“FESTIVAL”
Exchange and Training – Sport and Cultural activities
Italy and Gaza Strip
December / January 2015
In the Gaza Strip, where the life and freedom would achieve its highest level of expression, attacks and destructions are going on everyday; military experimentation choose its own enclave; the population and the territory are the “ play screen” for the madmen of the military and economic world.
The last military aggression unleashed on the Gaza Strip, called “Protective Edge” on July / August 2014, tried to destroy, for the umpteenth time, the hopes and wishes of the population, the whole city collapsed on them without being able to stop disaster foretold, continuous and repeated. A long and pointless sadistic game, imposed on the citizens of Gaza who are not allowed to move and lead a “normal” life. The difficulty and/or prohibition of movement, it affects the younger generation, which in recent years have only suffered for the misfortune of the occupation and have not had a chance to open up to the world outside, because of the heaviness of the siege. Only those who flee dangerously can have access to other worlds, where to look for work, training, and exchange; worlds in any case that does not have the same culture and where integration and cohabitation are two aspects difficult to achieve and accomplish.
The population in Gaza, in spite of all, try to resist; they try to get up again from the rubble exploded on them with violence during the war. They wish to reiterate and assert their just rights of freedom and self-determination.
The Decalogue of HUMAN RIGHTS it declares:
“Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state”
“Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country”
All this does not happen in the Gaza Strip, is not a right granted to the Palestinians; nothing is guaranteed for them, only the right to remain locked up and under siege, beyond the right or wrong.
But the will and the innate ability of Gazans to move forward in this injustice, exceeds the boundaries of the closure and siege; not more still waiting for aid but gets back in motion with activities and events that bring the spirit to take steps to rebuild and hope for a different future to all HUMAN.
“PROGRAM”
“THE FESTIVAL of exchange and trainings” is a collection of cultural and sporting activities which will see its realization through a direct exchange between Italian and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. An exchange of knowledge and expertise with strong social and educational value and with a strong array of entertainment. The Festival is organized by various Italian associations, in collaboration with UISP and networks of trainers. with the support of the Sport and cultural clubs, Universities, schools and Social Centers. The Festival is part of a wider project of “Cultural Exchanges” which annually provides training and exchanges of knowledge among the new generations of the Mediterranean countries. Gaza Strip, due to the big “physical” difficult of opening of the borders, due the Israeli military occupation does not offer integrated programs for young people and students in age of learning and understanding of the world; this initiative, organized with the “Italian Centre for Cultural Exchanges – VIK” and local associations, provide and facilitate meetings and exchanges between the two countries in various fields.
The program will run for one week (from december 27 to january 5 – 2015) with a breakdown of the various activities and events:
- 5 days training and workshops – with associations on 4 groups of activities: PARKOUR, ART&GRAFFITI, MEDIA, ANIMATION &Entertanement (juggling, circus, acrobatics, Dabka etc. ..); The training is designed to interchange the technical and theoretical knowledges of the various activities, targeting children and young people (m / f).
- Final Event and entertainment aimed at the entire population of sport traditional but also new sport, with qualified instructors and animators overtime and international professionals. Field activities for the children music, dance and event.
WORKSHOPS:
PARKOUR: 5 days of training / workshops, will be held in various locations in the South and the North of the Strip, both outdoors or at their respectives gym clubs. About 50 young people who practice parkour in their areas, will partecipate on training and exchanges practices. It wil be involved also a group of young people to alternate workouts and training and to present the sport for new entries. Partner involved: PK Gaza Parkour and free running (Khan younis refugee camp), 3Run Parkour (Jabalia refugee camp), Spider Gaza Parkour (Rafah refugee camp Shaboura).
Art & GRAFFITI: young people, students and artists, will be involved in the activities of painting, drawing and graffiti art; this will be played in various areas bombed the Gaza Strip (Beit Hannoun, Shajaya, Khuza’a); also theoretical meetings will be organized on the street’s art and the art of the war and the exchange will take place right on the perception of the arts on East and West countries. Thanks to the intervention of professional writers and organizers of Italian jam writing, workshops will be made for the exchange of theories and techniques of writing on the history of the street art. These workshops will then have a relapse practice in terms of symbolic and real enrichment of the city with the development of a large graffiti in co-creation between Palestinians and italian writing; Jam writing that also involve the children, and the ability to overturn a scenario like that of a city destroyed by the revaluation of the devastated landscape and its rubble thanks to the graffiti. Partner involved: Al Aqsa University – Department of “Fine Art”; Shababik Gaza – for contemporary art;
MEDIA & Communication: young photographers and video makers, will meet to organize training and workshop exchanges on the techniques of photography, shooting video; forms of communication in the war and post-war documentation. Training on basic and advanced techniques; it will be involved the center of the local indipendent media. Specifically, the workshop will see a constitution and possible intersection of two paths of narration: the self-narration and multimedia diary of the caravan as a tool for the dissemination of information outside. Partners involved: Beit al Sahafa – Press House for indipendent Media.
Animation & ENTERTAINMENT: formal and no formal Educational Institutions will be involved in entertainment and recreational activities (juggling, acrobatics, dabka, circus, break dance …..), targeting the children; resilience and fun for the overcoming of all forms of post-war trauma passed.
It would be useful from the point of view of educational-fun to think of alternative forms of interaction and communication, for example by means other than speech as a mime. During the two-days workshop, the children will prepare themselves to the presentation of some skits to do then in the final event. Partner involved: Different Free Arts (DFA); Palestinian Organization for Development POD (Deir Balah); Rawad Amal (circus and dabka); Scout Gaza.
” This is the Summary of the program to prepare the exchange project between italian and Gaza organized by “Italian Center for Cultural Exchange” – VIK. Please feel free to share. Thanks ”
Meri Calvelli
Italian version