Introducing AGITATE! Volume 5

Abdul Aijaz and Richa Nagar

The editorial introduction to AGITATE! Journal’s fifth volume—Stories and Ecologies of Violence: Walking Together in Solidarity and Silence/ Chup by Richa Nagar and Abdul Aijaz.

Buried Waters

Efadul Huq

Efadul Huq’s visual poem revisits journeys along Dhaka’s besieged rivers, where the silent struggle against land developers echoes through cracked lines traced from memories captured on the banks of Turag.

Silence | CHUP

Fawad Khan

English translation of the script of CHUP | Silence by Fawad Khan.

Playing With Silence: Fawad Khan Speaks with Richa Nagar and Abdul Aijaz

Fawad Khan with Richa Nagar and Abdul Aijaz

Fawad Khan speaks to Richa Nagar and Abdul Aijaz about the journey of writing ‘Chup,’ bringing it to the stage given its critique of the oppressive state apparatuses, his vision and hope for art, and what the border-crossing by ‘Chup’ has meant for him.

A Haunting, Howling Chup: Literature and Ecology of Violence

Abdul Aijaz

Reflecting on Chup, Abdul Aijaz asks, “How do you tell a tale that resists narration and yet screams to be told? How do you weave a narrative around a ‘chup’ that  is haunted by what it cannot say. How to share a story that so clearly unveils what it does not tell?”

New Gaza

Marwan Makhoul and various translators

Marwan Makhoul’s poem ‘New Gaza’ with translations in various languages that have been organized by a transnational solidarity effort.

New Narratives of Old Wars: Testimonios from the Co-Madres of El Salvador

Heider Tun Tun, Ruby Steigerwald, and Inez Steigerwald

Heider Tun Tun, Ruby Steigerwald, and Inez Steigerwald write about how the testimonios of Co-Madres in El Salvador resist war narratives and break the conspiracy of silence about the scale of death, violence, and displacement during years of civil war in El Salvador.

Untitled

Ather Zia

A short story by Ather Zia set in Indian-occupied Kashmir where the Indian army routinely disappears Kashmiri men.

इंतिफ़ादा | Intifada | انتفادہ

अशोक कुमार पाण्डेय | Ashok Kumar Pandey

This poem by Ashok Kumar Pandey mediates on how hope and resistance stubbornly persists in Palestine.
English translation by Richa Nagar & Medha Muskan.
Transliteration in Nastaliq by Abdul Aijaz & Gwendolyn Kirk.

Amaithi as Stillness: Holding Palestine in the Batticaloa Justice Walk

The Batticaloa Justice Walk

In this interweaving of visuals, poetry, and collective reflection, the justice walkers from Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, express their feelings about the war in Palestine within the silence of their everyday walk of protest—a collective practice of reflection, protest, grieving, hope, and healing.