Even so, as primary school children, my generation, the Gen Zs,
remained attached to Arabic, firstly because of the Tunisian educational
curriculum where it is taught as the first language and secondly thanks
to “Spacetoon”, the pan-Arab TV channel that has specialised in
broadcasting children's programmess and cartoons in standard Arabic. As
we got older, we gradually moved away from our mother tongue,
especially during our teenage years, when we were introduced to
English-speaking songs, movies, and series on Netflix. Quickly, English
dethroned French which my generation perceives as boring and
old-fashioned. It is still the case though that both languages carry a
value for students in college looking to further their studies or work
abroad. Those who chose to study Arabic were mocked since no one could
understand such a choice which was seen to limit career horizons.
But since 7 October and the start of massacres in Palestine, people
all around the world are protesting against the genocide happening in
Gaza and flooding social media, despite the censorship and the deleting
of pro-Palestinian posts. Young Arabs in the Middle East and North
Africa and in the diaspora who first started posting in English and
under English hashtags, have switched to Arabic. On social media, human
stories of all kinds are being told in Arabic: stories of Palestinian
families being wiped out, the dreams of murdered children’s obliterated,
young couples separated by death, doctors and journalists dying while
doing their job. The pain expressed in these stories couldn’t have been
told in any language other than Arabic, the mother tongue of the
multiple nations sharing the same collective grief. Beside mourning this
awful tragedy, Arabs are expressing their revolt against the current
world order, and the white supremacy of powerful Western countries,
boycotting brands supporting Zionist organisations and denouncing
mainstream media's double standards.
Young Arabs are calling for resistance, and will not allow Israel and
its Western allies to make us feel mentally defeated and passively
resigned to what is happening in Palestine. So we take the opportunity
to remember and salute the work of Palestinian writers and poets such as Mahmoud Darwish,
profoundly committed to the cause of his people. In this cruel war, we
young Arabs were introduced to Refaat Alareer, a writer, poet, activist,
and professor who was murdered by the Israeli military on 7 December. Alareer, the co-founder of the “We’re not numbers”
organisation that connects experienced writers with young writers from
Gaza, spent his life telling the world about the true story of Gazans
and their struggle against the apartheid state.
As part of dealing with the grief, young Muslim Arabs have gone back
to reading the Quran to find comfort in its surahs. Returning to the
Quran has become a spiritual therapy for many who find in the holy book
of Islam reassurance that happier times will come and that patience will
eventually be rewarded.
Every year on 18 December the Arab-speaking world as well as the Arab
diaspora celebrate World Arabic Language Day. Today the celebration is
darkened by what is happening in Gaza with Israel committing genocide in
a war of vengeance that makes no distinction between civilians and
fighters. Whereas the rest of the world is looking away and preparing
for the end-of-the-year celebrations, young Arabs have found succour and
sustenance in going back to their roots and mother tongue, as they
collectively resist, process and face the horrors of the Gaza tragedy.
Happy World Arabic Language Day and may the next poems we recite be poems of victory and liberation!