Palestine Will Live Forever Festival: Connecting the South End to Palestine

by Jas Keimig

On Saturday, Sept. 21, the Palestine Will Live Forever Festival will take place in the Seward Park Amphitheater with a daylong schedule of music, poetry, and dance, all in the spirit of supporting the liberation of the Palestinian people. Palestinian artists and allies are taking center stage at the event, which takes place nearly a year after Israel began its wholesale assault in the Gaza Strip, leaving an estimated 40,000 dead and 2.3 million displaced. The Palestine Will Live Forever Festival is rooted in solidarity with Palestine and will donate all proceeds to Palestinians currently surviving on the ground in Gaza.

Organizers Gabriel Teodros and Maher Joudi are the main brains behind the festival. The two Seattleites have been in each other’s orbit for years, but they finally met this summer during a Palestinian advocacy day at the Washington State Legislature. Immediately connecting over their shared passion for organizing and music, the two started to make their ideas of a music and performance festival in support of Palestine a reality in late June. Liberation and music, for them, are inextricably intertwined.

“For me, art is always a way of resistance because it keeps us from being erased, it keeps our culture from being erased,” said Joudi. “When we had that conversation about what we could do, it wasn’t just, ‘Hey, we wanna do something together.’ It was, ‘What do we do for Palestine?’”

“Especially this last year, I feel like a lot of musicians are scared to speak about Palestine, and there’s a lot of people frustrated that their favorite artists haven’t spoken about Palestine,” added Teodros. “I love the way that we booked this festival because every single artist has been outspoken in life and in their music. And to do an entire festival actually celebrating the artists who a lot of the industry might not be messing with because of their messages and centering them, to me, is a beautiful thing.”

The title — Palestine Will Live Forever Festival — is a part of a chant repeated by Palestinians and those in solidarity with Palestinian liberation: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. From the sea to the river, Palestine will live forever.” The river and sea in question are the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, a reference to the land Zionist forces took from Palestinians in 1948 — the Nakba — and formed into the State of Israel, displacing generations of Palestinians and corralling them into the West Bank and Gaza. For Joudi, it was imperative to name Palestine explicitly in the event.

“We weren’t gonna shy away from language. Growing up Palestinian, you are taught to hide a little bit,” said Joudi. “If we can’t be upfront with our language today as the entire world mobilizes, then shame on us. [The event name]  was very much a nod to being unapologetically Palestinian. … Palestine isn’t a bad word. We’ve all grown up being told by the powers that be that it is, and it’s not. It’s beautiful — and it will live forever.”

Doing this event in the South End was also of the utmost importance to both Joudi and Teodros, who grew up with deep ties to the South End. They wanted the festival to be accessible to and reflect the community they know, love, and remain in solidarity with.

“It’s predominantly a hip-hop festival — there’s a lot of emcees, and I think that’s important for a lot of reasons. Hip-hop is a language of resistance. To me, hip-hop music should not be separated from the people that created it, Black and Brown folks specifically. From the Black struggle for liberation, which informs in some way every movement for liberation on this planet, and particularly in Palestine,” said Teodros. “So to do a hip-hop event centered on Palestine in the South End, to me, is bringing together all of these worlds that already exist in my mind together.”

Taking the stage on Saturday are a list of artists from across Seattle, the nation, and the world. Rappers and hip-hop artists, like Essam, Eddy Mack, Rell Be Free, MC Abdul, The Neighborhood Kids, Native Guns, Macklemore, and K-Salaam, will join singers and vocalists, like Calina Lawrence (Suquamish), Nikkita Oliver, and Samer, onstage. Poet Suheir Hammad and author Ijeoma Oluo will also be on deck to speak to the crowd.

All proceeds from the event and tickets will go toward four organizations aiding Palestinians on the ground: Pious Projects, HEAL Palestine, United Nations Relief and Works Agency, and the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. During the festival, there will also be ways to donate directly to GoFundMes of Palestinians surviving in Gaza. Food and merchandise vendors will also be on-site, donating their proceeds to the cause in Gaza right now. Above all, Joudi and Teodros want all to know that the Palestine Will Live Forever Festival is absolutely centered on Palestinians and their liberation.

“The only thing I want anybody to take away from this is — anything that we do in this space is 1,000% for Palestine. It is in service of Palestine and those that are fighting every day,” said Joudi. “We do what we can on this side. And I think as long as we’re centering and framing all the work that we do as being in service of them, then we’re doing the work.”

Tickets are a suggested $50 donation. Grab your ticket or make a donation at the official Zeffy site.

Jas Keimig is a writer and critic based in Seattle. They previously worked on staff at The Stranger, covering visual art, film, music, and stickers. Their work has also appeared in Crosscut, South Seattle Emerald, i-D, Netflix, and The Ticket. They also co-write Unstreamable for Scarecrow Video, a column and screening series highlighting films you can’t find on streaming services. They won a game show once.