Featured Books
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Jahan Malek Khatun
USD $ 16.00This book presents the first extensive English study and translation of the poetry of Jahan Malek Khatun, a fourteenth-century Persian princess and one of the most important women in the history of Persian literature. Translator Sheema Kalbasi first introduced Jahan Malek Khatun to the general English-speaking audience in 2008 through her anthology Seven Valleys of Love: A Bilingual Anthology of Women Poets from Medieval Persia to Present Day Iran, which marked the earliest appearance of Jahan’s poetry in English translation. Her surviving divan, which contains more than a thousand ghazals along with qasidas and shorter lyric forms, offers an unparalleled window into the intellectual, emotional, and cultural world of a noblewoman who wrote with clarity, restraint, and philosophical depth during a period of profound political instability.
The volume introduces readers to the historical and literary contexts that shaped her life and work, and it situates her authorship within a long Iranian tradition in which women participated in governance, education, and artistic patronage from the ancient empires through the Islamic period. It recreates the refined yet precarious milieu of fourteenth-century Shiraz, where poetry functioned not only as an aesthetic practice but also as a medium of political expression and ethical contemplation.
Through close readings, the book explores the disciplined craft of Jahan Malek Khatun’s ghazals. Her poetry turns repeatedly to a stable constellation of images, such as wind, candle, threshold, and healer, that guide the reader through themes of longing, moral endurance, sovereignty, and judgment. Each couplet acts as a brief meditation, and the poems together form a sustained inquiry into the relationship between beauty, discipline, and survival.
The study also examines the transmission of her work, the role of women as readers and preservers of literary culture, and the challenges inherent in translating a voice shaped by both privilege and constraint. Through this analysis and the accompanying translations, Jahan Malek Khatun emerges as a major intellectual presence and an essential figure for understanding the richness and complexity of the Persian lyric tradition.
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We Are Still Here
USD $ 7.99 USD $ 27.00Price range: USD $ 7.99 through USD $ 27.00Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
We Are Still Here
USD $ 7.99 USD $ 27.00Price range: USD $ 7.99 through USD $ 27.00Since the start of the unfolding genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, carried out through settler-colonial Israeli violence, higher education institutions have been systematically destroyed. Campuses lie in ruins, academics and students have been killed or forcibly displaced, and what was once a thriving, intellectually vibrant student population now lives under daily threat of bombardment, forced starvation, and death. For nearly two years, students have been cut off not only from their universities, but from their dreams, their futures, and even their most basic sense of safety.
Yet, despite this unimaginable trauma, many are still writing.
We Are Still Here is an anthology of these voices—raw, unfiltered, and courageous. It features short and long stories, poems, essays, and testimonies written by students from Gaza’s universities. These are not retrospective reflections or distant analyses; they are real-time words, emerging from the depths of genocide, displacement, and grief. These writings may be their last hopes to reach the world, a final act of resistance through expression.
You can listen to our conversation with the student contributors here
Or you can subscribe to Daraja Press podcasts wherever you get your podcasts
All royalties from the sales of this book go to the student authors in Gaza.
Surviving at the darkest extremes of suffering, of destruction and displacement, famine and the constant threat of maiming or death, these young writers speak to us with piercing lucidity. Their resilience is their only form of optimism. Paradoxically, reading them lifts the heart.
– Ian McEwan, author of Atonement and Enduring LoveA moving, painful and yet hopeful collection of the younger generation of the people of Gaza. Sumud, resilience, was never so powerful and clear, as it appears in this must read and urgent collection. —Ilan Pappé, professor, University of Exeter’s College of Social Sciences and International Studies, author, A Very Short History of the Israel-Palestine Conflict
In the heart of suffering, words are born — and from beneath the rubble, creativity rises. This book is more than a collection of written pages; it is the echo of resilient souls and the cries of pens that spoke when voices were silenced. — Professor Dr. Omar Kh. Melad, President of Al-Azhar University– Gaza
We Are Still Here is not a book about war — it is a book about being alive after the world has decided you are already gone, written in rooms that may no longer stand. These pages are dispatches from the thin edge of the present: letters from hunger, fragments of interrupted lives, flashes of hope so unyielding it burns. Here, young people shape the record of their time on earth, knowing that their time may be short. You will not leave this book with the comfort of closure. It will stay with you long after the final page has turned. — Leila Sansour, filmmaker and founder of Open Bethlehem
These Gaza poignant reflections in prose and poetry from the midst of genocide are both heart-rending and full of life and promise. Israel may have physically killed many of their young authors, but will never kill their words, which live on in this powerful collection of their writings. — Ghada Karmi.
Death is not an ideation for these young writers, but an everyday reality. This collection is a testimony to the power of words. It reveals how love, creativity and hope can galvanise us against fear and inaction. — Selma Dabbagh, author of the novel Out of It and editor of the anthology We Wrote in Symbols; Love and Lust by Arab Women Writers.
Sara Alkhaldy, one of the contributors to We Are Still Here, a new Gazan anthology of student writing, says: ‘I wish I could bottle the scent of our home and take it with me as I left.’ Rula Elkhair writes of studying during displacement: ‘Even in places with no electricity, no water and no stable internet, I installed an eSIM on my phone and climbed to the rooftop under buzzing drones to download lectures. I took exams in cafés by the sea. I studied while hungry, while afraid, while grieving.’ — Selma Dabbagh in London Review of BooksKnowledge of the Relevant Facts
You can find the French language edition here: Nous Sommes Toujours Là
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Nous sommes toujours là
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Nous sommes toujours là
USD $ 18.00Depuis le début du génocide contre les Palestiniens à Gaza, mené par la violence coloniale israélienne, les établissements d’enseignement supérieur ont été systématiquement détruits. Les campus sont en ruines, les universitaires et les étudiants ont été tués ou déplacés de force, et ce qui était autrefois une population étudiante florissante et intellectuellement dynamique vit maintenant sous la menace quotidienne de bombardement, de famine forcée et de mort. Pendant près de deux ans, les étudiants ont été coupés non seulement de leurs universités, mais aussi de leurs rêves, de leur avenir et même de leur sentiment de sécurité le plus élémentaire.
Pourtant, malgré ce traumatisme inimaginable, beaucoup écrivent encore.
Nous sommes toujours là est une anthologie de ces voix – brutes, non filtrées et courageuses. Il présente des histoires courtes et longues, des poèmes, des essais et des témoignages écrits par des étudiants des universités de Gaza. Ce ne sont pas des réflexions rétrospectives ou des analyses à distance ; ce sont des mots en temps réel, émergeant des profondeurs du génocide, du déplacement et du deuil. Ces écrits peuvent être leurs derniers espoirs d’atteindre le monde, un dernier acte de résistance par l’expression.
Les droits d’auteur de la vente de ce livre sont intégralement reversés aux étudiants auteurs de Gaza.
Survivant aux extrêmes les plus sombres de la souffrance, de la destruction et du déplacement, de la famine et de la menace constante de mutilation ou de mort, ces jeunes écrivains nous parlent avec une lucidité perçante. Leur résilience est leur seule forme d’optimisme. Paradoxalement, les lire soulève le cœur.
– Ian McEwan, auteur d’Expiation et d’Amour ÉternelUn recueil bouleversant, douloureux et pourtant plein d’espoir, de la jeune génération du peuple de Gaza. Le Sumud, la résilience, n’a jamais été aussi puissant et clair qu’il ne l’apparaît dans cette collection incontournable et urgente. —Ilan Pappé, professeur au Collège des Sciences Sociales et des Études Internationales de l’Université d’Exeter, auteur de Une histoire très courte du conflit israélo-palestinien
Au cœur de la souffrance, les mots naissent — et sous les décombres, la créativité s’élève. Ce livre est plus qu’un recueil de pages écrites ; c’est l’écho d’âmes résilientes et le cri de plumes qui ont parlé lorsque les voix ont été réduites au silence. — Professeur Dr. Omar Kh. Melad, Président de l’Université Al-Azhar de Gaza
Nous Sommes Toujours Là n’est pas un livre sur la guerre — c’est un livre sur le fait d’être en vie après que le monde a décidé que vous avez déjà disparu, écrit dans des pièces qui ne tiennent peut-être plus debout. Ces pages sont des dépêches du fil étroit du présent : des lettres de la faim, des fragments de vies interrompues, des éclairs d’espoir si inflexibles qu’ils brûlent. Ici, des jeunes gens façonnent le témoignage de leur temps sur terre, sachant que leur temps peut être court. Vous ne quitterez pas ce livre avec le confort d’une conclusion. Il restera avec vous bien après que la dernière page aura été tournée. — Leila Sansour, réalisatrice et fondatrice d’Open Bethlehem
Ces réflexions poignantes de Gaza, en prose et en poésie, du milieu d’un génocide, sont à la fois déchirantes et pleines de vie et de promesse. Israël a peut-être physiquement tué nombre de leurs jeunes auteurs, mais il ne tuera jamais leurs mots, qui vivent dans ce puissant recueil de leurs écrits. — Ghada Karmi.
La mort n’est pas une idée pour ces jeunes écrivains, mais une réalité quotidienne. Ce recueil témoigne de la puissance des mots. Il révèle comment l’amour, la créativité et l’espoir peuvent nous galvaniser contre la peur et l’inaction. — Selma Dabbagh, auteure du roman Out of It et éditrice de l’anthologie We Wrote in Symbols; Love and Lust by Arab Women Writers.
Sara Alkhaldy, l’une des contributrices de Nous Sommes Toujours Là, une nouvelle anthologie d’écrits d’étudiants de Gaza, déclare : “Je voudrais pouvoir mettre en bouteille l’odeur de notre maison et l’emporter avec moi en partant.” Rula Elkhair écrit à propos des études pendant le déplacement : “Même dans des endroits sans électricité, sans eau et sans internet stable, j’ai installé un eSIM sur mon téléphone et je suis montée sur le toit sous le bourdonnement des drones pour télécharger des cours. J’ai passé des examens dans des cafés au bord de la mer. J’ai étudié en ayant faim, en ayant peur, en étant en deuil.” — Selma Dabbagh dans la London Review of Books Connaissance des Faits Pertinents
La version anglaise de ce livre est disponible ici : We Are Still Here
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Lines of Fire (2nd Edition)
USD $ 50.00Lines of Fire: Recovering the Lost Arsenal of Anti-Colonial Poetry
Born in Tashkent , forged in clandestine presses, and echoing in today’s streets—this is the recovered front line of a global poetic resistance.
In 1958, at the Afro-Asian Writers’ Conference in Tashkent, a 90-year-old W.E.B. Du Bois stood before the decolonizing world and declared: “I am an American—I am an African.” It was a moment of radical, transnational self-definition.
From that conference emerged a literary movement and its journal, The Call—a direct line for poets from Algiers to Hanoi, Cairo to Beijing, to speak to one another, bypassing the languages and borders of their colonial masters. Though the movement later fractured under Cold War pressures, its two wings—The Call and the Soviet-backed Lotus—remained united in their stand against Zionism, racism, and empire.
Their poetry, often crafted under threat of torture, exile, and surveillance, became a clandestine weapon. Some of it was passed hand to hand, read aloud in underground meetings, and chanted at mass gatherings from Delhi to Ramallah, Cape Town to Gaza.
Now, for the first time, this vital corpus is restored. Lines of Fire, edited by Tariq Mehmood—former leading defendant in the landmark Bradford 12 case and now professor at the American University of Beirut—gathers these living weapons into a single, incendiary anthology. In an age of resurgent fascism and genocide, these voices speak with renewed, unyielding force: their anguish, rage, love, and hope are as urgent now as the day they were penned.
Why This Book Is Essential:
- A Lost Canon, Recovered: Features seminal, often inaccessible work by giants like Mahmoud Darwish, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Leopold Senghor, Adunis, , Ousmane Sembène, and dozens more from across Africa and Asia.
- Drawn from Rare Sources: Poems curated from scarce issues of The Call and Lotus, long out of print and hidden in archives.
- A Groundbreaking Scholarly Frame: Includes a major introduction tracing the movement’s history, its surveillance by the CIA, the impact of the Sino-Soviet split, and a radical re-examination of solidarity.
- Built to Last & Teach: Published in archival-quality hardcover for libraries, scholars, and lifelong activists. An indispensable text for courses in Decolonial Studies, Global South Literatures, Cold War History, and Postcolonial Poetry.
A Call to Arms for a New Generation.
Edited by Tariq Mehmood, this collection includes poems by:
Salah Abdel Sabour (1931-1981, Ali Ahmad Said Esber, also known as Adunis (1930- ), Mulk Raj Anand (1905-2004), Anar Rasul oghlu Rzayef (1938- ), Nobuo Ayukawa (1920-1986), Fadhil al-Azzawi (1940- ), Abd Al-Wahhab al-Bayati (1926-1999), Mahim Bora (1917- ), Bernard Binlin Dadié (1916- ), Mahmoud Darwish (1942-2008), Osamu Dazai (1909-1948), Mário Pinto de Andrade (1928-1990), D.B. Dhanapala (1905-1971), Mohammed Dib (1920-2003), Gevorg Emin (1918-1998), Sengiin Erdene (1929-2000), Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-1984), Rasul Gamzatov (1923-2003), Daniil Granin (1919- ), Colette Anna Gregoire, better known as Anna Greki (1931-1966), Malek Haddad (1927-1978), Pham Ba Ngoan, better known by his pen name Thanh Hai (1930-1980), Buland al-Haidari (1926-1996), Suheil Idris (1925-2008), Yusuf Idris (1927-1991), Fazil Iskander (1929- ), Zulfiya Isroilova (1915-1996), Ali Sardar Jafri (1913-2000), Ghassan Kanafani (1936-1972), Edward al-Kharrat (1926- 2015), Hajime Kijima (1928-2004), Mazisi Kunene (1930-2006), Alex La Guma (1925-1985), U Gtun Kyi, better known by his pen name Minn Latt Yekhaun (1925-1985), Abdul Hayee better known by his pen name Sahir Lundhianvi (1921-1980), Zaki Naguib Mahmoud (1905-1993), Nazik Al-Malaika (1923-2007), Mouloud Mammeri (1917-1989), Yuri Nagibin (1920-1994), Sergey Narovchatov (1919-1981), Dashdorjiin Natsagdorj (1906-1937), Hiroshi Noma (1915-1991), Gabriel jibaba Okara (1921- ), Amrita Pritam (1919-2005), Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo (1901-1937), Richard Rive (1931-1989), Rady Saddouk (1938-2010), Badr Shakir al-Sayyab (1926-1964), Ousmane Sembene (1923- 2007), Leopold Sedar Senghor (1906-2001), Yusuf al-Sibai (1917-1978), Fadwa Tuqan (1917-2003), Sonomyn Udval (1921-1991), Ramses Younan (1913-1966), and Tawfiq Ziad (1929-1994).
#AfroAsianWritersMovement #Lotusjournal #TheCalljournal #NonAlignedMovement #BandungConference #Tashkent1958 #ColdWarculturalhistory #SinoSovietsplit #antiimperialism #anticolonialpoetry #resistanceliterature #resistancepoetry #revolutionarysolidarity #antiracism #antiZionism #settlercolonialism #racialviolence #genocide #GlobalSouthliterature #Africanpoetry #Asianpoetry #Arabpoetry #Palestinianliterature #SouthAsianliterature #AfricanLiterature #Arabpoets #Africanwriters #AfroAsiansolidarity #WEBDuBois #politicalpoetry #20thcenturypoetry
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Spring Revolution in Myanmar
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Spring Revolution in Myanmar
USD $ 18.00Myanmar is synonymous with ethnic conflicts, brutal military repression and insurgencies. The ongoing civil war against the junta has been described as the longest and one of the most violent conflicts in the world today with a growing humanitarian crisis.
This book celebrates the spirit of defiance, resilience and enormous courage of the Burmese people in the face of the military regime’s extreme violence. It is a window into the world of Burmese resistance and the myriad cultural expressions that it has taken ever since the February 2021 coup. Crowdfunded by the Burmese diaspora, but largely ignored by the international community, this is a resistance where every cultural form – poems, songs and even tattoos – has been explored as a weapon.
The regime has tried to ban these songs of resistance, and persecuted and even executed artists, musicians and poets. But as poet Khet Thi (1986-2021) said, before he was killed by the junta, “You try to bury us underground, because you don’t know that we are the seeds.”
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Viyyukka – The Morning Star
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Viyyukka – The Morning Star
USD $ 20.00Viyyukka: The Morning Star is a rare and compelling anthology of stories written in Telugu over four decades by nearly fifty Maoist women revolutionaries in India. The title, Viyyukka, is a Gondi word meaning morning star. This collection is unique because these narratives are not traditional fiction; they are “lived experiences written from within the movement” while the authors served as guerrilla soldiers, often under extreme duress.
The stories offer a vital glimpse into the human dimensions of armed struggle, highlighting the agency, resilience, and moral consciousness of the women participants. The authors, active in India’s ongoing revolutionary conflict, document everything from tactical and ideological engagements to intimate realities such as love, loss, and camaraderie within their squads.
At its core, the Morning Star series centers on the fierce struggle for survival: of people, forests, rivers, and a way of life. The narratives capture how local struggles against exploitation and dispossession evolved into a wider movement challenging the “Iron Heel of the Indian State” and global capital.
Geographically rooted in Central Indian regions like Dandakaranya, the book vividly portrays the Adivasi (indigenous) resistance for the defense of jal, jangal, and jameen (water, forest, and land). The resistance documented in these pages, particularly against corporate mining and state repression, shares a “common thread” with the struggles of indigenous communities across the globe, positioning this collective testimony as a crucial document of resistance against colonial and capitalist forces.
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Flames of the Cherry Tree
USD $ 12.00 USD $ 22.00Price range: USD $ 12.00 through USD $ 22.00Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
Flames of the Cherry Tree
USD $ 12.00 USD $ 22.00Price range: USD $ 12.00 through USD $ 22.00The year is 1940, and the winds of change stir in the valley of Kashmir. Aafreen Khan is a young girl that dreams to be a doctor like her beloved grandfather, defying the boundaries of convention as a Muslim and a woman in a country rigged against her. But as the partition of India looms closer, Kashmir reels under the weight of greed and power, and Aafreen is swept into the whirlwind of a story much larger than her own. When love, loss, and revolution reshape her entire world, Aafreen learns the terrible truth of what it means to survive.
Flames of the Cherry Tree is a sweeping, intimate portrait of a young woman’s coming-of-age against the backdrop of colonialism, rebellion, and the violent birth of today’s occupied Kashmir. At once tender and unflinching, it traces the story of one family through oppression and resistance, illuminating the forgotten histories that have shaped Kashmir and the hope that survives in its people.
Leena Khan speaks about her first novel ‘Flames of the Cherry Tree’
A lyrical, unflinching novel that rebuilds Kashmir from beneath the rubble of empire — a testament to the people who refused to disappear.
– Tariq Mehmood, author, The Second ComingLight and tender yet deeply haunting, this luminous tale of friendship and love unfolds in Kashmir against the gathering darkness of partition and local political churnings, bearing witness to both the radiant beauty of young love and the unspeakable horrors unleashed when hatred fractures a subcontinent along religious lines.
– Anuradha Bhasin, Managing Editor of the Kashmir TimesA hauntingly beautiful tale of loss and resilience where the author masterfully weaves history with humanity. Tender, brave, and unforgettable.
—Rumana Makhdoomi, author of Warriors and Falcons: Life Sketches of 100 Outstanding Kashmiri DoctorsSelect options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page -
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We Are Still Not Counted As Human
S’bu Zikode’s reflections chronicle the profound struggle of Abahlali baseMjondolo (residents of the shacks), the largest popular movement to emerge in South Africa since apartheid. Founded in Durban in 2005, the movement now boasts over 180,000 members organised into more than 100 branches across four provinces (as of September 2025).
The movement arose from a deep disappointment following the initial promise of democracy, realizing that “freedom and the African National Congress (ANC) were two different things”. The poor were immediately excluded from public life and discussions about their own lives, often treated as “criminals” or “rubbish”. This systematic dehumanisation—where their very presence was deemed criminal—showed that democracy, in practice, referred primarily to the middle class and the rich.
At the heart of Abahlali baseMjondolo’s organizing is the non-negotiable demand for the recognition of their humanity and dignity. They built their foundation on the principles and values of ubuntu, viewing dignity as requiring respectful engagement and full participation in decision-making—not merely accepting ‘service delivery’. They insist on thinking and speaking for themselves, adopting the slogan ‘nothing for us, without us’.
AbM developed a unique ‘politics of the poor’ to create a space for the impoverished to think together, build power, and advance their interests outside of political parties or trade unions. The goal is establishing a democratic socialism built from below—a “living communism”—grounded in community praxis.
This struggle has been met with intense repression, including police violence, torture, criminalisation, and assassinations, with more than twenty lives lost. The state’s actions, intended to teach the poor to “know their place,” instead taught them that democracy was not for them, reinforcing the need to organize and be strong together. The movement continues to fight for the destruction of the capitalist system and the reconstruction of a new system centred on the humanity and dignity of all people.
STOP PRESS: Citation of Honour to S’bu Zikode.
29 October 2025
Human Rights Commission Presents a Citation of Honour to S’bu Zikode
Today the South African Human Rights Commission presented a Citation of Honour to S’bu Zikode.
Professor Tshepo Madlingozi, who presented the citation, specifically noted our movement’s work for land reparation, spatial justice and food sovereignty, and our commitment to oppose xenophobia and gender-based violence. He praised our movement as “true advocates of human rights, the restoration of dignity, and full liberation” and said that Zikode’s “legacy will forever guide and inspire future generations”.
In his acceptance speech Zikode accepted the Citation of Honour on behalf of the movement saying that “An award for me is also an award for the movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo, and for the determination and courage of all the people of South Africa — and all those who have kept our movement going for twenty years despite the challenges we continue to face.” He dedicated the award to the 25 comrades who have lost their lives in the course of our struggle.
Later, speaking to the leadership of the movement he said that “I am forever grateful to the red sea that has carried me over and over. I deeply appreciate you all.”
Our movement welcomes this award of a Citation of Honour to our president. It is an important recognition of the justice and power of our struggle, and the determination and courage of our members. In a time in which human rights are coming under sustained attack from right-wing forces, in and out of the ANC, we reaffirm our solidarity with the Commission, with the Socio-Economic Rights Institute and with all other human rights organisations under attack from the right.
The rights and dignity of every person must be respected – without exception – and we need to build a united front in support of this principle.
Contact:
Thapelo Mohapi 084 576 5117
Snenhlanhla Mcanyana 073 832 331
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Ancestral Daughter
USD $ 15.00 USD $ 25.00Price range: USD $ 15.00 through USD $ 25.00Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
Ancestral Daughter
USD $ 15.00 USD $ 25.00Price range: USD $ 15.00 through USD $ 25.00Ancestral Daughter is a poignant collection of free-verse poetry by Palestinian writer Zeina Jhaish, exploring themes of diaspora, identity, resistance, and love. Through vivid imagery and raw emotion, Jhaish navigates her dual existence as a Palestinian woman from Gaza living in the diaspora, weaving personal and collective histories into her verses. The book is divided into two parts: “Ancestral,” which delves into exile, land, and the trauma of occupation, and “Daughter,” which reflects on womanhood, heartbreak, and rebirth. Poems like “Haifa on 85th Avenue” and “Godforsaken Homes” juxtapose longing for homeland with the alienation of displacement, while “Being a Palestinian Woman: A Guide” celebrates resilience. Jhaish honors her heritage, mourns ongoing violence, and clings to hope, dedicating the work to Gaza and Palestinian martyrs. Blending English and Arabic, her poetry is a testament to ancestral love and the unyielding spirit of her people.
20% of the income from e-book orders will be donated to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.
If you are a bookstore, please get in touch with [email protected] for special offers.
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Twenty Years of Courage and Struggle
Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM) is the remarkable story of the South African shack dwellers movement, covering twenty years of courageous struggle. It is the largest movement to have emerged in South Africa after apartheid and one of the largest movements of the urban poor globally, boasting over 180,000 members across four provinces.
AbM emerged from the margins of South Africa’s cities, where residents faced life-threatening conditions, including shack fires, poverty, and systemic betrayal by the democratic state regarding land and housing. The movement is firmly committed to ethical principles, fighting not only for the right to the city but for the right to collectively occupy land and build occupations collectively. Abahlali insists on a humanist philosophy—”no one is illegal, everyone thinks and everyone must be counted and heard”—and works to build democracy and socialism from below.
Abahlali is abolition in action, seeking to interrupt capitalist logic by advocating for the total decommodification of land, recognizing it as a public good allocated based on human need. This commitment has led to significant victories, including securing land, providing services (like water and electricity), and winning a landmark Constitutional Court case against the unlawful Slums Act.
However, this quest for dignity has come at a tremendous cost, marked by severe repression, police violence, and the assassination of many activists by state forces and party thugs. Despite these challenges, AbM has persisted, developing occupations into working communes (such as eKhenana) that feature collective production, community halls, and political schools. Their story is a map for movements fighting inequality and authoritarianism globally. The movement continues to build collective power and struggle for a world where land, wealth, and power are shared on an equal basis.
“Your movement has shown the world that democracy extends beyond elections to a way of living together—through open assemblies and collective decision making. In doing so, you have advanced a vision grounded in humanity, solidarity, and courage. Your struggle has always been internationalist, and your solidarity with the people of Palestine, Swaziland, and the Congo, and the warm relations you have built with movements around the world, are exemplary.” Jeremy Corbyn in https://rajpatel.org/2025/10/13/4764/
The movement continues to grow, discovering that more and more settlements function better not when they function as an association of residents but as a commune. Agroecology is cropping up in more and more settlements thanks to exchanges with the MST. It’s a demonstration that when the wretched of the earth organize themselves without mediation, without NGO managers or academic gatekeepers, they can survive what would destroy any formation dependent on elite patronage. … This is the lesson Abahlali offers the world: genuine democracy is possible, but only when everyone thinks, everyone counts, everyone cares, and everyone acts. Raj Patel Everybody Thinks, Everybody Counts, Everybody Cares, Everybody Acts: Twenty Years of Abahlalism
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We Are Still Here in Gaza
We Are Still Here, published by Daraja Press, was launched today 15 January 2026 in Gaza, with authors who contributed to the book. In this podcast, we talk with student contributors (and the editors of the anthology) about Since the…
Leena Khan speaks about her first novel ‘Flames of the Cherry Tree’
Welcome to the Daraja Press Podcast. Firoze: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be. This is Firoze Manji from Daraja Press. Today I have the honor of speaking to the author of this extraordinary novel, Flames of the Cherry Tree. It’s…
Review: Gaza Held in Time: A Tapestry of Two Lives
Great review of this extraordinary book by Nayibe Siwady in the Montreal Review of Books Fall 2025 https://mtlreviewofbooks.ca. Here are extracts from the review: Gaza Held in Time: A Tapestry of Two Lives is a powerful recollection of memories –…
🎉 Exciting News: Our New Website Is Live! 🎉
We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our brand-new website, designed to make discovering fantastic books and podcasts easier than ever! 📚🎧 Whether you’re searching for your next great read, a thought-provoking podcast, or hidden gems in your favorite genres,…
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