With Handala - Tumblr Posts
There are many things to say.
But really, everything can be said in one image.
Handala is a character that was created by Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali. Handala is a 10-year-old boy who is a refugee, most often drawn with his back to the viewer - representing how the world has turned their back on Palestine.
Naji al-Ali was a refugee. He was forced out of his home with his family at the age of 10 during the 1948 Palestinian expulsion - an incredibly violent and excruciating event that was central to the current-day displacement and persecution of Palestinians today. Naji al-Ali grew up in a refugee camp. He went on to join the Nationalist Arab Movement, but was expelled several times and finally left altogether.
He eventually found his voice with drawing political cartoons, which were widely distributed and read. He was forcefully detained in 1985 by Israeli forces during their invasion of Lebanon, but managed to get out. He then left the Middle East altogether and moved to London, where he lived until he was shot in the neck outside of the office of the newspaper he worked for. He fell into a coma and died shortly afterwards. His assassin was never officially found, although there were strong suspects.
Naji al-Ali never committed an act of violence against anyone. He spoke through his art. Handala was/is his most famous character. al-Ali described him as being drawn as a humanisation of Palestine - channelling himself as the 10-year-old boy who was violently forced to leave his home, poor, wearing worn clothes and no shoes.
In al-Ali's words: "Handala was born 10 years old and he will always be 10 years old. It was at that age that I left my homeland. When Handala returns, he will still be 10 years old, and then he will start growing up."
He also said that Handala would "reveal his face to the readers again only when Palestinian refugees return to their homeland."
(Just to be clear, I'm pulling all of my info and a fair bit of wording from Wikipedia here, but you can easily find this information corroborated all over the Internet.)
With the current attempt at blatant genocide being perpetuated by the Israeli government against the Palestinians once again, artists all over the world are showing their support for Palestine by drawing themselves with Handala, or their own version of Handala. I'm not Palestinian, or even Arab. I'm just a white girl from California who barely knows anything. But this - I can at least do this.
I don't often talk about my Ph.D here, because it's usually so difficult to describe in such a way that I can convey its importance. I joke all the time that I'm just getting a degree in comics, but the reality is, it's much, much, much more than that. Comics are, in my opinion, the oldest form of art there is. And the reason comics are viewed as being a "low" or "crude" form of art - sometimes to the degree that it's not even regarded as "art" at all - is that they're accessible. They're so easy to read. They're so easy to publish. They're so easy to understand. And this accessibility has been recognized by artists and political authorities. Comics have been used as weapons to perpetuate political agendas. And they've been used to protest that weaponization. They've been used to spread lies, and truth. Sometimes both at the same time.
Naji al-Ali used comics to tell his story, and the story of all Palestinians - a story that is, horrifyingly, still being hidden. I would implore all of you to read, and to watch, and to listen, and to give whatever you can, to help the people who have been hidden all this time by hateful words and violent agendas.