"Mapping Our Return": My report on the 2018 al Awda conference
The conference was held in Long Beach, CA recently. It was an
emotional and informative experience. I have written down some of my
notes here, of course. But the title of the conference itself was the
most important aspect. "Mapping Our Return".
How can one possibly map a return to a country that has been brutally
seized via murderous force coldly administered by heartless invaders,
ones who now have the full military and financial support of American
Zionists -- as well as the possession of approximately 200 nuclear
bombs? How indeed.
I would suggest that one road we could outline on this map of return is
to hold the next al Awda conference in Jerusalem -- entitled "The Year
of Our Actual Return". And Palestinian-Americans with dual citizenship could all attend this conference too. Just an idea.
The conference itself opened with a moment of silence for the thousands
of victims of Zionist apartheid in Gaza. I still cannot believe, in a
modern world such as ours where our children watch all that caring and
sharing on Sesame Street for crying out loud, people and governments and
especially the UN still allow such injustice and brutality to exist.
"Al Awda (the Return) binds Palestinians legally, culturally and
morally together -- even despite 70 years of being constantly attacked
by well-funded detractors," said the first speaker. "And we
Palestinians, like all other human beings, have the right to leave our
homes in the morning and to know that our homes will still be there when
we return."
Even though Zionist thieves stole everything Palestinians have, the
victims are just supposed to forget this? No, no and no.
"Who owns Jewishness?" the next speaker asked. "Zionists claim to own
it but they do not." And Palestine is not a "revolution industry"
either. Palestinians just want to go home.
Oslo was a disaster. Among other things, it sold Palestinians out to
the NGOs, like in Haiti. "There are 10,000 NGOs in Haiti -- where the
money goes to the NGOs instead of the people. The same thing happened
in Palestine after Oslo -- deliberate structural violence. Oslo is an
unbelievable colonialistic document. You should read it some time."
Then we watched a film entitled "1948: Creation & Catastrophe,"
showing the horrors of the Nakba itself. Old footage of sad Palestinian
refugees and dead Palestinian bodies. Not a dry eye in the house.
The next speaker was a professional comedian. "You get a lot more
people to listen to you if you use humor to get your point across," he
said. But if you dare to get too political, forget about ever going
mainstream. You gotta sell your soul to the Zionists in order to do
that."
A fashion designer spoke next. "I could not get a visa to show my
designs at New York Fashion Week. But when I showed them in Milan,
Israelis claimed credit for my designs!" But Israelis still won't let
Palestinians in the West Bank work for her to produce garments. No
surprise there.
Two more ideas were presented regarding how to support al Awda: Money
and Truth. Money will help support the creativity of Palestinian
artists -- and money will also help get out the truth. "Elevate and
make visible the political reality" of the Nakba, of the West Bank, of
Gaza, of Shatila and Yarmouk.
Next a cartoonist from Brazil spoke and he said all the right stuff
about Palestine -- but then started riffing off on happenings in Syria
and Russia, something he obviously hadn't researched very well. Several
of us audience members descended on him afterwards and tried to set him
straight. "No, Assad is not an evil dictator. No, Russia is not the
imperialist here." But did he listen to us? Who knows.
Other speakers talked about taxation without representation, ethnic
cleansing in Jerusalem and the brutal attacks on Gaza. "Israel fears
all Palestinian resistance -- but especially nonviolent resistance. The
Great March of Return terrified Israelis."
Next speaker. "What we have done for the last 70 years hasn't been
working because we are here and not in charge of Palestine. We must
attack -- attack every lie. Every time. All the disinformation. It's
not the Zionists' promised land, Zionists are not the only descendants
of Abraham. Israel is not a democracy. It is not even Jewish. And it
is definitely not a friend of the United States."
Then there was a Gala dinner and a fashion show. Time well spent. Time to take the #61 bus back to my hotel.
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