photo essay and text by Valerian Mazataud

Photo: Valerian Mazataud. Palestinian farmers harvest olives in the West Bank.

Palestine The olive harvest in the West Bank, used to be a joyful time. But now it is defined by burned trees, missing crops, and confrontations. Having become a significant source of strife for Palestinian farmers and Jewish settlers, Israeli media now refers to the harvest as the “Olive War.” Photographer Valerian Mazataud is currently visiting Palestine and documented the Palestinian olive harvest in the Israeli occupied West Bank.

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Interview with Palestinian artist Suleiman Mansour by Aaron Lakoff

Photo: Painting on the apartheid wall near Ramallah by Suleiman Mansour

Suleiman Mansour is one of Palestine’s most renowned painters. Active in the Palestinian artist community since the 1970s, he has contributed greatly to art education and promotion in the West Bank. He is a co-founder of the Wasiti Art Center in Jerusalem, and is also a member of the “New Vision” artist group, which focuses on the use of local material in artwork.

On the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba in 2008, Suleiman Mansour was interviewed at the Palestinian International Academy of Art in Ramallah about the struggles of Palestinian cultural producers over the decades, and what the significance of art is in the face of this historic milestone.

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photo essay by photographer Claudia Espinosa

Photo: Claudia Espinosa. DAM performs in Montreal with Narcicyst

Hundreds gathered in Montreal for the ninth Artists Against Apartheid concert featuring DAM, the celebrated Palestinian hip-hop group, who took the stage in Montreal for the first time at Café Campus.

Joining DAM at the concert was Montreal-based Iraqi hip-hop artist the Narcicyst, along with MCs from the celebrated local hip-hop group Nomadic Massive

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report Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting FAIR – October 2009

Photo: Palestinians in the West Bank protesting against Israeli occupation.

The Obama administration’s push to freeze Israeli construction of illegal colonies in the West Bank has brought the settlement question back to the fore of media coverage.

On July 27, Time published a rather long piece by Nina Burleigh on Israeli settlements under the headline “Two Views of the Land.” The first view was Israeli: The Katzes, very normal, gentle people readers can identify with (they’re even from New York!), “consider themselves law-abiding citizens” and do earnest and upstanding things like “publish a small community magazine and take part in civic projects. Sharon raises money for charity by putting on tap-dancing and theater shows.” There was a smiling family portrait, and a picture of settlers playing in a swimming pool with their kids. They “don’t think their town is an obstacle to peace.”

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remembering political prisoners in Palestine

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
20h00 $8 in advance | $10 at door
La Sala Rossa
4848 St. Laurent
Montreal, Quebec

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photo by Tom Llewellin

Photo: Tom Llewellin. Palestinian hip-hop artist Tamer Nafar from DAM.

Hundreds gathered at Café Campus in downtown Montreal for Artists Against Apartheid featuring celebrated Palestinian hip-hop ensemble DAM along with Montreal’s own Iraqi hip-hop artist Narcicyst. An inspiring concert this special edition in the ongoing Artists Against Apartheid series featured rhymes strait from Palestine via DAM who delivered a lively an inspiring performance.

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photos by Sabrien Amrov

Photo: Sabrien Amrov. Qurna performing at Artists Against Apartheid.

At the Quebec Social Forum thousands converged in Montreal from throughout Quebec for concerts, workshops and conferences focused on building social justice movements. On Saturday, October 10th hundreds gathered at cégep du Vieux Montréal for the tenth edition of Artists Against Apartheid, presented as a main cultural event within the Quebec Social Forum.

Featured at the concert was Qurna a conceptual and experimental music project of Iraqi Maqam music, lead by Omar Dewachi on oud and featuring Jérémi Roy on double bass, Pierre-Guy Blanchard on percussion, Sam Shalabi on oud, Radwan Moumneh on saz, Xarah Dion on synth and Zayid Al-Baghdadi on nay. Sabrien Amrov documented the concert via photograph presented now on-line.

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concert occurring within the Quebec Social Forum

SATURDAY OCTOBER 10th 20h00
suggested donation 5-10$
Cégep du Vieux Montréal
255 rue Ontario east
room 4.82 A
métro Berri-UQAM

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Activists and Combatants | Palestinian Perspectives 5th édition

October 21 to 30 2009
Cinémathèque québécoise
www.cinematheque.qc.ca
335, boul. de Maisonneuve est
Métro Berri-UQAM
7$ | 6$ for students and elders
4$ for children 6-15 years

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Interview with Rawi Hage, by Rima Hammoudi.

Photo: Tanya Traboulsi Sky over sea, Beirut, Lebanon.

As we made ourselves comfortable on a terrace at a nearby café, Rawi Hage began scanning the neighboring tables for an ashtray. “Do you mind if I smoke?” I didn’t, and reached over behind me and snagged the seemingly last ashtray that had yet to be claimed. Not lighting up right away, Hage began maneuvering a small, tightly packed cigar between his fingers as he began telling me about his travel plans for the summer: Europe, Australia and all of Canada. There is so much to see, we agreed, and any city, town or far off countryside is as good as any to start with.

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