“Hundred Year Hunger”: Billy Bragg Releases Song in Support of Palestine and Sumud Flotilla

London (Quds News Network)- British singer Billy Bragg has released a new original song in support of Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing Israeli blockade and genocide, coinciding with the Global Sumud Flotilla, a humanitarian aid mission heading to Gaza to “break the illegal siege.”

The title of Hundred Year Hunger was inspired by a new book of the same name by E Mark Windle about the history of chronic malnutrition and deprivation in Gaza and will raise money for the Amos Trust’s Gaza Appeal.

Writing on Instagram, the British singer said that the song “looks at the current famine that Israel has created in Gaza through the lens of a century of enforced food insecurity and malnutrition imposed on the Palestinian people, firstly by British imperialism, then as a weapon of mass displacement by the state of Israel”.

The song was released to coincide with a new humanitarian aid flotilla – with Greta Thunberg among their number – setting sail from Barcelona to try to “break the illegal siege of Gaza”, organisers said. The intention is to open a humanitarian corridor and deliver aid to an area gripped by Israeli-made famine. It is expected to arrive in mid-September. Israel previously blocked two attempts by pro-Palestine activists to deliver aid by ship to Gaza.

“Now my children ask me why the watching world is standing by / While Israel creates famine as a weapon in their war,” Bragg sings in the track.

Since March 2, Israel has blocked aid from entering the Palestinian enclave, severely worsening the humanitarian crisis. Famine was declared for the first time by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) in August in northern Gaza and is projected to be extended to the south by the end of September. More than 370 Palestinians, including over 130 children and infants, have died from malnutrition and starvation. Human rights groups have accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinians in Gaza.

The chorus of the song is in Arabic. Bragg explained that “sumud” translates as “steadfastness or perseverance. It is used by Palestinians to describe their nonviolent everyday resistance against Israel’s occupation. Sumud emphasises the commitment of the Palestinian people to remain on their land despite hardship and oppression, elevating their everyday existence into a form of resistance.”

A second term, “lan narhal”, Bragg wrote, “translates as ‘we will not leave’. Together ‘Sumud! Sumud! Lan narhal’ conveys the determination of the Palestinian people to refuse to be displaced.”