
AC Angie Chang
21dRead Anne Boyer’s extraordinary New York Times resignation letter
lithub.com
The news broke that Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, essayist, and poetry editor of the New York Times Magazine, Anne Boyer, has resigned from her post, writing in her resignation letter that “the Israeli state’s U.S.-backed war against the people of Gaza is not a war for anyone” and that she “won’t write about poetry amid the ‘reasonable’ tones of those who aim to acclimatize us to this unreasonable suffering.”
Here is Boyer’s extraordinary resignation letter—in which she takes direct aim at the language used by her (now former) employer in its coverage of the war on Gaza—in full:
I have resigned as poetry editor of the New York Times Magazine.
The Israeli state’s U.S.-backed war against the people of Gaza is not a war for anyone. There is no safety in it or from it, not for Israel, not for the United States or Europe, and especially not for the many Jewish people slandered by those who claim falsely to fight in their names. Its only profit is the deadly profit of oil interests and weapon manufacturers. The world, the future, our hearts—everything grows smaller and harder from it. This is not only a war of missiles and land invasions. It is the ongoing devastation of the people of Palestine, people who have resisted throughout decades of occupation, forced dislocation, deprivation, surveillance, siege, imprisonment, and torture.
Because our status quo is self-expression, sometimes all artists have left is to refuse. So I refuse. I won’t write about poetry amidst the ‘reasonable’ tones of those who aim to acclimatize us to this unreasonable suffering. No more ghoulish euphemisms. No more sanitized hell-words. No more warmongering lies.
If this resignation leaves a hole in the news the size of poetry, then that is the true shape of the present.”
—Anne Boyer
9 Comments 16 Likes
João Pedro Vasconcelos
Respect !
1
JCarlosImp
Great
1
JCarlosImp
Your thesis is Hamas is to blame for Hamas, but Hamas was not a grassroots movement that sparked from nowhere. It has the same origin story as the illegal takeover of almost all of Palestine by an artificial country created post WWII, because of the meddling of the colonialist agenda of Europe and the US. The Zionist government of Israel helped in the nurturing and creation of Hamas as movement in hopes it would counter Al Fatah and delay the creation of a Palestine country. The same error the US made in aiding S Hussein against Irán; the Taliban against the Russians and now neonazis in Ukraine. History again and again shows that civilian casualties are always the byproducts of these failed and erroneous policies. Don't blame Hamas for being Hamas, there is always somebody backing up violent groups of extremists.
1
David G
Finally your true motives are revealed. At least your ignorance is now out there for all to see plainly. Since you have nothing of value to provide, I’ll be happily blocking you now 😄
David G
I respect anyone willing to make this personal sacrifice to make a statement. However, her idealism is bordering on naive. The war in Gaza didn’t spring from nothing. Hamas murdered 1700 innocent people without warning, they took hostages and then fled back into Gaza, where they hide behind and under civilians. I wish that holding hands and positive thinking would solve the world’s problems, but unfortunately there are people who will never accept anything less than the death of those that they disagree with. It is tragic what is happening to civilians in Gaza…but Hamas and those that support them are to blame. They are the ones using women and children as shields. What is the alternative for Israel? Just sit back and wait for the next Hamas attack on a concert, or at a beach, or on a bus?
Critical Thought is a Lost Art
you could have just said you're zionist trash and ended it at thar.
1
David G
And you could’ve just said you’re a simple minded child and ended it at that. Enjoy your ignorance.
JCarlosImp
That could also apply to your reasoning. Any civilian casualty in an armed conflict is a motive to be appalled and saddened, but to justify the type of no-holds-barred attacks of the Israeli military on the civilian population is equally reprehensible. If you justify it by giving carte blanche to the side that was attacked first, then clearly History is not on your side. We must stop weaponizing anti-semitism and apllying it to critizicing zionism, less we fail to honour the millions who died at the hands of facists.
David G
I called the civilian loss “tragic”. I am clearly appalled by it. The difference between us is that you blame Israel for Hamas actions whereas I blame Hamas. Hamas uses civilians as shields. They are to blame when the shields are they are using are killed. I am certainly not giving carte Blanche to Israel. It helps if you actually read what I wrote with clear eyes, instead of bias.
Comment