One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

This is Omar El Akkad’s first book of nonfiction, a mix of memoir, reporting, and criticism. What power does this real-world documentation have compared to fiction?

One of the earliest scenes in the book describes a girl in Gaza being rescued from the rubble. What images or scenes first grabbed your attention about the war? What role did on-the-ground reporting from Palestinians play in your understanding of the war versus mainstream media coverage?

Omar El Akkad aims at the weakness of language and how it’s been used to sanitize and minimize Israel’s devastation of Gaza. What power does language hold to describe and document, but also to evade and silence?

What impact does learning about Omar El Akkad’s journalistic experiences, his family history of fleeing Egypt, and other personal windows into his life have on your experience reading?

What reaction did you have to the tweet the title is drawn from, “One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this”?

Compare and contrast the kind of censorship Omar describes in his childhood in the Middle East versus the censorship he is taking aim at in Western institutions’ silence on Gaza. How are they the same? How are they different?

El Akkad critiques how the West often supports resistance movements only after they've been neutralized or historicized. What does this say about how societies shape memory and justice? Can you think of other examples, historical or current, where this applies?

The book emphasizes bearing witness and telling the truth even when it's politically inconvenient. What role do you think individuals and institutions (including the media) play in upholding—or undermining —human rights?

What impact has reading this book had on you? Has it made you speak out, take action? Why or why not?