[Reader-list] pause: in times of conflict

[francesca recchia]

This could be of interest to those of you who are in Bangalore.
>Cheers
>francesca



>
>PAUSE - IN TIMES OF CONFLICT.
>Reading about the Gaza Strip from here is estranging. What is it like there? On 
>some days, Palestine could be just as far as Assam, and on other days, Palestine 
>is too far to think about. How much do we know for sure? How much do we only 
>have an idea of? We encounter war and conflict every day, and it seems to have 
>merged with the background of our existence. Conflicts seem to begin and end 
>everyday through brief encounters - glances in the newspaper with your morning 
>coffee or glimpses of it between switching TV channels or through the 140 
>characters of a tweet... We are at a time when we are collectively forgetting, 
>when histories are resurfacing, when people and places disappear, when power 
>celebrates victory.
>Bertolt Brecht raised a pertinent question inMottowhen he wrote, “In the dark 
>times, will there also be singing?.”But our reasons for organising pause – in 
>times of conflicthave to do not so much with his question but his answer. "Yes, 
>there will be singing. About the dark times."  We see creative practice in 
>conflict zones as a corollary to Brecht's response, as attempts to sing. This 
>act of “singing” requires a constant engagement with the world even if it might 
>be going to pieces. But in times that are marked by violence, grief, loss, 
>silence, and the haunting presence of that which isunspeakable and that which is 
>left unsaid, how do we see, respond, survive if not by “singing”?
And one fine day, you watch Turtles can fly, or see an anonymous photograph of a 
mother and child sleeping in a charred house in Chattisgarh, and then you 
remember. These stories always return somehow - from different places, through 
new ways with new reasons, unknown people from unknown places appear in our 
lives to remind us that it is not over. And there is something about the turn of 
events, and how it's all connected. The war has not ended. It continues.
>Zbigniew Herbert has written that fire in the poem is one thing, and the house 
>on flames is another. Of course there are still doubts about the “real” 
>significance of creative practices in countries of conflict. And while these 
>doubts are relevant,Eliot Weinbergermight well be right when he writes “it is 
>the fire in the poem that helps us to see the town in flames, whether it is a 
>town in history, or our own town tomorrow”
As we protest, perform, artistically respond, research, write and discuss,pause 
– in times of conflictis a forum to bring people of varied interests, located 
between different disciplines to reflect on conflicts that keep reappearing 
mysteriously. pause – in times of conflictwill use films, graphic novels, 
photographs, poetry, music, performance as triggers to discuss, debate and 
re-narrate from our own experiences, readings and pondering. As we pause at 
different places, we will attempt to find new ways to arrive, as we pause in 
time, we will attempt to recall hidden and subjective histories. The idea is 
take some time off to pause.
>For a lot of us stranded in media saturated islands, creative practices are a 
>way – not the only way, butaway – into  the larger political, social and 
>cultural reality of contemporary history.
>STARTING 24th July I Page Turners, Next to Canara Bank, MG Road, Opposite Pillar 
>No. 198
>Our first pause will be in Palestine. We will watch Arna's Children, the story 
>of a theatre group that was established by Arna Mer Khamis. Arna comes from a 
>Zionist family and in the 1950s married a Palestinian Arab, Saliba Khamis. This 
>theatre group engaged children from Jenin, helping them to express their 
>everyday frustrations, anger, bitterness and fear. Arna's son Juliano, director 
>of this film, was also one of the directors of Jenin's theatre. With his camera, 
>he filmed the children during rehearsal periods from 1989 to 1996. In 2003, he 
>returns to meet his mother's students with a camera. (Duration: 84 
>minutes). This will be followed by a reading of Mahmood Darwish's poems and a 
>discussion on the Palestine-Israel conflict.
>On 4 April 2011, Arna's son, Juliano Mer-Khamis was shot dead by a masked gunman 
>in the Palestinian city of Jenin, where he had established The Freedom Theatre. 
>This screening is a tribute to Juliano Mer-Khamis' work and commitment to 
>theatre, film and activism in Jenin, Palestine.                 
ALL ARE WELCOME. ENTRANCE IS 
FREE.                                                                                                                        
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>
Forthcoming events – dates to be confirmed                                      
                                                       August 28th: Iraq - Place 
and Memory, The Museum of War Crimes in Iraqi Kurdistan,  a lecture by Francesca 
Recchia
>
September 25th: Kashmir - Readings from Mirza Waheed's The Collaborator         
                                        
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>
organised by maraa in collaboration with Francesca Recchia
>email: info at maraa.in
>contact: 9880755875/8105875350
>www.maraa.in
>
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