ADVANCED REGISTRATION RECOMMENDED
EVENT DESCRIPTION:
The Soul of My Soul Open Mic is a mutual aid poetry event in response to the ongoing violence in Gaza where more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers since October. Come to love, rage, and mourn with us at our collaborative poetry event this Saturday. Pay what you wish for registration to support our fundraiser. The event will also feature a silent auction of artwork. All proceeds will go directly to a Palestinian family in Gaza. For details of the effort and its outcome, follow us! We can’t wait to see you there.
THIS IS EVENT IS FOR AGES 16+
EVENT HOSTS:
Before any other identity, Zeena is Palestinian. Everything she does is aimed at a future in a free Palestine. She dreams of the day her feet touch the land her blood is from--the day she watches that happy tear melt into Al Aqsa’s holy ground for the first time.
Zeena is a university student majoring in Mechanical Engineering, working towards a Masters in Peace Engineering. She is passionate about developing systems and technology to reduce risks of illness and disease for people under bombardment. Her goal is to serve not just her people, but all oppressed peoples fighting for liberation. A student of the world at only 19, Zeena has lived in 5 countries, constantly pursuing a stability that never measures up to her true home. The aspiring engineer has seen firsthand--what many have only realized recently, faced with unprecedented global demonstrations for Gaza--Palestinians are everywhere. Their fierce commitment to cause has the power to bring together communities wherever they go. This revolution cannot be killed. Long live the Intifada.
Zia (she/they), aka S&A, is an abolitionist, human rights advocate and co-founder of a slowly growing grassroots project called Free Folk Underground, which centers collective liberation and the "success, safety, and pride of marginalized, disenfranchised and low-income people and communities”. Zia is also a Black Philly creative constantly seeking to express through arts what it means to exist in violent intersections of oppression and between strange mirrors of cross-cultural and collective struggle (in a city she loves that doesn't know it's at war with itself).
Healing, pluralism, and liberation are exhausting work but putting that labor into the needs of the people alongside Palestinians, from the streets of DC to the Ben Franklin Bridge, from Gaza to Belgium to Canada and back, is all love. For Zia, Palestine is hope brought to life for all. This young nation brings a bravery that shakes ancestors from their graves and calls to blood and history for the cultural integrity of younger generations. Freedom is heavy. It is imperative. It is imminent. Long live the Intifada.
The art is from Flyers for Falastin's site and that specific piece was by the artist Dani: both Instagram handles appear at the top of the original poster (@flyers_for_falastin and @artbbydani7)