You are herecontent / What the people are saying in Ramallah
What the people are saying in Ramallah
If you are trying to organise a demonstration in Ramallah and need someone to lead the demonstrators in chants, your best bet is to call on Abu Ali Muqbel. A long-time veteran of scores of demonstrations in several Arab countries and a member of the Palestinian National Council, he is gifted in coining just the right phrase that expresses the emotions of the crowds.
On Aug. 24, he led a demonstration in Ramallah in support of the Palestinians languishing in Israeli prisons and marking their tenth day of fasting. Surrounded by mothers, fathers and brothers of these prisoners and by other supporters, he set out at noon in the hot Sun on a march from Al Manarah, in downtown Ramallah, all the way to Al Balou'. He led the crowd in chants, occasionally looking at the verses he had prepared for the occasion, but receptive to suggestions from people around him.
Following is a translation of ten of the chants Abu Ali had written down. Although they lose a lot of their force in translation, especially as the rhyme is not maintained, they nevertheless give a sense of what's in the hearts of Palestinians marching in support of their imprisoned loved ones:
1. In the name of our prisoners, our heroes who have stood firm and sacrificed, in their name we demand that they be put first by our leaders.
2. In the name of Jerusalem, in the name of Al Aqsa, we salute our heroes, the prisoners. You have kept the faith, you will endure, you are precious.
3. Our prisoners, you are the source and you are our national dignity. We are with you one hundred per cent.
4. Our prisoners, our rebels, there is no freedom under siege, no autonomy behind a wall. We are the people and the decision makers; we will go on with the Intifada. This is our choice; colonisation is a shame.
5. George Bush and Sharon, you are Nero and the Pharaoh; but we are the Earth and we are here.
6. In spite of our pain and our hunger, we say no to humiliation and capitulation.
7. Our prisoners, listen to the voices of your mothers, your fathers and brothers, your grandparents. They are with you. Dignity or death, victory or death, freedom or death.
8. Our prisoners, you are here by name and by address, the youth of Palestine behind bars, standing firm, resistant and fasting for the dignity of Palestine.
9. Sharon you coward. We will not be humiliated no matter what you do.
10. We want to break the siege; we want to break down the wall; the Intifada will go on, this is our choice and our solution.
This article was published in the Thursday, August 26, 2004 edition of the Jordan Times. It is used here with permission.
