The French Resistance in the Service of Palestine
By Gilad Atzmon • May 19th, 2008 at 6:36 • Category: Gilad Atzmon, Gilad's Choice, Ideas and Projects, Israel, Music, Poetry, Events, Our Authors, Palestine, Resistance, Zionism
The commemoration events of 60 years of the Nakba have brought a very different type of Palestinian solidarity activism to my attention: it is young, vibrant, dynamic and creative solidarity campaigning. It’s a new form of struggle that goes far beyond the old dogmatic clichés, a fierce battle that aims at the exposure of the Jewish state for what it is: a racist, chauvinist apartheid state. Last Monday I saw it happen in Exeter University while watching and listening to the astonishingly eloquent Palestinian ambassador to Britain Dr Manuel Hassassian . Last Friday 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, those very exotic shops you hardly see anymore. A unique cultural thought-provoking fountain that makes resistance look like a valid praxis, as if liberation is awaiting just 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.
Last Friday, it was me who appeared there. I spoke about the “Primacy of the Ear” http://www.gilad.co.uk/html files/Primacy of the Ear.htm. 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 http://www.dhaferyoussef.com/.
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The commemoration events of 60 years of the Nakba have brought a very different type of Palestinian solidarity activism to my attention: it is young, vibrant, dynamic and creative solidarity campaigning. It’s a new form of struggle that goes far beyond the old dogmatic clichés, a fierce battle that aims at the exposure of the Jewish state for what it is: a racist, chauvinist apartheid state. Last Monday I saw it happen in Exeter University while watching and listening to the astonishingly eloquent Palestinian ambassador to Britain Dr Manuel Hassassian . Last Friday 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, those very exotic shops you hardly see anymore. A unique cultural thought-provoking fountain that makes resistance look like a valid praxis, as if liberation is awaiting just 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.
Last Friday, it was me who appeared there. I spoke about the “Primacy of the Ear” http://www.gilad.co.uk/html files/Primacy of the Ear.htm. 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 http://www.dhaferyoussef.com/.
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