Qamareen, two moons, two goals.
Us Humans are incapable of comprehending large numbers. The more suffering we become aware of, the less empathy we feel. We are overwhelmed by numbers, grasping a mass seemingly makes us lose our minds, puts us in the danger zone of madness. Thankfully, we have an easy tool at our disposal to combat overload: we turn away.
That is not good enough though. We can't just turn our heads, we have to stay compassionate, feel, love, empathize. But how can we achieve that, and still retain our sanity?
Like no other medium, Literature is able to undo dehumanisation and create faces instead. A book has the power to transform Bloodlands into real places. Places where people live, where they laugh, cry, fall in love and get angry. Where they are what they are: Humans.
Qamareen wants to make use of that transformative power. Make it as easy as possible for you to find a book that caters to your taste. A book in which you can truly lose yourself in. To give you everything you need to combat the forced dehumanisation of Palestinians.
An ethnic cleansing always includes the full muting of a community. It aims to disrupt the chain of thought, culture and philosophy the targeted group is part of. An ethnic cleansing aims to kill and kill fully — to diminish.
While we hope for an immediate end of the occupation of Palestine, we want to play our part in preserving some of the culture of Palestine.
This is where you come into play. If you own a book by a Palestinian author (preferably in the original language) and would be willing to donate it as soon as a library can be built in Palestine, please contact us.
A library is equal parts luxury and absolute necessity. In our dream of a library, situated in a free and safe Palestine, we presuppose shelter, food, medical care, time of leisure. We assume that this is possible, we assume that it will happen. We hold out hope for a future in which the library is not a luxury but a common place.
In organizing a delocalized library, we not only protect the extinction of Palestinian literature, we also prepare everything for the future library in Palestine. When the land is ready, safety and liberty is achieved, the books are ready to fill the shelves with life. If you want to help share our vision, we welcome you. The books in the database which already have copies in the delocalized library are marked.
The second goal is to create and curate a database for literature by Palestinian authors. To preserve and amplify their voices and to enable easy access for people interested to read Palestinian art. We aim to include a variety of genres, a variety of authors, a variety of connection.
Qamareen is a work in progress. As we want to work carefully and precisely, we largen our database bit by bit. Qamareen is not a complete overview of the literary landscape of Palestine, but rather should be understood as an introduction.
We encourage our users to create book clubs to be able to experience and discuss these works with a group. If you need help finding people in your area, don't hesitate to contact us, and we will be happy to help you look.
If you yourself or your group discussion produces thoughts about the work you are reading, we are always happy to receive it! If you consent, we will also put it on our Instagram page, so other people reading the book might be inspired further as well.
A book club (or solitary reading) is supposed to be fun. And this is what we want you to have as well.