I'm a filmmaker. For the last 8 years, I have dedicated my life to documenting the work of Israelis and Palestinians who are trying to end the conflict using peaceful means. When I travel with my work across Europe and the United States, one question always comes up: Where is the Palestinian Gandhi? Why aren't Palestinians using nonviolent resistance?
Ja sam filmska redateljica. Poslednjih 8 godina svoj život sam posvetila dokumentovanju napora onih Izraelaca i Palestinaca koji pokušavaju zaustaviti konflikt pomoću miroljubivih sredstava. Kada zbog posla putujem kroz Evropu i Sjedinjene Države uvijek se pojavi jedno pitanje: Gdje je palestinski Gandhi? Zbog čega palestinci ne koriste nenasilan otpor?
The challenge I face when I hear this question is that often I have just returned from the Middle East where I spent my time filming dozens of Palestinians who are using nonviolence to defend their lands and water resources from Israeli soldiers and settlers. These leaders are trying to forge a massive national nonviolent movement to end the occupation and build peace in the region. Yet, most of you have probably never heard about them. This divide between what's happening on the ground and perceptions abroad is one of the key reasons why we don't have yet a Palestinian peaceful resistance movement that has been successful.
Izazov sa kojim se suočim kada čujem ovo pitanje jeste da često bude upravo po mom povratku sa Bliskog istoka gdje provodim vrijeme snimajući na desetine Palestinaca koji nenasiljem pokušavaju odbraniti svoju zemlju i izvore vode od izraelskih vojnika i naseljenika. Ove vođe pokušavaju uspostaviti masivan nacionalni nenasilni pokret kako bi okončali okupaciju i izgradili mir u regionu. Ipak, većina vas vjerovatno nikada nije čula za njih. Ta podjela između onoga što se dešava na terenu i percepcije izvana jedan je od ključnih razloga zbog kojih do sada nismo imali palestinski mirovni pokret otpora koji bi bio uspješan.
So I'm here today to talk about the power of attention, the power of your attention, and the emergence and development of nonviolent movements in the West Bank, Gaza and elsewhere -- but today, my case study is going to be Palestine. I believe that what's mostly missing for nonviolence to grow is not for Palestinians to start adopting nonviolence, but for us to start paying attention to those who already are. Allow me to illustrate this point by taking you to this village called Budrus.
Zbog toga sam ja danas ovdje, da pričam o moći pažnje, moći vaše pažnje, te nastajanju i razvoju nenasilnih pokreta na Zapadnoj obali, u Gazi i drugdje -- međutim, danas ću se posebno pozabaviti Palestinom. Smatram da ono što najviše nedostaje kako bi pokret nenasilja rastao nije da palestinci počnu prihvatati nenasilje, već da mi počnemo obraćati pažnju na one koji su nenasilje već prihvatili. Dopustite mi da vam ovo prikažem na ilustrativan način tako što ću vas odvesti u selo po imenu Budrus.
About seven years ago, they faced extinction, because Israel announced it would build a separation barrier, and part of this barrier would be built on top of the village. They would lose 40 percent of their land and be surrounded, so they would lose free access to the rest of the West Bank. Through inspired local leadership, they launched a peaceful resistance campaign to stop that from happening.
Otprilike prije nekih sedam godina, stanovništvo ovog sela je bilo suočeno sa istrjebljenjem jer je Izrael najavio da će izgraditi liniju odvajanja, a dio te linije trebao je biti izgrađen na samom vrhu sela. Oni bi time izgubili 40% svoje zemlje i bili bi potpuno okruženi, te bi tako izgubili slobodan pristup ostatku Zapadne obale. Putem inspirisanog lokalnog vodstva pokrenuli su mirnu kampanju otpora kako bi onemogućili da do toga dođe.
Let me show you some brief clips, so you have a sense for what that actually looked like on the ground.
Dajte da vam pokažem kratke snimke kako biste imali osjećaj kako je to zapravo izgledalo na terenu.
(Music)
(Muzika)
Palestinian Woman: We were told the wall would separate Palestine from Israel. Here in Budrus, we realized the wall would steal our land.
Palestinka: Rečeno nam je da će zid odvojiti Palestinu od Izraela. Ovdje u Budrusu smo shvatili da bi zid ukrao našu zemlju.
Israeli Man: The fence has, in fact, created a solution to terror.
Izraelac: Ograda je, zapravo, stvorila rješenje za teror.
Man: Today you're invited to a peaceful march. You are joined by dozens of your Israeli brothers and sisters.
Čovjek: Danas ste pozvani na mirovni marš. Pridružiće vam se na desetine vaših braća i sestara izraelaca.
Israeli Activist: Nothing scares the army more than nonviolent opposition.
Izraelski aktivist: Vojsku ništa tako ne plaši kao nenasilan otpor.
Woman: We saw the men trying to push the soldiers, but none of them could do that. But I think the girls could do it.
Žena: Vidjeli smo kako muškarci pokušavaju pogurati vojnike, no nijedan od njih nije uspio u tome. Ali ja mislim da bi čak i djevojke to mogle uraditi.
Fatah Party Member: We must empty our minds of traditional thinking.
Član Fataha: Moramo osloboditi naše umove od tradicionalnog razmišljanja.
Hamas Party Member: We were in complete harmony, and we wanted to spread it to all of Palestine.
Član Hamasa: Mi smo u potpunoj harmoniji koju želimo proširiti na cijelu Palestinu.
Chanting: One united nation. Fatah, Hamas and the Popular Front! News Anchor: The clashes over the fence continue.
Pjesma: Jedna ujedinjena nacija. Fatah, Hamas i Narodni front! Novinar-spiker: Sukobi oko ograde se nastavljaju.
Reporter: Israeli border police were sent to disperse the crowd. They were allowed to use any force necessary.
Izvještač: Izraelska granična policija je poslana kako bi razbila masu. Dopušteno im je da primjene svu potrebnu silu.
(Gunshots)
(Pucnji)
Man: These are live bullets. It's like Fallujah. Shooting everywhere.
Muškarac: Ovo su pravi meci. Ovo je poput Falluje. Pucanje po svuda.
Israeli Activist: I was sure we were all going to die. But there were others around me who weren't even cowering.
Izraelski aktivist: Bio sam siguran da ćemo umrijeti. No, oko mene su bili drugi koji nisu čak ni ustuknuli.
Israeli Soldier: A nonviolent protest is not going to stop the [unclear].
Izraelski vojnik: Nenasilni protesti neće zaustaviti [nejasno].
Protester: This is a peaceful march. There is no need to use violence.
Protestant: Ovo je miroljubiv marš. Nema potrebe za upotrebom sile.
Chanting: We can do it! We can do it! We can do it!
Pjesma: Mi to možemo. Mi to možemo. Mi to možemo!
Julia Bacha: When I first heard about the story of Budrus, I was surprised that the international media had failed to cover the extraordinary set of events that happened seven years ago, in 2003. What was even more surprising was the fact that Budrus was successful. The residents, after 10 months of peaceful resistance, convinced the Israeli government to move the route of the barrier off their lands and to the green line, which is the internationally recognized boundary between Israel and the Palestinian Territories. The resistance in Budrus has since spread to villages across the West Bank and to Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Yet the media remains mostly silent on these stories. This silence carries profound consequences for the likelihood that nonviolence can grow, or even survive, in Palestine.
Julia Bacha: Kada sam prvi put čula priču o Budrusu bila sam iznenađena da međunarodni mediji nisu izvještavali o takvom nevjerovatnom nizu događaja koji su se desili prije sedam godina, 2003. godine. Ono što je bilo još iznenađujuće jeste činjenica da je Budrus bio uspješan. Stanovnici su, nakon 10 mjeseci mirnog otpora, ubijedili izraelsku vladu da pomjeri pravac barijere sa njihove zemlje ka zelenoj liniji, koja predstavlja međunarodno priznatu granicu između izraelskih i palestinskih teritorija. Otpor u Budrusu se od tada prenio na sela širom Zapadne obale i na palestinske četvrti u Jerusalemu. No, mediji su ipak uglavnom ostali nijemi na ove priče. Ova tišina nosi duboke posljedice za vjerovatnoću da bi nenasilje moglo porasti, ili čak preživjeti u Palestini.
Violent resistance and nonviolent resistance share one very important thing in common; they are both a form of theater seeking an audience to their cause. If violent actors are the only ones constantly getting front-page covers and attracting international attention to the Palestinian issue, it becomes very hard for nonviolent leaders to make the case to their communities that civil disobedience is a viable option in addressing their plight.
Nasilan otpor i nenasilan otpor imaju zajedničku jednu jako važnu stvar; i jedan i drugi su neka vrsta teatra kojemu je potrebna publika da bi odbranio svoj slučaj. Ako su akteri koji koriste nasilje jedini koji su stalno na naslovnicama novina i koji privlače međunarodnu pažnju na palestinsko pitanje, postaće jako teško vođama koji zagovaraju nenasilje da uvjere svoje zajednice da je građanska neposlušnost održiva opcija u rješavanju njihovog teškog položaja.
The power of attention is probably going to come as no surprise to the parents in the room. The surest way to make your child throw increasingly louder tantrums is by giving him attention the first time he throws a fit. The tantrum will become what childhood psychologists call a functional behavior, since the child has learned that he can get parental attention out of it. Parents can incentivize or disincentivize behavior simply by giving or withdrawing attention to their children. But that's true for adults too. In fact, the behavior of entire communities and countries can be influenced, depending on where the international community chooses to focus its attention.
Moć pažnje vjerovatno nije nikakvo iznenađenje onima među vama koji ste roditelji. Najsigurniji način da vaše dijete sve glasnije pokazuje bijes jeste ako mu date pažnju prvoga puta kada počne sa tim. Bijes će postati ono što psiholozi koji se bave razdobljem djetinjstva nazivaju funkcionalnim ponašanjem, jer je dijete naučilo da na taj način može pridobiti roditeljsku pažnju. Roditelji mogu podstaći ili obeshrabriti takvo ponašanje jednostavnim davanjem ili uzdržavanjem pažnje prema svojoj djeci. No, ovo je podjednako tačno i za odrasle. Zapravo, na ponašanje cijelih zajednica i zemalja može se uticati, u ovisnosti gdje međunarodna zajednica odabere da usmjeri svoju pažnju.
I believe that at the core of ending the conflict in the Middle East and bringing peace is for us to transform nonviolence into a functional behavior by giving a lot more attention to the nonviolent leaders on the ground today. In the course of taking my film to villages in the West Bank, in Gaza and in East Jerusalem, I have seen the impact that even one documentary film can have in influencing the transformation.
Vjerujem da je u samoj srži okončanja sukoba na Bliskom istoku i uspostavljanja mira da transformišemo nenasilje u funkcionalno ponašanje davanjem mnogo više pažnje nenasilnim vođama koji su danas na terenu. Tokom snimanja filma u selima na Zapadnoj obali, u Gazi i istočnom Jerusalemu, vidjela sam kakav uticaj samo jedan dokumentarni film može imati na podsticanje transformacije.
In a village called Wallajeh, which sits very close to Jerusalem, the community was facing a very similar plight to Budrus. They were going to be surrounded, lose a lot of their lands and not have freedom of access, either to the West Bank or Jerusalem. They had been using nonviolence for about two years but had grown disenchanted since nobody was paying attention. So we organized a screening. A week later, they held the most well-attended and disciplined demonstration to date. The organizers say that the villagers, upon seeing the story of Budrus documented in a film, felt that there were indeed people following what they were doing, that people cared. So they kept on going.
U selu po imenu Wallajeh, koje je smješteno nedaleko od Jerusalema, zajednica je bila suočena sa sličnim problemom kao u Budrusu. I oni su se našli pred situacijom da budu okruženi, da izgube svoju zemlju, i da nemaju pristup ni Zapadnoj obali niti Jerusalemu. Otprilike dvije godine su koristili nenasilje ali su se postepeno razočarali jer niko nije obraćao pažnju na njih. Stoga smo organizovali snimanje. Sedam dana kasnije, održali su najposjećeniji i najdisciplinovaniji protest do sada. Organizatori kažu da su stanovnici sela, kada su vidjeli priču o Budrusu dokumentovanu kroz film, osjetili da zaista postoje ljudi koji prate ono što su oni radili, i da postoje ljudi kojima je stalo. I tako su nastavili.
On the Israeli side, there is a new peace movement called Solidariot, which means solidarity in Hebrew. The leaders of this movement have been using Budrus as one of their primary recruiting tools. They report that Israelis who had never been active before, upon seeing the film, understand the power of nonviolence and start joining their activities. The examples of Wallajeh and the Solidariot movement show that even a small-budget independent film can play a role in transforming nonviolence into a functional behavior. Now imagine the power that big media players could have if they started covering the weekly nonviolent demonstrations happening in villages like Bil'in, Ni'lin, Wallajeh, in Jerusalem neighborhoods like Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan -- the nonviolent leaders would become more visible, valued and effective in their work.
Na izraelskoj strani se pojavio novi mirovni pokret po imenu Solidariot, što znači solidarnost na hebrejskom. Vođe ovog pokreta koristili su Budrus kao jedno od osnovnih oruđa za regrutovanje svojih članova. Oni svjedoče da su Izraelci koji nikada prije nisu bili aktivni, nakon što bi vidjeli film, shvatali moć nenasilja i da su otpočeli da se pridružuju njihovim aktivnostima. Primjer sela Wallajeh i pokreta Solidariot pokazuju da čak i niskobudžetni nezavisni film može imati ulogu u transformisanju nenasilja u funkcionalno ponašanje. Zamislite uticaj koji bi veliki mediji mogli imati kada bi počeli izvještavati o sedmičnim nenasilnim protestima koji se organizuju u selima poput Bil'in, Ni'lin, Wallajeh, u susjedstvima Jerusalema kao što su Sheikh Jarrah i Silwan -- tako bi vođe nenasilnih akcija postale vidljivije, te više vrijednovane i efikasne u svojim naporima.
I believe that the most important thing is to understand that if we don't pay attention to these efforts, they are invisible, and it's as if they never happened. But I have seen first hand that if we do, they will multiply. If they multiply, their influence will grow in the overall Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And theirs is the kind of influence that can finally unblock the situation. These leaders have proven that nonviolence works in places like Budrus. Let's give them attention so they can prove it works everywhere.
Vjerujem da je najbitnije shvatiti da ukoliko ne obratimo pažnju na ove napore, oni će ostati nevidljivima i biće kao da ovih protesta nikada nije ni bilo. Međutim, ja sam imala priliku da neposredno vidim da ukoliko im damo pažnju, oni će se umnožiti. Ako se umnože, njihov uticaj će rasti na cjelokupan izraelsko-palestinski sukob. A uticaj kakav bi oni imali konačno bi mogao odblokirati situaciju. Ove vođe su dokazale da je nenasilje efikasno u mjestima poput Budrusa. Dajmo im pažnju kako bi dokazali da može biti uspješno i drugdje.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)