[Báyò Akómoláfé, Ph.D.; Professor Sa’ed Atshan, and Cecilie Surasky]
How do we catch people where they fall? How do we respond to this crisis in a way that doesn’t reinforce its architecture? What kind of politics is being summoned at this time?
This was an online conversation on November 16, 2024 in the Democracy & Belonging Forum series, The Edges in the Middle, where the Othering and Belonging Institute’s Global Senior Fellow Báyò Akómoláfé spoke with Professor Sa’ed Atshan and OBI’s Cecilie Surasky on holding each other’s pain even as lines are increasingly drawn around whose lives are grievable and whose are not.
As Israel continues its relentless bombardment of Gaza following Hamas’ murder of 1,400 Israeli civilians, which itself came after 75 years of Israeli occupation over Palestine, so many of us feel hopeless under the weight of bearing witness to – or personally experiencing – seemingly endless cycles of violence, trauma, and dehumanization. Starting from the premise that all people belong and all lives are grievable, the speakers will explore how honoring each other’s grief may allow us to reclaim each other’s humanity and perhaps shed light on a path forward to belonging in Israel-Palestine, for Muslims, Jews, and Christians, and for all people around the world. Báyò, Sa’ed, and Cecilie will journey into what it might be like to glimpse at the world through tears: what visions are possible when we postpone the compulsion to see everything clearly?