Overcoming Speechlessness: A Poet Encounters the Horror in Rwanda, Eastern Congo, and Palestine/Israel

By Alice Walker

Book Overview

In 2006, Alice Walker, working with Women for Women International, visited Rwanda and the eastern Congo to witness the aftermath of the genocide in Kigali. Invited by Code Pink, an antiwar group working to end the Iraq War, Walker traveled to Palestine/Israel three years later to view the devastation on the Gaza Strip. Here is her testimony. Bearing witness to the depravity and cruelty, she presents the stories of the individuals who crossed her path and shared their tales of suffering and courage. Part of what has happened to human beings over the last century, she believes, is that we have been rendered speechless by unusually barbaric behavior that devalues human life. We have no words to describe what we witness. Self-imposed silence has slowed our response to the plight of those who most need us, often women and children, but also men of conscience who resist evil but are outnumbered by those around them who have fallen victim to a belief in weapons, male or ethnic dominance, and greed.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1583229175
• ISBN13: 9781583229170
• Release Date: April 2010
• Publisher: Seven Stories Press
• Length: 80 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.9" x 0.2" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

The best 75 pages you can read

So moved by this book. Hilights interconnected issues that are still urgent today. Inspires me to commit to loving solidarity with Palestinian freedom. A must read for everyone💜

Yes!

Fabulous book! --very thin book but loaded with mind-blowing information. It has empowered me to be speak out on difficult issues that need our attention! This is worth so much to me personally and also gives me a vision for a better humanity as more of us take Alice's lead!