Dazed MENA Cover story: “Mohammed El-Kurd is bored with the metaphors”

Originally published in Dazed MENA Issue 01 | Order Here

Grooming TAYLER TREADWELL, creative producer FATIMA MOURAD, producer IMAD ELSHEIKH, production PIQUE, camera assistant SAM SUNDOS, styling assistant OBADIAH RUSSON, production, assistants DASHARI HICKS and KADEEM WALTERS Photography Daniel Arnold | Styling Thistle Brown

The anti-icon on unlearning the politics of appeal, refusing a seat at the “right tables”, and forcing people to look Palestinians in the eye

It’s frigid outside Judson Memorial Church in New York as hoards of people try to get inside, clutching their copies of Rifqa and The New York War Crimes. The church’s iconic poster board facing Washington Square Park now presents a quote by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish: “We suffer from an incurable malady: hope.”

Inside, people with every keffiyeh colour combination possible are scrambling to find a seat at the front in hopes of getting the best view of the stage where Mohammed El-Kurd is about to appear. It’s the official launch event for Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal, the first non-fiction book by the Palestinian writer and poet. He cracks a sarcastic joke as soon as the talk starts, as he’s known to do. The majority of people in the crowd laugh, but a few look side to side for a sort of permission. Are they allowed to be in on this joke? Is his obvious jab at propaganda okay to laugh at?

As soon as he steps off the stage, a crowd of people swarm to the front, waiting to say hello, and sheepishly asking if it’s okay to take a picture or get their copy of his previous work signed. In this room, he is an icon of sorts, an unapologetic voice for Palestinian freedom. Down the street, however, perhaps in an NYU business classroom, his welcome might not be as warm. 

But El-Kurd has made it clear that he has never been interested in impressing people, especially those who don’t see Palestinians and Arabs as full, complicated, and indeed flawed human beings. The first page of his book, before his prologue even begins, is a succinct refrain:

Even if!
Even if!
Even if!

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Read full article on Dazed Middle East.