Omar Ramahi

Photograph Source: Javier Perez Montes – CC BY-SA 4.0 What has changed since the times of the Romans when coliseums were built for entertainment and amusement? The answer: only the architecture. The objectives live on, but on a much grander scale. “Bread and circuses” is a term that came from the Latin panem et circenses, coined around 100 AD by the Roman poet Juvenal.

Unlike many privileged kids around the globe, including those who had or have the luxury to be brought up calmly, and nourished physically and mentally in a playful and stress-free environment, I came of age witnessing the horrors of the Israeli occupation, reading deeply stressful, if not deeply traumatizing stories and books about the torture of Palestinian detainees in notorious Israeli jails.

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