous people from Turtle Island to Hawaii to the Amazon Rainforest to Palestine understand deeply, despite settler colonization that has stolen and is currently stealing the land they belong to, steward, and love for generations, centuries, since time immemorial.

The collage of layered and torn paper in the background represents the destruction and rubble of Gaza. The red poppies, a symbol of Palestinians’ steadfast connection to the land, sprout up from and combine with her words on top of the ruins. They remind us of Sumud (steadfastness in Arabic)—the steadfast spirit of Palestinians in their century-long righteous indigenous struggle for liberation, sovereignty, and to remain connected to their homeland. Palestine will be free.