nov 24, 2014: attorney brad parker (defence for children international – palestine) at a teach-in at the u of r, talking about the rights of palestinian children under occupation.
nadia ben-youssef via skype and brad parker in person at the little theatre, nov 24, 2014, discussing “from al-araqib to susiya” and “stone cold justice.”
such an honor to work with john siddique on partition stories.
after a wonderful screening of “when i saw u” (we skyped with director annemarie jacir) and a screening of “on the side of the road” (followed with a skyped conversation with director lia tarachansky) we have 4 more events coming up this weekend.
these are: conversation and dinner with filmmaker alice rothchild on nov 22 (organized by jewish voice for peace – rochester, ny chapter), screening of alice’s film along with Q&A on nov 23 at the little (part of witness palestine film series), teach-in with attorney brad parker who specializes in the rights of palestinian children on nov 24 at 4pm (organized by university of rochester students for a democratic society) and then screening with Q&A of two short films at the little theatre on nov 24 at 6.45pm. get all the details here and pls join us!
also, check us out on facebook: witness palestine rochester.
nov 17, 2014: a preview of partition stories’ rough cut with filmmaker friends in rochester. excellent feedback to fine-tune the film further and move to post-production in early 2015!
nov 9, 2014: at the celebrate palestine event today (part of the witness palestine film series) where we had a palestinian dinner, enjoyed palestinian music and shared palestinian literature. celebration of culture, history and identity is resistance to oppression.
oct 25, 2014: the flying squirrel’s “stop mass incarceration” programming continued today with “liberty screams: reflections in poetry and prose on mass incarceration and parole reform.” the panelists were poets paulette swartzfager and pat schwartz (co-founder, with jalil muntaqim, of the auburn correctional poetry group) and activists jean douthwright, emily good and michael argaman. agape towns and his friend dave were able to participate on the phone from attica. so lovely that i received a letter from jalil today telling me about a new, expanded collection of poems to be published in canada, with a 20 page intro by ward churchill. i got to listen to some of his poems this evening and they blew me away with their brilliance and power. free jalil muntaqim! more about jalil’s case here.
attended a business conference organized by rochester women’s network today. i was on a panel that discussed cultural competence. it was amazing to me how much overlap there was in what i had to say as a muslim woman, what gabrielle had to say as a trans-woman and what margie had to say as an african american woman. the things that we stressed were: openness, respect, immense diversity within any group and therefore the irrelevance of stereotypes, the toxic nature of dehumanization and condescension (i quoted wade davis: every culture that’s different from u is not a failed attempt at being u) and the richness of learning by allowing new information to seep in and affect beliefs and behavior.
i reminded everyone that identity is too porous and complex to contain w/i the narrow confines of religion, ethnicity or culture. the words that i liked most in the definition of cultural competence were suspension of judgment and discomfort. only if we’re willing to be intellectually and emotionally uncomfortable, do we find it possible to be truly open to other human beings. it’s much riskier than staying put, in one’s comfort zone.
of course, i had to make it broader and asked people to think about openness, respect, risk-taking and growth and apply these to nation-states: what kind of interruptions should we allow to our sovereignty, how can we rethink our politics on immigration and national borders, on the meaning of citizenship and universal human rights, on the narrative of us vs them, and the assumption of immutable identities that we are supposed to be at war with. discomfort is good if it can help us open up to our fellow human beings and our environment. more about the conference here.
here i am with fellow panelists margie lovett scott (left) and gabrielle hermosa (center).
oct 2, 2014: the diversity conference at suny brockport was most excellent! enjoyed the multicultural food tasting. my favorites: south african masala pineapple, caribbean meat patties and ethiopian lamb kebabs. the screening went v well. great audience and good intro by dr james spiller, who’s the dean of the graduate school. he asked me the last question during Q&A: “what does it feel like to see extremists commit acts of violence in the name of one’s religion? isn’t it the ultimate desecration?” i told him it was a good question but it doesn’t apply uniquely to muslims. after all, violence is being committed all over the world, by all kinds of people, in the name of all kinds of ideologies. does it make us feel better if we proclaim that the violence we’re committing is in the name of democracy? i talked about iraq: one million killed, 10-12 million people displaced, chemical weapons used extensively in fallujah with devastating results to this day. is it less of a desecration because it was done in the name of democracy? or capitalism (which is a religion in america, according to naomi klein), or oil, or some kind of ethno-religious ideology (such a zionism)? shouldn’t we start being objective, ignore all the window dressing and condemn violence for what it does – inflict pain and suffering on other human beings? dr spiller thought i was being “provocative” but i was just being sincere. more about the conference here.
sept 28: this morning i had a major panic attack: finally set up my new mac pro (with osx) and was excited to install final cut pro 6 and get on with editing “partition stories.” nothing doing. osx is too advanced for fcp 6, it wants fcp x. i have absolutely no wish to upgrade to fcp x (too expensive and too weird) so i began to explore online forums to see if i could find a way around this horrible problem. most people said no, there is no compatibility. but i didn’t give up. finally i found a guy who swore that if u use ur snow leopard (older os) disc to install “rosetta”, fcp 6 would run seamlessly. i did just that. found rosetta under “optional installs”. it took 10 seconds to download and voila, fcp 6 is now being installed on my computer! all the filmmakers out there, you too can do it if u want. we don’t have to follow apple’s dictatorial edicts. we are not helpless minions!
Sept 21 at 12:00pm and Sept 22 at 8:00pm: MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE is the story of an American peace activist who traveled to Gaza during the Second Intifada, where she worked to protect civilian homes from being demolished by Israel. On March 16th, 2003 – less than two months after arriving – Rachel was crushed to death by an Israeli Defense Forces bulldozer. All the words of the play are taken from Rachel’s own writings, and were compiled by actor Alan Rickman and journalist Katherine Viner. The Witness Palestine Film Series helped bring this event to Rochester. More here.
“Border Anthems” celebrates the Pakistani and Indian national anthems. Classically trained Indian-American musician Zeshan Bagewadi explains the impetus for this project: he grew up with his grandparents telling him that we are all the same people, simply separated by a border. I guess the same could be said for the entire globe. He collaborated with Pakistani-American filmmaker Nushmia Khan to produce this video. Zeshan is also writing a song for Partition Stories!
learn more about palestine/israel. witness palestine events will start in rochester on sept 21, 2014, with the play “my name is rachel corrie,” which will be part of the fringe festival. there will be a cultural and literary event in the fall and the film series will start at the little theatre on nov 16th.
interview i filmed with photojournalist asim rafiqui, whose series “law and disorder: a people’s history of the law in pakistan” is now on exhibit at the watson institute, brown university. he speaks eloquently about the plight of ordinary pakistanis whose interaction with the state is defined by brutal injustice. yes, the taliban are not pakistan’s only problem, especially when one views the country through the eyes of its most marginalized citizens. watch my interview with asim here.
after being covered by dear cinema, india abroad, canada’s weekly voice, india’s sunday tribune, and the hindu, “partition stories” is now in the indian express! more here.
