Proposal:  A DECADE OF COOPERATION

(plus)

Cartooning and film as vehicles

19 July 2008

"The biggest transformation in human history is currently unfolding," says a child, to begin a new one-minute film:

                METAPHORmosis
                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzU3H7E0DO8


OUR FUTURE. OUR VISION

Where there is no vision, the people perish.

~ Proverbs 29:18,

Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.

~ Japanese proverb

A vision is not just a picture of what could be;

it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more.

~ Rosabeth Moss Kanter

     To survive and excel, what "more" must we become?
     By when?
     Consider this simple, single page fashioned of insights from others and experience over time.

Call for

A DECADE OF COOPERATION  (2010-2020)

http://traubman.igc.org/decadeofcooperation.pdf

     This is to begin a conversation - to explore for a worthy vision in an economy of words which might help jettison humankind to new actions and places together.



THE ARTS
Creative vehicles to picture a vision of compassion and cooperation

     CARTOONING FOR PEACE was initiated this June, 2008, in Israel and the Palestinian Authority - Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem.
     Initiators were the famous French cartoonist Jean Plantu, of Le Monde, together with the United Nations
     The French Consulate in Jerusalem and the Peres Center for Peace helped the meetings happen.
     SEE its poster at the site of one participant, Avi Katz:

                http://avikatz.net/cartooning.html

     Cartooning is yet another means of free expression about yesterday and today, and a vision for tomorrow.
     Highlights included the gatherings in Bethlehem and Ramallah, when Israeli artwork was displayed for the first time ever within the Palestinian Authority.
     Another breakthrough was the delegation of 20 Israelis, including cartoonists, who attended the Bethlehem meeting, where the cartoonists were able to freely discuss their art and their humanity with the Palestinian audience.

     This brings to mind the brilliant 8-minute animated film by Israeli and Palestinian youth, PACE OF PEACE - http://paceofpeace.com/ - with the help of Italian citizens.
     It is described at http://traubman.igc.org/messages/553.htm .
    
        
    
OTHER VOICES created another new June, 2008, initiative using film to help Arabs and Jews understand one another in the Holy Land, on the road to social change.
     Assisted by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, films of Jewish and Palestinian narratives were screened in Jerusalem, Sderot, Lod and the Arab town of Kfar-Kara.
     "The idea behind the festival was to show one side how the other side lives," organizer Sharon Ben Aryeh explains.
     "For example, the Sderot screenings included a documentary about how Gazans are suffering in the current situation here."
     Ben Aryeh conceived the idea for OTHER VOICES while studying for a master's degree in communications in Norway between 2002 and 2003.
     "Sometimes you have to move away to get a different perspective," he says.
     Logic might dictate that Sderot residents, who are paying a heavy toll for their proximity to their neighbors on the other side of the border, might be somewhat less than empathetic and open to the possibility that Gazans are also having a hard time. But this is not the case.
     "There were some people who watched that documentary who had tears in their eyes. I was amazed at how they reacted.
     "We hoped the festival would help each side to accommodate the other, and that seems to have happened," Aryeh explains.

     READ the full story at:

Published by Israel21c - 15 July 2008

http://web.israel21c.net/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles%5El2196&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Democracy&

Listening to voices from the other side

By Barry Davis

    PEACE IT TOGETHER - http://peaceittogether.ca - also employs film making to bring together young adults from Israel and Palestine.
     Can camcorders create peace?
     Absolutely, says Palestinian Adri Hamael ( AHamael@peaceittogether.ca ), co-executive director with Reena Lazar ( RLazar@peaceittogether.ca ) of PEACE IT TOGETHER.
     It's a program empowering young people of different nationalities to promote peace through dialogue and filmmaking.
     Movies bring awareness to issues. The films created by our participants can move and inspire us to make changes, says Hamael.
     Hamael and his team are preparing to host this years participants 30 Israeli, Palestinian and Canadian teenagers, aged 16 to 18 on B.C.s Bowen Island.
     The 15 boys and 15 girls chosen represent a variety of cultures and backgrounds.
     They are Muslims, Christians, Jews or other faiths; rich, poor, refugees and newcomers, says Hamael.
     Some are products of war, some know little about the conflict.
     Some are living with fighting in their backgrounds.
     The wide range of backgrounds from which the teens come will be a key theme in the new film project Hamael and his team are undertaking this year Peace it Together 360, a behind-the-scenes educational documentary about the program, its participants and its process.

     READ the full story and SEE the on the Web:

Published by Canadian Immigrant.- 23 June 2008

http://canadianimmigrant.ca/education/postsecondary/article/1069

Talking peace

A unique program gives international youth a chance to act out about peace

by Noa Glouberman