One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism and graphic violence.

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This operates at the intersection of memoir and political nonfiction, a hybrid form that has gained prominence in contemporary literature. This genre fusion allows El Akkad to weave personal experiences with broader political analysis, creating a narrative that examines both individual and largescale impacts of policies.

The memoir elements of El Akkad’s work draw from his personal history: He was born in Egypt, raised in Qatar, and later immigrated to Canada before settling in the United States. This transnational perspective informs his observations of Western societies. El Akkad employs memoir conventions by recounting formative experiences from his childhood and adolescence, including his family’s migration journey and encounters with discrimination. He also includes anecdotes from his career as a journalist covering conflict zones.

These personal narratives serve multiple functions within the text. They establish El Akkad’s proximity to the events and issues he describes, from censorship in Qatar to reporting from war zones in Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay. They also humanize abstract political concepts by demonstrating their real-world impacts on individuals and families.