‘We Are Still Here!’ On Resisting Erasure

Dear Reader,

“Palestine lives!”

I write in an 800-word essay published in Scene48 magazine in Haifa earlier this month.

“Our brightest light in this enveloping darkness is our own century-long history of struggle; to keep Palestine alive, to unite, to forge our collective dream.”

In this issue of my newsletter, while the genocide continues, I celebrate Palestinian culture and its ceaseless resistance to erasure, and affirmation of life. In that spirit, I share highlights from the Al-Bireh Society convention in Denver, including a recording of a poem I read. Below you’ll also find a series of photo-essays on Icons of Palestinian Identity.

Finally, on Friday I was interviewed by WBAL 11 TV Baltimore after reading poems at a protest outside my US Representative’s office in Columbia, MD. The goal is to get her to listen to her constituents and co-sponsor the Block the Bombs bill, which would stop the flow of offensive weapons to Israel. Please consider contacting your own members of Congress about it.

With love,
Ramsey Hanhan

EVENTS

Al-Bireh Society Convention, Denver, CO (Aug. 29-31, 2025)

It’s an honor to read my poem “From the Sea to the River” at the Al-Bireh Society Convention’s panel on Arts, Media, and Cultural Expression. Click to watch (and thanks to my dear friend Anas Amireh for the recording):

One of the perks of being a speaker is getting to engage with the keynote speakers! Thanks to Abby Martin, Marc Lamont-Hill, Norman Finkelstein and co-panelist Safa Suleiman for these photos.

ESSAYS

Click the link below the title to read my work without a Medium membership

Grateful to the editors at Scene48 for publishing this piece in the special issue, ‘Against All Odds.’

‘We Are Still Here!’

Eighty years past the First Nakba, Palestine burns bright—an eternal flame of exile, defiance, and hope amid Gaza’s endless river of blood and loss.

Read Essay

The Baby Scales

A meditation on life.

Read Essay

EVENTS

WBAL 11 TV crew recording the noise protest outside US Representative Sarah Elfreth’s office in Columbia, Maryland. Many thanks to Howard County for a Free Palestine for organizing this protest.

Ramsey reading the two poems ‘My poetry died in Gaza,’ and ‘It’s Simply, Really.’

We banged on empty pots and pans to symbolize the US-approved Israeli policy of starving Gaza.

PHOTO ESSAYS

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