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By Gilad Atzmon* 19 May 2008 Gilad Atzmon highlights the cases of Euro-Palestine and Librairie Résistances in Paris as living examples of the imaginative use of art and music to bring the suffering of the Palestinian people and the story of Palestinian resistance to the streets of Europe. The events marking 60 years of Nakba, or Catastrophe, have brought to my attention a very different type of Palestinian solidarity activism: it is young, vibrant, dynamic and creative. It’s a new form of struggle that goes far beyond the old dogmatic clichés, a fierce battle that aims at exposing the Jewish state for what it is: a racist, chauvinist, apartheid state. Last Monday 12 May I witnessed this solidarity activism at Exeter University while watching and listening to the astonishingly eloquent Palestinian envoy to Britain, Dr Manuel Hassassian. On Friday 16 May I met the French resistance at a Euro- Palestine event at the Parisian Librairie-Resistances bookshop. Librairie Résistances is one of those bookshops that makes you feel young again. It is an example of the kind of exotic shop that you hardly see anymore, a unique cultural, thought-provoking fountain that makes the case for resistance as a valid praxis, and makes you feel that liberation is awaiting around the corner. At the back of the bookshop some space had been allocated for a cozy theatre, which is used for concerts and performances promoting the Palestinian cause. On 16 May, I appeared there. I spoke about the “Primacy of the ear”. To a very crowded room, I described my own journey from Zionism to ethics via music. At the end of my talk, I was joined by a legendary musician, one of my mentors, Dhafer Youssef. As the event was about to take place, quite a few people of all ages and ethnic origins started to gather. It took me a very short time to realize that they were not united by class, ethnicity or nationality, neither by their religious nor non-religious belief. They weren’t united by any particular political affiliation either. Instead, they were united by their support of the Palestinian struggle and the Palestinian people. And to be honest, it is about time we all acknowledge that this is the one thing we should care about, unite or aim for. But this is far from being the end of the story. The astonishing couple who stand behind the very active Euro-Palestine and Librairie Résistances deserve all possible support and attention. In fact, this short piece is about them and their total dedication to the most important struggle of our time. I am referring here to Olivia Zemor and Nicholas Shahshahani, and their campaign for Palestine. Olivia and Nicolas are a Parisian couple who were very successful journalists and radical left revolutionary veterans. Although they have many years of socialist activity behind them, I learned from Nicolas that it was at the beginning of the Second Intifada that they both realized that Palestine was the fight to go for. They formed Euro-Palestine and invested their own money and resources in promoting the Palestinian cause and Palestinian rights. In fact, I first met Olivia and Nicholas four years ago at a massive Euro-Palestine rally concert for Palestine that they organized. That concert was by far the biggest event for Palestine I have ever come across or heard of. Olivia’s and Nicholas’s enthusiasm has never faded. Courageously, they continue to bring the Palestinian cause to the streets of Paris. They take political activism far beyond the ordinary theoretical left discourse. They translate leftist thinking into activism and remind us what dialectic should mean in practice. They have gathered together a group of extremely enthusiastic, vibrant, talented young people who, together with them, perform theatrical scenes that bring Israeli oppression to the boulevards, streets and shopping centres of Paris. For instance, they created a simulation of an Israeli army roadblock so that Parisians can see for themselves the type of barbarism performed by Israeli soldiers in Palestine. In another scene, they would adopt the Zionists’ role, dressed as Israeli soldiers armed to the teeth, and ridiculing the amoral Western support of Zionist evil. With such revolutionary street theatre, Nicolas and Olivia bring news of Palestinian suffering to the French people. Without a doubt, they manage to liberate the discourse and bring it to public awareness. On Saturday 17 May, on my way back to London, I managed to see the very beginning of a demonstration where Olivia and a group of young students where capturing the attention of weekend shoppers in front of the crowded Tati, Barbès-Rochechouart. Once again, it was a street performance of an Israeli army roadblock. They simply managed to bring the occupied West Bank to the streets of Paris, allowing the French people to see for themselves what Israeli viciousness is all about. Let’s face it, in a world in which media outlets are momentarily seized by the enemy, in a world in which every form of criticism of Israel is silenced or tagged as anti-Semitism, we had better be as creative as possible. We shouldn’t wait for Fox News, CNN, NBC, BBC or Sky to bring to us the story of Palestine, because they won’t. However, we can do it ourselves with very limited resources: we have music, theatre, prose, poetry, films, photography, independent journalism, blogging and the cyberspace at our disposal. The talent, passion and conviction is there. All we need is faith in what we are doing. As far as I can see, there is plenty of that around. *Gilad Atzmon is an Israeli-born musician, writer and anti-racism campaigner. This article first appeared in Palestine Think Tank. Copyright © Redress Information & Analysis. All rights reserved. | |