"Night Letters" Zine

I’m a huge fan of the band Propagandhi (https://propagandhi.com/). One of the songs off their 2009 album Supporting Caste is not only an earworm, but the lyrics have stuck with me and haunted me ever since I first heard it. The song is called “Night Letters,” and the lyrics which are written primarily in the second person, describe the experience of someone forced to flee their home to escape violence, cross borders, and live in a foreign, inhospitable country. There are no names or places that specify who this person is, so the song’s message can be applied to many people, many experiences of what it’s like to be a refugee.

In October 2023, when Israel began its most recent bombardment, displacement, and genocide against Palestinian people in Gaza, I would read reports of the violence and hear in my mind the lyrics to “Night Letters.” I felt impelled to make art that expressed my solidarity with the Palestinian people and their century-plus-long resistance against the occupation. Chicago, where I live, is home to more Palestinian people than anywhere in the U.S. Many of those families immigrated in 1917. Many more in 1948. More in 1967, 1987-1993, and so on. If you read the history of Palestine, the zionist movement, and the Israeli occupation it’s not hard to understand why.

This zine is for all refugees, everywhere. And in this moment this zine is for the people of Gaza and all of Palestine and Palestinians worldwide. When you purchase a “Night Letters” zine, I will be giving the entire amount (all $10) to Anera (https://support.anera.org/a/donate-palestine), which provides emergency medical supplies, food, clothes, and hygiene kits to people impacted by violence in Palestine. This second ask is entirely based on honor system because I have no way of verifying it, but before you purchase a “Night Letters” zine I ask that you make a phone call to your elected officials (senators, reps, governors, whoever) and demand that they pressure Israel into a ceasefire. As Israel blockades supplies from entering Gaza, there’s only so much we can give. At some point we have to get our corrupt electeds in government to do the right thing.

The zine was printed by me at Spudnik Press (https://www.spudnikpress.org/) using a risograph machine on 11x17 paper, cut into its respective pages, folded, and stapled.