Past Event

Spinifex Press Forum: The Unfinished Revolution & Seeking Palestine

9th Aug 2012

Event Image

Presenter: Spinifex Press
Website: http://www.spinifexpress.com.au/
Event Duration: 120 minutes

Celebrate the release of two new books, Seeking Palestine and The Unfinished Revolution with Gula Bezhan, Alex Nissen, Samah Sabawi and Onnie Wilson.  Moderated by Helen Lobato.

With the recent Arab Spring raising questions about democracy, the is a unique opportunity to hear the perspectives of Palestinian, Afghan and Jewish women.  through their knowledge and experiences, they will discuss the challenges faces by women throughout the world to secure basic human rights.


The Unfinished Revolution: Voices from the Global Fight for Women’s Rights
Edited by Minky Worden

The Unfinished Revolution tells the story of the global struggle to secure basic rights for women and girls, including in the Middle East where the Arab Spring raised high hopes, but the political revolutions are so far insufficient to guarantee progress. More than 30 writers —Nobel Prize laureates, leading activists, top policy makers, and former victims—have contributed to this anthology. Drawing from their rich personal experiences, they tackle some of the toughest questions and offer bold new approaches to problems affecting hundreds of millions of women.

Seeking Palestine: New Palestinian Writing on Exile and Home
Edited by Penny Johnson and Raja Shedadeh

"Palestine-in-exile," says Rana Barakat, "is an idea, a love, a goal, a movement, a massacre, a march, a parade, a poem, a thesis, a novel and yes, a commodity, as well as a people scattered, displaced, dispossessed and determined."

How do Palestinians live, imagine and reflect on home and exile in this period of a stateless and transitory Palestine, a deeply contested and crisis-ridden national project, and a sharp escalation in Israeli state violence and accompanying Palestinian oppression? How can exile and home be written? What is it like, in the words of Lila Abu-Lughod to be "drafted into being Palestinian?"

Contributors probe the past through unconventional memories. Their contributions–poignant, humorous, intimate, reflective, intensely political–make an offering that is remarkable for the candour and grace with which it explores the many individual and collective experiences of waiting, living for a seeking Palestine.