I’ve been reading Mohammed El-Kurd’s Perfect Victims. He’s a Palestinian from Jerusalem and a poet. I don’t quite know how to describe the book: it’s not poetry, but only a poet could write it; it’s partly a work of consciousness, partly political science, partly a collage of scenes witnessed over a lifetime.
Perfect Victims sets its own terms. It refuses discussions set up as traps from the outset. El-Kurd shows how Palestinians are endlessly asked to “prove their humanity”, a demand doomed to fail in a context built on disingenuous assumptions that put them on the back foot. As he puts it, “My mission is not to clear my name from false accusations; rather it is to unmask the deceit and duplicity of my accusers.” Fighting back with logic against illogical attacks, he warns, only “unwittingly legitimizes insidiousness.”
Above all, it’s honest. El-Kurd sets his sights on the bigger truths. He speaks in the way that institutions, statesmen, or expert witnesses can’t; in the way that only poets can. Sometimes he pulls no punches; when needed, his critique is comradely too. In reading him, I recognize some of the traps I’ve fallen into myself. We’ve all learned to second-guess ourselves, bracing for well-rehearsed critiques delivered in bad faith. I wonder, for example, if I’ve overstepped as an editor by asking colleagues to change the language they use to describe their own reality.
Still, the generosity of El-Kurd’s criticism – which we have no right to expect from him, and should not take for granted – leads me to acknowledge my missteps without feeling the need to take comfort in defensiveness. Like the best writers, El-Kurd gives flesh and bones to the things you may have sensed in a flash, then quickly suppressed under the self-doubt that accompanies feeling alone in the thought. He redirects you down a path that leads to wider vistas. In other words, he offers something.
At CPT, the concept of “undoing oppressions” is a guiding principle. We build it into our work, and the expectations we hold for one another. Perhaps that word, “expectations”, is key. In our trainings, it can unravel under our egos and anxieties. For some, meeting these expectations feels like giving too much, or being measured against perceived shortcomings. We need to unsettle one another. But we also need to exchange maps that help us navigate towards each others’ doors.
