#MyPalestinianSitty… The Power of Micro-Storytelling
First, it was #TweetYourThobe… Today, it is #MyPalestinianSitty.
It is a beautiful morning, where I felt the need for some fresh air away from the office. Sitting under the hot shade of a tree in an August morning in Dubai, I received a highlighted tweet from a friend saying (in Arabic): “Help us spread this hashtag… #MyPalestinianSitty”.
This hashtag brought back many memories from home, where my two grandmothers or “Sittys” live. Dalal, or “Em Omar”, my father’s mother, still lives in Al Baqa’a Refugee Camp in Jordan with my grandfather. My other sitty, Sarah, or “Em El Abed”, passed away last year.
Palestinian grandmothers are all similar in many aspects; they have to dress daily in their thobes (the Palestinian embroidered dress), they are full of funny stories of how they met the grandfathers (strange enough, they might all have the same story), and they are unique with their special Palestinian dialect.
On Twitter, the hashtag was received with pride, but also with attack from right extremists groups. While Palestinians were tweeting stories and pictures of their grandmothers, extremists were using the hashtag to attack Rashida Tlaib, the Democratic Representative for Michigan’s 13th congressional district, and her recent trip to the West Bank.
When it comes to social media in general, tweeting back and forth and being part of a trending hashtag is not a war. There is no winner or loser in these battles. It rather became a way of telling “Micro-Stories”, stories that are short, to the point, and have a picture or a video. These micro-stories could have a very minimal effect when you read them separately, but on a collective level, they are a tool for documenting parts of our history that are missing from the public sphere.
These stories humanized the people who never had the opportunity to voice their perspective on the international arena. Many of the tweeps tweeting pictures and stories of their wonderful “Sittys” also told their struggle when they were forced out of their homeland, and talked about their lives in refugee camps in countries and cities away from home. Many of the stories were nostalgic, many were filled with love and passion, but some were filled with anger towards the difficult lives the old women had to live through.
One of the stories I was touched by is by Karen El Sayed who tweeted about the struggle her grandmother lived when she fled to Lebanon in 1948.
At this point in time, it’s important that we start realizing the importance of such tools for two main goals: archiving the Palestinian history, and expressing support against injustices. Such a hashtag is an eyeopener for many young people, especially those who have not heard of the Nakba. #MyPalestinianSitty is not a lousy dramatic claim begging for sympathy. It is not made up stories or lies or photoshopped pictures. It is simply a glimpse of a life that was once there, and will continue to be there with such beautiful micro-stories.
