Sound

Land, Biodiversity & the Colony: continued

~ rashatayeh

To continue our knowledge shares in the lead up to Prof Mazin Qumsiyeh’s arrival in Naarm (Melbourne) next week, I thought I’d share another conversation I had with Prof Mazin, where we discussed his latest paper on the Impact of the Israeli military activities on the environment.

In preparation for next week’s event, it is important to ground ourselves in the reality of what has been and is currently happening – and will continue to happen, if we do not liberate Palestine.  

“Israel is one of the most militarized in the world…Israel is the 5th or 6th largest exporter of high-tech weapons. All of these things create damage to the environment. Military exercises for example…this is in terms of pre conflict. And then you have of course conflict where they drop bombs on civilian areas…buildings…on the open areas. In the case of Gaza for example, it is a very tiny strip of land of 360 square kilometers…Israel dropped within the first 51 days of conflict more bombs…52,000 tons of bombs, almost 3 times as much as they had dropped in 2014 in that attack on Gaza. So when you think about these tens of thousands of tons of explosives dropped on a very crowded area, I mean this impart explains a high civilian casualty rate. It is basically carpet bombing in many ways. And even Israel admits that half the bombs they used were not ‘smart bombs.’ They were dumb bombs like a 200-ton bomb dropped on a civilian area …so the use of weapons and the use of military damages the environment. This is not even counting the greenhouse gas emissions….Military producers around the world are the largest producers of greenhouse gases…Israel has used more than three times as much as the U.S. had used in Vietnam” – Professor Mazin.

You can imagine the impact of this, let alone white phosphorous, on land and marine ecology, let alone human beings. Plants and us are not too much unlike from one another.

I highly suggest you listen to the whole 21-minute interview below.

We look forward to next week being a productive and inspiring conversation to empower us to seek the non-negotiable change that must happen. An immediate ceasefire. A liberated Palestine. Reparations. Healing. And a Return of all displaced Palestinians to their homes and homelands.

You can also check out my earlier post introducing Prof Mazin & his work at this link.

Thanks to everyone who booked a ticket to attend the event I’m hosting through Beit e’Shai at Aunty Alma Thorpe’s Gathering Place on Land, Biodiversity & the Colony next Thursday 9th May. If you missed out on tickets to this sold out event, don’t worry, there will be a variety of knowledge shares published following the event. And there are other opportunities to learn from Prof Mazin while he’s in Naarm – so try to get to one of the events below:

I am very honoured to be speaking alongside Prof Mazin at RMIT University on the 8th May, there are still tickets available for this event on the Occupation, Environment & Food Sovereignty in Palestine at this link.

Hope to see you at some of these events.

Take care, and as Prof Mazin would say: Stay human & keep Palestine alive.

Land, Biodiversity & the Colony: an introduction

~ rashatayeh ~ 1 Comment

I was recently asked to fill-in on 3CR community radio station for my friend Marroushti of Salaam Radio Show (thank you Mirna for the opportunity) and thought it would be a great way to introduce some of the work I’ve been doing on Land, Biodiversity & the Colony and an important event I’m hosting on this topic, with a brilliant line-up of speakers next month.

This episode of Salaam Radio Show I prepared is dedicated to the Land, and the importance of ecological & land-based practices. During the show, I interview Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh from Bethlehem who is visiting us in Naarm next month to discuss the impacts of militarism on nature. I also commemorate Palestine’s Land Day, highlight the joint struggle of Indigenous communities in Palestine & Aboriginal Nations in so-called Australia, and plug some important events coming up at Beit e’Shai Teahouse on Land, Biodiversity & the Colony, and more.

You can listen to the recording of this episode below (produced in the studios of independent community radio station 3CR in Naarm/Melbourne):

Sonic musings curated for this show’s playlist are reflective, ambient, electronic, and sometimes classical; from some of my favourite artists including: Nicolas Jaar, Checkpoint 303, Kamilya Jubran, Khyam Allami, Oum, & Ruba Shamshoum, with releases from Al Gharib record label. 

Below are links to events, readings & campaigns referenced in this episode. They are also published on the linktree in the bio of Beit e’Shai @beiteshai Instagram page.

Resource links: 

I hope you find these knowledge shares I selected timely and informative.

Vignettes: Land & Water

~ rashatayeh

At this link hosted by K(not) a major artistic project from Arts Gen, that discusses the impacts of ecological justice and climate colonisation on diasporic and first nations communities, I share a non-linear essay and an experimental soundscape of field recordings (best listened to on headphones). The work was commissioned and published in 2022.

The k(not) project reflects upon the way climate change will and has already created major public health impacts for our communities and provides a platform to undertake slowed-down and more expansive thinking in order to seek alternative strategies to our current crisis that incorporates food and land sovereignty alongside greater reflection upon the ongoing racialised violence that is inherent within climate colonisation itself.

To access the work visit this link. For a description, see below:

Rasha Tayeh, 2022

Land, 1000 words. In this non-linear essay, Rasha Tayeh shares an intimate reflection from her lived experience and draws on the parallels of settler-colonial projects, occupying Palestine and Aboriginal Nations in the continent now known as Australia.  Her words are presented in vignettes, as thoughts brewing, while making a cup of tea, or walking along the Merri Creek.

Water, 3:42 mins, experimental soundscape of field recordings of making a cup of tea merged with ambient sounds of the Merri Creek on Wurundjeri Country.

Rasha Tayeh acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which she currently lives, works and creates, Narrm; the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and neighbouring Boonwurrung Peoples of the Kulin Nation.