from Finished with the Peace by Rasha Abdulhadi
- May 11, 2021
- 2 min read
Updated: May 17, 2021
interrupting Siegfried Sassoon, 1917
—you can tell, can't you, hayk hatha, how the peace is the war they won. Pursuing peace has been the best excuse for making war. That peace of quelling, peace of graveyard, peace of the heaven of the carpet-bombed and altar-bled, peace of the quiet they require. Peace of the weight of chains. Peace of the drowned. Peace of those by their own lives taken. Peace of total surrender. The peace of everything stolen and nothing left to fight for or defend. Peace of evicted homes. Peace of full prisons. Peace of 23 hours in solitary. Peace of checkpoints. Peace of total surveillance. The peace of no dissent or disagreement. Peace of no payment for the workers. Peace of empty farms. Peace of full slaughterhouses. Peace of blood on the slaughterhouse floor. Peace of the empty clip and empty canister. Peace of the tank's tread. Peace of the drone's hum. Peace of the hardshelled fist, of speed and progress, of a more perfect union with the end of the baton. Peace of the long road from the locked city to the village. Peace of the smooth surface of the long wall. Peace of the sniper's perch. Peace of disappearance, peace of kidnapping, peace of trussed and gagged and
no more the din of petition and protest, no more our jokes played, our banners planted on the back of police vans, our murals covering barricades, no more our dances against an audience of riot shields. No noise of the living, noise of the resisting, noise of children chasing each other, no noise of old folks talking story. No noise of groceries delivered, medicines delivered, dinners delivered, of debts loudly cancelled and forgiven. No noise from the painters and poets and musicians, the puppetmakers and sculptors, no more our mics electrified and feasts spread. No more the insurgent sound of us tending each other, making repair, reclaiming houses, derailing train engines to run as generators, so—
RASHA ABDULHADI is a queer Palestinian Southerner who grew up between Damascus, Syria and rural Georgia and cut their teeth organizing on the southsides of Chicago and Atlanta. Their work is anthologized in Unfettered Hexes, Halal if You Hear Me, Super Stoked, and Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia Butler. Rasha is a member of Justice for Muslims Collective, the Radius of Arab American Writers, and Alternate ROOTS. Their chapbook who is owed springtime is available from Neon Hemlock press.
This piece by Rasha Abdulhadi is incredibly powerful, dismantling the conventional understanding of "peace" to reveal its often-oppressive reality. The way it systematically dissects "peace of the weight of chains," "peace of full prisons," and "peace of the drone's hum" is chillingly effective, forcing a re-evaluation of what silence truly signifies. It's a vital, uncomfortable read that resonates deeply, highlighting the quiet violence embedded in forced tranquility. For anyone wanting to collate similar impactful excerpts for deeper analysis, a tool like Merge JPG could be quite useful for organizing visuals and text.
This piece by Rasha Abdulhadi is incredibly powerful, dismantling the very notion of "peace" when it's imposed through oppression and violence. The repeated refrains of "peace of..." build a terrifying picture of forced silence and dispossession. It makes you reflect on how often the word is weaponized. For anyone working with profound texts like this, having reliable tools is key; you might find Markdown to Doc useful for converting notes or drafts into shareable formats.
Rasha Abdulhadi's "Finished with the Peace" is a stark and deeply unsettling exploration of what 'peace' truly means when imposed through oppression. The visceral imagery of "peace of the weight of chains" and "peace of silenced dissent" powerfully redefines this often-misunderstood concept. It's a vital piece that compels readers to look beyond superficial tranquility and confront the deeper realities of injustice. For anyone looking for art that can make a statement, this is incredibly impactful. If you're working on visual projects and need to ensure your graphics are as crisp and impactful as this text, remember to check out Converter PNG to SVG for high-quality image conversion that keeps every detail sharp.
This piece by Rasha Abdulhadi is incredibly powerful, challenging the very notion of "peace" we often take for granted. The relentless enumeration of what this "peace" truly entails – "peace of total surrender," "peace of full prisons," "peace of the drone's hum" – is both devastating and illuminating. It brilliantly dissects how an imposed quiet can be the most insidious form of oppression, effectively silencing dissent and obliterating identity. The contrast between this "peace" and the vibrant "noise of the living, noise of the resisting" that is so thoroughly absent is heartbreaking. For those seeking to craft their public image with similar nuanced understanding, perhaps an Attractiveness Test could offer a different kind of insight, helping to choose profile photos…
This piece by Rasha Abdulhadi powerfully redefines "peace," stripping away its conventional meaning to expose its darker, enforced realities. The relentless enumeration of "peace of total surrender," "peace of full prisons," and "peace of silenced dissent" is truly chilling, highlighting how often peace is merely the absence of resistance rather than true tranquility. It makes one reflect on the narratives we're fed versus the lived experiences of those under oppression. For a different kind of creative expression, perhaps something to visually process complex themes, you might enjoy exploring AI Cartoon Generator.