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THE MATCHST CK THE MATCHST CK Amnesty Canada’s Arts & Human Rights Magazine Amnesty Canada’s Arts & Human Rights Magazine Volume 003

Created by and for youth — The Matchstick is Amnesty Canada’sArts & Human Rights magazine, dedicated to raising awarenessof human rights issues and sharing the perspective of youngactivists who use art as a tool to remain steadfast in theirresistance.Volume 003 features visual arts pieces, poetry, prose andinterviews all centered around the theme of Transcending Trauma :Challenging Colonialism. We see this collection as a tribute to the diverse youth groups inCanada and their determination to move through and against thetrauma inflicted by pressures like neo-settler colonialism, climatechange, racial discrimination and the persisting threat to genderand queer rights.The artists we showcase offer a glimpse into how this newgeneration challenges the oppressive, discriminatory anddisastrous consequences of colonialism while healing their ownindividual, intergenerational, and communal wounds.VOLUME003Transcending Trauma:Challenging ColonialismTHE MATCHSTICK

THE MATCHSTICKMASTHEADCreative Director Rachel Lim Managing EditorOlivia XuLiterary EditorSaadet Serra HasilogluVisual Arts EditorErica LuoVisual Arts EditorNoura HassounaEditor in Chief Laila JafriA special thank you to Elena Dumitrufor her mentorship and visionary spark.

“*” also “Untitled” — Sacha SamoukEleftheria I Thanatos —Anonymous1012172227PoetryPoetry and Visual ArtsInterview by Rachel LimPoetryVisual ArtsFEATUREDPIECESTHE MATCHSTICKPoetry6Dear Peacekeepers — SabinePlummersInterview with Rawand MustafaFree Palestine —Natalie Khallouf & Erica LuoArchaic Lessons —Heba KhanInterview with Hannah Flores34384042Poetry Visual ArtsVisual ArtsInterview by Olivia XuTomorrow — Sara K.Don’t Fetish the Flower -You’ll Fuelthe Fire — Rachel LimCage Wrought of Flesh —Emily Chaisson48Article Review On the Wet’suwet’en Pipeline— Juliano GaglioneFought It Hard — Rona KongMusic31The digital version of this publication is availableonline at TheMatchstick.org

As activists and artists, we at The Matchstick are committed to advocating against systems of oppressionthat have dispossessed Indigenous peoples of their lands and denied them of their rights to self-determination. We believe that this work is essential to broader human rights work across the world andare honored to be able to pursue our goals together on Turtle Island, and on this land that we now knowas ‘Canada’. The name ‘Canada’ is the colonial version of the original Huron-Iroquois term ‘Kanata’meaning settlement or village. As this publication focuses heavily on visual and literary arts in all itsforms, it’s crucial that we discuss the colonization of Indigenous languages and ongoing erasure ofIndigeneity.Many of us on the editorial team are immigrants, or children of immigrants, who have a distorted andincomplete understanding of the history of this land. Although we are both victims and perpetrators ofcolonial values, we are nevertheless, here as settlers and must devote ourselves to unlearning harmfulmisconceptions and relearning the truth from Indigenous peoples. Given the theme of this issue,Transcending Trauma: Challenging Colonialism, it is crucial that we critically reflect on our roles andcontributions to the ongoing disenfranchisement of Indigenous peoples across Canada. As an inherently settler-colonial organization based on land acquired through genocide, AmnestyCanada recognizes its role and its duty to uplift, empower, and stand in solidarity with Indigenouscommunities. Advocacy for global human rights includes equal recognition and taking accountability ofour own complicity. We stand alongside Indigenous peoples as they mourn the lives lost to brutalcolonial violence and demand justice and basic human rights. The very institutions that serve as thebackbone of so-called Canada are built upon Indigenous suffering and continue to enable capitalism atthe expense of Indigenous lives. By collectively demanding action and change, we can hold the state andits mechanisms accountable for the genocidal atrocities it has, and continues to, commit. We are vocal about the injustices faced by communities. We advocate through our campaigns such as NoMore Stolen Sisters for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit and Gender Diverse Peoplesand we take action for Wet’suwet’en land defenders facing human rights violations and unlawful arrestsby the RCMP for merely protecting their traditional territory from oil and gas pipelines (for moreinformation about this topic please read the article review by Juliano Gaglione at the end of the issue). Inour efforts against climate change, we look to Indigenous nations as the original defenders of theenvironment who hold traditional land-based knowledge. We believe a comprehensive understanding ofIndigenous sustainable ways of being may very well be the key to attaining effective climate action. Asthese issues persist and continue to impact future generations to come, we at The Matchstick hope thispublication will help dismantle narratives that misframe Indigenous suffering as a dark chapter of thepast, and bring attention to our fight in the present. Together, we resist, we fight, and we stand against injustice.“Our home and ON Native land”

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Eleftheria I Thanatos — Anonymous

Eleftheria I Thanatos — Anonymous

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THE MATCHSTICKInterview withRawand Mustafa17June 21, 2023

THE MATCHSTICKInterview withRawand Mustafa18

Interview withRawand Mustafa19THE MATCHSTICK

Interview withRawand Mustafa20THE MATCHSTICK

Interview withRawand Mustafa21THE MATCHSTICK

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ART ISACTIVISMPhoto of participants painting a banner and climate protest signs at the 2023 AmnestyCanada Annual General Meeting Workshop on Indigenous Women and 2SLGBTQIA+Water and Land Defenders: Stories of Reistance of Indigenous Homeland TerritoriesPhoto Credits: Elena Dumitru

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Fought It Hard — Rona Snow32THE MATCHSTICKthematchstick.org/music

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THE MATCHSTICK Interview withHannah Flores34July 25, 2023

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THE MATCHSTICKInterview withHannah flores36

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Don’t Fetish the Flower — You’ll Fuel the FireRachel Lim40THE MATCHSTICK

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We extend our sincere gratitude to the young artists and poets who have trusted us withtheir work and who inspire us with their remarkable ability to forgo the comfort of apathyfor a bold position against injustice. With line, color and verse, they reveal the intangible dimensions of our lived experiencesand teach us new ways to respond to the present. Their confrontational yet vulnerable artproves that the creative process offers both beauty and a powerful tool to reshape the world.We feel honored to represent a generation that does not understate the urgency of itschallenges , rejects neutrality, leads with compassion and creates for the sake of clarity,healing and connection. Our efforts are first and foremost a tribute to our ancestors and to the Land, Water andHuman Rights defenders who paved the path we are led on today.

“Each generation must, out ofrelative obscurity, discover itsmission, fulfill it, or betray it.”― Frantz Fanon

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