The Beirut Journal for Radical Activation is an attempt to collect interesting and inspiring evidence of radical activation, both in Beirut and around the world. What do we mean by radical activation? We mean movement, we mean a tinderbox, we mean the Spring. We mean all those seeds that have been scattered and are now starting to sprout in our hearts and minds. Is this a dangerous book? That depends on where you are.
1 Table of Contents
page 6 Karl and Olga: A Brief Encounter Marwa Arsanios
page 16 Cairo’s Art Scene after the Revolution: A Conversation with Fillipo Marinetti Mohamed Abdel Karim
page 18 Intervention Noor Abuarafeh
page 23 Museum on the Seam (I Ask Myself) Ilaria Lupo
page 42 The Example Set by the Soil Edward Salem
page 46 Doubling Slavery: Migrant Detainees in Lebanon Farah Salka
page 50 Haunting Piece Edward Salem
page 52 Reflections from Occupy Portland Wael Elasady
page 68 D.I.Y.: How to Build a Solar Oven Sarah Farahat
page 70 Meetings, Volunteering & Proposals
Graphic Design Editors Translation Direction Ghiath Al Jebawi Magdy Farahat Karine Wehbé Sarah Farahat Samar Kanafani Laura Kraftowitz Laura Kraftowitz Edward Salem Farah Salka 2 3 Ala Younis 4 5 KARL: One of my favorites in works at the National Museum. town. I enjoy the atmosphere - it’s KARL: Do I look like him? Karl & Olga: like traveling back in time. Those (Makes a mummy face and lights and chairs. Wonderful. laughs.) A Brief Encounter (excerpt) (Looks around.) OLGA: Kind of. (Laughs). Stop -Marwa Arsanios OLGA: I like the plants. You it! don’t find them often here. KARL: So are you visiting your Olga is sitting at Café Estoril in Cairo. She just moved back And the coconut tree there, it’s gorgeous! sister? there after a long period in Beirut. Karl is a tourist in Cairo. When he enters the Café, she is in the middle of reading a KARL: It’s fake. OLGA: I moved back a few months ago, but she’s been living book and writing down notes. He sits down at a table next to OLGA: Well, what did you here since she was born. I mean her. A conversation begins... expect? (Annoyed expression.) she never left. I envy her. I envy KARL: Why fakes when there my sister. I envy all my friends Karl: Wonderful, I should think Act 1 (What is Love?) are so many reals outside. I don’t who stayed here. They have less of doing that. I am a writer too. (KARL wears a jacket, has a beard like fakes. problems. and moustache. OLGA wears OLGA: Strange we haven’t met glasses and shawl. On the table: OLGA: They can be more KARL: That’s what you think... before. beautiful than the reals. Olga’s notes, books, whiskey and OLGA: I’ve been struggling microphone with speakers) (Goes back to her reading.) KARL: Maybe, anyway were since I have arrived, believe me. you hiding behind it all these OLGA: Oh my God! You look like KARL: I usually sit in that KARL: Well me too, everybody days? him. corner. Can I join? is. KARL: Who? OLGA: (Laughs.) Perhaps (Points at a corner and joins her OLGA: But you are a tourist table.) sometimes I am too focused on OLGA: That guy. here, why would you struggle? my own work. I miss out on other (She points at Karl Marx photo in OLGA: Sure. (Points at the chair things. Like what is happening KARL: You think tourists don’t her notebook.) next to her.) Do you like this outside. struggle? place? KARL: What are you talking KARL: I also feel disconnected, OLGA: You should get a drink about? (Addresses the audience.) even when I am walking on the and relax under the coconut tree I get this sometimes. (Turns back street. But I always notice special there. (Laughs.) to OLGA.) Do you come here people. (Cheesy smile.) often? KARL: I am very wary of OLGA: What are you here for? A falling coconuts, it can be painful OLGA: Quite often these days. language course? (Laughs.) I’m working on a book, and find it peaceful here. You? KARL: Trying. OLGA: It’s plastic, don’t worry. Karl: Every day almost… are OLGA: It’s tough, isn’t it? KARL: My language course is you a writer? what I am struggling with most. KARL: It’s not easy. OLGA: Well kind of... For now, OLGA: (Laughs.) Oh, language OLGA: I am from this city, but I am trying to compile my notes is my problem; that’s for sure. I just moved back. It feels right to into a book. (Points at the piles of read in one, speak with another be back, my sister lives here. She papers and books in front of her.)
6 7 OLGA: More painful to be left? OLGA: Not in relationships, KARL: Well, you can have many dear. loves or even lovers right? KARL: Perhaps in the case of death. KARL: Oh come on, Don’t so be OLGA: For the first time I find naive. myself in a situation where I OLGA: When love continues. have to be a worker. OLGA: My struggle is related to KARL: Do you think love is a words. KARL: But you are one, it is just continuous stream? that you have become conscious KARL: Of course, mine too. OLGA: Je ne t’aime plus. (Turns of the fact that they have put you her head, turns to the audience OLGA: It’s what you sell. poets and artists to work. as if recreating a scene with an KARL: You make a book to sell OLGA: It’s more complicated. absent person.) poetry. You stayed with him KARL: Not really. KARL: What do you mean? because you sold love. OLGA: Listen, before 1982, the OLGA: Je ne t’aime plus, je OLGA: I stayed with him PLO was supporting most of the n’aime plus tes idees, ta voix, tes because I sold poetry. artists, I didn’t want to be part mots, I was never really aroused KARL: Well one is not separate of that situation, I wanted to be and write with a third. I often by you, I never really liked sex from the other. independent from this fund, not struggle to find the right words. with you. only because of my husband’s OLGA: Where is the specificity KARL: It is a common situation KARL: Why did you stay then? position but also because of in that? these days. the ideology that I didn’t really OLGA: I stayed because he paid. KARL: The very relation of believe in. You know I don’t want OLGA: Even in the English KARL: What do you sell? Do you poetry to love. to go into politics, but I was countryside? sell love? Do you sell drugs? Do never really fond of the whole OLGA: He paid for poetry but KARL: I meant you are not you sell poetry? Do you dance? Palestinian movement. not for love. I couldn’t really give the only person I know who is Tell me what you sell. him love. But I couldn’t live out KARL: I see where you’re bilingual. (Sarcastic.) You are OLGA: Are you looking to buy? of my poetry. Otherwise I would coming from. not alone in this situation. have left him long time ago. KARL: Maybe. OLGA: Don’t get me wrong, OLGA: Are you alone here? KARL: So, making a living is they interfered too much in the OLGA: Well it wasn’t exactly KARL: My wife just passed your struggle and loving is your internal affairs. like that. away. This is why I decided to go struggle. KARL: This is one way of on this adventure. KARL: Describe it. OLGA: Making a living from putting it. OLGA: Oh, I’m sorry. (Pause.) OLGA: Not so specific. what I love is my struggle. OLGA: But anyway, what I left my husband back home as KARL: I understand. I have happened is that I became well. KARL: There is always a specificity to an exchange. been in the same situation. For affiliated with the Ministry of KARL: Divorced? ages, the only job I had applied Culture. They gave me some OLGA: No. for was at the railways as a money and bought some of OLGA: Well, kind of. KARL: It’s the specificity that clerk, but I got rejected because my drawings and paintings. KARL: It is painful to leave, isn’t makes the exchange possible, or it requires specific know-how. (Opens her notebook and shows it? harder. some drawings.) The lefty OLGA: A specific love? people decided to boycott me.
8 9 Or instinctively boycotted me hard to dissociate myself from with the Ministry of Culture I KARL: Anyway, it was a because I was not part of their the Ministry of Culture. I was was able to do abstract paintings passion. And passions exist. circle. But also because of my unsatisfied. I looked for new without feeling guilty. (Shows OLGA: Mild ones these days, husband’s position, and he was beliefs. abstract collages in notebook.) like a half spiced fish curry. really close to the president, I KARL: I think this is an escape. KARL: So you refused the was somehow disregarded from KARL: Too much spice prevents money again. the other groups. OLGA: From what? From my you from tasting. husband? OLGA: I wish I had taken it. It’s KARL: A class division or the OLGA: This is what they say. all the same shit. I could have ruling class against the world. KARL: Well, more from the fact given them what they wanted KARL: I think you didn’t love that they have put you artists and OLGA: That’s one way of putting to hear. Something like: Et him in the first place. So you poets to work. it. It could be a religious division maintenant, dehors, les choses couldn’t really sell love. You can’t that entails a political division OLGA: Listen, clear ideological tombent silencieusement, l’une really sell it if it’s not already that entails a language division stance gives belief. après l’autre, tout s’ecroule petit there. You can’t just fabricate it. that entails a whole ideological a petit, mais en meme temps rien It is not that easy. stand. Then that leads to the KARL: Do you think so? Anyway ne s’ecroule vraiment. question, “Who are you?” now you have to make a new OLGA: Well, I did love him at name for yourself. KARL: Watch out from the the very beginning. I liked the KARL: Just a tourist. falling coconuts. (Laughs.) fact that he was tall and had OLGA: Sometimes I feel I made colored eyes. I liked the idea that OLGA: But the point is, before I a mistake, a wrong choice. At a OLGA: (Bends her head and my children would have colored left my husband to come here, I certain point it was a good choice laughs.) So you understand, eyes. was very well-off. I didn’t have to to become a communist, but now selling what I do is the struggle. worry about making money, or it is a mistake, I have to say sorry KARL: Blue or green? KARL: The struggle is selling. living off of my art. because I became a communist. I OLGA: Two blue, two green, just also have to say sorry because I OLGA: The struggle is sold KARL: Tell me about it, now it’s like I predicted. am not one anymore. anyway. who you hang out with, who you KARL: You bought beauty. are affiliated with. You need to be KARL: This is confusing. KARL: Selling is about the more strategic, dear! struggle. OLGA: I bought eyes. OLGA: Now I am considered a OLGA: Before, I was producing traitor with no clear stand. OLGA: What about your wife? KARL: You bought colored eyes. for my own sake, with no financial pressures. Now, it’s different, I KARL: You should go for a run KARL: It was a wonderful, OLGA: This is costly. have to produce with a purpose. I and auto-critique. (Laughs.) powerful love. We didn’t even have to say it to each other. We KARL: You bought your way am hoping that someone can buy OLGA: Oh no, not you! (Laughs.) knew it. Her family loved me. out. a painting so that I live off of it But seriously, things got strange Somehow aristocrats are always for a month or so. in these circles and I was OLGA: Well, my name is OLGA. impressed by intellectuals. KARL: Perhaps you always do disappointed. Perhaps I expected KARL: And I am Karl by the a work for a purpose, but the too much. OLGA: Yes, you make a living way... out of pleasing them. purpose changes. KARL: I understand. Was your OLGA: Perhaps it’s about work affected? KARL: But they end up wanting to please me. finding your ideological camp, OLGA: Certainly, we had to talk I would say. And I worked about specific issues. At least OLGA: This is reductive.
10 11 “Karl and Olga: A Brief Encounter” is based on excerpts of a performance by Marwa Arsanios, placing Olga (the artist’s grandmother) in conversation with Karl (Marx). Marwa took part in a Marx reading group at UMAM Documentation and Research Archive last fall.
Starting your own reading group is easy. Find a topic, collect readings around that topic, and invite people to read and discuss them on a weekly or bi weekly basis. You can invite guests with specialized expertise to explain concepts or offer additional readings to supplement your reading list. Reading groups like this one have sparked publications, drawing collectives, performances and more.
12 13 -Buckminster Fuller
14 15 Cairo’s Art Scene After the Revolution: A Conversation with Filippo Marinetti
Perhaps the commonality between the Marinetti era and the current revolutionary period in Cairo is that both moments transformed peoples, nations and entities through a certain level of chaos, which I believe is one of the steps towards freedom. It may also be considered a healthy environment for holistic art practices.
For me, practicing art always requires a non-authoritarian environment where ideologies have no barriers, constitutional restrictions, or censorship. By this, I mean curricular censorship in its repressive form, which the authorities enforce either through governance, or by influencing a majority of the public.
Political crises in the form of revolutions, occupation or military repressions negatively affect the core of an art scene. Consider the art scene in Beirut after the civil war, or the Palestinian art scene who use the Occupation as their material.
The way I see it, the problem lies in the fact that most artists deal with political events that take the form of a “national cause,” as though the events themselves constituted a ready-made, without need of filtration or analysis to be artistically produced. This art takes on the form of propaganda: artistic products in the form of revolutionary slogans. It is weak, fragile and superficial, and at times doesn’t even amount to an artistic product.
Therefore, I think that impact on Cairo’s post-revolutionary art scene will be negative, destroying the spirit of conceptual and research- based work. Perhaps the art scene in Cairo before the revolution was beginning to mature and discover its unique construction. At the same time, the theoretical and critical scene will be positively affected when political ideologies and artistic trends mix, creating a fertile environment for theoretical dialogue and debate.
-Mohamed Abdel Karim (artist unknown) Cairo, Egypt near Tahrir Square November 2011
“I am against the trial of civilians in military courts”
16 17 A, B, Bubaieh
A pencil and an eraser
An eraser and a pencil.
The story is not a story of an eraser and a pencil.
It is bigger than this.
Even the game is not of one erasing and another writing.
The game is of one erasing and writing while the other is being erased.*
*based on an Arabic children’s poem 18 19 Talbieh, Tel-a-Rabi’, Haram Sayyedna Ali, Ma’man Allah, Um Al Rashrash, Askalan, As-Sabe’, Madinet Al Qal’a, Bissan, Ayel Al Qamh, Ibn Hannom, Usdud, Al Amarah, Al Ashrafieh, Deir Yasseen, and Ras Abu Ammar all are names of historical Palestinian areas that were converted from Arabic into Hebrew in 1948.
Today, no one refers to these areas using their Arabic names, except for books that relate to the history and preservation of Palestine as a Palestinian and not a Jewish space. Subconsciously, we replace these names with their Hebrew versions when we mention them.
This is one of the goals of the Occupation: to erase all that is Arab and Palestinian and make it appear Jewish.
Noor Abuarafeh
20 21 THE MUSEUM ON THE SEAM (I ASK MYSELF)
The Museum on The Seam (MoTS) is an Israeli museum located on the Road N 1, the border between East and West Jerusalem. This venue regularly displays artwork by well-known international artists, and that’s why it caught my attention. The MoTS defines itself as a “museum of socio-political contemporary art.” The themes of its exhibitions and choice of works show an interest in examining collective problems that lie outside the field of art, and to probe social and political questions. The museum’s mission statement is: “Between the local and the universal, between pluralism and extreme ideologies, the message of the Museum calls for listening and discussion, for accepting the other and those different from us and respect for our fellow man and his liberty.” Because of the nature of this space, I will adopt a political point of view in my research. I will take into consideration its history and its goals, pointing out some contradictions between mission and real practice of this institution.
-Ilaria Lupo
22 23 In 1980, the Municipality of West Jerusalem unveiled the Tourjeman
or “liberation” of Jerusalem, which had in fact not been liberated so much asMuseum, occupied, a propaganda and even todayproject is celebrating considered the corpus so-called separatum “reunification” by the United Nations. Although the Baramki family was not informed of the museum’s establishment, the Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post attacked them for not joining its inauguration ceremony. Meanwhile, in the museum’s public documents, there is no mention of the original owner. The Tourjeman Museum’s mission was to celebrate Israeli military might. The control towers were retained as part of the building. Weapons used in 1948 and 1967 were shown in the exhibition halls alongside images BARAMKI HOUSE/ of Israeli military success, in particular the conquering of Jerusalem. A documentI ndistributed weighing ostensiblyby the Israeli competing Government claims press to the office city, declared: it must be TOURJEMAN POST recalled that the Jewish people bases its claims to Jerusalem on a link which dates back millennia and to King David, and there is The land on which the villa of the Baramki family was built no legal basis for the “historical” Palestinian claim that Jerusalem belonged to the Palestinian architect Hassan Bey Turjeman, and was was their capital. Moreover, though the Palestinians may have a located in the neighbourhood of Sa’ad Said in Jerusalem, next to the Old strong emotional attachment to Jerusalem, it does not necessarily City. In 1932, the architect Andoni Baramki bought it and built his family follow that Jerusalem should become the capital of any Palestinian residency. After the Nakba and the house’s expropriation by the Israeli political entity. military forces, it became a military frontier post on the border with the Philip Misselwitz and Tim Rieniets are the authors of the book City of Collision: Jerusalem and the Principles of two sides of Jerusalem, called the Tourjeman Post (the “u” became “ou” to Conflict Urbanism. In an essay makeJordanian it appear Kingdom, Jewish). and The the building only official was abandonedpoint of transition by the army between in 1967 the on the story of the Baramki after the Occupation of East Jerusalem, and remained as such until the House, they introduce the beginning of the 1980’s. Andoni Baramki and his family were refugees in notion of “epistemic violence” to Gaza until 1953, when they moved to Bir Zeit, north of Ramallah. In 1968, Baramki obtained a permit to visit Jerusalem. He had kept the built through the progressive define a typology of colonialism keys to his house, and hoped to get it back, as UN Resolution 194 on the construction of an historical and social reality superimposed on to another Right of Return stipulated. But when he returned to Jerusalem, he saw examine the changing function of private/domestic places into public spaces: one, appropriating it and modifying it to its benefit. In particular, they their houses (changing the locks on the doors), and established Jewish- “kindergartens, psychoanalysis centers, clubs for the new immigrants, onlythat Israeliscommunities. had modified He was the refused Arab neighborhoods, to access his home. permanently The building occupied was memorials of the Holocaust, restaurants and even animals shelters.” Misselwitz and Rieniets explain that the facades are left unrenovated as a way to maintain the building as a witness to the efforts of conquering the takenclassified by “Absentviolence: Property” Palestinian under refugees the 1950 of Absentee1948, who Property were forbidden Law. This land by the Jewish People--aiming to erase the previous historical memory. tolaw cross was the one border, of the wayswere throughdeclared which “present Israel absentees” confiscated by thethe housesIsraeli This goal is also at the origin of the radical renovation of the house’s interior, Government, which established a sort of usucaption ad hoc to formally whose unique domestic character is transformed into an anonymous space. obtain the property of the buildings.
24 25 and later transformations, images of its architectural details, photos of it Instances of stolen Palestinian properties that are before and after 1948, documents on property transitions. The architect subsequently made into Israeli national sites are not interviewed George and scanned his old family pictures and papers uncommon. Many of these places have, over several decades, been recast and dedicated to the memory of related to the house. Nevertheless, he never explained the reasons for Israeli achievement, sacrifice, or longing. Arab properties his research, which George cannot understand because it is written in - particularly homes - have been a crucial element in Hebrew. the Zionist ‘memory mill’. As the Israeli state took over thousands of Arab homes in Jerusalem in 1948, the city MUSEUM ON THE SEAM was reconfigured discursively no less than physically. In After the Oslo Convention of 1993, graphic designer Raphie Etgar Jerusalem, as elsewhere, the space of the Arab home has proposed to turn the Tourjeman Museum into a multi-disciplinary visual been integral to the vast efforts to both settle and silence Palestine. A home owned by the Baramki family has served art space addressing tolerance and diversity. multifarious functions for the Israeli state since it was taken In light of the above information, I wondered why the Israeli Municipality from its owners in the spring of 1948. I wish to examine what its fate (and that of the family who once lived there) of Jerusalem, after decades of abuse and manipulation of the house’s might tell us about the politics of history construction nature and the function, would approve making it a space devoted to and the way memorials to Israeli military power involve dialogue and tolerance. as much an active forgetting as they entail a steadfast remembering. The German family Von Holtzbrinck funded the project and remains the main donor. In addition to the vast reordering of spaces in Jerusalem, The Museum is committed to examining the social reality within our a parallel ideological effort, a policy of knowledge construction, was equally at work in the ‘reunified’ urban center. Its raw material was often not that which was new, encouraging social responsibility based on what we all have in common, but rather those places and sites that had existed decades ratherregional than conflict, what keeps to advancing us apart. dialogue in the face of discord, and before the Israeli state was established. The property became, in the dominant discursive order of things, ‘the At the entrance of the Museum of “dialogue in face of discord” you can former Tourjeman Post’ or the ‘Tourjeman Building’. It was to be left as a monument, but one that pointed to only one national history, one collective memory, one geographical findADULTS the following ticket25 NIS prices:In the Tourjeman Museum it was imagination. The Baramki house and the museums that STUDENTS 15 NIS clearly question of the identity of have been constructed within its space exist simultaneously. OVER 65 15 NIS Jerusalem. And from Jerusalem The utilization of the home historically embodies two DISABLED 15 NIS started the program of the different but interconnected modes of domination. Serving SOLDIERS 10 NIS Museum on The Seam in 1999. first as an instrument of military conquest, the structure policed the borders imposed on the city by the dominant national community. Today, the once familial space is Coexistence ostensibly fosters tolerance between the city’s deployed in the service of epistemic violence, used to diverse communities. From another point of view, however, the Baramki produce and police certain ideological and historical House is a clear example of deprivation of the rights of the other. boundaries. The monument to Israeli military victory does more than simply deny the home’s familial past. It Coexistence is an intervention of public billsticking of posters that took elaborates a dominant series of myths that ‘evaporate’ the place in West Jerusalem as well as abroad, accompanied by an exhibition history of the Palestinian people more generally, while at the same time providing legitimacy for Israel’s presence in and claims on Jerusalem. 1 inThe the ongoing Museum itinerant concerning project the multiplehas toured aspects the world of the cityand and been its exhibited conflicts. I interviewed one of the two sons of Andoni Baramki, George, who showed Washington, Cape Town, Vienne, Prague and many other cities. Museum on the Seam Museum on the Shmuel Groar. It is a deep research, including maps of its construction in Belfast, Luxembourg, Sarajevo, Berlin, Zurich, Miami, San Paulo, me a 120-page file drawn up about his house by the Israeli architect
1 Jerusalem Quarterly 2004
26 27 as the soundtrack for the video documenting this world tour, whose slogansYoko Ono remind granted us: permission to use the song “Imagine” by John Lennon There are 3 million refugees today in the world. Over 27 armed religious conflicts exist today in the world. Since 1990 more than 3,6 million people were killed as a result of ethnic violence. Today 3 million people live under the poverty line. The visual of the initiative is the word “coexist,” with the letters C,X, T substituted with the symbols of the three religions present in Jerusalem. For a plural dialogue. 50 artists participated, of whom only one was Palestinian (with Israeli citizenship). None of the 18 members of the jury was Arab, and in over ten years of touring the world, the exhibition has not been displayed in a single Arab city. I usually avoid statistics because I don’t think they restitute the measure of things. But I still feel that for an exhibition launched in a zone of
goal is purportedly a multicultural dialogue, 1:50 is a bit beyond the limit ofconflict, credibility. in a space under military occupation for over 40 years, whose I wonder if this project is meant to confront the local troubles to which Raphie Etgar refers, or to promote the visibility of Israel as supporter of big peace campaigns. Honestly, I don’t have the impression that characters like Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King organized worldwide cultural campaigns to diffuse the idea that the world is full of conflicts. Rather they devoted their existence to trying to solve their own. Of course, they were not graphic designers. But Raphie Etgar looks like a good politician.
Of this huge project, and the constitution of the museum of tolerance in
theirI found home, a passionate none of the panegyricmembers ofto the coexistence Baramki family and thewas Museumnotified. on the website of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (IMFA). I will not comment on the political orientation of this ministry whose president
is Avigdor Lieberman, but I can say that it is far from being in conflict
28 29 with the line of the Israeli Government, which is far from being in accord with the International Convention of Human Rights. This issue requests stated mission of working for Human Rights. a deeper analysis, but I mention only briefly to question the Museum’s Raphie Etgar apparently cares about laws. At the entrance of the MoTS,
The State of Israel will be founded on the principles of liberty, we find this quotation: justice, and peace, in the light of the vision of Israel’s prophets. It will extend absolute equal social and political rights to all of its citizens, regardless of religion, race, or sex. 2 Since 2005, the Museum on the Seam has presented temporary exhibitions addressing various aspects of Human Rights. I will attempt to analyze four of them. Art & Politics
flyer from “The Right to Protest” exhibition order, I found myself dipped into the feeling of guilt aroused by images of My first impression upon visiting this venue was confusion. In short the creator of this project could have answered my question, but as he didn’t accept to receive me, I will formulate some of my own hypotheses. political and social dramas concerning more than 20 countries at a time. Iviolence, didn’t receive death, moreinjustice. than I wasfragmentary put face toinformation face with conflicts, about any, cataclysms, and each concerned a totally new subject, always wide and dramatic, located in a as one among many, in which Israel is just one of two parties, with its very far historic, geographic, political context. responsibilitiesThe display of numerous but above social all with troubles its suffering, makes pastthe local and conflictpresent, appear a long What was requested of me as a spectator? Was I supposed to research seeking dialogue for the sake of recognizing its belonging to this land and these subjects? Or to forget the subjects to focus on the artists? Or maybe respectinghistory of pain the ofother. a nation fighting since the dawn of time against oblivion, to minimize, when faced with such an overdose of violence, my outrage at the one I would see upon opening the door to cross Road N.1? In my Anyone can see that a person with such a strong moral consciousness as to opinion, the most probable option to me is the last one. dedicate her life to spreading principles of justice and tolerance through art and culture, raising awareness to far-reaching political matters, and I wondered why an institution structured ostensibly to defend a strong promoting this ethical initiative on the border of Occupied Jerusalem, ethical mission didn’t allow me to better understand the reality of the site inside a house violently and illegally extorted to its owners, “trnsformed” itself: its location, where the quantity of daily injustice has proven more into a military post and then into a museum celebrating belligerence, than enough to give birth to numerous exhibitions of “socio-political art”. should pay at least a minimum of attention to the Palestinian question. I wanted to better investigate the matter to legitimate my impression. One And, in fact, this is just what Raphie Etgar does: he pays it the minimum cannot say that the Museum completely ignores the Palestinian question. of attention. Palestine appears in every exhibition, together with another But the inequity adopted towards it is far worse than any silence. 30 international cases and 40 artworks, usually created by Jewish Israeli artists or foreigners. Palestinians living in the Occupied Territory or political and social injustices of our time - a museum that reviews the diaspora: zero. Palestinians living in the 1948 territory: two. Out of 230 catastrophesThe first question of the was world why to tothe institute tune of one- on hundreda site of perone year?of the Perhaps greatest artists who have shown in this Museum over the past thirteen years.
2 Israel’s Declaration of Independence 30 31 Since 1999, Palestine has experienced the dramatic events of the Second Intifada, the construction of an illegal 750-km-long Separation Wall and the simple attribution of adjectives can constitute a form of historical (double the length of the border), the bombing of the Gaza Strip that re-interpretation.Language is a fundamental It brings instrument to mind an for example transmitting from politicalItaly. In messages,2008, the killed 1,500 people in three weeks - 700 of whom were children, women Minister of Culture at the time, Sgarbi, organized at the Royal Palace of and elderly people; the installation of more than 600 illegal checkpoints Milan an exhibition entitled Art and Life: A hundred years of Israeli Art. I’m inside the Occupied Territories, the annexation de facto of East Jerusalem curious to know how one hundred years of art could develop in a country to Israel, illegal according to any International Convention; and the that has only existed for sixty. continuous extension of illegal settlements. To be precise about my assumptions, I will refer to citations from isolated And Palestine, in the Museum of political art, dialogue, mutual exhibitions and to their catalogues, by the founder, director and curator comprehension and coexistence, has received only sporadic and vague of the Museum on The Seam. mention. politics. One example is the comment on the work of photographer Gaston Dead End Far less superficial appears the attitude toward questions of internal Dead End is the first in a series of changing exhibitions planned by documentation of one of the dozens of demolitions of Palestinian houses the Museum on the Seam that will deal with socio-political issues Zvi Icowicz, showing a pile of rubble under an Israeli flag. This is not the that engage us as individuals and as a society that aspires to live side by side in thoughtfulness and mutual respect. 4 is of the dismantling of the Amona settlement in the West Bank in 2006: that every morning activate the traffic of bulldozers in East Jerusalem. It Another confrontation brings us back to some of the hardest Dead End’s (2005) catalogue is a small black book. Its opening images are sights and dramas that this country has known and that many a close-up of an olive tree, followed by a two-page spread reproducing of us would be glad to erase from their memory. All that remains the destroyed capitals of the Baramki House, the words “on the seam” before our eyes is a pile of trash with a blue-and-white flag proudly overlaying it in white. Critical texts follow, and then the title “Israel’s over it, in a photograph by Gaston Zvi Ickowicz, a remembrance Declaration of Independence” in black on white, “1948” in red on black, of the battle of Amonah and the settlements in the vicinity that a comment on the Declaration of Independence essentially saying that were evacuated leaving behind them homeless people and a there is a gap between ideals and reality. On another page, “1948-2005” divided nation, beset by questions, voided of its legitimate right to agree or deny, to remain stubborn or to give up (...) the greatest is displayed. Now, these few pages worth more than one million words. moments of weakness that the law in Israel has known, and the The text criticizes the lacuna between Declaration of Independence and shameful moments of the State’s war against its citizen, however right or wrong they may be. 3 reality. But in the related sequence of images, we see the foundation of Israel (1948), based on a thousand-year desire (the olive tree), realized Of course the use of violence is unacceptable. But the curator expresses himself much more candidly on another matter: the dream of the Jewish People to have a state based on principles of justicethrough and a hard equality fight (the(Declaration capitals of of the Independence). Baramki House), A semiologistwhich fulfilled of “Along with his links with the Israeli landscape, Shai Kremer surveys the imagery would understand better than me. traces left behind by the violent and ongoing conflicts between Israel and itsHere, neighbors” the language (Raphie looks Etgar,catalogo different. Using di Barethe word Life) “neighbors” to describe Bare Life people who are the continuous victims of violence, their most basic rights abused, and who are obliged to receive permits for passage, permanence and citizenship, for ambulance transit or to pay taxes; who depend for states, and points resolutely to the process by which a temporary all basic resources on the State of Israel, and of whom more than 11,000 emergencyBare Life deals situation with the becomes frontiers a betweenlegitimized deviant ongoing states situation, and normative which citizens are imprisoned without criminal charges - this term “neighbors” leads to paranoia and the use of violence to re-establish public order. seems to me a bit out of place. 42 artists evoke circumstances whereby power encroaches on individual
4 Raphie Etgar, catalogue of DeadEnd 32 33 freedom. No Palestinian artist is called to elucidate this personally relevant theme, although six South-African artists are invited. The show contemplates the aforementioned case in Germany, South Africa, China, United States, Holland, Russia, Mexico, Israel, Great Britain, Poland, Spain. The catalogue’s cover displays the work of Israeli artist Haim Maor, whose research focuses on the memory of the Holocaust. Violent and brutal images constitute the exhibition’s corpus. Maximum-security
Tijuana, victims of terrorism, archival documents from the Holocaust, tortureprisons, under armed the fights South-African between civilians Apartheid and regime. armed forces, the barrier of Palestine is addressed in the work of British artist Catherine Yass, through the iconic image of the Wall attributed to it by the media; as well as in the work of Israeli artist Gilad Efrat, which shows a cell of Ansar prison camp, where Palestinian political prisoners were detained during the First Intifada (1987-1993). The catalogue’s central quotation, in white on black background, is taken from the Orestea by Aeschylus: “Neither Anarchy or tyranny, my people/worship the mean, I urge you/ shore it up with reverence and never/banish the terror from the gates, not outright/Where is the righteous man who knows no fear?/The stronger your fear, your reverence for the just/the stronger your country’s wall and city’s safety.” I would say: Any resemblance to real events and/or to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
NatureNation
respect to the Museum’s approach. The Hebrew title is Adam-Adamah, The exhibition NatureNation (2009) is particularly significant with The NatureNation exhibition is based on diverse aspects of literally meaning “Man-Land.” distinctions, positions, beliefs, ideologies, and social, political and economic points of departure that explore the complex encounter between man and nature. (…) A particular emphasis is placed on the ecological discussion, interpreting it as a critical social discourse in which one can read the political forces and economic interests that bring about appropriation of nature’s expanses.5 Through a biblical quotation from the book of the Genesis about the creation of Man, Etgar formulates an open critique to the capitalist system, which for the sake of the economy doesn’t balk at causing irreparable damage to nature and humankind, with serious consequences for the
Note 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Raphie Etgar, catalogue of NatureNation 34 35 Considering that dozens of olive groves are destroyed each day in the like atmospheric and water pollution, global warming, deforestation, West Bank by fanatic settlers under the protection of the Israeli army, thefuture accumulation of the planet. of The toxic presentation’s waste, the use accusations of synthetic include materials, specific the issues food bringing entire Palestinian villages to their knees, Karavan’s work misses industry, the overpopulation of the urban areas, megalopolises, and harm the point. to the evolution process of the animal life. Before he decided on the neon work that he has made for the A digression follows, discussing the relationship between man and nature facade of the Museum building, he visited it several times, experienced its surroundings, and learned about its stories and its in the history of western art, which precedes a section dedicated to the original caprices, as well as those that changed their appearances through the upheavals of time. Besides these artists, the exhibition contains works of artists of this work five Israeli artists: The Museum building, which served as a battle position in the land, Arabs as well as Jews. Their art is based on the connection no-man’s-land and on the historical seam-line, is still standing as between a people and its land, and confronts the threat to its 6 it was, pocked with bullet holes and war wounds. The political wholeness . challenge that Dani Karavan has placed on its facade is a 9 This introduction allows one to imagine that the exhibition will address courageous call for change. And a revealing comment by Thomas Abowd: possibility is precluded by the makeup of the exhibiting artists: out of the local conflict, and confronting points of view. But yet again, this Leaving the structure in a state of disrepair reminds those who encounter it of the sacrifices the embattled defenders of the Adam- budding Jewish State are said to have endured while hostile forces Adamah39 artists,, and 12 muchare Israelis, less of while Insan-Ard Lebanese, the title’s artist Arabic Annabel translation. Daou is the only sought to destroy them. This particular presentation has also, to participant from the Middle East. It is definitely a question of a significant extent, helped divert the onlookers’ gaze from the Abandoning the ecological focus, the text’s next section is entirely devoted site’s other pasts 10 to the mythological relationship of the Jewish People to the Promised This is the origin of Museum’s name: openly referring to its past function belonging to the land. as a military post. Not to forget. Land, and to works of Israeli artists that deal with ancient and bucolic Etgar continues: The enigma of this land begins with God’s promise to Abraham HeartQuake (assumed historical fact, editor’s note): ”Raise your eyes and see, from the place where you are now, northward and southward and The exhibition HeartQuake (2006) aims to work with states of anxiety eastward and westward, for I will give you this land that you see and its manifestations, as well as with the psychological collective and to you and to you forever” (Genesis, 13.14-15). For two thousand years the Jewish people was absent from its land, and during those individual reactions to traumas. years the land did not await it passively. Generations dreamed of The exhibition seeks to offer discussion of the political influences connecting with it –a dream of yearning, a love and a longing for harbored in the collective memory, and national oblivion, with the unknown. “My heart is in the East, but I am at the edge of the regard to historical events. 11. West”, Yehuda Halevi wrote from the Spanish Diaspora.7 The show reviews grave troubles worldwide, with the Holocaust and A more “historical” section follows: terrorism at its core. The Jewish pioneers who came to this land in the late 19th and the early 20th century and the ones who came after them, needed The work of the Palestinian Raed Bwayeh is explicated in this way: much strength of body and of mind to confront the land of this “Right turn!” is a common expression in the military language of country and the sense of threat from the local population. (this is ceremonies, parades and discipline. But the Palestinian soldiers 8 a good one, editor’s note) featured in the work of Rahed Bwayeh were not snapped in the course of a military parade or drill in the open air, their pictures Israeli artist Dan Karavan produced a work for the facade of the Museum, were taken in a crowded space with the walls pressing on them. 12 a sentence in neon light: “Olive trees will be our borders.”
10 Jerusalem Quarterly 2004 11, 12 Raphie Etgar, catalogue of HeartQuake 36 37 Now, if these are truly “soldiers,” they should be in an army. But so far it doesn’t seem to me that Palestine has an army, and all diplomatic peace proposals include the demilitariztion of the Palestinians. The work itself is entitled “Palestinian Authority,” not “Palestinian Army”. Why would an Israeli use such a word as “soldier” then? Associating Palestine with a military image equalizes it to Israel, and puts forth an image of two states with two armies. A list of the catalogue’s critical texts follows: • by Voltaire; • “Fear of Small Numbers,” by Arjun Appadurai, an extract from “The Earthquake of Lisbon,”
“From• “The theUncanny,” Ethnocide by Sigmund to the Ideocide, Freud; Travel in the Land of Fear,” an• “The article World about and conflicts the Home,” between by Homi Jews andK. Bhabha, Arabs in an the essay Negev; on post-colonialism; • “Unclaimed Experience,” by Cathy Carut, about the experience of trauma in our century, • by Aviezer Ravitzky (the subject is clear), • “Playing“The Land in ofthe Israel: Dark,” Desire by Toni and Morrison, Fear in onJewish the role Literature,” of African- Americans in American literature, Raed Bwayeh “Palestinian Authority” • “Destruction Has no Cover: Artists and the Rwanda Genocide,” by Stephen C. Feinstein. In this exhibition, which evokes the destruction of the twentieth century Bruce Nauman Douglas Gordon - the Holocaust, South-African Apartheid, the Rwandan and Armenia Genocides, the Gulf War, 9/11, the Vietnam War, the repression of the Anselm Kiefer Massimo Vitali protesters against the regime in South Korea, the First World War, and Bill Viola Wim Wenders Paul McCarthy Ivan Navarro texts - the Nakba, in the year of its 60th anniversary, is strictly ignored. Anothereven the failure.earthquake of Lisbon of 1775 - integrated in 130 pages of critical William Kentridge Gordon Matta-Clark, Sophie Calle Michelangelo Pistoletto Santiago Serra Jenny Holzer P.A.C.B.I. Carsten Höller Barbara Kruger In 2004, the Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) Andreas Gursky Nancy Spero Martha Rosler Susan Hiller architects,was launched. and Takingscholars, effect PACBI after is partIsrael’s of global 2006 BDSbombing (Boycott, of Lebanon, Divestment, and internationally supported by hundreds of artists, filmmakers, writers, Sebastião Salgado Gilbert & George and Sanctions) movement for Palestine, an international network supporting the Palestinian cause, involving hundreds of websites and Harun Farocky Jota Castro blogs. PACBI’s origins can be traced not only to its historical inspiration in Maria José Burki Mounir Fatmi the South-African struggle against Apartheid, but also to the intellectual dishonesty that Israeli cultural actors have demonstrated with respect to Adrian Paci KimsooJa Palestinian identity and experience. Alfredo Jaar Thomas Hirschorn
38 39 Practices like that of the Museum On the Seam damage the integrity of the transmitted exploitation that contorts the intentions of artworks. Israeli intelligentsia, who should take a firm position concerning culturally Highly established artists regularly participate in the exhibitions of the Museum on The Seam, including Bruce Nauman, Anselm Kiefer, Bill Viola, Paul McCarthy, William Kentridge, Sophie Calle, Santiago Serra, Carsten Höller, Andreas Gursky, Martha Rosler, Sebastião Salgado, Harun Farocky, Maria José Burki, Adrian Paci, Alfredo Jaar, Douglas Gordon, Massimo Vitali, Wim Wenders, Ivan Navarro, Gordon Matta-Clark, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Nancy Spero, Susan Hiller, Gilbert & George, Jota Castro, Mounir Fatmi, KimsooJa, Thomas Hirschorn, and many others. Political, social and ethical engagement is at the core of these artists’ practices. I wonder why they consent to participate in a process that manipulates their ideas to propagandistic aims.
Coming Soon The Museum On the Seam’s current exhibition is entitled Westend?. A new wind is blowing across the Western world, even in the margins of the liberal left. A new wind that affects even those who until recently still believed in sharing equality and mutual respect with the other and commended the idea of multiculturalism. Cracks can now be found in the pillars supporting the Western ideologies that called for liberty and freedom of religion of the other living among them. Political, social and ethical engagement is at This wind is called Islam. The exhibit brings together 28 artists - of whom the core of these artists’ practices. I wonder why 4 are of Arabic origins - for an “equal” dialogue. they consent to participate in a process that (…)The Muslims, whose presence is increasingly noticed, sense manipulates their ideas to propagandistic aims?* discrimination and injustice, and do not hesitate to demonstrate. They do not necessarily feel grateful for the hospitality they have received in Europe. They also forgot the attitude toward liberty in their home countries. At any rate, they no longer feel like foreigners. The feeling of foreignness was replaced by a feeling of security for those who quickly adapted to the liberal spirit of the society into which they arrived and thereby, do not hesitate to demand an expression of Muslim law into local legislation. 13 *Translated & condensed from Italian by the author for the purposes of this reprint. And on it goes... The catalogues of the Museum on The Seam, Haaretz, El Mundo, The Guardian, Al Jazeera English, AJE, This Week in Palestine, MFA (Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs), BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee, Zokrot Aharonot, Ir Amim, UCC Palestine Solidarity Campaign, PACBI Palestinian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel Global BDS Movement, Palestine Monitor, Intifada Tube, Justice Freedom and Peace, Palestine Remembered, Bar monitor, Jerusalem Quarterly, City of Collision: Jerusalem and the Principles of Conflict Urbanism
13 Website of the Museum on The Seam 40 41 I shoveled the American soil from my mother’s grave The Example Set by the Soil and then buried her again with earth from her land in Palestine. Edward Salem 2011
42 43 Billboard intervention by the U.S.-based group Non-Fiction (2010)
44 45 Doubling I recently visited a prison north of visiting hours. The guards brought Tripoli with my friend Carol. She is the woman Carol said was her Slavery: an Ethiopian activist who works in sister. They talked, and then when
Migrant Detainees most hours outside of work, she another woman from the prison in Lebanon seeksLebanon support for a cleaningand donations company; for cell,they finished,any woman. Carol askedThis her process to call her detained Ethiopian community continued until Carol had spoken and I am not only referring to its members, most of whom she has famousLebanon ismountain-sea-in-one-day a very special country, never met. the uninterested and bored prison guardswith several noticed women, this when excessive finally movement in and out of the visiting come to mind is how in this small the easiest thing to do. There are room, and called an end to it. piecedichotomy. of land, The you first have things an excess that manyVisiting things prisons inside in Lebanonthem that is notthe of all the wrong things. Well, when government wouldn’t want anyone Almost all the women we talked nothing is right, one never runs out to see. So the process of getting in is to were detained without trial, or of issues/causes to work on. Name else they have completed their sentence but are still sitting in risk of civil war. Proper history ratherCarol and inflexible. I called on our creative acting skills. I played the role of education.one. Lack ofArchaic electricity. infrastructure. Constant embrace a sponsorship system the employer, and Carol played Sexist laws. Escalating poverty. thatprison. increases Lebanon the continuesnumbers toof “my” maid, who was going in to see Suffocating societal standards for vulnerable women in the prison her sister in prison. Of course, she almost about everything. Corrupt system. This system ties the work did not have any sisters there, but politicians. Pollution. Normalized visa of migrant domestic workers rather she used one of the many family violence against women and to a single employer; if they leave names of Ethiopian detainees as a children. Nonexistent medical care. their employer, they lose their legal status in the country. They are police report on an “investigation” thus entrapped behind the doors ofway a to migrantgo in. In Lebanon,workers asuicides typical power.Lack of Apathy theaters towards and public normalized places. of private homes, where migrant mistakes Africa for a nationality slave-likeLegalized rape.conditions War criminalscausing the in domestic workers are especially deaths of one migrant worker every rather than a week. Disregard for street children optimism will bring about more continent, and and the elderly. Falling residential beautiful times. This is why we assumes Nepal believe that the situation of migrant is in Africa. So workers, the work conditions of it is no surprise buildings.As a member Racism. of Lots Nasawiya, of it. the domestic workers, the lack of legal that they didn’t Beirut-based feminist collective, protection, and the racist attitudes realize that and the Anti-Racism Movement, I Carol’s name come from spaces that believe in immune to fundamental change. and that of change and actively work for it. As Weand believe policies that in they Lebanon will be arealtered not her presumed dire as the situation looks around if there is enough pressure from sister did not us in terms of racism, sexism, and all sides, if we take responsibility, match. their derivatives, we are always if we who live in this country and We were hopeful that enough conscience pay taxes for policy makers and raising, resistance to injustice, implementers, demand this to stop. dreaming, movement building and to enter during finally allowed
46 47 prone to abuse or even slavery. doing for its part. The Ministry of In that prison, there were people what our Lebanese government is who had been abused, raped, General Security? The media? The unpaid, and locked up. The minute schools?Interior? The The universities? Ministry of Labor? they were “caught” and taken to the Carol and I left the prison with detentionthey were center. finally able to escape, a heavy weight in our hearts. We returned the next time with Typically when a worker “escapes,” different things we could gather, the employer goes to the police basic necessities that are non- existent there: warm clothes, the police that the escapee stole mattresses, coffee, detergent, rice, twostation kilograms to file of a gold, report. or $5,000 They tell in and more. Every time we returned cash (this is reported every single we learned new stories. Some time, as if it were common practice women are there just because they can’t afford the ticket back to keep so much gold and cash home. Other don’t know why they atfor homeLebanese in an middle unlocked class drawer).families are there. Others are guilty until Proof is not required. And if the proven innocent, with no evidence employers do not add this detail in yet presented for their case. the report on their own, the police are attentive enough to highlight If you want to help, we collect this potential addition, asking or material donations, document even advising them to include it stories, and fundraise. All these to make their report stronger and activities are of utmost importance. render the search for this “run- But what is even more important away worker” more urgent. is the need to work on the bigger picture, and not just on a case-by- A big chunk of the responsibility for case basis. The sponsorship system, this situation lies on the backs of If you happen to be moved to shake the abuse it leads to, the random, embassies and consulates (most of up our country, and awaken it to chaotic situation of imprisoned the racism in and around it, or to workers, all need to be changed. working on changing the disastrous Imagine how vulnerable migrant Countrieswhich in Lebanon where domestic are run byworkers racist laws that allow for such practices to workers are in this crazy place. comeLebanese from honorary are not consuls.) taking True.care happen, then I would love to hear Multiply that by ten when they get of their citizens, dead or alive, in from you. We’re a long way from detained. Something should be home. done. People should feel that they bans on their citizens to come to -Farah Salka Lebanon. A few have implemented are part of the solution because they are part of the problem! [email protected] thatLebanon, aside, andit is thisimportant is a decisionto note As I mentioned above, you are lucky thatwhose even benefit if those is debatable. embassies But are all to be living in this 10,425 sq km not doing what they should, let us space. You have so many options pause for a second to ask ourselves on the table from which to choose.
48 49 Haunting Piece (Armed Forces Recruiting Center)
From midnight till dawn for two nights I sat on a bench in a long white sheet before the Armed Forces Recruiting Center in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
Edward Salem 2011
50 51 “Sometimes decades pass and nothing happens; and hundred voices boomed back, “Mic a police blockade. then sometimes weeks pass and decades happen.” Check!” When the meeting ended, no one -Lenin wanted to go home. We wanted to human microphone. Within soak up this new sensation just a minutes,With that, the I experienced large crowd my firstwas little bit longer. But what was this divided into 11 committees, and new sensation that made strangers then quickly reorganized into a sit through a three-hour meeting, more manageable 5 committees then spend another two hours - a logistics committee, a media hanging out outside in the cold, committee, a web committee, talking politics? a tactical committee, and an outreach committee - that would It dawned on me that for many of plan a march ending at Portland’s own occupation site. ever been able to meet like this. Weus, thishad was spent the firstour timewhole we liveshad I joined the outreach committee, which was tasked with With that I experienced getting out as many people as possible on this day of action. my first human microphone... We spent an hour
Reflections from into a few of the veteran activists every part of the city, and they looked as surprised and sendingplanning flierout runsemails to Occupy Portland bewildered as I must have. Their to all the listservs faces all begged the same questions we were part of, The Occupy Wall Street movement and thoughts: Where did all these and vouching to was almost impossible to believe. people come from? Who organized talk to everyone we Accustomed to organizing this? All these years of organizing, knew and tell them meetings where getting 30 why didn’t we think of this? Wow, to show up on Oct participants (half of them over this is going to be huge! 6. The plan was for the age of 50) was considered everyone to meet at a success, I was blown away to Soon the crowd was buzzing with noon at the Water show up to Occupy Portland’s 2nd anticipation, waiting for the GA Front Park near the General Assembly (known now as to begin. No one knew how or Burnside Bridge, to who would begin it. Eventually, march through the brand new activists eager to plan someone I’d never seen before city, and arrive at the the GA) to find 300 young, excited, Portland’s occupation in solidarity jumped up and began the GA by occupation site at with the Wall Street occupiers shouting the now familiar phrase 3:00 pm. The exact who had been attacked by police “Mic Check.” Only half the crowd location was to be with pepper spray and arrested responded. He quickly repeated, kept secret until the in mass just days earlier. I ran “Mic Check.” This time three- last moment to avoid
52 53 “That night we realized that working harder, working smarter, being more competitive, climbing the corporate ladder, getting a degree, and buying a house would not save us.
isolated in our homes and work Spain, were coming together and places, limited to meeting in small realizing that their struggles were groups with co-workers, family, or not theirs alone. friends. We had rarely met in such large groups, and certainly never The student graduating with to discuss the real problems we all 30,000 dollars in debt to work for faced in our lives. Sure, we might 10 dollars an hour, the uninsured be organized into large groups at mother who spends half her our work place, but this is hardly income on medicine to keep an empowering experience, as her sick child alive; the laid off we listen to our bosses barking teacher whose unemployment commands at us all day. This time, it was different. years of searching for jobs that nobenefits longer are exist, exhausted the black after family two That night, hundreds of people in whose home and life savings are Portland, thousands of people in being foreclosed, the Egyptian occupations across the country, farmer who survives on less than and millions across the world in 80 dollars per month, the Greek squares from Egypt to Greece to bus driver whose pension will
be cut in half, and the Tunisian “block” or hold up a decision even vegetable vendor who could stand if all others support that decision. it no more. There were thousands, In a crowd of 300, all of us trying millions just like us. We realized to make important decisions on we could not all be struggling the next steps of a movement, for the reasons we had been lead complete agreement was nearly to believe. We were not stupid, impossible. careless, immoral, and lazy.
I’m not saying that everything Assemblies, when the occupation was smooth sailing from then wasDuring still thein its first planning couple phase, General this meant that rather than consensus, GA that consensus would be a the facilitators simply gave hearing nearlyon. It impossible was obvious form from of decision the first to the ideas they supported and making with such large groups. had the most popular support, Consensus allows one person to and moved on regardless of how
*above image from protocol manual for General Assembly meetings 54 55 We realized that our problems can only be solved collectively and this was the beginning of that effort.
many disagreed. Surely this was completely understandable, and They controlled the Occupy the facilitators can’t be blamed; Portland website, listserv and nothing would have gotten done Facebook page. By “they,” I don’t if consensus was followed in those mean some kind of conspiracy; it was simply those who attended would never have gotten off the first meetings, and the occupation money to buy the domain and host been part of the planning from the athe website, first meetings, had the know-how who had and the beginningground. Luckily,put process those aside who and had time to create a list, could attend put the rest of us to work to make more meetings, or simply were sure the plan for the march and well-spoken and knew how to occupation was successful. facilitate large meetings.
The second challenge was the idea Of course, the emergence of a of a leaderless movement. From leadership to coordinate such a the outset, it was claimed that large movement was expected and Occupy would be a “leaderless,” or horizontal, movement in which everyone is a leader. Welargely all welcomed understood at the firstthat GA’s. to Certainly, some leaders emerged, accomplish the enormous task we whether they formally recognized had laid for ourselves, those who themselves as such or not. At the were capable and willing to give direction to the movement were structure, the agenda, and decision needed. makingfirst GA, process. they provided the general
56 57 Many deferred to those who made and the columns of the written caused. the initial call, and supported the press was that the greed and emerging leaders, even if there insatiable consumerism of the As this amazing ideological were some reservations about average American created this breakthrough was occurring on accountability. mess, and we would have to pay the the national level, on the ground in Portland, the enthusiasm of pulling have to be shut down, our teachers off the occupation was being price to fix it. Our schools would replaced by frustration. weDuring mobilize these the first thousands meetings, we our unions busted, our health care needed?had bigger How fish would to fry: we How hold would the withheld,fired, our our class public sizes parks increased, closed, After successfully mobilizing occupation location if the police our environment destroyed, and thousands, and occupying the tried to keep us out? our social security stolen. Just days parks, people were anxious to before Occupy began, the media discuss political goals and winning How would we obtain the could only talk of budget cuts strategy. But the structures resources needed to maintain the and austerity; politicians openly and processes that had been occupation if it was successful? declared that we had ten years of put into place now emerged as serious obstacles. With hundreds With issues like these to address, attending the GA twice daily, the questions surrounding process “Banks got bailed out, we got sold Withinpain and days, sacrifice the Occupy ahead Movement of us. consensus process led to meetings and structure were ignored and out.“ “This is what democracy was able to change the script and that lasted 3-5 hours, with very overcome by the sheer excitement looks like.” give a collective voice to what we few decisions being made. of the moment’s historicity, and all knew. We were not responsible the singularity of purpose we all As the march progressed through for this crisis, and we should not Rather than serious political felt in mobilizing thousands to our be the ones to pay for it. It was debates over our goals, strategies cause. buildings and residents gathered not teachers, postal workers, bus and tactics, GA meetings turned ondowntown, their balconies workers or in in front office of drivers, students, the poor and into endless talk shops about the Consensus, a “leaderless” structure, windows, gazing in amazement unemployed who were living and other manifestations of what at the throng of people marching the high life. The vast majority I learned was part of a broader through the streets. Many cheered of Americans were struggling us on or put up the peace symbol to survive. It was the banks, the politics” associated with Anarchism, in solidarity, while others simply corporations, the wealthiest of didphilosophy not emerge of as major “pre-figurative obstacles seemed confused, not yet having society, and the politicians they until the Occupation had become a heard of what would become an own, who had created this mess reality and hundreds were camping instant buzz word: “Occupy.” This while getting incredibly rich in in two parks in the center of our success was repeated in hundreds the process. It was the banks’ city. of cities and towns around the US. gambling, as well as the endless Within an hour of my arrival on the Occupy smashed open the predatory lending and financial planned day of action, the crowd mainstream political straitjacket brought us to this point. had swollen to 10,000. and turned elite narratives about drive for corporate profits, that economic crisis right side up. Since The march began. It spanned the beginning of the economic had had enough, and were ready several blocks and people began crisis, the message playing in an Occupy signified that the 99% chanting. “We are the 99%.” endless loop on CNN, Fox News, the 1% pay for the crisis they had to start fighting back and making
58 59 Undoubtedly, the challenges that action day, Occupy has its eyes on Occupy faces continue. After the the powerful levers of capitalist forcible eviction of the Occupy industry and is naturally reaching camps in many cities including out, making links and organizing Portland, activists are left the social force who can pull those without a visible central location. levers - the American Working Consequently, the movement has Class. had to improve communication among its different parts, and it What our movement has has had to become creative in maintaining a public presence. democratically incorporate the It has also been forced to look voicesyet to and figure ideas out isof aall way those to outwards in search of other ways to involved or wishing to be involved. apply pressure on the 1%. This has Steps have been taken to improve been a positive development as the the process and hold leaders center of gravity of the movements accountable. The GA’s are held has moved to campuses, mostly every other day now, and due to logistics of running the camp. youths camping and hanging out in California, but also on the East a lowering of the decision-making at the site steadily grew. With coast, and even here at Portland threshold to 90% consensus, and Soon, fewer and fewer people this growth came the presence State, where a walkout recently improved facilitation, they are were attending GA’s because they of drug and alcohol abuse, as drew 700 students and faculty. shorter and can be used to ratify were unable to participate in a well as violence and other issues This has drawn the struggle or endorse important actions and process requiring an exhaustive related to the mental health of and demands of students and decisions of the various groups commitment of time with little these vulnerable populations. educators more concretely into the making up the Occupy Movement. in return. It was maddening to This, in turn, resulted in many of Occupy Movement. A “spokescouncil” is also now held watch people who were new to those camping at the Occupy site on the days when GA’s are not. It politics and inspired by the Occupy for political reasons to leave the It has widened the movement’s allows for different group interests movement go to GA, try in vain encampment, as it became clear social composition and increased and ideas to be discussed and to participate, and after several that they were unequipped to deal its social force, as students and represented through a rotating hours or several days (depending with the needs of a large homeless university workers bring to the spokesperson. on their stamina), leave. The GA’s population. struggle their resources and paralysis also made it impossible networks, as well as their collective Other committees and offshoots to deal with other problems The mayor, a self-described power to shut down the major of Occupy are also trying different emerging within the Occupy camp. progressive who proclaimed to US knowledge manufacturing methods of decision making and support the “initial message” of the centers. The movement has also structure, including democratic As time passed, the social Occupy movement about economic located and begun to strike at the majority decision-making at composition of those camping inequality, was soon using these nerve center of the 1% and their Occupy PSU. While no exhaustive in the parks began to change. stories as a way to claim that the list of demands has been drawn Attracted by the free meals, Occupy Movement had become geared to disrupt business as up as many critics have opined, the relative safety from police depoliticized and a public hazard, usual.profits, From and hasthe organizedOakland Generalactions the main outlines of what we harassment, and the humanizing to give himself political cover for Strike to the N17 Bank Closures, effect of their suffering being the eviction he was preparing for the West Coast Port Shut Down and becoming clearer. Occupy politicized, the number of the police to carry out. and the recent sucessful Shut hasare fightingallowed formore are movements, emerging homeless adults and homeless Down the Corporations direct interests, and social groups to toss
60 61 their lot in with the movement, which they see as a powerful of his own time, observed that, vehicle capable of taking up their Trotsky, reflecting on the struggles cause and making progress. “The history of a revolution is for us first Regardless of the huge challenges of all a history of the that certainly still exist, or the forcible entrance of the mistakes were made during this masses into the realm of struggle, standing aside cannot be rulership over their own may have of the Occupy movement, destiny.” itjustified. is clear that Whatever this is a criticismdynamic and we evolving movement. It is not an As one Occupy Wall Street exaggeration to say that 2011 is protestor had written on her sign, our 1968. “We are in the We are in the midst of a historic struggle, and all the forces who beginning of the want a more just and equal world beginning.” must make their mark. Most cannot camp out, many cannot We now have a foot stuck in the attend regular meetings, many door; it is time for our generation cannot get arrested, but everyone to smash that door open and make has a role to play in this struggle. our forcible entrance into history, so that we can once and for all become the rulers of our own destiny. The Russian Revolutionary Leon -Wael Elasady Portland, OR, U.S.A.
It is not an exaggeration to say that 2011 is our 1968.
62 63 #Occupy Wallstreet began after Canadian based Adbustersmagazine printed this page: In our Spring edition, the Beirut Now Adbusters has Journal will issued a new call: publish a full Coming Soon! interview with Adbusters editors and examine the unlikely sources of mass protest and revolution around the world, from Tunisa to New York City from Italy to Syria.
64 65 Do You Have an Idea That Needs Funding?
The Beirut Journal has a Micro Grant Program to fund 2 grants of up to $100 dollars each! Just submit a proposal to our team at: [email protected] Please include: budget, previous projects and a short statement of purpose. We’ll feature the winners in our Spring Edition highlighting how your grant is activating Beirut.
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1. Find 2 cardboard boxes. (One box must be small enough to fit inside the other with a small space between each of the surfaces.)
2-4. Starting from the tallest corner of the smaller box, cut a sharp diagonal line (Make sure to leave enough space to contain a pot or a baking sheet.)
5-7. Use this line to cut the same angle on the larger box. Make sure to leave the bottom edge uncut (See 6).
7 8 9 8-10. Crumple newspaper and stuff inside the bigger box. Add the smaller box and line the space between them with newspaper, so that there is a thin layer of newspaper (insulation) around the smaller box.
11. Cut the bottom edge of the bigger box to create a small ‘lip’. (This will keep your glass or plexi from sliding off.)
12-15. Glue aluminum foil on the inside walls of the small box and over the sides of the larger box. Use duct tape to secure the edges on the bottom and sides.
16-17. Take a small piece of cardboard and spraypaint black. Fit into the bottom of the small box. This will absorb heat and help to cook your food. 10 11 12 18. Take a larger piece of cardboard and create a reflective piece that can move with the Sun. Cut out notches in the cardboard to fit it into the top of the big box. Do It Yourself 19. Attach small sticks to prop up this piece of cardboard according to the angle of the sun. (D.I.Y.) Part 1: 20. Cut a piece of plexiglass or regular glass (you can even use plastic wrap in a pinch) to fit the surface of the big box. Leave an edge hanging over on the sides so that you can pull it off even when hot.
How to Make a Solar Oven 21. Place Oven in line with the sun, wait for it to heat up. You can use a small oven thermometer to test temperatures or just mix up a batch of cookies and see what happens. Mmmmmmm!!!!!! 68 69 Meetings, Volunteering & Calls for Proposals Meetings/Get Involved:
• Helem (LGBT rights, Free HIV testing & more): Fridays 6:30 @ Zico House
• Nasawiya (Women’s rights): pass by our Nasawiya House M-Sa 10-8pm@ our new space in Mar Mikhael (tel:01565442)
• Beirut Green Project: join us @ [email protected]
• Anti-Racism Movement: Tuesdays @ 8 pm (contact [email protected])
• Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel in Lebanon Mondays @ 6pm (contact Asad @ 71628112)
• Sunday Night Community Acupuncture@98Weeks: 7 pm sarahfarahat.weebly.com/acupuncture.html text 76806647 to reserve space Calls for Proposals:
• Project Space: Welcomes proposals for events, exhibitions, performances, and lectures. Contact [email protected]
• The Beirut Journal for Radical Activation: Welcomes submissions, translation and editing support for our Spring edition. Send submissions to [email protected]. Volunteering:
• Association Najdeh @ Shatila Camp: Bi-lingual Arabic/English speakers needed for help co-ordinating foreign volunteers. Teaching opportunities are also available. Please contact us @ 03755953
• Volunteer English Teachers needed: Please contact the Migrant Workers Task Force: [email protected]
• Batroun Art Space: Building materials and labor support needed for ongoing renovation of the space into an artist’s residency and creative project space. Everyone welcome. Contact Ghassan @ 03412659 Look out for a new edition of the Beirut Journal of Radical Activation in late Spring 2012!
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