On Palestine

For Palestine, Always 

Tilted Axis Press was founded to challenge the hierarchisation of particular languages and literatures in the UK – Palestinian Liberation is in our DNA.

Photo taken at a Palestinian protest march in London. It shows a person with mask, waiving three Palestinian flags in front of the Big Ben.

We oppose the genocide waged by Zionist and Western political actors. We call for an immediate ceasefire, and the right of return for the Palestinian people. What is happening in Gaza today is not an isolated occurrence, nor is it an individual act of racism. Israel is a massive state power with an expansive military backed by the US and Europe. For 75 years it has taken over control of the land, utilities, movement and livelihoods of Palestinians. The bombing must stop and the blockade must end. 

As a publishing house, our practice is grounded in a global resistance to Western imperialism and settler colonialism. It is our responsibility to publish stories that have been silenced and histories that have been obscured. 

To quote the Writers in Solidarity with Palestine, we believe that:

“Language is critical to how reality is shaped, to what is criticized, to what gets called a revolution. Islamophobic, genocidal, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian rhetoric are all rooted in the languages we use. It is our responsibility to lay bare how language has been used to obscure and preserve the ongoing settler colonial project outside of Gaza—”

Each of us at Tilted Axis have roots in colonised land: Brazil, Côte-d'Ivoire, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, and Vietnam. Our collective histories have been marked by displacement, wartime violence and political repression at the hands of Western imperialism. These histories compel us to say “never again” to apartheid and genocide.

This is why we publish literature by authors who share these collective histories, authors who write against the violence of colonialism and oppression, authors like Kalyani Thakur Charal, Norman Erikson Pasaribu, Geetanjali Shree, Thuận, and Yu Miri, among others.

None of us are free until all of us are free.

We urge our readers and colleagues to:

1. Learn: Read and share resources on Palestine. For example: 

   • Palestine Centre for Human Rights Gaza (PCHR Gaza)

   • Al Haq, Palestinian human rights organisation based in Ramallah

   • Adalah Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel

   • Diakonia International Humanitarian Law Centre

   • Palestinian Youth Movement

   • A Palestinian Meditation in a Time of Annihilation 

   • The Second Week

   • A Tradition of Defiance

2. Sign this petition asking the UK government to seek a ceasefire, address the root cause of the current conflict and promote dialogue to advocate for the end of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip

3. Lobby your MP or local representatives to end military and political support for Israel until it adheres to international law. Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP) has a formatted letter you can use

4. Protest: Join the National March for Palestine this Saturday (Nov 11) at 12 PM. The march will start at Hyde Park, then heading to the US Embassy in Vauxhall. For updates and routes, see the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign UK

5. Take action: For more updates on local coordinated efforts in London, follow organisations such as @sistersuncut @eseasisters @palestinianyouthmovement @queers.for.palestine @londontranspride @gndrising @sds_noborders_noprisons @blmuk @thedykeproject @landinournames 

6. Use language that makes visible the Palestinian experience, including Palestinan occupation, dispossession, ethnic cleansing, genocide, settler colonialism and apartheid

7. #AltTextPalestine: Make images coming out of Palestine, calls to action, and protest accessible. Use the tag #AltTextPalestine on a tweet with an image and someone will reply with alternative text 

8. Send an eSIM to people in Gaza to circumvent the internet blackout. More information in this thread. You can also donate to Medical Aid for Palestinian’s Emergency Appeal for Gaza,  Palestine children’s relief fund (PCRF), and the Middle East children’s alliance (MECA.)

9. Refuse funding from the Israeli government and private funders who support its illegal occupation

10. Boycott Israeli and international companies and institutions that are complicit in the violation of Palestinian rights. For example:

    • HP

    • Siemens

    • SodaStream

    • Puma

    • Sabra

      • Read more from the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement (BDS) and the Writers4Palestine Resource Doc

11. Open your programme or collection to artists, collectives, initiatives and galleries led by non-mainstream or radical voices, including artists from Palestine, and fund and support their participation

12. Share this letter of solidarity and your public statement (personal and institutional) with your networks. If you are an artist, ask the institutions that hold your work or the institutions you work with to support it and share it as widely as possible with their audiences 

In solidarity, 

Tilted Axis Press