Public Forum: Israeli activists speakout - Solidarity, Justice & the Military Occupation of Palestine

Direct Action & Under the Hammer

Proudly present

ISRAELI ACTIVISTS SPEAK OUT:

SOLIDARITY,  JUSTICE &
THE MILITARY OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE

Sahar Vardi & Micha Kurz are among a growing number of young Israelis who are taking an active stand against their government’s occupation and policies of oppression against the Palestinian people.    Sahar and Micha are actively engaged in Palestine solidarity activism in the Occupied West Bank and Occupied East Jerusalem and will speak about their experiences as Israeli anti-occupation activists and their involvement in the joint Palestinian-Israeli popular struggle for a Free Palestine. 

Sahar Vardi is a 21 year old peace activist and “refusenik” from Jerusalem.  In 2008, as a high school senior, Sahar refused her mandatory conscription into the Israeli military.  She was the third conscientious objector, and the first woman, to be imprisoned among the 2008 high school seniors, who signed a collective declaration of refusal to serve in the Israeli army. Sahar has been an active participant in the joint popular struggle in the Occupied West Bank and works with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity movement.

Micha Kurz is a co-founder and co-director of Grassroots Jerusalem, a project that maps social inequalities, justice issues and environmental problems, together with community projects that address them, in and around the Jerusalem area. Grassroots Jerusalem projects include 'I am Al Walajeh' which documents the struggle of the Palestinian village of Al Walajeh against growing settlement expansion and building of Israel’s illegal wall.

Micha is also a co-founder of Breaking the Silence, a group of ex-Israeli soldiers that aims to expose the Israeli public the reality of everyday life for Palestinians living under occupation by collecting and publishing testimonies from soldiers.

7pm, Tues - 28th August

Under the Hammer Activist Art Hub

158 Sydney Road, Coburg

Entry by donation

 

Direct Action is an independent socialist newspaper, which is an active supporter and campaigner for the Palestinian people’s struggle for self-determination and justice.   www.directaction.org.au

Under the Hammer is an artist’s collective across the various mediums such as music, theatre, comedy, spoken word, film and visual art dedicated to the creation and promotion of "political art." We believe that in a world full of war, racism, sexism, homophobia, environmental destruction corporate greed it is important to generate art that challenges the dominant paradigm.     http://www.facebook.com/UndertheHammer

“Art is not a mirror to hold up to society, but a hammer with which to shape it” – Bertolt Brecht

 

 

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Grassroots Jerusalem is involved in is Arts Advocacy project called "Image and Identity”. Image and Identity is a participatory multimedia project which supports Palestinian youth creatively documenting their culture, history, identity and space through photography and writing. One of its most recent projects is "I am al-Walajeh" which has seen Palestinian youth from al-Walajeh document their village and their village's struggle against Israel's occupation. The photos taken by the youth were recently exhibited and "tell a story of a once thriving agricultural community, slowly turned into refugees and pushed from their land. They also tell the story of the challenge of photographing Al Walajeh, whose land is occupied by several settlements, the Apartheid Wall and Israeli soldiers constantly on patrol. Since most Al Walajeh’s population travels outside for work, the children struggled to find people to photograph in their homes and village".