@wizard_bisan1 and AJ+ have been nominated for a Peabody Award for her coverage of Gaza. ⁣

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For over 6 months, Bisan Owda has shown the world how life in Gaza has been through her eyes. She has told the story of Palestinian survival in the face of the Israeli genocide. ⁣

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Before Oct. 7, Bisan was making films about cultural life in her native Gaza for her own YouTube channel. ⁣

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In 2023, AJ+’s @denatakruri won a Peabody Award for her story “One Day in Hebron,” which gave a firsthand account of the Israeli occupation in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank. ⁣

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And for the first time in our lives as Palestinians, we hear a voice that is louder than their voices and their bombs.

Link to the IG reel

"Thank you. Thanks for each one of you, because you've made us, me and my people, feel that we're free, we're heard, and we're going back to our homes and land."

"I've spent the whole night thinking about every video I see- you're shouting for Palestine, you are protesting for Palestine, you are dancing, singing for Palestine. I feel it here, in my head. I'm going back, and I'm free. And one day we will celebrate it in real, in Gaza, together."

"Keep going. And we will too."

Bisan Owda, journalist in Gaza , in a message to student activists, April 26, 2024

I was able to watch some of Bisan's live earlier too! She spoke about how many in Gaza are seeing what is happening across university campuses and they're so happy/cheerful about everyone coming out to support Palestine and to protest Israeli war crimes and the ongoing mass genocide against Palestinian people. She emphasized for us, as a global community, to keep going -to keep protesting, to keep boycotting, and to keep making an impact -and then I saw that she posted this video, and I wanted to talk about it here too because yes -we will never stop talking about Palestine.

See if there is an encampment near you. If you cannot join, bring food, face masks, tents, first aid supplies. If you can’t do that, find who’s organizing bail funds for your areas and donate. If you can’t do that, spread the word about actions in your area, tag your local news stations and reps in videos and share. It is making a difference.

In case you were wondering: are the campus protests even important? Do they matter? Are they making a difference?

Yes, yes. They are making a difference.

Video description: Bisan, a young Palestinian woman, is speaking directly to the camera. She is wearing a black shirt and a keffiyeh.

Video transcript (I did my best but missed a few words)

I’m 25 years old. I’ve lived my whole life in Gaza Strip. I’ve never felt hope like now. Never. I mean it’s magical feelings running in my veins right now. In my head, I’m in Gaza city, in the north of Gaza Strip rebuilding my city after this genocide has ended. Even started to dream that my friends from Yafa, Haifa (unsure), majdal, are returning to their cities after being displaced for 75 years. These young heroes in universities at America and around the world are stronger than the last occupation in history. And for the first time in our lives as Palestinians, we hear a voice louder than their voices and the sound of their bombs and even stronger than their control in all aspects of our lives. 

In the 70s, the occupation, Prime Minister said, after decades of killing Palestinians, stealing the lands, establishing the state of Israel over the lands that “the adults will die, and children will definitely forget.” 

Wait. Is that the greatest (unsure) in history? Because it’s children and youth who are leading the movement for a free Palestine. everything they have on the line to demand justice and end of the genocide, and a new era of the world, not based on oppression, exploitation or colonialism. 

Do you know what the best part is? demonstrations and calls for boycott in the academic institutions are not limited to a certain people from certain religion, culture, color, religion, race, or maybe economic level. We are all different so we can no longer be accused of anti-Semitism, serving some agendas from outside, we are just different people calling for the same thing. People to people and people to justice. 

200 days I’ve spent escaping death every single minute were not in vain. And those 40,000 innocent souls were killed during these days were not also in vain. And this is the first time to feel and tell you this. 

Keep going because you are our only hope and we promise we will hold our ground and tell you the truth always. And please, don’t let their violence scare you. In Arabic, we say (Arabic phrase). In English, that means “they don’t have other options, but trying to terrify and silence you” because you are demolishing decades of brainwashing. You are making the change. The real change. Their violence means that we’ve begun to affect them deeply. Believe me, we are in the bottom of this bottle and we’re very very close to the end of this genocide. Maybe even closer than anytime before. Thank you. Thank you for each one of you, because you made us, me and my people feel that we are free. We are heard. We’re going back to our homes, and land. 

(Through tears) I have spent the whole night thinking about every video I see, you shouting for Palestine, you protesting for Palestine, you are dancing, singing for Palestine I feel it here in my head that I am going back. And I am free, and one day, we will celebrate it in, in Gaza together. Keep going and we will too. Salaam. 

(if anyone can help with my transcript, it would be much appreciated!)

Bisan is calling for another strike April 1st 2024

No thoughts, just that these two photos of Bisan are 7 months apart

The last remaining hospital in Gaza is now under attack. Everyone is fleeing and nobody has anywhere else to go. Rafah was designated safe.

Posted 3 hours ago as of 2 am UTC January 17. She was recently live and it was cut off.

TikTok link

Free Palestine

🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

via @wizard_bisan1

21 January 2024

Hi everyone, it’s Bisan from Gaza, I am still alive Alhamdullah.. it’s been 107 days of genocide, 15 weeks, 2568 hours of killing us, taking over our homes and lands in Gaza Strip, and forcing us to choose between leaving or death.. and sometimes we can’t even choose.. the Israeli air strikes simply kill us without any warnings. Now, we are without any connection, neither the internet nor the cellular, we can’t reach each other’s inside Gaza, we don’t know if our families and friends are alive or not, wounded or not.. still in their places or not! We take hours of walking and searching to reach someone, while moving became very risky! We can’t reach to you as well! The footage, information and news from Gaza are not reaching you as before because the Israeli army intentionally destroyers the signal towers and the servers, even using the E-SIM requires being in a high place which is very risky!. I borrowed this vest to upload this post! I am not scared of death, but of being displaced, scared of losing my family or friends, scared of being wounded and can’t have my treatment because the health system is collapsed in Gaza, and to die in pain! I am not scared of the destruction.. I lost my work place.. my home and my family work place and source of income, I am terrified of being killed by an occupier, and to be forgotten, one oppressed Bisan of a whole occupied people. The strongest governments and weapons manufacturers are supporting this genocide against my people, and you are our only hope! STRIKE globally and call for a ceasefire! Strike, protest, stop the economic movements and make pressure on your countries to stand against this and stop it, if ISRAhell don’t find the financial and weapons support, or governments to hide their crimes they will be forced to stop the genocide! Go to the streets, protest and Globally strike for a week, (21-28) January! YALLA Brave and free people of the world, CEASEFIRE NOW!

[ID: A video recording of Bisan Owda, filming herself standing still and speaking in front of a car underneath the morning sky in Gaza, with the sun visible above her head. Loud sirens can be heard around her as she says:

"Hey, everyone. This is Bisan from Gaza. We're still alive, and we wish you a merry Christmas in the Christmas eve. Wish you a merry Christmas despite the churches of Gaza are closed, full of displaced people, and surrounded with snipers. We wish you a merry Christmas despite the children, women, men, Christians and Muslims of Gaza are murdered and under genocide. We wish you a merry Christmas despite that we cannot exchange gifts or spend our holidays in our homes because they are completely destroyed, and merry Christmas despite there are hundreds of killed, decomposed bodies in the the north of Gaza Strip in the streets, at least 137 them are field executed by the Israeli soldiers in front of their children. Merry Christmas, but pray for Gaza."

End ID.]

Please think about why these videos are coming out in English. In your tongue, so that you can understand them. Don't ignore them or get tired of seeing them or call them guilt-trippy. Don't stop talking about Palestine. Make Palestine impossible to ignore. Even at the cost of "disrupting" your celebrations.

"I'm 25 years old, I've lived my whole life in Gaza Strip, and I've never felt hope like now."

"And for the first time in our lives as Palestinians, we hear a voice louder than [the occupation], louder than their bombs, and even stronger than their control in every aspect of our lives."

This is Bisan Owda (@wizard_bisan1 on IG), she's a young journalist who's been documenting the daily life in Gaza, Palestine since before October of last year and continues to do so now, as her and her family have been displaced by Israel, her home and workplace destroyed in the bombings. If you don't already follow her, I highly suggest to do so, as she takes interviews from the local people in the refugee camps and provides a fantastic insight into Palestinians as a nation, their culture and the horrors they face under the Israeli apartheid regime in their own land.🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

"ummm the global strike was called on such short notice we need more time to plan ahead this just isn't gonna work it feels like slacktivism :///" hmm lets try to figure out why a palestinian journalist in gaza who has been documenting her own genocide for the past hundred fucking days called for a global strike on short notice during a livestream while the hospital she was sheltering in was being attacked and she believed she was going to be killed that night. lets think about it. lets put our thinking caps on. lets sit down in our thinking chair and think think think