The International Coordinating Committee of the World Poetry Movement (WPM) has warned and made a strong call that “the world and Palestine are in great danger. We must intervene, speak out, and act. It is of the utmost urgency, and we cannot leave Palestine fighting alone.” The meeting concluded that this is also the voice of committed poets worldwide. As a response, WPM, the global forum of world poets, organizations, and festivals, has announced a virtual World Conference for Palestine on 15-16 June 2024.

Since October 2023, Gaza and all of Palestine have been subjected to genocide, crimes, and massacres against the Palestinian people, resulting in 35 thousand martyrs, including more than 135 writers and journalists. Over one hundred thousand Palestinians have been injured, and thousands have disappeared and been imprisoned. The war continues with the occupation agenda of massacres, more killings, destruction, and deportation of people from their national soil.

Fernando Rendon, the General Coordinator of the World Poetry Movement, said in his letter to President Mahmoud Abbas: “Every death in Palestine is a death of humanity.” So, we need to urgently act to show our support to the people of Palestine. It is time for us to stand firm with the absolute standards and values of justice, the dignity of writers, and the self-determination of the people. How can our pen burst to portray what does not exist in the old legends and not even in the recorded history of crimes that were letters of subjugation? And how can we converse about the rivers of blood seeping down the corridors of the guillotine prepared for imposing individuals entangled in a free country on the rise? What shall we say about the destruction, the torture of women and children, and the strain of horror, moans, and groans?

Attacking innocent people in Gaza by the Israeli occupation while the great powers are silenced is genocide. The financial and weapons support by the United States and other countries to the Israeli occupation force has enabled genocide. So, some questions arise: Are we human beings, or is it simply a glowing destiny that is barred from existence? Do we have the right to live safely in our countries, or is our right engraved on the graves of death without a shroud?

We also ask, how can Palestinian people and Palestinian writers and journalists live in Gaza and throughout Palestine with systemic Israeli terrorism? They are dejected and are suffering the horror of the scene. They could die in a second while covering the atrocities of the Israeli occupation. Enough is enough; seventy-five years of occupation is enough; stealing the land of Palestinian people, killing them, and destroying their homes is enough.

The World Poetry Movement is an organization that gained momentum through its strong and unreserved stance in supporting the Palestinian struggle through poetry, demonstrations, statements, and resolutions. All its distinguished poet members took such important actions, and they can still act to achieve justice by stopping the war and ending the latest occupation.

WORLD CONFERENCE FOR PALESTINE

The World Conference for Palestine can add to the body of justice a clear path to freedom. It is an answer and a challenge to the United States and the great powers that support the occupation and provide more destructive weapons. The importance of the word and its strong impact on people, as well as the role of artists, writers, thinkers, and academics as individuals and collective power, are basic elements in making the Conference possible. The World Conference for Palestine is essential and of the utmost urgency.

The Conference aims to invite poets, writers, artists, intellectuals, and politicians to meet and discuss the necessary ways to protect the Palestinian people. A two-day meeting, with interventions and expert analysis, will seek to contribute to an era of solutions to the current critical situation and exert more pressure to stop the war and the withdrawal of the occupation from Gaza.

The Conference will be attended by WPM poets and renowned artists, writers, and thinkers. Guests of honor include Miguel Diaz-Canel, President of Cuba; Nicolas Maduro, President of Venezuela; Gustavo Petro, President of Colombia; Abdelmadjid Tebboune, President of Algeria; Mahmoud Abbas, President of Palestine; Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland; Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, Fortune Charumbira, Chief of Pan-African Parliament, and Juan David Correa, Minister of Culture of Colombia.

Some of the confirmed guests are:

Rawhi Fattuh (Head of Palestine National Counciĺ), Dr.Nariman Far (Palestine), Freddy Ñánez (Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela), Abel Prieto (Cuba), Boaventura De Sousa (Portugal), Samar Alghoul (Palestine), Gilles Devers (France), Rafael Araya Masry (Argentina), Yusuf Abd Al Aziz (Palestine), Anwar Al Khatib (Palestine), Hindu Anderi (Lebanon/Venezuela), Ghadeer Abusneineh (Palestine), Abd Al Halim Ghazal (Egypt), Jaime Caicedo (Colombia), Bassel Ismail Salem (Cuba), Graciela Ramirez, (Cuba), Alma Alvarado (México), Mauricio Jaramillo (Colombia), Ashraf Fayad, (Palestine), Murad Sudani (Palestine), Ibrahim Nasrallah (Jordan), Hanan Awwad (Palestine), Antonio Gamoneda (Spain), Mohammed Achaari (Morocco), Adamou Ide (Niger), Gustavo Pereira (Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela), Zolani Mkiva (South Africa), Vadim Terekhin (Russia), María Ángeles Pérez López (Spain), Gabriel Jaime Franco (Colombia), Christos Koukis (Greece), Fadil Oktay (Turkey), Ashraf Aboul-Yazid (Egypt), Rati Saxena (India), Keshab Sigdel (Nepal), Khalib Raissouni (Morocco), Khaled Indi (Venezuela), Ali Al Ameri (Palestine/Jordan), Saley Boubé Bali (Niger), Siphiwe Nzima (Lesotho), Gabo Sequeira (Argentina).

A statement will be issued to be sent to world governments, international organizations, and the world’s media. The World Conference for Palestine will be held virtually, in the space provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, for two days, 15-16 June 2024.

This intervention is a vital fight. When the word is a sword, it cannot be chained. It will float through all walls and barriers to enlighten people and create justice. As the great poet Mahmoud Darwish said, “Our poems have no melody, no color, no flavor, no voice, if they do not hold the torch from home to home, from house to house.”

Coordinating Committee
WORLD POETRY MOVEMENT (WPM)