Episode 22
Hi everyone and thank you for being part of the conversations taking place on this platform, Give Peace A Chance.
In this episode we discuss the growing vibrancy of the Women Wage Peace Movement within the context of the latest round of fire exchanged between Hamas and Israel. Other talking points include the latest warning from the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken that there could be more violence, if the "Sheikh Jarrah issues" are not resolved.
How do Israeli's and Arabs cope in the aftermath of the latest war, riots and other incidents of violence? There are many community engagements taking place which helps resident heal and strengthen ties with each other. A Pre-school community in Haifa hosted an event last Friday, on the beach exchanging dialogue.
On the 19th May 2021, hundreds of women joined hands in a Peace Chain event in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Episode 21
In this episode, we chat with Rabbi Ron Kronish, an inter-religious peacebuilder, writer, author, and blogger. Our discussion is based on his recent blog in the Times of Israel, "Who's to blame for the 11-day war?"
248 Palestinians were killed, around 100 women and children. Reports indicate that 250 buildings in Gaza were bombed including hospitals, banks, and key infrastructure posts, civilian homes too. 13 people were killed in Israel following the firing of around 4000 rockets, of which 1900 were intercepted by the Dome missile.
We asked Rabbi Kronish if this war could've been avoided?
Happy Freedom Day from Palestine
Happy Freedom Day South Africa, from HE the Ambassador of Palestine, Hannan Jirrar.
Give peace a chance so everyone can enjoy a life of peace dignity and freedom .
Thank you for sharing your message with us.
We wish you a blessed Ramadaan, and hope for peace and Freedom for Palestine.
An interesting topic, "The Politics of Othering & Discrimination."
Likeness also creates boundaries. We define ourselves also against those things that we are not. If we were not able to define ourselves according to what we are not it will be difficult to define ourselves in the first place!
Did you consider what it means to talk about the other, and what does it mean to identify with another narrative that coincides with your identity?
Xenophobic attacks and discrimination are also based on "otherness". Unspeakable violent acts can result from the politics of otherness and discrimination.
Here's a discussion that took place on Zoom amongst a few academics in South Africa who tackled this topic. I found it very interesting and I think it's important that we are consciously aware of how we deal with otherness in our society.
We need to start reflecting on the dangers of othering and also identify how it assists us in understanding ourselves better.
"How is it possible to turn on your own neighbours, on African brothers and sisters, so suddenly?"
I look forward to engaging further with Professor Hussein Solomon when we are back after Ramadaan.
Remembering Rwanda & the genocide of the Tutsis. This is a beautiful song performed at the 27th commemoration of the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda.
During this period Rwandans visit the villages, district, and national memorial sites where genocide victims are buried.
There they hold memorial ceremonies listening to survivor stories and testimonies from survivors.
Local and national leaders relate the history of the genocide, and sometimes perpetrators give testimonies.
This is the cultural practice of informal mourning that takes place.
The victims of the genocide are honored at nearly 30 genocide memorial sites across the nation, but because so many died in the 100 days between April 6th and July 20th, dozens of unmarked mass graves remain to be found and memorialized across the country.
In April 2018 alone, four mass graves were found containing more than 200 corpses.
The figure must be remembered & never forgotten.
Between April 7 & July 20th, 1994 one million people out of a population of 7.7 million Rwandans, most of them Tutsi were murdered by Hutu extremists, most of them were neighbours and civilians.
This translates to a killing rate of at least 5 times that of the Nazi death camps.
70% of all Tutsis in Rwanda were murdered.
30% of all Twas were murdered.
Throughout Rwanda rotting corpses clogged roads, rivers & pit latrines.
Packs of wild dogs had to be shot to prevent them from eating the corpses.
The nation's infrastructure lay in ruins. – houses, roads, power stations, offices, reservoirs, hospitals.
Politicians, judges, civil servants, doctors, nurses, and teachers all fled.
Thieves emptied banks, leaving the national treasury without a single Rwandan Franc.
Around 500 thousand women were tortured, mutilated, and raped.
Tens of thousands more suffered from machete cuts, bullet wounds, infection, and starvation.
About 400 thousand Tutsi children were orphaned or separated from their families.
85 thousand children were forced to become heads of families
How many more wars must be fought and lost – because there are no real winners in war unless you start embracing the notion of reconciliation.
Reprisal attacks fuel more enmity, pain, and suffering, no one wins because you have taken something away from the other.
There is no holier place in the universe than the heart and soul of a human being to love and appreciate, at the very least respect the rights and dignity of the other.
Today the 7th April 2021 was the 27th commemoration of the genocide.
Here are the highlights of the event in Kigali Rwanda which includes the full speech of Rwandan President Paul Kagame. His speech moves into English therefore go ahead and listen.
"Rwandans are resilient and full of purpose and hope. The immensity of what has been achieved is almost miraculous."
Episode 19
In this episode, we continue with our discussion on the importance of promoting both Holocaust & Nakba education.
Hyam Tannous shares with us her emotional experience at the Auschwitz death camp in Poland and how it changed her as a person. She also explains why in Israel talking about the Nakba and teaching the lessons learned and pain experienced during the 1948 catastrophe is avoided.
"It is sad that our children don't learn about the Nakba, and I think that it comes from a very emotional history, and both sides feel for the land. I think the logic is, around how can they teach the children that the state of Israel was built on the catastrophe of another nation? They want to give the impression that Israel belongs to the Jewish people. They want to introduce that there were no Arabs living there." Hyam Tannous, Peace Activist, Women Wage Peace.
A really beautiful Easter Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Elias in Haifa, Israel.
This is the video of Holy Friday.
Join me in discussion tomorrow with Hyam Tannous, Palestinian Peace Activist, Women Wage Peace!
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” — Viktor E. Frankl —
Episode 18
Just in time for Human Rights Day in South Africa which is 21st March 2021.
This is an extra special season of Give Peace A Chance as in this season we are spreading messages of the importance of holocaust and genocide education.
We have more on the way!
It is important to learn from the past.
Einstein said insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting different results.
Hate leads to prejudice and disastrous consequences.
The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre is truly doing amazing work and engaging in dialogue necessary to present day challenges.
Here is a virtual tour of the Museum at the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre. Learn more about their "Butterfly project" and how you can make a difference. Visit their website www.jhbholocaust.co.za
Episode 17
We continue with our discussion on the importance of Holocaust & Genocide education.
In Part Two of Episode 2, we discuss why it's so complex and highly politicized to teach Holocaust education in Palestine. Professor Mohammed Dajani Daoudi shares his own personal journey when visiting the death camps in Poland as well as the severe repercussions he faced for taking a group of 25 Palestinian students to Auschwitz.
"Before visiting Auschwitz for the first time, I did not pay attention to the holocaust. It was part of Jewish history, that we never opened that page. Visiting Auschwitz was my first encounter with the holocaust. I was so shocked. The environment there was so cold. It made us think how these people were living." Prof. Mohammed Dajani Daoudi, Founder & Executive Director, Wasatia.
Tali Nates the Founder & Director of the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre explains what antisemitism is and adds some valuable insights about peace and war.
"If we can teach more about peace and if we can look more at the pain of the other, if we can put ourselves inside others shoes, and walk a little bit in those shoes, I think that will be so much more beneficial than learning about war and war and war. " Tali Nates, Founder & Director, the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre.
There are some powerful and valuable insights shared in this episode so be sure to tune in.
Episode 16
In this episode, we explore and question the importance of teaching Holocaust & Genocide education. Two guests with different backgrounds in unique geographical locations, Johannesburg & East Jerusalem who are dedicated to teaching holocaust and genocide education joins us to provide two distinct frames of references.
"I came from a family of holocaust survivors. My parents were from Poland. My mother was a refugee, she managed to escape but my father suffered in four different concentration camps but his life and the life of his brother were saved by a German, a member of the Nazi party, Oscar Schindler, who today is very famous because of the film Schindlers list. The way I grew up with a very liberal father who use to say, "people have choices, you cannot put people in boxes, because Oscar Schindler was a German, a member of the Nazi party but he saved my life, so I am alive because of this German." Tali Nates, Founder & Director of the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre.
"Holocaust denial is against the truth and I believe that we should face the truth and there was a tragic event that took place and we should not deny it so as a sign of respect for the truth we should learn about it. Also, it is showing respect for the victims of the holocaust and as a result, this is a sign of humanity. Also, we must learn from genocide to avoid more genocides but sadly it still makes news. Also we don't know how many genocides were avoided because of genocide education." Prof. Mohammed Dajani Daoudi, Founder & Executive Director of Wasatia in East Jerusalem.
We also discuss the nature of why holocaust denialism is prevalent in Palestine.
Season 2 Episode One Professor Mohammed Dajani Daoudi speaks candidly about challenges facing the peace camps in Israel & Palestine.
Welcome to Episode 1 of Season 2 of our Campaign, Give Peace A Chance!
It's wonderful to kickstart our campaign once again, with Professor Mohammed Dajani Daoudi, Palestinian Scholar, Peace Activist, and Founder and Executive Director of Wasatia in East Jerusalem, Palestine.
If you missed Season 1, be sure to catch up and watch our earlier discussions with Professor Dajani on Episodes 1, 2, 3 & 4.
In this episode, we discuss the Abraham Accords, the Palestinian Elections as well as some of the challenges the peace camps are facing in both Israel and Palestine.
"In the Wasatia vision we are talking about a future where everybody lives together, it means temperance, moderation, simplicity, and creativity and tolerance, and being in the middle, centrist, and as a result, if you look at our world today, you will tend to find that those who are the extremist they are a minority and yet they make a big noise. The majority are a silent majority but there comes a time, my theory is that there comes a time when things blow up, so basically we want to avoid that, we would like to build an environment where we will bring the best out of people, rather than the worst out of people, and as a result, we don’t want to see explosions, volcanoes. I have a theory about this, it is tap water and a glass. If you have a glass and a tap, and it drops one drop at a time, you don’t see it being filled up, and then one moment it overpours, this is what we don’t want to happen here, we don’t want people, whether Israeli’s and whether Palestinians, to actually be filled with hate and anger, and that it will explode because we don’t want violence and anger and massacres, and war and conflict.
This is something that we are working to avoid, and that is why we would like to reform the society from within and try to promote within that society a moderate culture, and we hope that through dialogue, between both, the Muslim Community, the Christian Community, and the Jewish Commun
What does peace mean to you?
This is what we asked Palestinian Peace Activist Rafah Mismar.
It is commonly accepted that Peace means the absence of war and violence.
It is viewed as peace of mind or serenity, especially in the East. It is defined as a state of law or civil government, a state of justice or goodness, a balance or equilibrium of Powers.
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