[ForumGLBTQ]
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111
Due interessanti segnalazioni dalla nostra compagna
Giulia, che si
trova al
momento in Palestina:
un articolo su un'intervista a Rauda, di cui trovate
il link
http://www.xtra.ca/site/toronto2/news/body8.shtm
oppure più sotto nella mail il copia incolla
e inoltre il link ad un sito con simpatici video dalla
facile
fruizione:
uno di questi testimonia un'azione di protesta contro
la visita di
quella
rincoglionita di madonna in israele.
Sappiate che a compensazione dei 5000 agenti
mobilitati per la sua
'sicurezza' ovvero utilizzati per implementare il
coprifuoco in tutti i
territori da lei attraversati per andare a fare la
vamp tipo alla
chiesa
della natività, la cantante si è impegnata a
realizzare uno spot
gratis per
il ministero del turismo israeliano (!!)
(tra l'altro è divertente ipotizzare quale slogan
quale possa essere:
"the inheritage of Israel .. keeps you occupied"
?????)
baci
geri
http://video.nana.co.il/?SectionID=1001
per vedere il video cliccate su una delle icone sulla
vostra sx dello
schermo, la seconda dall`alto della colonna di
sinistra.
xxx testo dell'articolo xxx
A language no one else is speaking'
PRIDE & POLITICS / Activist launched first Palestinian
lesbian group
story by Glenn Kauth / Xtra! Sep 16 2004
Rauda Morcos is a true radical. She's a Palestinian
lesbian activist
who
next year plans to protest the Pride parade in
Jerusalem.
"I'm against the idea of having a celebration at the
same time that
there's
occupation," says Morcos, the 30-year-old coordinator
of the first
Palestinian lesbian group, Aswat. "We have people
being killed 20
minutes
down the road at the same time as this racist
separation wall is being
built," she says, referring to the West Bank towns
near Jerusalem that
are
frequently the site of clashes with the Israeli army
and where Israel
is
building a controversial wall to cut itself off from
the West Bank.
Morcos' discomfort with Israeli Pride festivities is
illustrative of
the
challenges she and other Aswat members face: they're
discriminated
against
as Palestinians living under Israeli rule, as women in
a male-dominated
society and as lesbians in an Arab community where
there's no official
word
for "gay."
"We're against any type of occupation," she says. "I
don't want to be
occupied as a Palestinian or as a woman or as a
lesbian."
Aswat was formed in 2003 by a group of women who
wanted to add a
Palestinian
lesbian voice to the already thriving Israeli gay
movement. The
decision to
restrict Aswat to women was not a deliberate political
act.
"We wanted to find a way to break the silence that so
many Palestinian
lesbians face," she says. "For this reason, it was
important to bring
women
together in a safe place where they could talk about
their own issues.
It
was natural."
Today, Aswat has grown to 14 women who regularly meet
as a group. They
don't
have an office of their own, so they borrow space from
organizations
throughout Israel and meet in different cities so
people from across
the
country can take part. The group has several members
from the West Bank
who
have to cross several checkpoints to reach the meeting
place and who
legally
aren't even allowed in Israel. Other women from inside
Israel face the
challenge of explaining to their families where
they're going when they
come
to a meeting. In many Palestinian communities, women
aren't allowed out
alone at night, let alone to travel to another city.
Morcos gave up her job as a teacher in order to become
the full-time
coordinator of Aswat. Just this year, the group got
funding from three
foundations, allowing it to start paying Morcos a
salary. Currently,
she is
on a tour of several North American cities to promote
her work and
raise
funds for Aswat. She'll be in Toronto on Thu, Sep 30
for a poetry
reading
and reception at the Toronto Women's Bookstore.
It's clear that Morcos is overwhelmed by the pace of
change she's faced
since becoming part of Aswat. "I know I'm leading this
boat," she says,
"and
I'm afraid because it's a huge responsibility. But I
also try to
remember
that I'm not doing this alone."
She regularly gets stared and pointed at while she
walks the streets of
her
small village in northern Israel, Kufer Yassis. She
has also received
several harassing phone calls at home. A big challenge
is working with
Aswat
's so-called allies. Many Israeli gay organizations,
for example, are
taken
aback by Aswat's strong anti-occupation stance while
many Palestinian
feminist organizations are afraid to embrace the dyke
movement.
"We're still speaking a language no one else is
speaking," says Morcos.
Morcos says it was tough at the beginning, with people
shutting doors
in her
face.
"But I'm now at a point where I've stopped caring,"
she says. "Some
doors
will shut, but then other ones will open. You just
have to remind
yourself
that it's all worth it because you're doing something
for women."
* Rauda Morcos reads her poetry starting at 8pm on
Thu, Sep 30 at the
Toronto Women's Bookstore (73 Harbord St). The free
reading will be
followed
by a cocktail reception fundraiser for Aswat/Voices.
The reception
starts at
9:30pm at93 Harbord St. Tickets are $30 to $50 sliding
scale, available
in
advance from the Toronto Women's Bookstore.
_____
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