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Palestine is a microcosm of the world: wretched, raging, fraught, and fragmented. On fire. Stubborn. Ineligible. Dignified. The lens we lend the Palestinian reveals how we see each other; how we see everything else.
The world continues to witness perverse violence unfolding on our screens; broken limbs, homes and futures permeate our dreams. In this context of numbing horror, Mohammed El-Kurd writes a defiant elegy, an ode to the indelible existence of his nation, to the Palestinian condition of resistance and refusal.
With lyrical precision, El-Kurd dissects ‘humanization’ as a deeply misguided tactic of the marginalized, revealing the perplexing logic at its heart: the desire to make humans out of humans. Rather than shrinking the scope of Palestinian humanity to victimhood, El-Kurd demands that friends and foes look Palestinians in the eye, forgoing condemnation and deference. Instead, solidarity with Palestine requires recognizing it as a universal cause, irreverently mocking the delusions of its oppressors, and building movements rooted in dignity.
Perfect Victims plunges into the depths of heartbreak to sculpt language for the brutality of genocide, resurfacing as a steady, inextinguishable flame.
Mohammed El-Kurd is an internationally touring and award-winning poet, writer, journalist, and organizer from Jerusalem, occupied Palestine. In 2021, He was named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time. He is best known for his role as a co-founder of the #SaveSheikhJarrah movement. His work has been featured in numerous international outlets and he has appeared repeatedly as a commentator on major TV networks. Currently, El-Kurd serves as the first-ever Palestine Correspondent for The Nation. His first published essay in this role, “A Night with Palestine’s Defenders of the Mountain,” was shortlisted for the 2022 One World Media Print Award. Rifqa, his debut collection of poetry, published by Haymarket Books, was named “a masterpiece” by The New Arab and a “remarkable debut” by the Los Angeles Review of Books. The book was one of Middle East Eye’s “Best Books of 2021” and was shortlisted for the 2022 Forward Prize for “Best First Collection.” El-Kurd holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Brooklyn College (CUNY) and a BFA in Writing from Atlanta’s Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD). He is the Culture Editor at Mondoweiss.
