AGITPROP NEWS: 8.9.3/ Palestine
Alewitz, Mike (Dept. of Art)
LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT AGITPROP NEWS: 8.9.3
In this issue:
1. Report from Palestine 2. Art Under Occupation 3. Images
_________________________________
1. Report from Palestine
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In the next couple of days, six labor delegates, under the auspices
of the Labor Art and Mural Project, leave the United States for
Palestine/Israel as part of a multi-faceted solidarity exchange
with Palestinian unionists and Israeli working-class and anti-occupation
groups. They will be joining the muralist Mike Alewitz and the film
crew of documentarian Sean Geary, who have been in the region for
nearly two weeks.
On the first evening of their arrival, the delegates are traveling
to Kfar Qara, an Arab town in the Galilee, to address a rally of
local construction workers fighting job discrimination and a divisive
guest worker program facilitated by Israeli employers. The will
also be on hand to celebrate the dedication of a labor solidarity
mural painted by Mike Alewitz and volunteers on one of the walls
of the municipal stadium. Our delegate will share the historical
experiences of U.S. labor organizations faced with the challenge
of organizing immigrant workers and alert them to the potential of
the upcoming Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride to better the conditions
of Arab immigrants in the U.S.
The mural in Kfar Kara is being created by LaMP, in conjunction
with the Workers Advice Center, a binational group committed to
organizing Arab construction workers in Israel/Palestine. The
process began with Alewitz meeting with the local group of laborers,
who came to the meeting directly from work. Alewitz delivered
greetings from the unions and labor councils, including Teamsters
Local 705, that contributed to the costs of the mural project. The
workers were surprised to meet a U.S. unionist who denounced the
U.S. occupation of Iraq and interested to learn that a growing
number of U.S. labor activists also opposed the occupation of the
West Bank and Gaza. In response, one elderly participant commented,
"They steal the land and they steal our labor. It is all the same."
Alewitz agreed and asserted that it was direct worker to worker
exchanges like this one that would lay the basis for effective
solidarity activity among all the victims of the U.S. and Israeli
employers. "Even though we are but a few activists here today," he
said," we are part of an organic process of learning from each
others' struggles." The exchange was captured by Video '48, an
Israeli artists' collective.
On Aug. 4, Alewitz addressed a Tel Aviv meeting of around 50, mostly
artists, sponsored by the newspaper Challenge. Many of the artists
were participants in a February artists' protest of the invasion
of Iraq called Theatre-Veto. Alewitz focussed his talk on the
growing labor opposition to U.S. war moves and the real depth of
antiwar sentiment in the United States. The group responded
enthusiastically to his call for artists to use their creativity
and vision to strengthen the working-class opposition to war and
to the brutality of corporate globalization. Five of the artists
in attendance have come north to Kfar Qara to help with the mural
there.
The Kfar Qara mural is the second of three murals being executed
by Alewitz in the region. Earlier this week, he completed, with
local volunteers, a mural for the Beit Jibrin Cultural Center-Handala
in a refugee camp in Bethlehem. As the mural was done in conjunction
with a cultural center, Alewitz used the U.S. labor symbolism of
"Bread and Roses" as the central image. In his dedication speech,
the muralist explained the history of the image/slogan and said he
it was a reminder of the potential power of women in the labor
movement. The mural also contains an image of Handala, the feisty
refugee camp kid who commented acidly on the behavior of the Israeli
government and Palestinian misleaders in the drawings of one of
Palestine's most important political cartoonists. In the mural,
Handala is looking through a hole in the apartheid wall, a barrier
which separates a scene of olive trees and a tent from one of apple
trees and a trailer, drawing parallels between the situation of
Palestinian refugees and immigrant workers in the U.S. Railroad
tracks, a reminder of the few moments in the mandate period when
Arab and Jewish workers attempted to cooperate to organize the
British-built railroads in Palestine, run to the horizon. Across
the top is a banner that reads, "No Walls between Workers!"
Officers of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions in
Bethlehem stopped by to welcome the muralist. Internationals from
Japan, Spain, Italy, England, and the U.S. made their way to the
site as well. A local Arab daily and local TV covered the dedication
rally of around 100 and Alewitz's dedication speech, in which he
reminded the audience that the U.S. government does not represent
the will of the American people. "The people of Palestine are not
alone," he said. "Walls will never separate us."
We will be sending out Reportback #3, which will focus on the initial
meetings of our delegation with Palestinian trade unionists in
Ramallah and our construction and mural painting adventures at the
Rachel Corrie peace center work encampment, in a few days. If you
pledged some money for this project or just motivated to do so,
don't imagine that because we are now in the region that we have
covered all the costs. We still need your support. Also, if any
of you want to email greetings to be delivered at the various union
meetings we will attend, send them to <gauv...@aol.com.>
In Solidarity, Chris Gauvreau LaMP Director
_____________________________
2. Art Under Occupation
Art Under Occupation
By BRITA BRUNDAGE
July 25 2003
The Mideast and the United States have at least one thing in
common--the voice of the working class is most often left out of
the news. The media reports on official administrative statements,
but one is unlikely to read an eyewitness account from those living
inside the Gaza Strip or the thoughts of activists in Israel who
oppose the occupation.
For Labor Art & Mural Project (LAMP) directors and Central Connecticut
State University professors Mike Alewitz and Christine Gavreau,
those working class voices are the only ones worth illuminating.
From July 25 to Aug. 1, LAMP will travel to the Mideast on a
mural-painting mission that gives artistic expression to the struggles
of those living in, and fighting against, Israeli occupation.
Based on Alewitz' past work throughout the world in oppressed areas
in Nicaragua, Iraq, and U.S.
cities, the content will contain images of working class struggles
incorporated into the cultural images of the people. LAMP will paint
murals at the Beit Jibrin Cultural Center in occupied Bethlehem,
at the Worker's Advice Center (WAC) in Nazareth, which is organizing
workers in the Israeli construction industry and at the to-be-constructed
Rachel Corrie Peace Center on the site of a demolished Palestinian
home in East Jerusalem.
Gavreau, who recently returned from a preliminary visit to the
Mideast, noted that the labor struggles there mirror those in the
United States. In Palestine, workers fall under the Palestinian
General Federation of Trade Unions which relies on funds from the
Histadrut, equivalent to the AFL-CIO in Israel. In Israel, workers
under Histadrut are finding themselves pushed out by an influx of
foreign workers, reducing their wages as President Ariel Sharon's
focus remains on defense spending. Though the Histadrut has eschewed
taking a stance on resolving the Mideast conflict, with their wages
at risk, they may have to, much as American labor groups joined
activists to protest U.S.-led strikes against Afghanistan and Iraq.
In a press release, Alewitz writes that LAMP will "show the U.S.
and Israeli governments that they can never build walls high enough
to separate us from the children of Palestine who continue to inspire
us with their heroic struggle." Corrie, the 23-year-old peace
activist repeatedly run over and killed by an Israeli bulldozer on
March 16 as she tried to prevent the illegal demolition of a
Palestinian home (see www.rachelcorrie.org) has provided much
inspiration to the LAMP project and to activists from both Israel
and Palestinian attempting to find a resolution to the violence.
The new peace center in her honor will be built by international
volunteers, Palestinian construction workers and Israeli peace
activists. The mural there will act as an artistic truce between
the warring factions. "Art is essential," Alewitz writes. "It teaches
us to be critical thinkers. Art is how we reach into the hearts and
minds of people--it cannot be adjunct, but must reach into the very
fabric of our organizations."
Contact or donate to the Labor Art & Mural Project at Department
of Art, Central Connecticut State University, 1615 Stanley Street,
New Britain, CT, 06050. (860) 832-2359. Email Chris Gauvreau at
gauv...@aol.com or Mike Alewitz at alew...@ccsu.edu.
Copyright ) 2003, Fairfield County Weekly
_______________________________
LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT
Help LaMP use art as a weapon in support of international working-class
struggles for social and economic justice. Become a the LaBOR aRT
& MuRAL PRoJECT sponsor!
___ I/ My organization would like to become a Labor Art & Mural
Project sponsor.
___ I/ We can pledge $________ per month.
Name: __________________________________
Email: __________________________________
Address: ________________________________
Phone: _________________________________
Organization:_____________________________
Additional comments:
Reply to alew...@ccsu.edu
LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT c/o Department of Art Central Connecticut
State University 1615 Stanley Street New Britain, Connecticut 06050
Phone: 860.832.2359
To subscribe to AgitProp News:
subscribe...@listserv.ccsu.edu
--- You are currently subscribed to agitprop as:
ma...@pencil.math.missouri.edu To unsubscribe send a blank email to
leave-agit...@listserv.ccsu.edu