HUman RIGHTS DOCUMENTING And looking back through the leNS
INTERVIEW WITH ZOUGHBI ALZOUGHBI - West Bank, Palestine 2008
In 2008, at the start of my career in video production and documentary work, I learned a lasting lesson about the power of media and storytelling. I saw how mass media and legacy media, driven by corporate profits and adversarial conflict, too often suppress the meaningful work of peacebuilders and nonviolent activists, and instead feed and intensify narratives of violent conflict in communities. One of the clearest examples I witnessed firsthand was Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals working together in nonviolent grassroots peacemaking. I believe I was witnessing some of the most remarkable nonviolent direct action of our time. That same grassroots-led peace and justice work has and remains under direct attack: suppressed and destroyed by governments and nation-states, over and over again. This includes Western nations that have long funded, for example, Israel’s militarized occupation and apartheid of Palestinian civilians and underfunded and defunded meaningful conflict transformation.
Please take a minute to watch some footage I filmed in 2008, including an interview clip of Palestinian grassroots peacemaker Zoughbi Alzoughbi, Founder and Director of Wi’am: The Palestinian Conflict Transformation Center. This was part of a delegation documenting ongoing human rights abuses in the West Bank (see above).
International human rights violations and war crimes against Palestinian civilians are unprecedented and continue today with the help of warmongering politicians and corporate profiteers in Canada and the United States. As taxpayers who have funded these crimes, past and present, and as voters of politicians who enable them, we can use our voices, votes and creative action to hold those in charge accountable and bring a sustainable end to cycles of violence and occupation. May we follow in the footsteps of Dr. King and address “the triple threats of poverty, militarism and racism.”
To learn more about how to support local Palestinian, Israeli, and international peaceworkers engaged in grassroots action, aid, education, advocacy, and relationship building through nonviolent direct action and conflict transformation, please check out:
Wi’am: The Palestinian Conflict Transformation Center
B’Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
Community Peacemaker Teams (Canadian/US organization)