A journalist and storyteller internationally renowned for the stunning eloquence of his prose, Omar El Akkad brilliantly chronicles the painful fracturing of his relationship with Western liberalism in One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This. For readers devastated at how powerful Western nations have endorsed and financed the "world's first livestreamed genocide" in Gaza, the author's refusal to ignore the deep cracks in the "freedom" narrative of his chosen home, the United States, will resonate profoundly.
El Akkad's roots are global. He was born in Egypt, schooled in Qatar and Canada, and is raising his family in the Pacific Northwest. In the spirit of his first nonfiction title, El Akkad points to well-meaning Westerners who praise native communities around the world for standing up to their occupiers. Resistance is venerated "in hindsight," while during occupation, resistance is considered "terroristic." One day, he predicts, it will be safe enough for polite society to be shocked at the obliteration of Gaza, but only when it is too late and there are no consequences for speaking out.
Reflecting on a life of departures and arrivals, El Akkad (American War; What Strange Paradise) is engaged in quiet resistance to a Democratic Party whose progressivism and value for human rights "so often ends at the lawn sign." His moral courage in voicing his objections will inspire hope for similarly tormented readers in the face of their helplessness. Amid reminders of how much worse the political alternative will be, "there exists a point beyond which relative harm can no longer offset absolute evil," El Akkad insists. For him and many others, "genocide is that point." --Shahina Piyarali