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 režiserka. Poslednjih osam godina, posvetila sam svoj život dokumentaciji rada Izraelaca i Palestinaca koji pokušavaju da zaustave konflikt nenasilnim sredstvima. Kada putujem poslovno po Evropi i Sjedinjenim državama, jedno pitanje se uvek javlja: Gde je palestinski Gandi? Zašto Palestinci ne pruže nenasilni 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 suočavam kada to čujem je da sam se često upravo vratila sa Bliskog istoka gde sam provodila vreme snimajući desetine Palestinaca koji koriste nenasilje kako bi odbranili svoju zemlju i izvore vode od izraelskih vojnika i naseljenika. Ovi lideri pokušavaju da iskuju masovni, nacionalni, nenasilni pokret kako bi okončali okupaciju i izgradili mir u regionu. Ipak, većina vas verovatno nikada nije čula za njih. Razlika između onog što se tamo dešava i mišljenja internacionalnog javnog mnjenja je jedan od ključnih razloga zbog koga još uvek nemamo palestinski pokret mirovnog otpora koji je bio uspešan.
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.
Zato sam danas ovde kako bih govorila o moći pažnje, moći vaše pažnje i nastanku i razvoju pokreta koji ne koriste nasilje na Zapadnoj obali, Gazi i na drugim mestima -- ali danas ću govoriti o Palestini. Verujem da ono što nedostaje nenasilju da se razvija nije da Palestinci počnu da ga usvajaju, već da mi obratimo pažnju na one koji to već rade. Dopustite mi da ovo ilustrujem tako što ću vas odvesti u selo koje se zove 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.
Pre oko sedam godina pretilo im je uništenje jer su Izraelci proglasili da će zidati barijeru čiji bi deo prolazio po sred sela. Izgubuli bi 40% svoje zemlje ili bili potpuno okruženi, čime bi izgubili slobodan prolaz ka ostatku Zapadne obale. Uz pomoć dosetljivih lokalnih vođa pokrenuli su mirovnu kampanju otpora kako bi to sprečili.
Let me show you some brief clips, so you have a sense for what that actually looked like on the ground.
Pokazaću vam nekoliko kratkih video klipova, kako biste razumeli kako to ustvarni izgleda.
(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 bi zid razdvojio Palestinu od Izraela. Ovde u Budrusu, shvatili smo da bi zid ukrao našu zemlju.
Israeli Man: The fence has, in fact, created a solution to terror.
Izraelac: Ograda je, u stvari rešenje za teror.
Man: Today you're invited to a peaceful march. You are joined by dozens of your Israeli brothers and sisters.
Čovek: Danas ste pozvani na mirni marš. Pridružiće vam se desetine vaših braća i sestara iz Izraela
Israeli Activist: Nothing scares the army more than nonviolent opposition.
Izraelski aktivista: Vojsku ništa ne plaši kao nenasilni 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: Videli smo ljude koji pokušavaju da odgurnu vojnike ali niko nije uspeo. No, mislim da bi devojke uspele.
Fatah Party Member: We must empty our minds of traditional thinking.
Član Fataha: Moramo da se oslobodimo tradicionalnog načina razmišljanja.
Hamas Party Member: We were in complete harmony, and we wanted to spread it to all of Palestine.
Član Hamansa: Bili smo u potpunoj harmoniji, i hteli smo da to proširimo po celoj Palestini.
Chanting: One united nation. Fatah, Hamas and the Popular Front! News Anchor: The clashes over the fence continue.
Jedna ujedinjena nacija. Fatah, Hamas i Narodni front. Spiker: Nemiri oko zaštitne ograde se nastavljaju.
Reporter: Israeli border police were sent to disperse the crowd. They were allowed to use any force necessary.
Novinar: izraelska granična policija bila je poslata da rastera masu. Bilo im je dozvoljeno da koriste bilo koje potrebne mere.
(Gunshots)
(Pucnjava)
Man: These are live bullets. It's like Fallujah. Shooting everywhere.
Čovek: Ovo su pravi meci. Ovo je kao u Falujahu. Svuda se puca.
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 umreti. Ali bilo je ljudi oko mene koji se nisu ni plašilii.
Israeli Soldier: A nonviolent protest is not going to stop the [unclear].
Izraelski vojnik: Nenasilni protest neće zaustaviti (nejasno).
Protester: This is a peaceful march. There is no need to use violence.
Demonstrant: Ovo je mirni marš. Nema potrebe da koristimo nasilje.
Chanting: We can do it! We can do it! We can do it!
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.
Žulia Baša: Kada sam prvi put čula priču o Budrusu, bila sam iznenađena da međunarodni mediji nisu pokrili ovaj neverovatni sled događaja koji se desio pre sedam godina, 2003. Ono što me je još više iznenadilo bilo je to što je Budrus bio primer uspeha. Stanovnici su, nakon 10 meseci mirnih protesta, ubedili izraelsku vladu da pomeri svoje barijere sa njihove zemlje do zelene linije koja je međunarodno priznata granica između Izraela i palestinskih teritorija. Otpor u Budrusu od tad se raširio po selima po celoj Zapadnoj obali i po palestinskim četvrtima u Jerusalimu. Uprkos svemu, mediji su ostali prilično nezainteresovani za ove priče. Ta ćutnja ima velike posledice za verovatnoću razvijanja nenasilja, i čak njegovog preživivljavanja 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.
Nasilni otpor i nenasilni otpor imaju jednu važnu zajedničku crtu; oba su jedan oblik pozorišta koji traži publiku za sebe. Ako nasilni "glumci" jedini dobijaju naslovne strane i privlače međunarodnu pažnju o palestinskom pitanju, postaje veoma teško za nenasilne lidere da dokažu svojim sunarodnicima da je građanska neposlušnost održiva opcija u procesu rešavanja njihovih neprilika.
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 verovatno neće iznenaditi roditelje u ovoj prostoriji. Najsigurniji način da vaše dete sve jače vrišti je tako što ćete na njega obratiti pažnju kada pokuša prvi put. Vrištanje će postati, kako dečiji psiholozi kažu, funkcionalno ponašanje jer je dete naučilo da tako privlači pažnju roditelja. Roditelji mogu da podstiču ili ne podstiču neko ponašanje jednostavno poklanjajući ili ne pažnju svojoj deci. Ali to važi i za odrasle. U stvari, na ponašanje celih zajednica i država može uticati to gde međunarodna zajednica odluči da usmeri 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.
Verujem da je u korenu kraja sukoba na Bliskom istoku i stupanja mira to da mi pretvorimo nenasilje u funkcionalno ponašanje obraćajući mnogo više pažnje na nenasilne lidere današnjece. Tokom prikazivanja mog filma po selima na Zapadnoj obali, u Pojasu Gaze i u istočnom Jerusalimu, videla sam šta jedan dokumetarni film može učiniti i kako može uticati na transformaciju.
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 Valaje veoma blizu Jerusalima zajednica je bila suočena sa sličnim problemima kao Budrus. Bili su opkoljeni, izgubili su mnogo zemlje i ne bi imali pristup ni Zapadnoj obali ni Jerusalimu. Služili su se nenasiljem oko dve godine ali su postali razočarani jer niko nije obratio pažnju. Tako da smo organizovali prikazivanje filma. Nedelju dana kasnije održali su najposećenije i najdisciplinovanije demonstracije do tada Organizatori kažu da su seljaci, nakon što pogledaju priču o Budrusu, dokumentovanu u filmu, osetili da zaista postoje ljudi koji prate ono što oni rade, da je ljudima stalo. Tako su nastavili da to rade.
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 postoji novi mirovni pokret koji se zove "Solidariot", što znači solidarnost na hebrejskom. Lideri ovog pokreta su koristili Budrus kao jedno od svojih glavnih sredstava za regrutaciju. Oni kažu da su Izraelci koji nikad ranije nisu bili aktivni nakon gledanja filma razumeli snagu nenasilja i pridruživali se aktivistima. Primer Valaje i pokreta "Solidariot" pokazao je da čak i niskobudžetni film može igrati ulogu u transformaciji nenasilja u funkcionalno ponašanje Sada zamislite snagu koju bi veliki medijski igrači mogli da imaju ako bi počeli da pokrivaju nedeljne nenasilne demonstracije koje se dešavaju u selima kao što su Bilin, Nilin Valajeh, u četvrtima Jerusalima kao što su Šeik Žarah i Silvan -- lideri nenasilnih protesta bi postali popularniji cenjeniji i efektniji u svom radu.
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.
Verujem da je najvažnije razumeti da ako mi ne primetimo ove napore, oni ostaju nevidljivi, kao da se nikada nisu ni desili. Ali lično sam videla da ako mi to uradimo, oni će se umnožiti. A ako pomnože uticaj će rasti generalno u izraelsko palestinskom sukobu. I tu postoji uticaj koji konačno može da odblokira situaciju. Ovi lideri su dokazali da nenasilje funkcioniše u mestima kao što je Budrus. Posvetimo im pažnju kako bi mogli da dokažu da to svuda funkcioniše.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)