Prisoners of Love: Keynote Lecture with Hazem Jamjoum

Join us on Wednesday, 23 September, at 18:00 for a special keynote lecture by historian and educator Hazem Jamjoum around Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme’s exhibition Prisoners of Love: Until the Sun of Freedom, which closes this weekend.

When discussion of Palestinian prisoners arises in solidarity spaces, they are usually discussed as victims and statistics. In this keynote presentation for Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme's Prisoners of Love: Until the Sun of Freedom, the historian and educator Hazem Jamjoum focuses on a key element of the ways in which Palestinian prisoners talk about themselves, namely: the Palestinian Prisoners Movement. In his presentation, Jamjoum will talk about the beginnings of the Prisoners Movement in the late 1960s, and how it developed into one of the major pillars of the Palestine liberation movement by the 1980s. By combining elements from Prisoners of Love, and the writings, artworks, and achievements of the Prisoners Movement over the years, the presentation aims to share some of the key tenets and teachings of the Movement, with the aim of highlighting the centrality of the liberation of Palestine's prisoners for the work of liberation worldwide.

Hazem Jamjoum is a translator, cultural historian, and the founding editor of the publishing house Safarjal Press. His translations include Ghassan Kanafani’s The Revolution of 1936–1939 in Palestine (1804 Books, 2023); Maya Abu al-Hayyat’s novel No One Knows Their Blood Type (CSU Poetry Center, 2024), and the forthcoming translation of prison writings by Marwan Barghouti, to be published under the title Unbroken: In Pursuit of Freedom for Palestine.

Final Wednesday Read-in

You can also join the last reading session of the Wednesday Read-Ins, at 17:00, where we will be warming up to Hazem’s presentation by reading some texts recommended by Basel and Ruanne.

Free Tickets

Places are limited to 80 participants. Reserve your free ticket by clicking “Book Tickets”.