Coffee as Memory: the Palestinian Struggle

Originally Published: 6 June 2021

“Conquerors can do anything. They can aim sea, sky, and earth at me, but they cannot root the aroma of coffee out of me."

-by Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet, from ‘Memory of Forgetfulness’

ARAB ORIGINS OF COFFEE

Although native to Ethiopian soil, coffee was most likely consumed first in Yemen by Sufi monks who drank the beverage to stay awake during night for dhikr (remembrance of God). For almost 150 years, coffee was exclusively traded through Yemen's port of Mokha. It was only a matter of time before the Dutch and British East India company secured coffee beans for takeout and they shared a new flavour of the caffeinated beverage with the world: colonialism. Through slavery, exploitation and stealing, the colonists profited immensely from the coffee trade, which almost disappeared from its humble origins in the port of Mokha. The imperial narrative has contributed to the dissociation of coffee from its roots in Arab culture and society. So deep does the imperialist dagger cut through history, that the word ‘coffee’ originating from the arabic word ‘qahwa’ is not well known.

Coffee’s special place in Palestinian culture can be traced back to the Bedouins, nomadic Arab tribes, who historically lived in many parts of what is now considered the Middle East, including Palestine. ‘Qahwah sadah’ (plain coffee) was a Bedouin preference. It is what the name suggests, black coffee with no milk and sugar. It was prepared by heating coffee beans over a fire, which would then be freshly grinded. The coffee grinds would then be brewed inside a dallah (an arabic coffee pot) with water and flavoured with cardamom. The Bedouins considered serving coffee a sign of hospitality towards their guests. Between one to three cups of coffee would be offered to each guest. After their last cup of coffee, guests would say “daymen,” as a polite gesture, which means, “always,” implying “May you always have the means to serve coffee.”

COFFEE AND MEMORY: THE PALESTINIAN STRUGGLE

Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish, frequently employed coffee in his literary work as shown by Simone Sibilio in ‘The Aroma of the Land. Mahmūd Darwīsh's Geopolitics of Coffee.' For Darwish, coffee is utilised as a sensual memory for Palestinian life before Israeli occupation. After joining the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) in 1973, Darwish was exiled from Israel for 23 years. His poems echo the longing to walk his native land and the return to his childhood. In his poem, ‘To my Mother’ (translated from arabic), he says, "I yearn for my mother’s bread / my mother’s coffee / my mother’s touch." Sibilio writes that coffee in this stanza, “is a central reference within the eco-geopoetic system, reactivating the bright memory of that intimate lost space.” Similarly, in ‘The Kindhearted Villagers’, Darwish says, “And ever since I was born here, all at once, like a domestic animal, / I knew the eternal smell of coffee." This shows the significance of coffee as a sentimental symbol to Darwish’s writing about identity and loss.

The 1948 Nakba

After World War I, Palestine was under British control. The Skies-Picot agreement (1916), a secret plan between the French and British, divided the Middle East between the two countries after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. This resulted in the creation of the British Mandate of Palestine, which existed between 1919-48. In the Balfour Declaration of 1917, Britain promised a “Jewish national home” on the Arab-majority land of Palestine. The UN approved a plan to divide British Palestine into two separate states: Israel as a Jewish state and Palestine as an Arab state. Jerusalem was to become an UN-controlled international zone. Palestinians resisted this plan as they argued that the land was rightfully theirs and viewed the UN partition plan as a colonial venture. Nevertheless, Israel declared independence in 1948, which resulted in the first Arab-Israeli war. In the ‘Nakba’ (‘catastrophe' in arabic) a consequence of the 1948 war, more than 700,000 Palestinians were driven out of their homes. The lasting impact of this exodus should not be overlooked. Today, over 7 million Palestinian refugees exist due to their displacement, or their ancestors’, from the 1948 Nakba.

DARWISH AND COFFEE

Darwish and his family were impacted by the Nakba themselves, a painful collective memory for Palestinians. A collective memory is a ‘memory’ about the past that a particular group may have, despite not experiencing the event or situation themselves. Rather, these ‘memories’ are passed down through generations. For instance, Darwish speaks of the nostalgia, notably through the sensory memory of coffee, that he feels towards his native land and the pain of not being able to return to it. His own experience of being forced to leave Palestine for Lebanon animates this sentiment. Yet, through his poetry, this memory is also transmitted to subsequent generations of Palestinians who experience Darwish’s longing, even if they have not experienced the 1948 Nakba themselves.

Many people can relate to the feeling of normalcy coffee evokes as it forms a common morning ritual. Under occupation, the desire for coffee is synonymised with the desire for peace. As Darwish writes in his notable prose poem ‘Memory for Forgetfulness’, “I want the aroma of coffee / I need five minutes / I want a five-minute truce for the sake of coffee / I have no personal wish other than to make a cup of coffee.” The idea of a five-minute truce just to drink coffee elucidates Darwish’s desire to experience a mere moment of a valued sensual memory, of his childhood. Yet, at the same time, it epitomises the wider desire for liberation. These verses are powerful because craving coffee is a dramatic contrast to the looming threat of death prevalent in the contextual setting of the poem, being the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. However, the symbolic reference to coffee should not appear alien to such circumstances. Indeed, the consumption of coffee finds its roots in Arab culture and achieved its status as a global beverage due to violent episodes of colonial enterprise. Hence coffee itself represents a spirit exhibiting the urgency of decolonisation. When Darwish refers to coffee, he does not mean fancy lattes topped with syrups, but rather, his mother’s coffee, simple, possibly plain, a cultural continuation of the Bedouin brew.

Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza, caused coffee prices to increase by more than double the rate compared to previous years. Also, the recent Israeli airstrikes damaged a coffee shop edging the Gaza strip. Therefore, Darwish’s yearning to return to his native land, to his childhood and his desire for peace voiced through the symbolisation of coffee still resonates today.

The imperial mouthpiece through which the media gaslights the Palestinian struggle, obscures the reality of life under occupation. While most people can wake up in their own homes and drink their morning brew, Palestinians live in the constant fear of having their homes stolen or even destroyed by Israeli airstrikes during flashpoints. Therefore, the aroma of coffee breathes a sharp reminder for the liberated people of the world: Free Palestine.

Journal article citations:

Sibilio, Simone. "THE AROMA OF THE LAND. MAHMŪD DARWĪSH'S GEOPOETICS OF COFFEE." Quaderni Di Studi Arabi, NUOVA SERIE, 10 (2015): 103-24. Accessed June 6, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44779923.

Saidel, Benjamin A. "Coffee, Gender, and Tobacco: Observations on the History of the Bedouin Tent." Anthropos 104, no. 1 (2009): 179-86. Accessed June 6, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40467115.

Further reading:

Read an article I wrote about Israel’s violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).