Kanafani was born on April 8, 1936 in Acre, Palestine. He lived with his family in Jaffa until they were forced to leave during the Nakba (“catastrophe”) of 1948 and finally settled in Damascus. After living in a refugee camp, he later began working as a teacher in a refugee camp for the UNRWA to help support his family and continue his studies. His experience in the refugee camps is reflected in much of his works.

While studying Arabic literature at the University of Damascus he became interested in politics and met the then leader of the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM) George Habash, with whom he began to work. After teaching several years in Kuwait, where he was diagnosed with acute diabetes, Kanafani moved to Beirut to work on al-Hurriyya (“Independence”) magazine at the invitation of Habash.

In 1961 he married Danish professor Anni Hoover, who had come to Beirut to study the refugee situation and in 1962 he published his first major book, Men in the Sun *, immediately acclaimed throughout the Arab world. Both as a journalist and as a writer, Kanafani was very prolific in the 1960s when Palestinian resistance and armed struggle increased (the PLO was founded in 1965).

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) was founded in 1967 to replace the Movement of Arab Nationalists and Kanafani became director of al-Hadaf, the party’s organ. With a clear Marxist orientation, the PFLP pledged to resist the occupation of Palestine and establish in Palestine a single state with a new secular society based on social justice. The period between 1970 and 1972 was rich in political and armed activity, and at that time Kanafani was a member of the PFLP politburo in addition to being its spokesperson.

The PFLP considered the fight against the Israeli occupation to be anti-colonial resistance. After the defeats of 1948 and, especially, 1967, the struggle in the cultural sphere was fundamental to recover a daily Palestinian national identity that was in danger due to dispersion and ethnic and cultural cleansing. It was the first step to recover his country.

He was assassinated along with his 17-year-old niece Lamees on July 8, 1972 in Beirut by a car bomb planned by Mossad and very possibly with the collusion of the Lebanese authorities.

PFLP Ghassan Kanafani, Richard Carleton interview COMPLETE

The Dupes, 1973 Syrian Film based on the book by Kanafani “Men in the Sun”

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  • CrawlMarks [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 month ago

    I have this pattern where I get along with everyone but we never actually become friends and I feel like I am kinda just frictionless floating through life. It feels like the only actual change I could create in my life is to make things worse.

    • WhyEssEff [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      1 month ago

      unsolicited advice from someone who is also working on this issue:

      the best way to actually create friendships in this day and age is consistent lines of time-arbitrary contact. start asking people for their contact information after talking to them positively on five or so separate occasions—either explicitly for said purpose or when contact is pertinent. Shoot them an initial contact, and follow-up with something unrelated if the initial pleasantries don’t lead to anything consistent. With attempts specifically past the first follow-up (if fruitless), just judge when you believe yourself to come off as badgering as the stopping point for them.

      It might feel daunting to ask, but it’s a genuinely innocuous probe. if they take issue with it or inquire why—apologize first w/rt the former, then just say you’re trying to work on your social life actively and are trying to get in consistent contact with people you feel you have rapport with to build more friendships (not worded like that but that’s the message you want to convey). It’s a bit embarrassing but earnestness genuinely works.

      • CrawlMarks [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        1 month ago

        I think you may have made more progress than me. Cause, like, I am not sure I would have anything to say to them after I got their info.

        • WhyEssEff [she/her]@hexbear.net
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          1 month ago

          the secret to it is that anything that would spark dialogue with them IRL—even just small talk—will probably also start that line over text. it genuinely doesn’t have to be important or meaningful. it’s honestly better if it isn’t super heavy or impenetrable if you want any consistent contact out of it.

          some techniques I’ve found that have worked:

          • follow up in abstract on something you’ve made conversation about
          • ask them about something they know more than you about or have a unique perspective on
          • talk shop if there’s hobby or work overlap (YMMV on bringing up work topics)
          • talk to them in person and carve out an opportunity to follow up over text in the context of the conversation
          • answer a lingering question from a conversation you’ve had recently
          • let them know about something pertinent to the both of you that you aren’t sure they know
          • more blatantly, just ask if they want to grab a coffee or a quick bite with you sometime soon to shoot the shit because you think it’d be a good reprieve—again, social earnestness usually works wonders. we’re all really atomized. most people actually appreciate innocent attempts to just be friends with them, even if you have to make those genuine intentions explicit. if nothing else it’s flattering.
          • FunkyStuff [he/him]@hexbear.net
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            1 month ago

            How do you deal with the situation in which you have achieved consistent communication in this model with various people but it only ever comes about on your initiative? And that if you stop writing to someone for a few months they also go radio silent?

            • WhyEssEff [she/her]@hexbear.net
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              1 month ago

              i think that’s just life unfortunately. You can try to maintain contact but some people aren’t incentivized to engage. people just kinda fall out of contact like that, it’s unfortunate but it’s the case as far as I’m aware. happened with me and a comrade I met in college, he graduated, we gradually lost touch, eventually I was the only one promoting and I petered out over time.

              I talked with another one of my much more sociable friends on this exactly, and my perspective on it is that you can’t really rectify behavior that isn’t coming from you shrug-outta-hecks

              I’d say try to keep in touch but if that fails cherish the time you’ve had prior with them.

      • CrawlMarks [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        1 month ago

        I had beenndoing alright untill I moved. I am kinda starting over in my new area and I just don’t feel like I am really starting if thst makes any sense

        • Hohsia [any]@hexbear.net
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          1 month ago

          Makes a lot of sense. I feel like I had something in the last city I was in but feel very stuck in my current place. It’s been about 2 years now

          I started feeling a little less bad when I realized that nearly all people feel the same way and it’s probably just the result of hyper-individualism everywhere

          • CrawlMarks [he/him]@hexbear.net
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            1 month ago

            This makes sense as an explanation as to why. But this not help us overcome it. I was going to try to join a club but there really aren’t any such things in my new city.

    • Rojo27 [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      1 month ago

      Struggling with this right now. Its tough because its like I don’t really know what else I could possibly do to maintain connections. I have friends that I occasionally contact, but no one ever really follows up or actually hangs out with me. The one friend that I have that has been most consistently been in contact with me goes through periods of flakiness and I don’t know if its just me or if its just something that’s up with her. IDK. Adulting is difficult and more so when it just feels like there aren’t any significant connections in your life.