By
Sulafa Zidani
April 8, 2024
our decomposing bodies
our flesh mixed with dirt
our blood
flour
whatabout
semantics
pontificate
our children
at a podium
reporters
with a plea
concerns
statements
letters
Gaza City to Deir el Balah
to Khan Younis to Rafah
“Sulafa, I’m tired
wallah, I can’t anymore”
red herrings
listening sessions
so rational
3ammo,
the tanks are shooting
we are in the car hiding
hello?
condemnations
committees
teach-ins
starvation
for food
a future that passed
the souls of our souls
crowdfunding
airdrop
theater
executions
live
and meme-fied
discourse
so civil
and washed
to lie in the streets
refuse, build, dismantle
are not figures of speech
Sulafa Zidani
Sulafa Zidani is a writer, speaker, and educator at Northwestern University, where she is an assistant professor in communication studies. As a critical global internet studies scholar, she researches civic engagement and online creative practices across languages. Her work has been informed by her proficiency in Mandarin, English, Arabic, Hebrew, and French. Dr. Zidani is currently working on her first book project, called "All Your Meme Are Belong To Us: Internet Cultures in the Global South," about how meme creators navigate transnational politics on the multilingual internet. Her research has appeared in venues such as: Social Media + Society; International Journal of Communication; Asian Communication Research. She is a co-editor of the forthcoming anthology, The Intersectional Internet II: Power, Politics and Resistance Online. Her public writing on popular culture and media politics has appeared in Arabic and Anglophone publications. She also serves on the editorial board of the online publication Pop Junctions.
