Pangea Day: connecting the world through film
By Leslie Dreyer, May 20, 2008 Comments (5)
Pangea Day was a global event of short films, music and speakers ounded by Jehane Noujaime, TED Prize winner and director of the award winning film Control Room. It was broadcast live in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro. It was also shown at grassroots screenings in cities, communities, and private homes around the world and was streamed live on the internet. Most people don't know other cultures or societies and some don't even know their neighbors. Noujaime states, "By sharing stories, we've started the process of turning strangers into friends." She believes that if people from all around the globe start trying to understand each other, then we can move a few steps closer to world peace. Since many aren't willing and others aren't able to travel, Noujaime concludes that we can use film to share stories and overcome the obstacle of distance.
The first part of the program seemed a bit light, like it was oversimplifying major social and political issues. It focused on broad themes such as love, hope, anger, dreams. However, as the program continued, the content became increasingly powerful. It seems as if the organizers purposefully chose to use apolitical/palatable material to captivate many different types of people and prepare them for the climax: the critical perspectives of the conflicts in Iraq and Israel/Palestine. After short films and music by Rokia Traore and Gilberto Gil, came Ali Abu Awwad and Robi Damelin of Parents' Circle Families Forum. Both are bereived family members who spoke about the reality of the Israeli occupation and its consequences.
Damelin's son was shot by a Palestinian freedom fighter when he was serving in the Occupied Territories. During Pangea Day, she asked for all people to "look for a way through mutual understanding and empathy to live a life free of violence." Awwad is a Palestinian refugee who lost his brother and was wounded by a settler. He boldly stated that, "occupying a nation by building walls and barriers will not secure another nation. Maybe this will bring a psychological solution, but it will not bring a human being solution - that people can live together or side by side." He also sent a message out to all Jewish people stating, "you are not my enemy; your fear is my enemy. I am attacking today your fear, so please don't throw your problems to the sea because those problems learn how to swim. You cannot ignore the whole reality by taking a side or being right. I remember that Gandhi once said that there is no way for peace, peace is the way. You first do peace without any condition."
Next was a short film made by Noujaime about Combatants for Peace (ex-IDF soldiers and ex Palestinian militants working together to end the region's cycle of violence). It told the stories of Yonatan Shapira and Bassam Aramin, two founders of the organization, and how they came together to work against the Israeli occupation. They appeared live from the London stage. Shapira, an Israeli Air Force pilot who refused to fly missions in occupied territories, mentioned that coincidentally on this same day his mother and brother were shot by Israeli soldiers while participating in a peaceful protest in Shufa, West Bank to remove a roadblock obstructing the Palestinian villagers' freedom of movement, and, thus, the peace movement had a long way to go. The fact that these four voices from the region were heard internationally without interruption was an incredible achievement in itself.
Despite the lack of publicity for an event of this scale, the fact that several of the MCs seemed uber mainstream and uninformed about world events, and the abysmal post event news coverage, it was a total success for the first run. The intentions are for Pangea Day to recur every 2 years. With Noujaime's vision and the mass of people who have mobilized behind it, the 2010 event should have even more of a worldwide impact and resonance. Visit the event's website to find out more or view selected films and highlights.
The "cycle of violence" phrase used in your article is a propaganda phrase that incorrectly describes the situation at hand. It is typically used to stop Israel from defending itself against Palestinian terrorists. The users of the phrase are akin to a spokesman for a violent man beating up his wife telling the wife "don't defend yourself - it will just make it worse."
If we look a little closer at Palestinian violence we find that it is not correlated to Israel's defensive acts (if anything probably anti-correlated). Rather the Palestinian violence is correlated with how much funding their governing bodies receive.
Without aid, Palestinians murder 100 people per year (they murder both Palestinians and Israelis). For every 1.6 million dollars in aid, you can expect another person to be murdered by the Palestinians about ten months after they receive the money (my calculations using data from Ref. 1).
It is not a "cycle of violence" - it is the international community's funding of violence.
1) http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=118&x_article=1362
your comment about the MC's seeming uninformed made me laugh. Lisa Ling is a world renowned journalist known for her pieces including one from North Korea, bride burning in India, gang rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, among others. June Arunga is a very bright Kenyan filmmaker and journalist, and Max Lugavere and Jason Silva are the founding journalists and anchormen for Current TV, Al Gore's incredible network ALL ABOUT world events. please do your homework next time.
"seemed uninformed" is the keyword. I watched the entire program on Star TV and, thus, critiqued according to my viewing experience. The hosts can have incredible bios and still come off as uninformed, right? I value the work of Lugavere and Silva. They resembled MTV hosts during this specific event, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. As I said in the second paragraph of the blog entry, I think the event was designed accordingly to attract the most viewers and help them relate to the materials screened. I was shocked when the host in Cairo made a statement about people of different religions living in peace in the region (Isreal/Palestine) for the past 3000 years, and, thus, refered to the current problem being solvable with time and understanding since it had a peaceful history. Maybe he was nervous and not really thinking about the words coming out of his mouth. Anyway, I should have probably said "some" not "several" of the MCs seemed uninformed. If you focused solely on this brief phrase, you probably missed the main point of my entry: despite some small factors, the event was a total success and deserved much more press.
The term "cycle of violence" refers to repeated acts of violence between groups as a cyclical pattern. It has nothing to do with propaganda. On the contrary, it is one of the most unbiased terms I could have chosen regarding the situation. Israelis and Palestinians use militant acts against each other and most of these acts are then responded to using violence by the other, hence the "cycle."
Your statement that this phrase is "typically used to stop Israel from defending itself against Palestinian terrorists" assumes that Israelis are always on the defensive and Palestinians are always the terrorizers. The Israeli members of Combatants for Peace admit that they were ordered to terrorize the Palestinian people (demolishing houses, breaking into homes, beating, humiliating and sometimes killing them) and committed war crimes in the name of security and defense. Now they refuse to serve and will risk jail time so as to no longer contribute to the violence. Thankfully people like them are speaking out to end Israel's occupation of Palestine. I hope you find the time to challenge your personal bias against Palestinians by researching Combatants for Peace, Parent's Circle, Breaking the Silence, B'Tselem and by taking a trip to the West Bank.
The source (CAMERA) you quoted is too biased for me to take seriously. They state that they are "devoted to promoting accurate and balanced coverage of Israel and the Middle East." Is Israel separate from the Middle East? Why not just say they are devoted to balance coverage in the whole region? Under their "scope of the problem" section, they state that ""Frequently inaccurate and skewed characterizations of Israel and of events in the Middle East may fuel anti-Israel and anti-Jewish prejudice." So... they aren't really interested in providing balance coverage. They are working solely to provide materials to discredit critical views of Isreal and not doing the same to discredit critical views of the rest of the Middle East.
Lisa Ling is an American filmmaker who reproduces colonial discourses in her crappy, made-for-tv films for Oprah and National Geographic. Her "journalism" is the result of ignorance and sensationalism. And what's with all the rightwing zionists reading Art Threat??
Keep up the posts Leslie, some critical readers out here still appreciate them...
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