The power of uncomfortable ideas: Jina Moore Ngarambe on her time at Guernica

In March, the digital literary magazine Guernica published a personal essay by a British Israeli writer and translator, about her experiences in the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas terror attacks.

It was raw and honest and painful to read. The writer, Joanna Chen, had spent years before the attacks and subsequent war on Gaza volunteering for an organization that transported Palestinian children into Israeli territory for medical care; after October 7, she found it hard to connect with the work.

After the piece was initially published, in March, a number of Guernica staffers—all of them volunteers—expressed outrage that the magazine had published an essay centered on the internal moral agonies of an Israeli, at a time when Palestinians were being brutally killed.

The publisher of Guernica pulled the essay; within a month, Jina Moore Ngarambe, the editor in chief, resigned.

Today on The Kicker: a conversation with Jina about what she learned from the experience, and why she believes so strongly in journalism’s responsibility to present uncomfortable perspectives.

Read more:

Joanna Chen’s essay, “From the edges of a broken world” (as republished by Washington Monthly)

Guernica founder Michael Archer’s explanation for why the essay was taken down

Jina’s interview with Semafor

Hosted by Josh Hersh
Produced by Amanda Darrach
Audio Mix by William Flynn


Episode website