This week, our editors from around the world bring news of Palestinian solidarity and the necessity of individual action against genocide, debates surrounding culture and national identity, and the latest laureates of prestigious literary prizes.
Veronica Gisondi, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Italy
Calls to end Italy’s complicity in Israel’s genocidal politics have intensified in recent weeks. While Italy’s economic and political ties to the Zionist regime are well known, citizens have been reclaiming public spaces with renewed unity and force. From statewide demonstrations on September 22—which drew more than half a million to the streets—to the general strike on October 3, many Italians have reached a breaking point underpinned by enduring forms of political grief. As the genocide in Gaza reaches its most advanced stages, the commitment of scholars such as Majed Abusalama reminds us why continued discussion is crucial: first, to anticipate how the neocolonial project will unfold—not only Israel’s, but that of its global allies—and second, to question our own role in it at “the harshest time of erasure,” both within and beyond cultural work.
Abusalama’s talk, titled “Il futuro di Gaza, la Palestina e noi” (The future of Gaza, Palestine and us), took place at CSA Vittoria, one of Milan’s squats—part of a network facing increasing threats (Leoncavallo’s eviction being a clear example) from municipal and state policies that accelerate urban privatization and erode the city’s relationship with its people. Abusalama, an award-winning journalist, human rights defender, founder of Palestine Speaks in Germany, and president of the Coalition of Lawyers for Palestine in Switzerland, described our present moment as the “last stage” of “a timeline of colonial violence” that has crushed past and future, scarring generations of Palestinians for nearly a century. By refusing to normalize their oppression, Palestinians have become experts in resistance and agency, effectively shaping models of struggle that had been later taken up by movements such as the Black Panthers and South Africa’s anti-apartheid groups. For Abusalama, to never know peace means to know one’s enemy well: for those who stand with Palestine, the enemy is imperialism, it is fascism; a fascism that “did not start on October 7,” but “has been there all the time, from the founding of Zionism until today.”
Challenging simplistic binaries, the Jabalia-born activist stressed that “there’s nothing Jewish” about “the fascist, Zionist state of Israel,” which continues to receive more per-capita funding from Italian taxpayers than from those in the US. “There’s nothing Jewish about stolen land. There’s nothing Jewish about killing children in Gaza. There’s nothing Jewish about livestreaming a genocide every day.” Yet, in their fight against settler colonial violence—a kind of uprooting meant to erase history as much as identity—Palestinians “have never stopped dreaming.” This is why, Abusalama argued, Palestine has become “a unifying force that brings us together to defeat the fascist, Western imperialist regime” across Europe and the US, perhaps by prodding a “constitutive lack”—the “incomplete horizon” that, according to Ernesto Laclau, links the universal to the subjective.
“Today we must think of Palestine as an idea,” not an “intellectual” pursuit, a “charity” fit for “white saviorism,” or a “trend.” Rather, Palestine must be understood as a “political cause” that, by demonstrating the power of accountability and organized resistance, offers us a “privileged path” to collective liberation. “We are winning multiple fights, but we need to continue escalating, disrupting, resisting,” Abusalama pressed. “There is hope,” he concluded. “And hope is a battle.”
Linnea Gradin, Editor-at-Large, Reporting from Sweden
On September 2, the Swedish government announced the finalized list of their official culture canon, a project sparking fierce debate long before its publication. The initiative, championed by the far-right Sweden Democrats, was launched in 2022 to “promote a civic education which can strengthen and broaden the appreciation for Sweden’s historical roots” (my translation). As any attempt to define and concretize constantly changing concepts, the canon is part of the ongoing conversation about what it means to be Swedish today and who can be included in that imagined community—a term coined by Benedict Anderson to understand the emergence of national identity.
From arguments over the content itself to criticism of the very venture of trying to delineate culture, the project has faced strong opposition on several fronts. Even the Swedish Academy, the body that awards the Nobel prize, denounced the idea of a “canon” as “a concept imbued with power and the exercise of power,” and declined to participate in its formation.
The final list comprises one hundred historical events and works of art deemed to have shaped Swedish society and cultural identity, spanning from tax reforms and architecture to Pippi Longstocking. Curated by historian Lars Trägårdh and a team of experts representing various artistic and civic disciplines, all entries are from before 1975, and will not be remitted (though nothing has been said about future additions).
Notably absent are popular Swedish symbols like ABBA and meatballs, but also the voices of the first, second, and third-generation immigrants who have made Sweden their home—and thus contributed to the formation of modern Swedish culture—in large numbers, especially since the 1980s. Claiming to be guided by the concepts of “education, community, and inclusion,” the publication of such a list thus begs the question: has Swedish culture truly remained frozen in time for over five decades? Or does the canon represent an attempt to resist any modern understanding of Swedish identity—one that must necessarily be broader and more inclusive than that of 1975?
José García Escobar, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Central America
The Mario Vargas Llosa Biennial Novel Prize announced its shortlist early this month, a selection that includes two Nicaraguan writers: Gioconda Belli for her novel Un silencio lleno de murmullos, and Sergio Ramírez for his novel El caballo dorado. They were shortlisted alongside Gustavo Faverón (Peru), Ignacio Martínez de Pisón (Spain), David Uclés (Spain), and Pola Oloixarac (Argentina). The winner will be announced at the end of the month.
Additionally, the Nicaraguan poet William González Guevara has won the eighth ESPASAesPOESÍA prize for his book Cara de crimen, to be published in November of this year. This latest recognition further cements the poet’s significance, adding to his previous accolades of the Premio de Poesía Hispanoamericana Francisco Ruíz Udiel and the Premio de Poesía Hiperión for his body of work, which includes the collections Los nadies, Me duele respirar, and Inmigrantes de segunda,
Finally, the Guatemalan Ministry of Culture and Sports has updated the terms for Guatemala’s most significant literary honor, the Miguel Angel Asturias Prize, named after the Nobel Prize-winning author of Mr. President. It’ll once again be awarded every year, but now the winner will receive $USD 10,500—upgraded from the previous $USD 6,500. Past winners of the prestigious award include Augusto Monterroso, Ana María Rodas, Isabel de los Ángeles Ruano, Rodrigo Rey Rosa, Victor Muñóz, and Eduardo Halfon.
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