Yousef M. Aljamal Visit To Aotearoa New Zealand
Yousef will be here from 16 to 30 June and will have public events in Whangarei, Waitangi, Ngāmotu/New Plymouth, Whanganui, Tauranga-Moana, Thames, Ōtautahi/Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland.
'This is an opportunity for New Zealanders to hear directly from a key Palestinian journalist and author at a time when Palestinian voices are almost totally absent from our mainstream media' says PSNA Co-national Chair Maher Nazzal.
'For 18 months our media has been flooded with Israeli narratives, Israeli explanations, Israeli justifications and Israeli spokespeople. Israeli propaganda points are relentlessly covered while Palestinians – as the victims of 77 years of brutal oppression, ethnic cleansing and apartheid polices – have been rendered all but invisible'. If they are shown, it is a incoherent victims of overwhelming suffering. They rarely have the opportunity for their humanity to shine.
'New Zealanders need to hear from Yousef Aljamal and our mainstream media has a responsibility to report his visit and what he has to say'
'Palestinians face the most horrendous conditions imaginable with the genocidal attacks on Gaza; the blockade on food, water, fuel and medical supplies to 2 million people; the pogroms against Palestinian towns and villages in the Occupied West Bank; complicit silence from Western governments, New Zealand included, and western media indifference'
Yousef's biographical details:
Yousef is a Palestinian journalist and author. He holds an MA degree from the Department of International and Strategic Studies at the University of Malaya in Malaysia.
He was awarded his PhD from the Middle East Institute at Sakarya University in Turkey.
In addition to his research interests in diaspora, security, and indigenous studies, Yousef Aljamal has been involved on a number of book projects including translations of books on Palestinian prisoners, among them Dreaming of Freedom: Palestinian Child Prisoners Speak (2016), and a collection of stories about the shared struggle of Palestinian and Irish Hunger Strikers.
Most recently he edited If I Must Die: Poetry and Prose by the recently assassinated Refaat Alareer.
Yousef Aljamal has published a number of journal articles on topics that include Palestinians in the diaspora, travel restrictions imposed on Palestinians, and struggles for liberation.
He is also the Gaza Coordinator of the American Friends Service Committee.
Yousef has visited Aotearoa New Zealand before and is familiar with our political landscape.
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