Pinned
I wrote about my five days in Israeli prison for the LRB. Remember with every paragraph that this is the cosseted version of the experience; it is infinitely worse for Palestinians
Naoise Dolan
250 posts
Naoise Dolan
@NaoiseDolan
Novelist. Author of EXCITING TIMES (2020), THE HAPPY COUPLE (2023), third novel coming 2027 ⁊ ag scríobh an 4ú ceann i nGaeilge
Joined August 2022
- The second flotilla is very close to Gaza now, undeterred by anything we’ve heard about what the first went through. 11,000 Palestinians are still trapped in such prisons, including over 400 children, so turning back is not an option. Track us here: thousandmadleens.fr/tracker/
- The first flotilla’s Irish participants have just been released from Israeli prison. Meanwhile, we on the second flotilla are nearing Gaza. Keep speaking up for Palestine. We’re sailing not only for aid but for self-determination & we won’t stop until Palestine is free
- Catherine Connolly committed to learning fluent Irish in 2004, well into adulthood, after regretting not being able to do a live interview with RnaG. Then she actually followed through. How is it ‘elitist’ to expect the same thing of a literal Minister of the Gaeltacht
- I've protested Israel's actions every way I can. Now, I'm joining the flotilla sailing for Gaza
- Irish-speakers didn’t get a proper presidential debate because Humphreys chose (again) to run for an office she’s not qualified for. Nobody cares ‘how Irish’ anyone else is, stop projecting! The issue is language rights
- Hold your head high girlHard luck @HeatherH You stepped into the breach, late in the day, when our candidate withdrew. You've carried your home constituency where people know you best. You've held the FG vote and some. Hold your head high girl.
- New piece about losing my sanity in London, recovering it in Berlin, and an all-too-brief cameo from the adorable stray cat who lives on my road
- The second flotilla continues to sail. No matter what we hear about prison conditions for the first wave of participants, our solidarity with Palestine is unconditional. We’re on track to reach Gaza in just a few days
- Pandering to the far-right is both dangerous and ineffective. We already know from Germany, France and the UK that it only legitimises fascists. We need a positive alternative vision instead
- I say this as a flotilla participant: we cannot let drone attacks distract from the genocide. Israel has murdered at least 84 people in Gaza so far today, with the real number likely far higher. Governments need to sanction this rogue state, not just protect their own citizens
- At some point someone is going to get killed, and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s response will be to bicker over who’s faster at deporting people (who were forced to leave their country by EU imperialism in the first place)
- The Irish language is in an all-time underfunding crisis, with Gaeltacht housing ever more unaffordable and record secondary school exemptions. Rather than lowering our expectations, we need to fight for Irish and for everyone’s chance to access it
- Israel kidnapped me on Wednesday morning. I’m out now. We will keep at it for not only a ceasefire, but full justice and self-determination for Palestine. Here’s an article I wrote that was published shortly after I had to throw my phone into the water
