1 00:00:05,560 --> 00:00:09,060 Good morning everyone. Welcome back to English 2 00:00:09,060 --> 00:00:11,500 Pottery at the Islamic University of Gaza occupied 3 00:00:11,500 --> 00:00:13,240 Palestine. 4 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:19,140 Today we move from the Victorian Age to the early 5 00:00:19,140 --> 00:00:20,600 20th century pottery. 6 00:00:23,370 --> 00:00:26,730 Much of the poetry written in this, the first 20 7 00:00:26,730 --> 00:00:29,850 years, 30 years of the 20th century can be 8 00:00:29,850 --> 00:00:34,610 classified as war poetry or pre-war, post-war, et 9 00:00:34,610 --> 00:00:40,030 cetera. We have this poem today by an English 10 00:00:40,030 --> 00:00:45,250 -British poet, Robert Brooke. The name of the poem 11 00:00:45,250 --> 00:00:49,750 is The Soldier. Before I talk about that, before I 12 00:00:49,750 --> 00:00:51,990 talk about soldiers and war and dying for one's 13 00:00:51,990 --> 00:00:56,200 country, I want to ask you this question, this 14 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,560 first question. I'll give you one minute to think 15 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:01,780 about it and tell me what you think, what you have 16 00:01:01,780 --> 00:01:03,680 in mind. We're Palestinians, we've been under 17 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:08,770 Israeli occupation for over seven decades. In the 18 00:01:08,770 --> 00:01:14,090 past 10 years alone, Israel has waged huge 19 00:01:14,090 --> 00:01:18,990 onslaughts, committed many massacres, three major 20 00:01:18,990 --> 00:01:21,830 wars against Palestinians in Gaza, killed at least 21 00:01:21,830 --> 00:01:26,950 5,000 Palestinians, including at least 2,000 kids, 22 00:01:27,150 --> 00:01:31,920 women and elderly. You yourselves, you were born 23 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:36,160 in war, raised in war, and every couple of months 24 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:42,040 you come under heavy Israeli bombardment. That's 25 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:45,260 war, that's living war, under war, being occupied 26 00:01:45,260 --> 00:01:50,160 and oppressed. So what feelings do you have when 27 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:52,440 Gaza comes under Israeli aggression or under 28 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:57,900 Israeli war, personally? Can you tell? Think about 29 00:01:57,900 --> 00:02:01,290 it. Like honestly, how do you have a particular 30 00:02:01,290 --> 00:02:05,270 set of feelings? Do you feel this way? Do you have 31 00:02:05,270 --> 00:02:10,130 conflicted feelings? What does it mean to you to 32 00:02:10,130 --> 00:02:13,030 be living under war? Because this kind of poetry 33 00:02:13,030 --> 00:02:17,890 is very related to our lives. 34 00:02:22,990 --> 00:02:23,550 Yeah? 35 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:37,720 Take a minute, think. How did you feel two weeks 36 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:43,000 ago when Israel waged its latest attack? 37 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:49,120 How did you feel when Palestinians' 38 00:02:49,820 --> 00:02:53,880 kids, whole families were bombarded, were killed 39 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:59,330 as they slept? And also how... What do you feel or 40 00:02:59,330 --> 00:03:02,830 how do you feel usually when Palestinians respond 41 00:03:02,830 --> 00:03:07,390 to this kind of terror? When Palestinian 42 00:03:07,390 --> 00:03:11,990 resistance tries to deter Israeli aggression? 43 00:03:15,170 --> 00:03:16,550 Does it make a difference? 44 00:03:26,940 --> 00:03:29,880 Okay, I'm just giving you a moment to think. I'm 45 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:32,800 sure you already have so many things to say Okay 46 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:41,160 When when were most of you born? When? Nineteen 47 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:46,000 nine. So you lived through the second intifada 48 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:49,320 Still 49 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:54,500 yeah, you were born during the intifada Okay 50 00:03:57,010 --> 00:04:02,910 Actually when we have Israeli escalation I feel 51 00:04:02,910 --> 00:04:07,590 like I don't want to live this again because in 52 00:04:07,590 --> 00:04:14,790 the last war in 2014 my home damaged partially and 53 00:04:14,790 --> 00:04:20,690 I remember that night how we escaped from our home 54 00:04:21,420 --> 00:04:25,440 Even without wearing 55 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:30,720 the right clothes or like that. So this is 56 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:34,980 personal. War is not some pie in the sky, some 57 00:04:34,980 --> 00:04:37,460 distant experience people talk about, you read 58 00:04:37,460 --> 00:04:41,040 about, you watch on TV and movies. It's something 59 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:46,070 personal. What else? Thank you. Please. Sure, I 60 00:04:46,070 --> 00:04:49,710 feel very sorrow and sad and I search for the time 61 00:04:49,710 --> 00:04:52,010 to put the sense for all the senseless and 62 00:04:52,010 --> 00:04:54,970 restricted the word occupations in all 63 00:04:54,970 --> 00:04:57,810 dictionaries. So I think this is a chance for me 64 00:04:57,810 --> 00:05:00,630 to write more vertically to respect and erase all 65 00:05:00,630 --> 00:05:03,010 the senseless. So there's again the feeling of 66 00:05:03,010 --> 00:05:05,390 sadness, mainly sadness. Sadness, you're sad, 67 00:05:05,490 --> 00:05:06,130 you're like down. 68 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:18,940 So you decide to do something about it? So what 69 00:05:18,940 --> 00:05:25,540 kind 70 00:05:25,540 --> 00:05:28,920 of feelings do you experience? What kind of 71 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:32,700 feelings? Yes, I do feel sad for people, but I try 72 00:05:32,700 --> 00:05:35,700 as much as possible to not do this, and this is so 73 00:05:35,700 --> 00:05:38,540 bad. But I try to not let it affect my own spirit. 74 00:05:38,540 --> 00:05:42,840 So you feel detached? Yes. Okay, detached. Please. 75 00:05:43,280 --> 00:05:47,320 Maybe you, in the worst, especially you, you're 76 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:51,060 afraid not to avoid yourself, but your kids, your 77 00:05:51,060 --> 00:05:54,000 friends, your dearest one, your grandma, your 78 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:56,280 father. So feelings of fear. So you're waiting, 79 00:05:56,740 --> 00:05:57,960 you are waiting for 80 00:06:02,770 --> 00:06:05,110 You're anticipating, every moment you're 81 00:06:05,110 --> 00:06:07,030 anticipating the death of somebody you love around 82 00:06:07,030 --> 00:06:12,170 you. The feeling that death is hovering around, 83 00:06:12,390 --> 00:06:15,110 that at any time you can be just taken away 84 00:06:15,110 --> 00:06:17,830 prematurely and untimely. Please. 85 00:06:26,590 --> 00:06:29,430 So that's personal more than anything else. Does 86 00:06:29,430 --> 00:06:33,270 it get out of this? What if you're certain, nobody 87 00:06:33,270 --> 00:06:35,610 is certain here, anybody can die at any moment, 88 00:06:35,910 --> 00:06:38,830 and that's what being Palestinian is in the, not 89 00:06:38,830 --> 00:06:41,610 in the past decade, just the past seven decades. 90 00:06:43,290 --> 00:06:48,190 So is it, if you're certain that nobody you love 91 00:06:48,190 --> 00:06:50,410 is going to die, is that going to make a 92 00:06:50,410 --> 00:06:54,120 difference? The sad thing for me is that 93 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,780 everything I wrote, a short story or a poem, is 94 00:06:57,780 --> 00:07:01,980 about wars and Palestinians. So this is, again, 95 00:07:02,420 --> 00:07:06,920 some kind of a reaction to war, but at the same 96 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:10,380 time, how war is dominating us. Predominantly, 97 00:07:10,980 --> 00:07:16,120 Palestinian writings are war literature. I feel 98 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:20,900 unjustified, unfair. You feel second? unjustified 99 00:07:20,900 --> 00:07:25,080 and unheard and I feel how life could be 100 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:30,620 disordered as Israelis are asked, are questioned 101 00:07:30,620 --> 00:07:35,900 if they killed kids or not. And they are from the 102 00:07:35,900 --> 00:07:39,600 first place shouldn't be here. Okay, so the 103 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:43,680 feelings of injustice, the feeling of being left 104 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:49,890 alone, being left probably to die. There is a war 105 00:07:49,890 --> 00:07:55,210 outside and I have a war inside myself. I keep 106 00:07:55,210 --> 00:08:00,110 questioning how people can give up their humanity. 107 00:08:00,390 --> 00:08:02,770 Oh yeah, that's a very good feeling, yeah. So like 108 00:08:02,770 --> 00:08:07,390 you're like, how? Why? Why would you bomb us? Why 109 00:08:07,390 --> 00:08:10,750 would you in the first place occupy us? Why would 110 00:08:10,750 --> 00:08:14,550 you bombard like this heavily crowded area and 111 00:08:14,550 --> 00:08:18,110 kill people and kids and mothers and fathers as 112 00:08:18,110 --> 00:08:22,730 they slept. Not that any other kind of bombardment 113 00:08:22,730 --> 00:08:26,350 is justified. When you say this, we have to be 114 00:08:26,350 --> 00:08:29,590 careful when you're saying this. It shouldn't mean 115 00:08:29,590 --> 00:08:33,650 by any way that we justify or we understand the 116 00:08:33,650 --> 00:08:36,210 fact that Israel also kills resistance fighters. 117 00:08:36,870 --> 00:08:41,680 Still, this is an occupying power. Please. It 118 00:08:41,680 --> 00:08:43,920 feels like I'm stuck in a moment of time that 119 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:48,620 isn't developed for me like I cancel all my plans 120 00:08:48,620 --> 00:08:51,740 obviously and I don't know when my life will be 121 00:08:51,740 --> 00:08:54,540 resumed I keep like scrolling down news and 122 00:08:54,540 --> 00:08:56,500 reading news and like whenever there is a bombing 123 00:08:56,500 --> 00:08:58,920 we just go inside the window and try to navigate 124 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:02,240 where this is and hope our family or friends lives 125 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:05,120 there and just keep checking calling them and like 126 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:07,560 making sure that they're fine I also like wrote a 127 00:09:07,560 --> 00:09:12,060 story about about where the hospital was 128 00:09:12,060 --> 00:09:14,820 threatened to be bombed and my father father was 129 00:09:14,820 --> 00:09:17,540 there there was a bombing and we looked at it was 130 00:09:17,540 --> 00:09:19,900 like coming from that direction coming from that 131 00:09:19,900 --> 00:09:22,880 direction and we kept calling him but like he 132 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:25,760 wasn't answering and people were calling us asking 133 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:28,200 if we talked to him it just really been a moment 134 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:32,960 of This moment of futility, if you want to say 135 00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:36,400 like meaninglessness, it's like what does it mean 136 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:38,700 to be alive? It's life. That's why you stop 137 00:09:38,700 --> 00:09:40,700 everything. If you're watching a TV show, you 138 00:09:40,700 --> 00:09:42,580 stop. If you're reading a book, you stop. If 139 00:09:42,580 --> 00:09:44,860 you're doing like mostly, it doesn't mean you have 140 00:09:44,860 --> 00:09:48,180 to do this, but some people might Because they 141 00:09:48,180 --> 00:09:50,340 want to distract and detach themselves from the 142 00:09:50,340 --> 00:09:52,780 news, from the surroundings, they could do 143 00:09:52,780 --> 00:09:55,540 something like writing, like watching more TV, 144 00:09:55,900 --> 00:10:00,420 binging on some TV show you've missed, or reading 145 00:10:00,420 --> 00:10:02,880 a book or something, or at least, I don't know, 146 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:06,530 lying there asleep. Not listening to the news. 147 00:10:06,690 --> 00:10:09,270 Besides feeling terrified and sad, I started 148 00:10:09,270 --> 00:10:11,990 feeling pity to ourselves as Gazans and myself 149 00:10:11,990 --> 00:10:14,550 personally because we have the minimum stage of 150 00:10:14,550 --> 00:10:17,210 living. On Mars we only want to not to die and 151 00:10:17,210 --> 00:10:19,750 this is like something taken for granted for other 152 00:10:19,750 --> 00:10:22,090 people just to be safe. So we didn't live 153 00:10:22,090 --> 00:10:24,790 anything, the only thing we want is just not to 154 00:10:24,790 --> 00:10:27,630 die and this is like we haven't experienced 155 00:10:27,630 --> 00:10:31,670 anything in life so far. So what is considered to 156 00:10:31,670 --> 00:10:36,050 be basic human rights? the right to live in peace, 157 00:10:36,270 --> 00:10:41,430 the right to decent human rights, not political 158 00:10:41,430 --> 00:10:43,190 rights, although political rights are basically 159 00:10:43,190 --> 00:10:47,090 human rights. Life here has become a privilege. 160 00:10:47,370 --> 00:10:50,390 Life has become a luxury we cannot afford. We 161 00:10:50,390 --> 00:10:52,630 don't afford. We're living under siege. We've been 162 00:10:52,630 --> 00:10:55,770 besieged for over 10 years, 12 years. Actually, 163 00:10:55,810 --> 00:10:59,170 we've been besieged over seven decades. The very 164 00:10:59,170 --> 00:11:01,570 existence of the Israeli occupation means that we 165 00:11:01,570 --> 00:11:05,120 are suffocating. We don't do what we want to do. 166 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:06,820 We don't marry the people we want to marry. We 167 00:11:06,820 --> 00:11:08,600 don't build the house we want to build. We don't 168 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:11,060 get the job. We don't travel when we want. We 169 00:11:11,060 --> 00:11:13,340 don't go to the country we want. Because there 170 00:11:13,340 --> 00:11:16,840 will always be Israeli restrictions imposed on us, 171 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:20,020 controlling our every aspect. Sometimes you don't 172 00:11:20,020 --> 00:11:23,750 eat the food you like or the fruit you like. And 173 00:11:23,750 --> 00:11:26,190 sometimes it's not even political. And that's why 174 00:11:26,190 --> 00:11:28,730 you keep asking these questions. And many people 175 00:11:28,730 --> 00:11:31,650 asked these questions in their writings. Please 176 00:11:31,650 --> 00:11:34,050 read Mourid El Barghouti's fascinating 177 00:11:34,050 --> 00:11:37,910 autobiography, I Saw Ramallah, I Read Ramallah, in 178 00:11:37,910 --> 00:11:41,050 Arabic, but it's also superbly fascinating in 179 00:11:41,050 --> 00:11:45,650 English. Also read, what's her name? Suad Al 180 00:11:45,650 --> 00:11:48,750 Amiri, Suad Amiri's Sharona, My Mother and Love. 181 00:11:48,790 --> 00:11:53,230 It's very funny, very comic, very ironic book. In 182 00:11:53,230 --> 00:11:55,870 another Palestinian writer, sometimes Tamim's 183 00:11:55,870 --> 00:12:00,390 poetry does this, how they expose the fact that 184 00:12:00,390 --> 00:12:03,890 the occupation is arbitrary. Like sometimes we 185 00:12:03,890 --> 00:12:06,430 think, and I know many people who do this, like if 186 00:12:06,430 --> 00:12:08,830 Israel bombs some area here or there, you just ask 187 00:12:08,830 --> 00:12:13,730 the question, okay, there must be something that 188 00:12:13,730 --> 00:12:15,530 made Israel bomb this particular area or this 189 00:12:15,530 --> 00:12:19,070 particular house. But most often Israel will come 190 00:12:19,070 --> 00:12:22,010 out and like, oops, we made a mistake. Oops, we 191 00:12:22,010 --> 00:12:25,010 killed these 50 people by mistake. We didn't mean 192 00:12:25,010 --> 00:12:28,710 to kill these. We didn't know that Israel knows 193 00:12:28,710 --> 00:12:30,930 everything with technology and everything here. 194 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:36,620 That could be something arbitrary in the sense 195 00:12:36,620 --> 00:12:41,160 that there could be no reason. Read this movement 196 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:45,540 in Israel called Breaking the Silence. They had 197 00:12:45,540 --> 00:12:48,280 their soldiers, consisting of soldiers, Israeli 198 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:50,200 soldiers, who participated, who killed people, who 199 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:53,620 were part of the occupation, and horrifying 200 00:12:53,620 --> 00:12:57,600 testimonies. about how they would just for fun 201 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:00,140 would kill this, kill that, would shoot somebody. 202 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:03,660 One of the guys was like, we killed somebody 203 00:13:03,660 --> 00:13:08,180 because he was walking suspiciously. And for more 204 00:13:08,180 --> 00:13:12,980 than a year I was haunted by how I walked. Because 205 00:13:12,980 --> 00:13:15,960 what does it mean to walk suspiciously? Honestly, 206 00:13:16,060 --> 00:13:18,420 what does it mean? Sometimes they would be 207 00:13:18,420 --> 00:13:20,800 counting the cars, for example, okay, one car, two 208 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:23,640 cars, you hit the third car. Sometimes they would 209 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:26,020 be looking at a particular house and not like the 210 00:13:26,020 --> 00:13:28,260 paint job or not like something and they would 211 00:13:28,260 --> 00:13:30,320 bomb the hell out of it just because it's ugly. 212 00:13:31,460 --> 00:13:34,560 Yeah, let's do this. And we've seen videos leaked 213 00:13:35,250 --> 00:13:37,810 Cheering for soldiers, snipers, cheering for 214 00:13:37,810 --> 00:13:39,990 simply killing Palestinians or getting them 215 00:13:39,990 --> 00:13:45,630 somewhere. So why do Israelis do this occupation? 216 00:13:46,030 --> 00:13:51,950 And it's brutal thing. It dehumanizes people, but 217 00:13:51,950 --> 00:13:55,410 also it could be because they're lost. They lost 218 00:13:55,410 --> 00:13:58,590 some things. I'm sure an Israeli soldier, because 219 00:13:58,590 --> 00:14:02,750 you know, Messi last night won the Ballon d'Or, 220 00:14:02,970 --> 00:14:05,430 you know, the biggest individual prize for 221 00:14:05,430 --> 00:14:09,410 football. Maybe a Ronaldo fan, an Israeli Ronaldo 222 00:14:09,410 --> 00:14:13,070 fan would be angry this morning and turn a 223 00:14:13,070 --> 00:14:18,830 Palestinian's life into hell. Maybe they would be 224 00:14:18,830 --> 00:14:21,510 losing a match. Maybe they would be, somebody 225 00:14:21,510 --> 00:14:25,850 would be angry with his mother, or girlfriend, or 226 00:14:25,850 --> 00:14:30,030 kids, or boss. And this anger will be, you know, 227 00:14:30,110 --> 00:14:35,030 in a way, the Palestinians would be paying for, 228 00:14:35,570 --> 00:14:38,050 exactly like Palestinians have been paying for 229 00:14:38,050 --> 00:14:41,630 European sins, the Holocaust, for decades and 230 00:14:41,630 --> 00:14:45,880 decades. My question here, okay thank you very 231 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:48,120 much for this, I'm sorry if I'm bringing these 232 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:50,440 memories back, but remember it's always good to 233 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:54,540 write, it's always good to talk, to release But 234 00:14:54,540 --> 00:14:56,760 again, sometimes Palestinian resistance, and 235 00:14:56,760 --> 00:14:59,600 that's like, no matter what happens, there's 236 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:03,360 always those valiant Palestinian freedom fighters 237 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:06,360 who are the hope, not only for Palestinians, but 238 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:08,960 for all oppressed people around the world. 239 00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:12,700 Sometimes they manage to react, at least react to 240 00:15:12,700 --> 00:15:16,000 this kind of terror. How does that make you feel, 241 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:20,450 honestly? If you don't want to say it's okay, it's 242 00:15:20,450 --> 00:15:24,630 up to you. Are you still angry? Do you want them 243 00:15:24,630 --> 00:15:27,850 to stop? Do you feel happy? Do you feel proud? Do 244 00:15:27,850 --> 00:15:31,290 you feel like at least there's somebody who's 245 00:15:31,290 --> 00:15:34,370 doing something about this? We know Israel is a 246 00:15:34,370 --> 00:15:36,390 million times more powerful than us. 247 00:15:39,230 --> 00:15:41,930 But resistance is in the nature of things. Look at 248 00:15:41,930 --> 00:15:44,570 the cat. What a cat does when somebody takes its 249 00:15:44,570 --> 00:15:51,990 kitten. Or even... Right? Please. I will keep 250 00:15:51,990 --> 00:15:54,610 feeling angry, of course, because of the feeling 251 00:15:54,610 --> 00:15:58,630 of inequality along the war. You know, let's think 252 00:15:58,630 --> 00:16:01,490 about it. How many Israelis have been killed 253 00:16:01,490 --> 00:16:05,310 through the three wars? And we still, according to 254 00:16:05,310 --> 00:16:07,970 the whole world, we are still the terrorist party, 255 00:16:08,350 --> 00:16:10,730 and we are terrorists, and we should be killed. 256 00:16:11,110 --> 00:16:13,710 And they don't face the fact that we are the ones 257 00:16:13,710 --> 00:16:17,770 who are being killed, not them. And actually, they 258 00:16:17,770 --> 00:16:22,410 have many protection systems. So we're not equal 259 00:16:22,410 --> 00:16:25,430 at all. Even if the war is sent by us, nothing 260 00:16:25,430 --> 00:16:31,150 happens. We're still besieged. We still can't 261 00:16:31,150 --> 00:16:33,910 travel. We still can't speak freely. They are 262 00:16:33,910 --> 00:16:36,030 controlling not our lives only. They are 263 00:16:36,030 --> 00:16:38,830 controlling our death as well. Yeah, when we die. 264 00:16:38,990 --> 00:16:42,050 OK. I can go back to my question about Palestinian 265 00:16:42,050 --> 00:16:45,360 resistance reacting to Israeli terror. Okay, I 266 00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:47,180 think that it's all, it depends on the group 267 00:16:47,180 --> 00:16:48,680 you're in, but I just want to comment on something 268 00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:52,120 that's changed. Like, it's all about the media and 269 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:55,740 how to promote your own case, because looking back 270 00:16:55,740 --> 00:16:58,660 to like the last couple of days when we had 271 00:16:58,660 --> 00:17:04,360 Gallego from work, The word went crazy on a 272 00:17:04,360 --> 00:17:07,100 picture that they posted on a child who could not 273 00:17:07,100 --> 00:17:10,740 celebrate his birthday properly because he was so 274 00:17:10,740 --> 00:17:13,060 afraid because of the bomb. At the same time, we 275 00:17:13,060 --> 00:17:15,920 have the same story, but in a very more tragical 276 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:19,260 way, which a girl lost her two parents on her 277 00:17:19,260 --> 00:17:24,500 birthday. But they knew how to promote their case. 278 00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:27,700 They knew how to publish this or how to make the 279 00:17:27,700 --> 00:17:27,860 whole 280 00:17:31,090 --> 00:17:33,050 Okay, thank you very much. That's a very good 281 00:17:33,050 --> 00:17:38,990 point. Yes, please. Anyone of you, yeah. I feel 282 00:17:38,990 --> 00:17:42,490 proud when we resist and we respond. Although, 283 00:17:42,590 --> 00:17:44,830 like, we all deep down know that we are not as 284 00:17:44,830 --> 00:17:47,190 strong as they are, but at least we are trying to 285 00:17:47,190 --> 00:17:50,990 defend ourselves. And in fact, I think this is 286 00:17:50,990 --> 00:17:52,790 shared by a lot of people because I see in social 287 00:17:52,790 --> 00:17:55,930 media whenever we respond, other people will be 288 00:17:55,930 --> 00:17:59,090 cheering up for the resistance. And I think, yeah, 289 00:17:59,370 --> 00:18:02,170 I'm definitely super proud. Okay, a feeling of 290 00:18:02,170 --> 00:18:04,150 pride, a feeling of 291 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:09,340 Again, some justice. There is some justice there. 292 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:13,200 There are people who, despite everything, who are 293 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:16,480 willing to do something about it. Despite the 294 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:19,180 inequality, despite everything else, despite the, 295 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:24,160 you know, we having nothing, no weapons, and 296 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:26,240 Israel having everything and support of the world. 297 00:18:26,830 --> 00:18:29,070 Because of our resistance, I feel proud to have 298 00:18:29,070 --> 00:18:33,450 this resistance. Because it's in my feeling that 299 00:18:33,450 --> 00:18:38,250 we keep defencing our land and our people. This is 300 00:18:38,250 --> 00:18:40,830 something. And there is something I want to 301 00:18:40,830 --> 00:18:44,880 mention. I agree with Noha. even if there is no 302 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:52,500 equal between something, they have panic attack, 303 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:56,180 people have, 304 00:18:56,320 --> 00:19:00,460 yeah, feeling panic attack, but here we have true 305 00:19:00,460 --> 00:19:04,500 injures and true murders here in Gaza. So where's 306 00:19:04,500 --> 00:19:08,020 the, there's no equal even in the injured side. 307 00:19:08,380 --> 00:19:11,120 And according to the story, they have maybe they 308 00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:17,980 have stronger media to marketing their Australian 309 00:19:17,980 --> 00:19:24,580 story. That's why it makes it more obligatory on 310 00:19:24,580 --> 00:19:27,780 you, especially you studying English, to get our 311 00:19:27,780 --> 00:19:31,860 message out there. First of all, just at least to 312 00:19:31,860 --> 00:19:35,260 speak. Because speaking and writing are an act of 313 00:19:35,260 --> 00:19:37,860 resistance. Living here is an act of resistance. 314 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:43,080 Sometimes eating in particular is an act of 315 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:46,480 resistance. What I'm saying is that We need to do 316 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:48,920 something about it, to communicate with ourselves, 317 00:19:49,340 --> 00:19:51,660 to reconcile with ourselves and also to get our 318 00:19:51,660 --> 00:19:53,660 message out there to the world because this is our 319 00:19:53,660 --> 00:19:58,340 job, right? If the people and thanks to social 320 00:19:58,340 --> 00:19:59,960 media, some of you mentioned social media, thanks 321 00:19:59,960 --> 00:20:02,120 to social media we have more and more people 322 00:20:02,120 --> 00:20:05,880 around the world supporting Palestinian cause 323 00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:09,200 because many people have started to write back to 324 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:12,700 show, to expose Israeli war crimes and aggression 325 00:20:12,700 --> 00:20:15,940 against Palestinians. I'll go to the poem. I know, 326 00:20:16,780 --> 00:20:18,960 I want you to think of this when you go home. 327 00:20:19,060 --> 00:20:20,760 Probably you can write a poem or something about 328 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:27,300 it. So the soldier, Robert Brooke, if I should 329 00:20:27,300 --> 00:20:35,490 die, think only this of me. that there's some 330 00:20:35,490 --> 00:20:39,950 corner of a foreign field that is forever England. 331 00:20:41,290 --> 00:20:44,790 There shall be in that rich earth a richer dust 332 00:20:44,790 --> 00:20:51,070 concealed, a dust whom England bore shaped. Made 333 00:20:51,070 --> 00:20:55,370 aware, gave once her flowers to love, her ways to 334 00:20:55,370 --> 00:21:00,550 roam Her body of England's breathing English air 335 00:21:00,550 --> 00:21:04,970 Washed by the rivers blessed by the sons of home 336 00:21:04,970 --> 00:21:13,080 And think This heart all evil shed away A pulse in 337 00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:17,400 the eternal mind no less Gives somewhere back the 338 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:22,000 thoughts by England given Her sights and sounds, 339 00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:27,060 dreams happy as her day And laughter learnt of 340 00:21:27,060 --> 00:21:30,860 friends and gentleness In the hearts at peace 341 00:21:30,860 --> 00:21:32,680 under an English heaven 342 00:21:35,860 --> 00:21:39,700 Do you think this man likes war? Is he pro-war or 343 00:21:39,700 --> 00:21:40,360 anti-war? 344 00:21:43,860 --> 00:21:48,120 Yeah? What do you think? Go to the poem in your 345 00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:49,420 book, what page is it? 346 00:21:53,420 --> 00:21:56,960 So is this man saying war is good, let's fight or 347 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:01,080 stop the war? It's horrible, it's grim. It's 348 00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:01,400 tragic. 349 00:22:05,770 --> 00:22:08,870 Before going back to this question, how many times 350 00:22:08,870 --> 00:22:14,410 is England or is England like English mentioned 351 00:22:14,410 --> 00:22:16,330 here? Can you count? 352 00:22:20,490 --> 00:22:25,790 How many times do we have England English? One, 353 00:22:25,950 --> 00:22:31,730 two, three, four, five. 354 00:22:34,350 --> 00:22:37,770 That's a lot of England and English. England, 355 00:22:37,950 --> 00:22:40,810 English, England, English. What could that 356 00:22:40,810 --> 00:22:43,890 possibly indicate? What does it tell in the poem? 357 00:22:47,310 --> 00:22:47,910 Pride. 358 00:22:50,950 --> 00:22:56,890 Pride being English? England, English, England, 359 00:22:57,030 --> 00:22:59,110 English. Is it mentioned in positive or negative 360 00:22:59,110 --> 00:23:01,490 circumstances, situations, context? 361 00:23:06,130 --> 00:23:08,530 Where is negative? Where are the negative words? 362 00:23:10,150 --> 00:23:15,230 English heaven is it bad? Probably for some people 363 00:23:15,230 --> 00:23:18,550 even English heaven is still hell but here at 364 00:23:18,550 --> 00:23:22,050 least this is positive English heaven you know and 365 00:23:22,050 --> 00:23:25,410 I like how this is like English heaven remember 366 00:23:25,410 --> 00:23:29,470 this was written around 1914 English empire still 367 00:23:29,470 --> 00:23:32,710 people you know felt pride being English just 368 00:23:32,710 --> 00:23:34,950 being English merely being English 369 00:23:40,300 --> 00:23:41,620 Breathing English air. 370 00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:54,600 Washed by the rivers. How does the poet deal with 371 00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:57,320 England? What does he do to England in a poem? 372 00:23:58,340 --> 00:24:01,720 Thank you very much. Listen, if you talk about 373 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:05,620 your country, your car, your ship even, or your 374 00:24:05,620 --> 00:24:09,850 boat, you can still personify them, your cat, your 375 00:24:09,850 --> 00:24:13,190 dog, your parrot, your lion pet if you have one. 376 00:24:13,590 --> 00:24:17,850 You can still personify this thing. So we talk 377 00:24:17,850 --> 00:24:21,290 Palestine is proud of her children. You could say 378 00:24:21,290 --> 00:24:25,710 that. But here this is an act of, an extended act 379 00:24:25,710 --> 00:24:28,730 of personification. He's talking about England as, 380 00:24:29,390 --> 00:24:31,670 as what? As a human being? What kind of human 381 00:24:31,670 --> 00:24:33,050 being? Particularly, in particular. 382 00:24:36,170 --> 00:24:41,050 Yeah? Yeah? A man? Haram aliki. 383 00:24:45,390 --> 00:24:46,010 Yeah? 384 00:24:48,670 --> 00:24:53,190 Where does the poet personify England? And? 385 00:25:00,350 --> 00:25:05,130 And? And? Don't repeat the things you already 386 00:25:05,130 --> 00:25:06,710 said, so we can see other things. 387 00:25:11,270 --> 00:25:12,250 Okay, 388 00:25:15,550 --> 00:25:18,530 so what does that indicate? It's a woman. 389 00:25:21,470 --> 00:25:28,450 What kind of a woman? Mother. He's personifying 390 00:25:28,450 --> 00:25:30,730 England. 391 00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:36,340 not only just as female. Female could mean just 392 00:25:36,340 --> 00:25:39,840 being female, physically female. You could use the 393 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:42,080 term female, by the way, for animals. That's why 394 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:45,220 some feminists don't like the word female. Like 395 00:25:45,220 --> 00:25:48,240 what female? I'm a cat? Am I a cat? So like a 396 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:51,400 woman, but this is no ordinary woman. This is a 397 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:56,080 mother, a grandmother. Because the fact that dust 398 00:25:56,080 --> 00:26:02,020 whom England bore, bores the past of Bear, we 399 00:26:02,020 --> 00:26:06,100 usually use the passive, born. I was born. My mom 400 00:26:06,100 --> 00:26:09,140 bore me. This is the physical bearing, you know, 401 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:11,700 carrying, lifting. But also it could mean the fact 402 00:26:11,700 --> 00:26:15,380 that England here is the woman who in her belly 403 00:26:15,380 --> 00:26:20,660 carried this for nine months and then. And look at 404 00:26:20,660 --> 00:26:23,100 hair, hair, hair. Remember, I told you all the 405 00:26:23,100 --> 00:26:24,820 time, if there are pronouns in the text, you need 406 00:26:24,820 --> 00:26:27,460 to trace them to what they refer to. It's 407 00:26:27,460 --> 00:26:31,700 significant to understand. So there's this many 408 00:26:31,700 --> 00:26:36,000 repetitions of England and there are these 409 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:39,780 positive references of England. England breathing 410 00:26:39,780 --> 00:26:43,360 England's air, right? English air. And also 411 00:26:43,360 --> 00:26:49,880 England's heaven. And how England here? Flowers. 412 00:26:50,460 --> 00:26:53,080 Yeah. Are these negative or positive words? 413 00:26:53,180 --> 00:26:57,310 Positive. If you want to take thus, this, only 414 00:26:57,310 --> 00:26:59,830 this, if I die, I as the negative word, the poem 415 00:26:59,830 --> 00:27:07,630 is predominantly positive and celebratory 416 00:27:07,630 --> 00:27:15,190 even. There is a festive mood here. If, look at 417 00:27:15,190 --> 00:27:18,810 this if, not when, not if I die or when I die 418 00:27:18,810 --> 00:27:22,050 even, there's when I die certain, like when 419 00:27:22,050 --> 00:27:24,490 Shakespeare said, when in my eternal lines, right? 420 00:27:25,850 --> 00:27:31,470 If I die, if I should die, if you should see Ali, 421 00:27:31,630 --> 00:27:35,180 this is more polite but also If I should die, 422 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:37,400 probably he's distancing himself from death here. 423 00:27:37,980 --> 00:27:41,420 The poem truly begins with I. We think this is a 424 00:27:41,420 --> 00:27:43,400 personal poem about a personal experience like you 425 00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:46,260 just mentioned here. But as we go into the poem, 426 00:27:46,540 --> 00:27:49,080 this turns into an impersonal poem where the poet 427 00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:52,460 is distancing himself from the act of dying. Not 428 00:27:52,460 --> 00:27:55,240 imagining it, like just imagining of something. If 429 00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:58,340 I should die, think only this of me. And the 430 00:27:58,340 --> 00:28:01,100 evidence here is in the fact that we don't have 431 00:28:01,100 --> 00:28:05,920 any I or me in the rest of the poem. So because 432 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:08,000 he, it's all about England, it's all about 433 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:13,520 boasting and bragging about that there is some 434 00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:18,800 corner of a foreign field that is forever England. 435 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:24,240 For how? You know, colonial mentality? Yeah. But 436 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:27,180 if I die somewhere, there is actually a symmetry, 437 00:28:27,380 --> 00:28:30,320 I guess one or two for the English soldiers who 438 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:32,380 died during the First World War, the Great War. 439 00:28:33,110 --> 00:28:36,550 One, not two? So there's one huge cemetery in Gaza 440 00:28:36,550 --> 00:28:39,590 for English soldiers who were killed in occupied 441 00:28:39,590 --> 00:28:46,010 Palestine. So this foreign field becomes what? 442 00:28:46,730 --> 00:28:53,850 Forever England. Because this area, this plot of 443 00:28:53,850 --> 00:29:00,250 earth contains the remains of an Englishman. Does 444 00:29:00,250 --> 00:29:04,530 that make him sad? Does that mean he is telling 445 00:29:04,530 --> 00:29:06,490 people, don't go to die because if you die, you're 446 00:29:06,490 --> 00:29:07,790 going to die alone, 447 00:29:10,110 --> 00:29:15,150 probably hungry, angry, sad, isolated, detached, 448 00:29:15,790 --> 00:29:19,110 or is he saying something else? That is forever 449 00:29:19,110 --> 00:29:23,790 England. There, this corner of a foreign field, 450 00:29:24,450 --> 00:29:27,790 there shall be in that rich earth, it's rich 451 00:29:27,790 --> 00:29:31,990 because this person died there. But it's going to 452 00:29:31,990 --> 00:29:35,370 get richer because of the body again. So this 453 00:29:35,370 --> 00:29:41,510 foreign field, this foreign piece of land that 454 00:29:41,510 --> 00:29:45,110 witnessed the death of those British or English 455 00:29:45,110 --> 00:29:50,890 soldiers, it's rich. This earth is rich. What 456 00:29:50,890 --> 00:29:57,100 makes it richer? The bodies, the remains. And 457 00:29:57,100 --> 00:30:00,780 that's again adding to this pride here. We make a 458 00:30:00,780 --> 00:30:02,600 difference. English people, British people, they 459 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:05,440 make a difference. Wherever they go, they bring 460 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:10,400 richness there. A richer dust concealed. Dust, 461 00:30:10,700 --> 00:30:16,060 it's the body. But because originally. Now a dust, 462 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:19,000 what is the dust here? What does it refer to? The 463 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:27,700 soldiers. Okay. Whom England bore. Shaped, made 464 00:30:27,700 --> 00:30:31,040 aware. Look at England being the mother, being the 465 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:33,420 educator, being the teacher, being the school, 466 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:38,620 being the university. Gave her flowers to love. 467 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:42,380 Gave once her flowers everything your country gave 468 00:30:42,380 --> 00:30:44,820 you. Everything you have your country gave you. 469 00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:49,160 Also her ways to roam, to move freely when you 470 00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:55,960 were young or a kid. Body of England's. Breathing 471 00:30:55,960 --> 00:31:00,360 English air Everybody is the embodiment of England 472 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:08,020 herself or itself Breathing English air Washed 473 00:31:08,020 --> 00:31:13,120 by the rivers Blessed by the suns of home 474 00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:18,940 Everything you have, your country gave you This is 475 00:31:18,940 --> 00:31:22,940 more or less a beautiful image in Ahmed's talking 476 00:31:22,940 --> 00:31:26,320 about war and dying Everything you have is not 477 00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:30,380 yours. It's your country. You don't belong to you. 478 00:31:31,260 --> 00:31:35,520 The suns that warmed you, English suns, the air 479 00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:42,100 you breathe, English air, the ways you roam were 480 00:31:42,100 --> 00:31:48,520 given to you by your country. And then, and think, 481 00:31:48,700 --> 00:31:50,520 this is again the poet, if I should die, think 482 00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:56,020 only this of me. And think this heart all evil hid 483 00:31:56,020 --> 00:31:59,520 away. That's where again, interesting. I'll ask 484 00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:01,260 you this question to think of when you go home. 485 00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:04,420 Because as Palestinians, we've been paying the 486 00:32:04,420 --> 00:32:09,040 heavy, probably some of the heaviest price due to 487 00:32:11,930 --> 00:32:15,370 English horrible, horrible powerful declaration 488 00:32:15,370 --> 00:32:20,990 that gave Palestine to Zionists, right? So this 489 00:32:20,990 --> 00:32:23,010 English heart, the English people, the English 490 00:32:23,010 --> 00:32:27,070 soldiers have no evil at all in this. Like, you 491 00:32:27,070 --> 00:32:31,030 know, a snake sheds its skin every, but this is 492 00:32:31,030 --> 00:32:35,650 like more, this is spiritual. So all the evils, 493 00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:41,960 have been shed away. There is no evil, more or 494 00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:45,600 less. Tell that to Palestinians. A pulse in the 495 00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:50,400 eternal mind, no less, gives somewhere back the 496 00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:55,360 thoughts by England given. Here again, continuing 497 00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:57,760 to personify England, this beautiful image. Here 498 00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:03,900 sights and sounds. Dreams happy as her day. So 499 00:33:03,900 --> 00:33:10,470 this death is Not a nightmare, it's a dream. An 500 00:33:10,470 --> 00:33:13,190 ordinary dream, it's a happy dream. A dream of 501 00:33:13,190 --> 00:33:16,750 England probably dominating again, winning the 502 00:33:16,750 --> 00:33:21,070 war, being victorious. And also bringing happiness 503 00:33:21,070 --> 00:33:24,010 and laughter to this poem. For many it could 504 00:33:24,010 --> 00:33:26,530 sound, nobody said, when there is war, I'm 505 00:33:26,530 --> 00:33:29,390 laughing, yeah? Probably you said, I'm proud 506 00:33:29,390 --> 00:33:32,210 because there's this Palestinian reaction to 507 00:33:32,210 --> 00:33:37,890 resistance, right? But being happy, yes. It's war, 508 00:33:38,030 --> 00:33:44,730 yes. That's the moment I've been waiting for. And 509 00:33:44,730 --> 00:33:49,510 laughter, learnt of friends and gentleness, in 510 00:33:49,510 --> 00:33:55,150 hearts at peace. I'll be in hearts at peace, but 511 00:33:55,150 --> 00:34:00,950 most significantly under an English heaven. That's 512 00:34:00,950 --> 00:34:05,460 a hardcore pro-war poem here. This man is saying, 513 00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:09,220 let's go die for our country. This man is saying, 514 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:15,480 we don't own ourselves. This man is saying, if the 515 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:20,480 country calls, we should be in the front. And 516 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:24,900 indeed, this man joined the British army. He was 517 00:34:24,900 --> 00:34:29,320 in the navy. We'll see what difference that makes. 518 00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:32,080 He wasn't in the war itself, in the fighting, 519 00:34:32,340 --> 00:34:34,280 shooting. He was in the Navy. In the Navy, you're 520 00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:38,160 safe somewhere, relatively safe at sea somewhere. 521 00:34:39,580 --> 00:34:43,460 And he wrote this poem in the beginning months of 522 00:34:43,460 --> 00:34:49,220 the Great War, 1914. So some people think that 523 00:34:49,220 --> 00:34:51,820 because he was far away from the grim reality of 524 00:34:51,820 --> 00:34:55,530 war, the horrible, horrible, scenes and realities 525 00:34:55,530 --> 00:35:00,150 of the war. He was kind of romanticizing war, you 526 00:35:00,150 --> 00:35:02,730 know, romanticizing war. Let's go, let's die for 527 00:35:02,730 --> 00:35:06,870 our country. It is like Horace said, it is sweet 528 00:35:06,870 --> 00:35:08,970 and proper to die for one's country. 529 00:35:13,550 --> 00:35:17,870 And I want to notice two things here. Number one, 530 00:35:18,310 --> 00:35:22,330 the traditional imagery he uses. In many ways, 531 00:35:22,410 --> 00:35:25,770 you'll find this connected to that poetry of 532 00:35:25,770 --> 00:35:28,830 probably, I don't know, Homer or Beowulf or other 533 00:35:28,830 --> 00:35:32,570 English heroic poetry, poetry of battles and wars, 534 00:35:32,690 --> 00:35:35,350 how the fighters are heroes. They're defending 535 00:35:35,350 --> 00:35:38,010 their honor, their country. They're paying back 536 00:35:38,010 --> 00:35:41,790 the debt. But also notice also, so there's this 537 00:35:41,790 --> 00:35:44,050 traditional thing, traditional imagery of, you 538 00:35:44,050 --> 00:35:48,870 know, the sun and the, you know, things from 539 00:35:48,870 --> 00:35:52,270 England, the river, the image there, these 540 00:35:52,270 --> 00:35:56,850 beautiful images of nature, beauty. But I like, 541 00:35:57,050 --> 00:36:00,610 you know, this under an English heaven could just 542 00:36:00,610 --> 00:36:04,230 be like under heaven physically being somewhere. 543 00:36:05,830 --> 00:36:10,910 But heaven could also mean paradise. This could be 544 00:36:10,910 --> 00:36:14,170 a religious image here, a religious tomb, 545 00:36:15,190 --> 00:36:17,950 religious language. So don't worry if you die for 546 00:36:17,950 --> 00:36:21,590 your country going straight to heaven. You are a 547 00:36:21,590 --> 00:36:27,630 martyr. You don't die any death, any ordinary 548 00:36:27,630 --> 00:36:32,560 death. you are a hero and your country is proud of 549 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:35,340 you and we are going to celebrate you and indeed 550 00:36:35,340 --> 00:36:38,220 this poem has become a very famous it's if you go 551 00:36:38,220 --> 00:36:41,900 to youtube many people sing this poem and England 552 00:36:41,900 --> 00:36:45,920 has used this poem all the time to again to incite 553 00:36:47,210 --> 00:36:52,170 to incite soldiers, people to join the army to 554 00:36:52,170 --> 00:36:56,270 fight evil terror around the world, to defend the 555 00:36:56,270 --> 00:36:58,890 crown, to defend the queen, to defend the king. 556 00:37:00,310 --> 00:37:04,110 And I read somewhere that this man was, he was in 557 00:37:04,110 --> 00:37:07,490 the army, but because he wrote many poems that are 558 00:37:07,490 --> 00:37:14,150 pro-war, he was, I don't know what the term is, he 559 00:37:14,150 --> 00:37:18,310 was called from wherever he was and he didn't want 560 00:37:18,310 --> 00:37:20,810 to go back. He wanted to join the army. He wanted 561 00:37:20,810 --> 00:37:24,330 to fight. But the country wanted him back home 562 00:37:24,330 --> 00:37:27,930 safe and sound so he could write more poetry and 563 00:37:27,930 --> 00:37:32,910 promote this. And again, this shows indicates how 564 00:37:32,910 --> 00:37:37,310 significant poets and poetry are. The country 565 00:37:37,310 --> 00:37:40,630 needs soldiers, right? But also the country needs 566 00:37:40,630 --> 00:37:44,710 poets to tell the people that, hey, don't worry. 567 00:37:46,030 --> 00:37:49,690 You're going to die a hero. And that's why we're 568 00:37:49,690 --> 00:37:52,830 going to compare this next class with a poem by 569 00:37:52,830 --> 00:37:59,430 Wilfred Owen, a man who really was at the front, 570 00:38:00,550 --> 00:38:01,530 who saw people die. 571 00:38:04,870 --> 00:38:07,290 Before we finish, I want to go through these 572 00:38:07,290 --> 00:38:11,050 questions, and I probably can talk about some of 573 00:38:11,050 --> 00:38:17,100 them in brief. So again, is this a pro or anti-war 574 00:38:17,100 --> 00:38:20,180 poem? Does it call for war? Does it say war is 575 00:38:20,180 --> 00:38:23,800 horrible? Pro war. 576 00:38:26,980 --> 00:38:29,740 Unless you take this as a very very silly argument 577 00:38:29,740 --> 00:38:33,120 and you think it does the opposite. I don't want 578 00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:39,640 to die just to be under English heaven. But yeah, 579 00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:43,160 this man is known, Robert Brooke, as a pro-war 580 00:38:43,160 --> 00:38:46,600 poet. What do you think of the poem as a 581 00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:49,860 Palestinian? What do you think of this? Because 582 00:38:49,860 --> 00:38:54,540 listen, this is the war that again, it happened 583 00:38:54,540 --> 00:38:58,220 mainly in Europe and somewhere in colonized areas, 584 00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:00,720 but as Palestinians, we still pay the price for 585 00:39:00,720 --> 00:39:05,500 this. And don't forget that, again, the English 586 00:39:05,500 --> 00:39:08,260 cemetery of British soldiers, an area that 587 00:39:08,260 --> 00:39:11,960 Palestinians have been taken good care of, 588 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:15,020 respecting and protecting, which is really good. 589 00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:19,800 Because these are young people who were sent, 590 00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:24,000 probably some of them unwillingly to war. But as a 591 00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:25,980 Palestinian, what do you make of this, Paul? 592 00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:30,330 Please. First of all, I believe that he actually 593 00:39:30,330 --> 00:39:32,750 doesn't reflect at all the real meaning of war. 594 00:39:32,910 --> 00:39:36,320 War is savage, it's cruel, and he isn't... He even 595 00:39:36,320 --> 00:39:39,360 didn't mention the word word. He gave the image 596 00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:42,420 and actually he gave a great image. So they can, 597 00:39:42,740 --> 00:39:45,580 he can like wash the minds of the soldiers. So 598 00:39:45,580 --> 00:39:47,740 they can. So, so you're taking this as kind of 599 00:39:47,740 --> 00:39:50,480 brainwashing, you know, indoctrination. The 600 00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:54,200 reference to war is, is just here. The soldier, if 601 00:39:54,200 --> 00:39:55,980 the title of the poet, the sonnet, this is the 602 00:39:55,980 --> 00:40:01,320 sonnet by the way. Look at the sonnet. It's A B A 603 00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:04,500 right? C D 604 00:40:11,690 --> 00:40:25,170 A, B, A, B, C, D, and then aware, air, yes C, D. 605 00:40:25,850 --> 00:40:27,770 Is that Shakespeare or Petrarch? 606 00:40:31,970 --> 00:40:35,650 It's never Petrarch. Petrarch is A B B A A B B A. 607 00:40:35,690 --> 00:40:39,830 Shakespeare is A B A B C D C D. He doesn't do 608 00:40:39,830 --> 00:40:43,850 this. But because if you think this is one unit 609 00:40:43,850 --> 00:40:49,570 here and an octave. Probably closer, the fact that 610 00:40:49,570 --> 00:40:52,110 he alternates between the rhymes makes it closer 611 00:40:52,110 --> 00:40:54,610 Shakespeare, but then the fact that this is an 612 00:40:54,610 --> 00:40:57,650 octave and then followed by assisted means that 613 00:40:57,650 --> 00:41:01,330 this is basically probably not Shakespeare, not 614 00:41:01,330 --> 00:41:04,910 Petrarch. A combination of both, but also at the 615 00:41:04,910 --> 00:41:07,950 same time, he's changing the rhyme scheme. And I 616 00:41:07,950 --> 00:41:09,410 don't think there is a twist here, there's an 617 00:41:09,410 --> 00:41:11,310 argument. He doesn't argue, he doesn't say, some 618 00:41:11,310 --> 00:41:14,770 people say, dying is bad, is horrible, war is bad, 619 00:41:14,910 --> 00:41:18,200 however, It's all about how beautiful it is, how 620 00:41:18,200 --> 00:41:20,460 sweet and proper it is to die for one's country. 621 00:41:21,180 --> 00:41:26,800 So A, B, A, B, C, D, C, D and then? Yeah? 622 00:41:30,340 --> 00:41:38,740 E, F, G, very strange. E, F, G. 623 00:41:45,240 --> 00:41:49,860 He's using all Shakespeare's letters, right? But 624 00:41:49,860 --> 00:41:55,540 there is, we don't have a couplet here. This is a 625 00:41:55,540 --> 00:42:02,960 system. Okay. Same question? Maybe this statue 626 00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:06,560 belongs to the prince. He is mixed between the war 627 00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:09,140 and peace. Not talking exactly about the war. And 628 00:42:09,140 --> 00:42:11,540 he's raised also mixed between Shakespeare and the 629 00:42:11,540 --> 00:42:14,840 prince. Possible. Okay, I like your thinking, 630 00:42:14,980 --> 00:42:18,440 connecting the form to the meaning here. How is 631 00:42:18,440 --> 00:42:19,820 England represented in the poem? 632 00:42:24,140 --> 00:42:27,820 Here England represented as a mother and I want to 633 00:42:27,820 --> 00:42:30,380 say something, there's no comparison between our 634 00:42:30,380 --> 00:42:35,660 people as a Christian and their people. They don't 635 00:42:35,660 --> 00:42:40,020 defend their country against invaders from outside 636 00:42:40,020 --> 00:42:43,120 to their country, no. They go to their countries 637 00:42:43,120 --> 00:42:46,850 and invade, actually they invade them. They were 638 00:42:46,850 --> 00:42:50,950 invading other countries and also expanding or 639 00:42:50,950 --> 00:42:56,940 defending the British Empire. Thank you. Actually, 640 00:42:57,180 --> 00:42:59,140 we've tried something similar to this, because 641 00:42:59,140 --> 00:43:03,540 Palestinians, when they go and do freedom marches, 642 00:43:03,560 --> 00:43:05,980 we call them freedom marches, because they see 643 00:43:05,980 --> 00:43:10,240 their land as London flowers and everything that 644 00:43:10,240 --> 00:43:12,880 belongs to them. But I don't think that an Israeli 645 00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:15,800 soldier would think the same, except if he is 646 00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:18,300 really in the same place as you mentioned. But I 647 00:43:18,300 --> 00:43:22,980 don't think that they have That's why it's really 648 00:43:22,980 --> 00:43:25,520 always fascinating to compare, to do comparison 649 00:43:25,520 --> 00:43:29,520 studies. Palestinian poetry has always been 650 00:43:29,520 --> 00:43:31,980 compared to Irish poetry because there was this 651 00:43:31,980 --> 00:43:34,560 resistance thing. And if you listen to Irish 652 00:43:34,560 --> 00:43:37,120 songs, you'll be amazed how similar, sometimes 653 00:43:37,120 --> 00:43:40,300 they think of how against Wheaton properties would 654 00:43:40,300 --> 00:43:44,760 I for your country. Okay, I'm raising these points 655 00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:49,400 now. What does under an English heaven indicate? I 656 00:43:49,400 --> 00:43:53,140 just partly mentioned this, that England is 657 00:43:53,140 --> 00:43:56,020 heaven, but also that this is a religious thing, 658 00:43:56,280 --> 00:43:59,060 that how the poet is using traditional imagery 659 00:43:59,060 --> 00:44:05,900 from traditional ways of writing poetry, of 660 00:44:05,900 --> 00:44:10,980 fighting, of heroism, the battles, the sun, the 661 00:44:10,980 --> 00:44:15,150 heaven, the river, the happiness. But also using 662 00:44:15,150 --> 00:44:19,090 religious, so is it again part of how he's trying 663 00:44:19,090 --> 00:44:21,910 to convince these soldiers to talk, to address, to 664 00:44:21,910 --> 00:44:27,850 invoke their religious mentality here that God is 665 00:44:27,850 --> 00:44:34,160 with you, God is with us, the English people? I 666 00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:36,580 don't know if this is related, but maybe it can be 667 00:44:36,580 --> 00:44:40,420 related to the English, the white man's duty of 668 00:44:40,420 --> 00:44:44,020 like enlightening other people in civilized 669 00:44:44,020 --> 00:44:47,500 countries. Because as you said before, they go to 670 00:44:47,500 --> 00:44:50,840 countries and they invade them, so maybe he wants 671 00:44:50,840 --> 00:44:53,620 to know that this is the English habit that you 672 00:44:53,620 --> 00:44:57,000 will be having in your country when you come and 673 00:44:57,000 --> 00:44:59,660 invade them. So rather we are turning, okay you 674 00:44:59,660 --> 00:45:04,050 are suggesting that this is Again, the white man's 675 00:45:04,050 --> 00:45:06,570 obligation to go and civilize other people and 676 00:45:06,570 --> 00:45:12,030 turn hell into heaven. on earth into heaven. 677 00:45:12,750 --> 00:45:14,490 Possibly, but I take it as more of a religious 678 00:45:14,490 --> 00:45:18,490 indication here. More of a religious term to 679 00:45:18,490 --> 00:45:24,290 convince people more that death is going to be 680 00:45:24,290 --> 00:45:28,150 followed by heaven. For me, I believe that this 681 00:45:28,150 --> 00:45:32,690 person totally has a colonizing mental. Actually, 682 00:45:32,830 --> 00:45:35,510 look at how many times he mentioned England. He 683 00:45:35,510 --> 00:45:38,330 was promising that England is going to dominate 684 00:45:38,330 --> 00:45:45,770 the universe. I don't think there is an indication 685 00:45:45,770 --> 00:45:48,170 that England will dominate, but possibly the fact 686 00:45:48,170 --> 00:45:52,750 that he keeps repeating, becoming England, okay. 687 00:45:53,290 --> 00:45:57,010 So wherever we go, whatever we touch, everything, 688 00:45:59,670 --> 00:46:02,490 there's this book, Everything Trump Touches Dies, 689 00:46:03,170 --> 00:46:06,450 and there is this Greek mythology, what's his 690 00:46:06,450 --> 00:46:11,280 name, The Guy, Everything he touches turns into 691 00:46:11,280 --> 00:46:14,000 gold. That's very famous in English, in mythology. 692 00:46:14,140 --> 00:46:17,720 Who's Greek corner here doing? Who's doing Greek 693 00:46:17,720 --> 00:46:20,620 corner? What's the name of the guy that touches 694 00:46:20,620 --> 00:46:25,640 the, whatever he touches turns into gold? Nope. 695 00:46:27,540 --> 00:46:30,940 Medias, something like this. Like closer to 696 00:46:30,940 --> 00:46:31,640 Mediosa. 697 00:46:36,910 --> 00:46:41,610 Okay, so everything English, everything England 698 00:46:41,610 --> 00:46:47,950 touches turns English, typical. Now, Brooks' poem, 699 00:46:48,050 --> 00:46:52,910 The Soldier, is an example of dangers, of the 700 00:46:52,910 --> 00:46:56,150 dangers of romanticizing war, telling the young 701 00:46:56,150 --> 00:47:00,650 people war is fun, it's just go kill people, you 702 00:47:00,650 --> 00:47:06,470 know? by comforting the survivors, telling the 703 00:47:06,470 --> 00:47:08,630 mothers, the parents, and this is probably a poem 704 00:47:08,630 --> 00:47:10,790 written not for the soldiers, about the soldiers, 705 00:47:11,010 --> 00:47:14,850 for the parents just to comfort them, to tell them 706 00:47:14,850 --> 00:47:17,810 that your kids are in heaven. And that's probably 707 00:47:17,810 --> 00:47:20,890 why he's bringing heaven here as a religious term, 708 00:47:21,010 --> 00:47:23,030 because older people tend to be more religious. 709 00:47:24,310 --> 00:47:27,370 They seek solace, they seek peace in the fact that 710 00:47:27,370 --> 00:47:32,210 at least the kids died a happy death, died doing 711 00:47:32,210 --> 00:47:34,570 something they wanted to do and also defending 712 00:47:34,570 --> 00:47:36,710 their country and also died happy and laughing. 713 00:47:38,250 --> 00:47:41,870 And that's 714 00:47:41,870 --> 00:47:44,690 why I can hear the reference to an English heaven. 715 00:47:46,670 --> 00:47:49,170 And he's also accused of downplaying the grim 716 00:47:49,170 --> 00:47:51,710 reality of war. I'm using this as a quote. Listen, 717 00:47:51,790 --> 00:47:54,440 look at this. If you're doing research, Look at 718 00:47:54,440 --> 00:47:59,300 these brackets here, square brackets. I am adding, 719 00:47:59,500 --> 00:48:01,560 if you're quoting something and you're adding to 720 00:48:01,560 --> 00:48:03,460 the text things that don't change the meaning, 721 00:48:03,780 --> 00:48:08,520 just sometimes even capital or small letter, by, I 722 00:48:08,520 --> 00:48:13,320 added by, I added and, I added of war. So to tell 723 00:48:13,320 --> 00:48:15,200 the reader that this is not something that the 724 00:48:15,200 --> 00:48:18,870 original author said, It's something I am adding 725 00:48:18,870 --> 00:48:21,650 to make it clearer in the context I'm using. You 726 00:48:21,650 --> 00:48:25,510 use this thing. So think about this. How is this 727 00:48:25,510 --> 00:48:29,090 romanticizing? How is he telling people to do 728 00:48:29,090 --> 00:48:35,030 this? Now, finally, again another quote, for a 729 00:48:35,030 --> 00:48:38,250 nation desperate to turn the senseless loss of its 730 00:48:38,250 --> 00:48:41,690 soldiers into something that could be coped with, 731 00:48:42,030 --> 00:48:45,930 something you could adapt to, even celebrated. 732 00:48:47,560 --> 00:48:51,080 Like he's celebrating war here. Poetry, like 733 00:48:51,080 --> 00:48:55,480 Brooke's poem, became a cornerstone of the 734 00:48:55,480 --> 00:49:00,430 remembrance process. how countries again use such 735 00:49:00,430 --> 00:49:03,170 kind of literature consider like consider this 736 00:49:03,170 --> 00:49:07,210 poetry this literature as significant because it 737 00:49:07,210 --> 00:49:10,890 serves the purpose they have the purpose of you 738 00:49:10,890 --> 00:49:14,390 know how and if you watch American movies it's 739 00:49:14,390 --> 00:49:17,730 always there there's always this huge respect for 740 00:49:17,730 --> 00:49:20,910 for previous soldiers for veterans they give them 741 00:49:20,910 --> 00:49:22,910 discounts they respect them they give them 742 00:49:22,910 --> 00:49:27,020 priority they like Give them loans, they, like, 743 00:49:27,500 --> 00:49:30,320 you just, if you are, if you turn into a soldier 744 00:49:30,320 --> 00:49:32,800 in America, you're the best. Everyone is, almost 745 00:49:32,800 --> 00:49:34,440 everyone is going to respect you. There's the 746 00:49:34,440 --> 00:49:37,720 famous poster, like, America wants you, this 747 00:49:37,720 --> 00:49:40,420 thing. And we've seen how, we always see how 748 00:49:40,420 --> 00:49:43,460 American movies and Hollywood, how they glorify 749 00:49:43,460 --> 00:49:47,200 soldiers. And at the same time, how they demonize 750 00:49:47,200 --> 00:49:52,440 and dehumanize the others. There's this movie, one 751 00:49:52,440 --> 00:49:55,640 of the worst movies ever, The Sniper, a man who 752 00:49:55,640 --> 00:49:59,240 killed about 150 Iraqis. 753 00:50:01,100 --> 00:50:04,360 And how you're made still to feel sorry for this 754 00:50:04,360 --> 00:50:08,700 bloodthirsty murderer. Terrorist, he should be 755 00:50:08,700 --> 00:50:13,800 called. But what is killing 150 Iraqis? Nothing. 756 00:50:16,120 --> 00:50:21,600 And Trump is now pardoning war criminals, soldiers 757 00:50:21,600 --> 00:50:24,240 who committed hideous crimes in Iraq and 758 00:50:24,240 --> 00:50:27,500 Afghanistan. What message is he sending to young 759 00:50:27,500 --> 00:50:31,620 Americans, to soldiers? Just kill. Don't worry. 760 00:50:32,500 --> 00:50:36,000 I'll protect you. I'm sending you there because 761 00:50:36,000 --> 00:50:38,400 there's this idea, like the argument, I'm sending 762 00:50:38,400 --> 00:50:39,700 you there, there's a possibility that you're going 763 00:50:39,700 --> 00:50:43,900 to die at any moment. You're going to die at any 764 00:50:43,900 --> 00:50:44,120 moment. 765 00:50:47,320 --> 00:50:51,580 I'll have you back if you do anything, anything, 766 00:50:51,740 --> 00:50:55,140 even killing hundreds of people. Even there's this 767 00:50:55,140 --> 00:50:59,040 horrible, horrible massacre in Iraq where they, 768 00:50:59,460 --> 00:51:01,720 the soldiers raped a 10-year-old. They killed her, 769 00:51:01,820 --> 00:51:03,760 killed her parents and family and brothers and 770 00:51:03,760 --> 00:51:07,440 sisters. And the man, the same soldier was like 771 00:51:07,440 --> 00:51:09,600 saying, we didn't treat Iraq, we didn't consider 772 00:51:09,600 --> 00:51:13,960 Iraqis human beings. That's demonization and 773 00:51:13,960 --> 00:51:19,400 dehumanization. War is bad, war never ends. But 774 00:51:19,400 --> 00:51:22,760 yet, some people will find it proper to celebrate, 775 00:51:23,860 --> 00:51:26,040 to glorify, 776 00:51:27,220 --> 00:51:29,740 et cetera. So think about these things, and I'll 777 00:51:29,740 --> 00:51:34,380 stop here. Next class, we're doing another war 778 00:51:34,380 --> 00:51:40,180 poem by Wilfred Owen, Futility. Thank you very 779 00:51:40,180 --> 00:51:41,260 much, good luck.