Harvard Commencement Speech: Zehra Imam on Gaza, Justice, and Resilience

Moral Resilience and Community

• 🤝 The speech begins by invoking the importance of community and accountability, asking who accompanies us in the wilderness and reminds us of our worth.
• 🕌 These questions are framed through the lens of historical and contemporary struggles for justice, referencing figures like Imam Hussein and communities from Palestine to Sudan.

Lessons from Karbala and Gaza

• 💧 The narrative draws parallels between the historical stand at Karbala, where Imam Hussein's family faced a tyrant, and the ongoing situation in Gaza.
• 📚 The speaker shares her experience teaching a "Poetry of the Camps" class to students in besieged Gaza, highlighting their resilience amidst Israeli airstrikes and the destruction of universities.
• 💔 Personal anecdotes, like a student having to burn books for meager meals and witnessing a six-year-old girl lose her family, underscore the profound human cost of the conflict.

Complicity and the Call to Action

• ⚠️ The speech directly addresses the audience's complicity in the ongoing "genocide" in Gaza, emphasizing that no meaningful aid has entered since March 2nd.
• ✊ It calls for courage and a refusal to be ruled by tyrants, stating that "our liberations are intertwined."
• 🇵🇸 Palestine is presented as a persistent issue that will continue to demand attention until met with a response.

Dreams of Freedom and Humanity

• 🕊️ The final section reflects on a poetry session about freedom, sharing a student's dream of returning home, attending college, and experiencing simple joys without the sounds of war.
• ✨ The dreams shared highlight a profound longing for normalcy, safety, and the sensory experiences of a life free from violence and suffering.
• 💬 The speech concludes with a powerful message about the necessity of honest reckoning and mutual support to achieve shared dreams of humanity.