EP 236: Palestine's required (comics) reading
“Reading a comic book isn't going to solve peace in the Middle East. But I do think part of the solution is understanding both sides.”
We're all shocked and saddened by the attack on Israel - and as of this episode, war with Hamas. Officials and aid groups warn of a worsening humanitarian crisis, where escalating violence has already killed thousands of people and wounded and displaced many others. And that's a longer conversation that we're not going to have on this podcast. We pray for peace, and encourage you to reach out to the people in your respective communities to check in. But we know many of you want to know how you can help.
The internet - particularly social media - is awash with misinformation, so it's especially important to verify that your contributions are going to organizations that are legitimate as well as effective. The Federal Trade Commission recommends searching charities' names alongside "complaint," "review," "rating" and "scam" to see if any red flags come up. You can also run a search on websites like like CharityWatch.org and CharityNavigator.org
Beyond that, we're just a podcast. So we decided to re-air an earlier Quarantined Comics conversation about the graphic novel PALESTINE — Joe Sacco's seminal work of cartoon journalism from 1993. PALESTINE covers Sacco's travels thru occupied Palestine territory - and Israel - to embed himself with the Palestinian people - hearing their stories first-hand to understand how they lived their every day lives. Sacco wanted to get around the sanitized story the Western Media was potraying — to emphasizes the history and plight of the Palestinian people, as a group and as individuals. In PALESTINE Sacco positions himself as the westerner confronting a reality unfamiliar to most Americans at the time - concentrating on his personal experience and perspective, as well as the stories of the people he encounters, with some light history thrown in for good measure. Conversations are documented over tea, roadblocks, police action, taxis and checkpoints - which become all too familiar set pieces in Sacco's narrative journey. The book was published as 9 issues by Fantagraphics from 1993 to 1995, with a graphic novel published later to a much wider audience. Palestine is the recipient of the American Book Award, and was named as one of the Top 100 English-Language Comics of the last Century. Sacco has since gone on to publish numerous other works of cartoon journalism - covering the Middle East, Bosnia/Serbia, and the Native American plight. for which he's received recognition from TIME Magazine, the Eisners, the Harveys, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
This is exactly the kind of conversation we want to have on Modern Minorities, which felt appropriate at this moment. This comic is relevant but distant to the ongoing crisis unfolding in the Middle East. While war and peace are not easy things to resolve, listening, learning, and reading with an open heart and mind is. We definitely encourage you to check out “PALESTINE” by Joe Sacco wherever you get your favorite books. But most of all, we hope for peace - as our thoughts are with the people of Israel and Gaza.
LEARN MORE
NPR: How to help humanitarian efforts in Israel and Gaza - npr.org/2023/10/13/1205235922/help-israel-gaza-humanitarian-organizations
PALESTINE (2001): goodreads.com/book/show/769712.Palestine
Joe Sacco (Comics Journalist): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Sacco
Quarantined Comics: qtdcomics.com