In response to DMC's statement on Gaza on April 1, 2024
From Palestinian culture workers, cooperatives and institutions dedicated to preserving Palestinian embroidery & art history
First, it grieves us to say that amidst our collective trauma of waking up every day to images of atrocities inflicted on our people, and with each dawn bringing more pain, we struggle to find solace or reassurance in your statement.
The relationship between DMC and Palestinian embroiderers goes back to nearly a century ago. Since the 1920s, Palestinian embroiderers have regarded DMC threads and materials as integral to the art of embroidery, and this weak statement served as a bitter blow.
Labelling the situation in Gaza as a mere 'crisis' fails to capture the magnitude of suffering endured by its people and evades identifying a perpetrator or context, adopting a stance that lacks courage and drifts in ambiguity.
It is clear from countless testimonies, as well as to the International Court of Justice, United Nations, and numerous international organizations that Israel's actions in Gaza are so grave that they amount to plausible genocide of the Palestinian people.
Second, to preserve Palestinian embroidery means to keep Palestinians alive. To preserve Palestinian embroidery is to honor the hands and bodies that made them. We are disheartened that your statement does not acknowledge the enormous loss of Palestinian life over the past six months; it does not even use the word Palestine or Palestinians.
Third, while we support including Palestinian embroidery in your design library, 3 of the 5 designs selected do not belong to Palestine. They are European.
Had you consulted Palestinian culture workers in your response, we could have shared that the remaining designs were from Ramallah and Hebron (Al Khalil). Surely, such information would enrich your design library.
Moreover, inclusion of a design from Gaza at such a tragic time would have been a meaningful contribution by DMC.
Fourth, we are concerned that you have not defined "tatreez" in your statement or design library, and instead seem to be using it interchangeably with "Palestinian." Tatreez, which means "embroidery" in Arabic, has come to refer to Palestinian embroidery, carrying deep cultural significance. Neglecting this context risks contributing to cultural erasure.
Fifth, your mention of UNESCO needs clarification. UNESCO did not acknowledge Palestinian embroidery as a world heritage craft in 2021, as your statement indicates. Instead, UNESCO inscribed the art of embroidery in Palestine, encompassing our practices, skills, knowledge, and rituals, on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity during the 2021 (16. COM) session.
We are left completely baffled by your paraphrasing, which omitted any mention of Palestine and the Palestinian people.
Finally, it is, of course, admirable that you are donating to the International Red Cross. However, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that Israel is actively preventing aid from reaching people in Gaza as a form of collective punishment. The people of Gaza are being starved, and as of yesterday at least 23 out of the 27 people who've died from starvation are children and babies.
Genuine solidarity encompasses speaking out against this cruel and illegal siege, where reports indicate that severely malnourished babies lack the energy even to cry.
We believe that the recent statement issued by DMC was made with good intentions. However, it appears to lack understanding and sensitivity. The language and tone are inadvertently contributing to the dehumanization and erasure of the Palestinian people, treating our existence or mere mention as a political taboo.
We also believe that there is still an opportunity for DMC to offer a more considered response to the concerns raised in the petition entitled,
We welcome communication from DMC to support a more meaningful response.
Signatories:
Tiraz Centre: Widad Kawar Home for Arab Dress
Folkglory: Living Heritage Design
Museum of the Palestinian People
The National Institution of Social Care and Vocational training (NISCVT), Beit Atfal Assumoud
Notes:
This letter was delivered to DMC on April 5, 2024.
Please note that additional signatories will continue to be forthcoming. If you are a Palestinian social enterprise, culture worker or institution preserving Palestinian embroidery and art history, please email Wafa at wafa@tatreezandtea.com.
To sign the petition that was organized by Lina Barkawi @linasthobe, please follow the below link. This petition is delivered to DMC by Lina. This is the petition that has effectively demanded and obtained response from the company. We thank Lina (inclusive of any colleagues), for her care and courage in organizing this petition.