Gaza Beneath the Bombs - Meet the Author

bristol | miscellaneous | press release Tuesday February 09, 2010 00:08 by gudrun aveganhaggis at gmail dot com

5pm, Sat 27th Feb
@ Easton Community Centre
Kilburn St,
Easton

£donations towards the Free Gaza Movement (www.freegaza.org), nobody
turned away through lack of funds

Sharyn will be reading from her book, recently published on Pluto
Press, and answering questions on her time in Gaza.

One year on from the carnage of the so-called Gaza war the 1.5 million
people of the strip are still prisoners in their own land, trapped by
the active efforts of Israel and the silent complicity of her allies
in the international community. The lack of any principled attempt to
rein in Israel has resulted in the emergence of a widespread network
of international grassroots activists informed by principles of
non-violent direct action. They are doing what they can with whatever
resources they can muster to implement the international laws the
international community seem intent on ignoring. Gaza: Beneath the
Bombs offers a firsthand glimpse of this movement in action.

The book covers the day by day, eye-witness account of an
international activist Sharyn Lock, who reported on last year’s
Israeli war on Gaza as it happened, originally on her blog Tales to
Tell. Documenting the highs of challenging the Israeli siege by sea as
well as the lows of the daily dangers faced by Palestinian ambulances
in a sometimes lethal endeavour to save lives, Gaza Beneath the Bombs
provides a uniquely illuminating view of the continuing oppression
endured by Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip. Lock also manages to
express the seemingly impossible optimism of Palestinian humour and
courage in the face of so much hardship.

Lock writes humbly and conscientiously, allowing the subjects of this
human reality not only to speak directly to the reader. Hearing and
seeing them, through the startling images accompanying the text, their
pain over the sight of destroyed homes and their grief for the lost
sons, daughters, fathers and mothers leaves the reader attached to
their story. We become aware of the essential humanity of a people who
must struggle to be even seen as human in the mostly averted eyes of
the world.

No amount of academic material can match this account of the Israeli
offensive: Lock witnessed the impact of bombs, explosions, bullets,
and tanks with her own eyes and evokes within the reader a real sense
of lived experience. She writes about her feelings, of sharing, of
solidarity, of living the moment and staring – shocked and
disorientated – at the horrors amidst the tear gas, fumes and tears of
emotion. The experiences are all profoundly felt. It offers us an
image of modern warfare that gets lost in the computerised Star
Wars-like images projected from our TVs.

It is amazing that individuals exist who are willing to risk life and
limb to expose, evoke and speak about horrors most would rather not
even hear about. But this book is not the story of the white westerner
saving the poor Palestinian. It is rather a retelling of their tales,
stories which have happened, that are happening and will continue to
happen unless something drastic is done to change things. It is a must
read.

£ donations will go towards the Free Gaza Movement (www.freegaza.org)