Letter From the Editors. Artwork by Isabela Caramico.
I write beside the rainy sky
Tonight an unexpected an
American
Cease-fire to the burning day
that worked like war across my
empty throat before I thought to try
this way
to say I think we can: I think we
can.
–June Jordan, “To Sing a Song of Palestine”
Hello, and welcome to the ‘Body’ issue.
Before we dive in, we want to reiterate our founding principle; that we do not publish in a
vacuum and that as you read this a genocide is occurring following seventy five years of the
Nakba, apartheid, ethnic cleansing and militarized imperialism. We encourage you to keep
sharing, talking, and advocating for a free future for Palestinians. Donations can be made to
MAP (Medical Aid for Palestine), Islamic Relief and Human Appeal. Email your MPs, call their
offices, sign the petition demanding Britain remove its military presence from Gaza, attend
protests (these can be found through The Justice for Palestine Society, The Scottish
Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and The Stop the War Coalition).
Call for a ceasefire. Share the names of the victims, a disgraceful proportion of which are
children. Do not allow their memories, dreams and ambitions to be murdered with them.
This issue theme was founded on the basis of our current political climate. The ‘Body’ is
central to freedom and in recent years we have witnessed the attacks on it; from the
overturning of Roe Vs Wade, institutional transphobia and its devastating consequences of
preventable deaths in trans young people, the continued attacks on racialized bodies at
home and abroad through stop and search, incarceration rates and military invasion.
The body is ours to define, express and protect and we hope that through this issue you are
able to find voice to this sentiment.
The attacks on bodily freedom are haunting and the gory relationship between body and
individual constructed as a consequence of these imprisonments are deeply reminiscent of
the spirit of Halloween.
As always we send our eternal gratitude and awe to our writers and our editorial and
illustration team for their contributions. We send a special thanks to our illustrators: Kate
Granholm, Jocelyn Arnold, James Wake, Lucienne Saisselin, Seth Statham, and Alana Kenneth led
by our wonderful Yury Aleksanyan and Berenika Murray.
We hope you love the issue,
Fatima and Isabela