My review of "One day, everyone will have always been against this" by Omar El Akkad

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This: National Book Award by Omar El Akkad
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think everyone should read this book.

This collection of essays offers a clear, compelling look at how we manage to deny, ignore, downplay, or justify the genocide in Palestine while still claiming to value justice, freedom, and equality. El Akkad writes from the perspective of a seasoned journalist who has covered the War on Terror, Ferguson, climate change, Black Lives Matter protests, and more.

The book resonated deeply with me. As an immigrant from Venezuela, I often wonder whether the U.S. armed forces will one day come to “liberate” my family or my people. As a veteran of the Iraq War, I’ve spent years wrestling with whether my deployment accomplished anything good. Did we make Iraq better? That question stayed with me because I saw “collateral damage” firsthand. It is impossible to forget the suffering of women and children when you are there, witnessing it directly. Maybe it’s because I’m brown like them, but it was easy for me to recognize Iraqis as fellow human beings. Some of my brothers in arms did not see them that way—they were all “terrorists.” Even then, I knew better.

I carry what I saw and what I did with me. I always will. But this book helps me make sense of it. It helps me see the bigger picture.

What I especially appreciate is that the message is not nihilistic. It’s a call to action: to throw sand into the gears of the machinery. Protesting works. Speaking out works. We are not powerless.

I also love the way El Akkad pulls no punches with his narrative and language. This book is a prime example of how the pen can be mightier than the sword.

Will it work? Can we change the culture of the US from within? I don't see that happening anytime soon, because the system is designed to work this way. Things will change when the powerful feel the cost of operating as usual, otherwise things will never change. This book gave me a lot to think about.

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