Hamza Abu Howidy is coming to Karlsruhe to read from his book Muscheln am Strand von Gaza: Erinnerungen an ein zerstörtes Land*.

“Sometimes I feel like the loneliest Palestinian in the world.” Hamza Abu Howidy tells us about growing up in Gaza in the 2000s, about his family – particularly his father, who taught him the great lessons in life whilst collecting sea shells – but also about the bloody clashes between Fatah and Hamas, right on his doorstep, and just how much life in Gaza was shaped by terror. Years later, he protested against Hamas and was arrested, tortured and forced to flee. Today, he is one of the most important political voices from the Palestinian exile community, yet he refuses to be co-opted by either the pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian sides. A deeply personal book that is both a message of hope and a plea for a democratic and peaceful resolution to the Middle East conflict.

Hamza Abu Howidy, born in Gaza in 1997, studied economics and administration at the Islamic University of Gaza and began to protest Hamas rule at an early age. As part of the "We Want to Live” opposition movement, he was arrested and tortured on several occasions. In 2023, he fled to Germany via Egypt and Greece. He advocates for non-violent approaches to the Middle East conflict in German-language and international media as a freelance writer and speaker.

This reading continues the ongoing event series “From A Whisper to A Scream: Voices of Protest and Dissent, Acts of Silencing and Models of Resistance” and will be held in English. It will be followed by a Q&A session. Entry is free.

Organised by the Department of Art Theory and Mediaphilosophy, Community Toolkit Workshop and Schwarm: Student Journal for Art and Theory.