Today is Human Rights Day.
This morning we placed our beautiful Palestinian kite embroidered by many hands, in the tree in Crouch End planted to commemorate the Human Rights Act.
Let us not forget the vital importance of the principle of human rights and fundamental freedoms to all individuals across the world.
These include the rights to:
Let us not forget the vital importance of the principle of human rights and fundamental freedoms to all individuals across the world.
These include the rights to:
life and liberty; equality before the law; freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment; to not be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile; the right to return to our own country, and the right to seek asylum.
FREE PALESTINE
This small local community project was inspired by the poem written by Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City on 6 December 2023
If I must die
you must live
to tell my story
to sell my things
to buy a piece of cloth
and some strings,
(make it white with a long tail)
so that a child, somewhere in Gaza
while looking heaven in the eye
awaiting his dad who left in a blaze -
and bid no one farewell
not even to his flesh
not even to himself -
sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above
and thinks for a moment an angel is there
bringing back love
If I must die
let it bring hope
let it be a tale
Working Together
Many kind and generous people gave their time and attention to add stitches of care and repair to this project.
We sought to turn our grief and horror at the Israeli government's bombing, starving and maiming of civilians in Palestine into something tangible and beautiful while forming a compassionate community.
I am particularly grateful to the Jewish and Israeli-born participants who brought their love and understanding to this project.
Special thanks also goes to Cafe Palestina, Fortess Road, Kentish Town for sharing their space with us, and to Clevedon Tatreez who added some expert stitches to the kite. To Polly Lyster at The Dyeworks for her early advice and beautiful fabric, and to Lizzy Vartanian who explained the basics of Tatreez to me and pointed me in the right direction. I must also thank Daisy Gray for sharing so much of her time to instruct me about indigo dyeing, the rail lent to me by Kate Aslett from Blod Floral. And to Lisa Finch without whose energy I would never have got up and running, and to my lovely husband Rob without whom this would never have got finished.
Thank you.
At Cafe Palestina, Fortess Road, Kentish Town
At Clevedon Tatreez, The Spinning Weal, Clevedon
The Design
The motifs are mainly traditional designs from Gaza including olives as a symbol of peace, and the cypress tree which symbolises resilience and attachment to the land. There is also a Ukrainian design added in solidarity by a Ukrainian participant with red representing blood and black, the land.
Our work is full of mistakes and imperfections. Most of us don't often sew. We can only demonstrate our commitment to the right of the Palestinian people to exist by our knotty, messy efforts to engage in the affirmation of Palestinian culture from afar.
Dyeing with Indigo
I discovered that traditionally, in a ritual of grief, Palestinian widows dye their embroidered dresses with indigo. We dyed this kite to mark the rising tide of grief across the world as we see the Palestinian people suffering the annihilating genocidal violence of the Israeli government with the complicity of many governments and media organisations around the world.
In June 2025 as the Israel's death toll in Gaza approaches 55,000 murdered Palestinians, I redyed the kite.
This kite is currently in an exhibition in Kentish Town. At 11.30am on Sunday 15 June we will walk from Torriano Meeting House to Parliament Hill and fly the kite on Parliament Hill in solidarity with Palestine, to mark Eid.
If this project has moved you, speak out for the rights of the Palestinian people and all people.
Defend the principles of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Donate to a charity like Medical Aid for Palestinians.
Carry compassion into your own community.
