Dear Reader,

As the Catholic world awaits a new Pope, and Pakistan and India brace for a new war, 290,000 children in Gaza face starvation because of a two-month blockade that Western governments are supporting. It is not accidental that “hostilities” are erupting in South Asia at the same moment the Russia-Ukraine war is coming to an end. Weapons manufacturers, who nowadays include big tech and big media, need to keep the business going. The narrative is written in favor of war because the system has to maintain itself.

I predicted an expansion of war in the world in a poem I wrote back in January, the day the ceasefire began in Gaza.

We have the power to change that. We feed the system with our labor and expenditures. As I write in ‘Silence is Moral Suicide,’ we have the power to withhold.

Meanwhile in America, the slide towards authoritarianism begins with the silencing of Palestine – the topic of my other new poem, ‘From the Sea to the River,’ and an innovative idea to remake the university.

On May 31, I will be running a 5k to support mental health services for the traumatized children of Gaza. Please contribute what you can.

Readers in Canada, mark your calendars for an in-person event on June 22^nd in Scarborough, ON. Would love to see you there.

I am grateful to Kat Uy for the opportunity to speak at the White Oak Library in April, in courageous celebration of Arab American Heritage Month (at a time when other libraries refrain from associating with our communities).

You can catch me this Saturday, May 10, at 10 AM at the Books in Bloom Festival in Columbia, MD. Look for the Local Author session.

With love,
Ramsey Hanhan

FEATURED

GAZA 5K, May 31, 2025 Donate to help provide mental health services to refugee children in Gaza. Proceeds go directly to UNRWA mental health services and counselors--themselves refugees--in the Gaza Strip. Donate to UNRWA

POETRY

From the Sea to the River A poem about the silencing of Palestine Read Poem Watch it Performed

ESSAYS

Silence is Moral Suicide Reclaiming connection to a world from which we isolate ourselves Read Essay

Decolonizing the University Removing government and other influence from the classroom – a bold proposal to safeguard our First Amendment rights in education Read Essay

Ramsey Hanhan is the author of two books on Palestine: an autobiographical novel, Fugitive Dreams, and a book of poetry and essays on Gaza (coming soon). His short stories and poetry appear in The Harvard Advocate, Fikra magazine, and elsewhere. He also speaks publicly about Palestine, literature, nature, spirituality, and healing. Ramsey was formerly a physics professor noted for his computer models that describe and predict complexity in nature. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and resides near Baltimore, Maryland. ​​​​​

Fugitive Dreams. “Tell me more about the Israelis,” whispers five-year-old Ksenya to her dad on a visit to her grandparents in Palestine. Sameer immediately feels a weight descend upon his shoulders. How to tell her the truth without “its bloodied shadow staining the course of her life?” Join Sameer on a personal journey through the last five decades of the Palestinian experience. ​https://fugitivedreams.us​

Available to talk about Palestine and books.

PO Box 374, Simpsonville, MD 21150
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