The Freedom Theatre

The Freedom Theatre Performing Cultural Resistance in Palestine Edited by Ola Johansson and Johanna Wallin

Offset edition first published in March 2018 Digital print edition, January 2020 LeftWord Books 2254/2A Shadi Khampur New Ranjit Nagar New Delhi 110008 INDIA leftword.com in association with The Freedom Theatre School Street Jenin Refugee Camp Occupied Palestine thefreedomtheatre.org The Freedom Theatre is grateful for the support of the Swedish Postcode Lottery Cultural Foundation in making this publication possible. LeftWord Books is the publishing division of Naya Rasta Publishers Pvt. Ltd. Individual essays © respective authors This selection © LeftWord Books, 2017 ISBN 978-93-80118-67-3

Contents

Acknowledgments 9 Introduction Ola Johansson and Johanna Wallin 15 1. The Beginning, Arna, and Juliano Mer Khamis

The Beginning Johanna Wallin and Jonatan Stanczak 29 Arna Compiled by Johanna Wallin 46 Right Livelihood Award Acceptance Speech Arna Mer Khamis 49 Juliano Mer Khamis Compiled by Johanna Wallin 53 Jul and I Nabil Al-Raee 62 Art is Freedom Without Force: Interview with Juliano Mer Khamis Maryam Monalisa Gharavi 65 2. Cultural Resistance

The Freedom Theatre’s Cultural Resistance Johanna Wallin and Jonatan Stanczak 83 TFT and BDS Johanna Wallin and Jonatan Stanczak 100 Shared Responsibility: A Reflection on the Role of Artists in Society Nabil Al-Raee 113 5

Contents

I Gained a Voice: Rania and Suzan Wasfi Tell Their Stories Compiled by Johanna Wallin 118 A Conversation about Cultural Resistance: The Freedom Theatre School Alumni Compiled by Johanna Wallin, Jonatan Stanczak and Ola Johansson 123 Conflicting Agendas: Post-Oslo Theatre Caught Between National Visions and Western Donors Hala Khamis Nassar 131 Theatre and Civil Society in NGO-ized Palestine Jen Curatola 141 Zakaria Zubeidi Compiled by Johanna Wallin 164 The Playstation Ahmad Al Rokh 170 Mother of the House Compiled by Haneen Haj Ibrahim and Johanna Wallin 172 The Democratic Counter-Occupation of The Freedom Theatre in the Palestinian Territories Ola Johansson 176 3. Performing Arts

Palestinian Theatre: Trials And Tribulations Hala Khamis Nassar 199 Reflecting on Palestinian Theatre: A Resilient Theatre of Resistance Samer Al-Saber in Conversation with Yana Taylor 213 6

Contents

Education at The Freedom Theatre Micaela Miranda 230 A Theatre in our Neighbourhood: The Freedom Theatre’s Work with Children and Youth Johanna Wallin 250 Narrative Power: Playback Theatre as Cultural Resistance in Occupied Palestine Ben Rivers 266 Telling Stories, Preserving Identity: The Multimedia Work at The Freedom Theatre Haneen Haj Ibrahim 296 Performing Four Levels of Occupation Compiled by Johanna Wallin and Ola Johansson 306 4. International Perspectives

Working with and Reflecting on Juliano Jacob Gough 327 Solidarity is Not a One-Way Street Sudhanva Deshpande 339 The Freedom Theatre: Artistic Resistance and Human Rights in the International Sphere Gary M. English 352 Brecht and Politics at The Freedom Theatre Robert Lyons 363 A Different Future Zoe Lafferty 368 The Role of Culture in an Occupied Land Britt Louise Tillbom and Jan Tiselius with the Swedish Friends of The Freedom Theatre 374 7

Contents

Théâtre De La Liberté De Jénine ATLJ, the Friends of The Freedom Theatre in France 382 Supporting The Freedom Theatre in The United States Dorothy M. Zellner with the New York Friends of The Freedom Theatre 384 5. The Future

The Future of The Freedom Theatre Compiled by Johanna Wallin 393 We Will Return

411

Contributors 413

8

Acknowledgments

Ola Johansson:

Editing this book has been an intense encounter with a reality that I thought I knew much more about before I went to Jenin. A year or so before my first visit I heard the co-founder and the then Managing Director Jonatan Stanczak present the work of The Freedom Theatre at an international symposium and became struck by an unusually reflective talk. Most activist organizations, art projects and events are geared by a cause that engenders oneway communicative expressions: speeches, exclamations, agendadriven discourse, confrontational gestures, demos. Jonatan could have easily capitalized on the international sympathy and solidarity with The Freedom Theatre at the event and pulled out a few anecdotes of the Palestinian struggle against the Israeli occupation; instead, he crisscrossed between humble, challenging, principled and self-critical lines of reasoning and, by being rhetorically open-ended, created a contact zone overlapping the panel and the audience for a continued discussion about geopolitical conditions and activist positions in the performing arts. Instead of turning everyone’s attention to his own case, he challenged everyone to rethink their own positions on political theatre and cultural resistance by presenting a multi-layered scenario of The Freedom Theatre with considerations of external, domestic, monetary and subjective perspectives of occupation. It certainly provoked me to review my past work on African community-based theatre and my current interest in activist performance. These were the experiential and scholarly cornerstones, along with some fresh reading and research, with which I tried to understand The Freedom Theatre when I came to Jenin in 2016. But 9

Acknowledgements

every time I assumed a position and repositioned my views of the situation, Jonatan and Johanna (head of Communications at The Freedom Theatre) suggested alternative aspects of their conditions – whilst their kids wanted me to play with them. But I couldn’t even finish my meal since I was so immersed in the discussions across the dinner table in their apartment near the theatre. When I heard about the plans for the book project I volunteered as an editor – not in my capacity as expert or even a friend of the theatre, but as someone who had worked as an editor, academic, journalist and occasional playwright for twenty-five years and who had learnt how to recognize an interesting theatre when I saw one. The Freedom Theatre is as far from a transient pilot project you can get; it doesn’t spend its money on 4WD cars or the most recent computer models; it doesn’t send glossy reports to an overseas home office or ingratiating accounts to stakeholders; it doesn’t pretend to revolutionize the refugee camp or the rest of the Palestinian territories. It is an organization driven by hard work, critical political challenges, a lot of laughter, the usual amount of internal workplace conflicts, new initiatives in the performing arts, continuous experiences of raids and incarcerations, intersectional reforms and a transparent and horizontal organization. And it has a kindergarten. But The Freedom Theatre also enacts a consistent policy against Israel as an invasive settler colony according to international law and human rights. The leaders and staff know that the refugee camp is just for rent and they will never forget their addresses elsewhere. I wish to express my deepest gratitude to all staff at The Freedom Theatre for putting up with yet another international guest. You shared stories that added a third dimension to my view of the theatre, experiences that added a human face to the ‘Middle East conflict,’ theatre skills that added a new understanding of creative and political possibilities in the art form, and smiles and jokes that added me into your company for a minute. You gave me rides to shows when I needed to understand your communal resonance, to 10

Acknowledgements

the hospital when I thought I would die (OK, it was just a bad flu), and to the bus station when I needed to go home. And you gave me soup, bread and vegetables to die for. I’m especially grateful for the time the leadership team shared with me in discussions and interviews. Without Jonatan Stanczak, I would not have been able to understand the history or true reality of Palestine or The Freedom Theatre. Thank you, Mustafa Sheta, Nabil Al-Raee and Micaela Miranda for your wisdom and artistic leadership. Furthermore, I wish to extend my gratitude to Sudhanva Deshpande at LeftWord Books for your responsive cooperation and your kind patience when we ran over deadlines. Finally, I wish to direct a special thanks to Johanna Wallin without whom I could not have done my job as co-editor. I don’t know where you got the time to simultaneously carry out your duties at the theatre, edit Rehearsing Freedom: The Story of a Theatre in Palestine, and take care of your family while working with me, but you managed to make our collaboration as efficient as pleasurable. Johanna Wallin:

This volume is the outcome of a process that ran over a year and a half, of producing two volumes in parallel: this collection of texts and alongside it a visual presentation of The Freedom Theatre’s first decade, Rehearsing Freedom: The Story of a Theatre in Palestine (LeftWord Books, 2017). The two publications sprung from the realization that we at The Freedom Theatre had never told our own story, in our own words; rather the story of The Freedom Theatre had always been told by others. Our team had, of course, contributed to numerous interviews and research papers about The Freedom Theatre but ultimately the privilege of interpretation had always laid with external authors. In addition, we felt a strong need to critically analyze our work and the context in which it takes place, as a means 11

Acknowledgements

of enabling an internal process of reflection as we were coming close to entering The Freedom Theatre’s second decade. The outcome is as much a documentation of the work of The Freedom Theatre in its first ten years as it is a testament to its growing significance as a source of inspiration for so many in Palestine and around the world. Perhaps more than anything, it is a documentation of and by the people – those who are still here and those who have left, or been taken away from us – who have contributed to making The Freedom Theatre what it is. When I was asked by my colleagues to take a lead in the creation of these two volumes I realized it would constitute a momentous challenge. There is simply no way to tell the full story of this multifaceted place that has been my home for many years but still intrigues me on a daily basis. I am and will always be a foreigner in Jenin, which added to my hesitation. Producing this anthology has been an emotional journey that required digging deep into the most painful memories and the darkest corners of both The Freedom Theatre and the society in which it is located. But foremost it has been a privilege to have numerous crucial discussions with colleagues at the theatre, write and rewrite texts, edit and re-edit the volume together with my co-editor Ola Johansson. It has reinforced my conviction in the significance of the work that is being done in this hub of creativity and complexity in the heart of Jenin refugee camp. I would like to thank Ola Johansson, from whom I have learned so much in this process, and whose generosity and good spirit made it a pleasure to co-create this volume. I also wish to extend my deepest gratitude to Dorothy Zellner, whose wisdom, encouragement and sharp eye added immensely to both my own contributions and those of others. The publisher, LeftWord Books and particularly Sudhanva Deshpande, merits a special mention of appreciation for the comradeship and professionalism that has marked the entire production process. Finally, I would like to thank my colleagues at the theatre 12

Acknowledgements

for entrusting me with this great honour and for their patience through many hours of interviews and conversations. I hope that the collection of voices presented in this anthology does justice to the commitment and the courage of The Freedom Theatre’s team. They are the true heroes of this story.

13

INTRODUCTION Ola Johansson and Johanna Wallin

In 1948, nearly 800,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes by a movement aiming to colonize the land of Palestine. This was the original Nakba, catastrophe, of the Palestinians. Those who had fled sought temporary refuge in safe areas, waiting for the war to end so that they could return. On the outskirts of the Palestinian town of Jenin, at the northern edge of what is today called the West Bank, a refugee camp was established in 1953 by the United Nations. Refugees from the Galilee and the Haifa region settled in the camp, which was initially made up of tents and simple one-room structures. It was to be known as the Jenin refugee camp, one of 58 recognized Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and the diaspora. The refugees had lost their homes, their lands and most of their belongings but not the belief that they would one day, soon, be able to go home. For the refugees in Jenin, home was not far – on a clear day visible from the hilltops overlooking the camp. Uprisings, wars, negotiations and false promises followed as the years and decades passed by, while the Israeli occupation expanded its control of lands and minds. Meanwhile, the population of the camp grew but the 0.42 square kilometre plot of land remained the same. Thus the camp grew vertically, a new floor added for every new generation that married and started a family. In 1987, during the outbreak of the first Palestinian Intifada (uprising) a woman from the nearby coastal town Haifa by the name of Arna Mer Khamis led a group of women from the refugee camp in setting up several alternative education centres, ‘children’s homes,’ in Jenin camp and town. Local legend tells of how Arna entered the refugee camp barefoot, carrying pens and papers in her hands, and gathered children around her. Curiosity won over suspicion and Arna came to be trusted, respected and loved in Jenin. 15