Western Sahara & Palestine:
an evening of artistic resistance against occupation
This event in March 2020 served as a gathering to discuss resistance against the occupation of Western Sahara and Palestine through film, poetry, story sharing, dance, and conversation. Co-curated with Twin Cities based Palestinian-American artist and cultural activist Leila Awadallah, also featuring Sahrawi activist Fatimatu Bachiri, and artist/activists Alexis Salem, and Mai'a Williams.
Settler colonization of Indigenous land is something we know intimately. living on the stolen land of Turtle Island (the United States of America). This event drew parallels and interwove threads of solidarity between Western Sahara and Palestine, and provided education on the occupation of Western Sahara, which is less known about.
This event was in part a fundraiser for Bike4WesternSahara, a two-year cycling project from Japan to Western Sahara that will raise awareness on the ground through people to people connections.
Support Bike4WesternSahara at: https://gogetfunding.com/bike4westernsahara/
Photo above: Najla Mohamed - Photo by Leila Awadallah
PROGRAM
Film: 3 Stolen Cameras, a Sahrawi documentary film produced by RåFILM and Equipe Media.
Dance: Leila Awadallah
Poetry: Mai'a Williams
Story: Fatimatu Bachiri and Leila Awadallah
Discussion: Fatimatu Bachiri, Leila Awadallah, Alexis Salem
Settler colonization of Indigenous land is something we know intimately. living on the stolen land of Turtle Island (the United States of America). This event drew parallels and interwove threads of solidarity between Western Sahara and Palestine, and provided education on the occupation of Western Sahara, which is less known about.
This event was in part a fundraiser for Bike4WesternSahara, a two-year cycling project from Japan to Western Sahara that will raise awareness on the ground through people to people connections.
Support Bike4WesternSahara at: https://gogetfunding.com/bike4westernsahara/
Photo above: Najla Mohamed - Photo by Leila Awadallah
PROGRAM
Film: 3 Stolen Cameras, a Sahrawi documentary film produced by RåFILM and Equipe Media.
Dance: Leila Awadallah
Poetry: Mai'a Williams
Story: Fatimatu Bachiri and Leila Awadallah
Discussion: Fatimatu Bachiri, Leila Awadallah, Alexis Salem
BIOS
Leila Awadallah | leilawa is a Palestinian-American artist and cultural activist. Her work as a dancer, choreographer, and film maker explore resistance to settler colonial violences, examining the architectures of occupation, creative/critical response to media and US foreign policy, and harnessing ancestral energy and memory through nurturing and knowing roots. She is based in the Twin Cities while continuing her work in various projects in Lebanon and Palestine. Leila is a founding member of Solidarity Rising: Bike4WesternSahara.
www.leilaawadallah.com
Fatimatu Bachir Jatri was born and raised in the Sahrawi Refugee Camps in Southwest Algeria. She is a Red Cross Nordic United World College alumni, and she graduated from Luther College in 2017 with a degree in Computer Science and Mathematics. She now works for the Winneshiek County as an IT Specialist.
Mary Jo Klinker (event advisor) is an associate professor of Women's Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Winona State University and is the faculty advisor of Winona State Students for Palestinian Liberation. Currently, she is conducting interviews for an oral history project on the movement for BDS and Palestinian solidarity in the National Women's Studies Association.
Alexis Salem (They/Them) is a Black Palestinian student that is currently attending Winona State University. They will be graduating in May 2020 with a bachelors in Psychology, leaving behind the Students For Justice in Palestine they founded. @snacctheknife
Mai'a Williams is a writer and artist. It was her living and working with Egyptian, Palestinian, Congolese, and Central American indigenous mothers in resistance communities, that inspired her life-giving work and art-making practices. She is focused on how we survive in the face of the ongoing destruction of the only world we have ever known. She is the co-editor of the anthology, Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines and the author of the memoir, This is How We Survive: Revolutionary Mothering, War, and Exile in the 21st Century.
www.maiawilliams.net
Excerpts of Orange Peel of the Century performed and choreographed by Leila Awadallah
QUOTES
"As an emerging Arab American artist, the Cedar Tree Project is a platform that cultivates a special sensation of home, drawing together Arab creators with activists, intellectuals, and audiences in the midwest. Each time I am involved in a Cedar Tree Project event I witness communities overlapping -- nurtured by a coming together of people who may otherwise not find many spaces to connect. And I leave with a stronger sense of my role as an individual artist and activist who is deeply interconnected within a broader, inspiring community."
- Leila Awadallah, Palestinian-American artist and cultural activist
"It was an honor and a joy to participate...It is not the type of event that happens often in Winona and is badly needed, especially in this day and age in which we are learning that we are all so interconnected globally."
- Mai'a Williams, Winona based writer and activist
"Cedar Tree Project is a very safe, creative, and artistic space for community members to learn about other cultures, grow together, and discover what they care about as a community. After presenting about Western Sahara at this wonderful place, I received a lot of love, support, and solidarity. "
- Fatimatu Bachiri, IT Specialist for Winneshiek County, born and raised in the Sahrawi Refugee Camps
"Thanks to MaryJo and Sharon for facilitating such a spectacular evening for all of us. The academic work and studying obligations do go on, but it's not every day that our students get to experience an event that was not only beautiful and educational but also very good for the soul. Between the connections formed among attendees during the small group gathering, to hearing the poetry, experiencing Leila's dance performance, watching the insightful documentary to reflecting on the poignant insights of the panelists, it was a multi-sensory and enriching evening in a warm and inviting space."
- Dr. Mahruq F. Khan, Associate Professor, Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
"Western Sahara and Palestine: An Evening of Artistic Resistance" offered a rural community a way to engage transnational analysis of occupation via art. I heard from both UW-La Crosse and Winona State University students that this was 'the most exciting conversation they've been a part of' and that is offered a learning environment conducive to organizing and storytelling. The aims of the Cedar Tree Project to explore identity through the lens of Arab and Arab American artists was especially powerful as it gave students of color in a rural location access to voices and representations like their own. The intimate space of Public Launch offered the possibility to explore colonialism, Islamophobia, and student activism across generations. A great way to mobilize locally the central organizing strategy of house parties and explore social justice collectively."
- Dr. Mary Jo Klinker, Associate Professor, Department of Women's Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Winona State University
"This Cedar Tree Project event centered around a topic I didn't know much of anything about before attending. This event opened my eyes in many ways, and it did it through artistic mediums."
- Sydney Swanson, Winona dancer and photographer