Day 6: Art as resistance
Wi’am is the Palestinian Conflict Transformation Center; Wi’am in English means “cordial relationships.” Wi’am works in conflict resolution at the local level, especially with women, youth, and children.
One-third of Wi’am’s land was confiscated to build an early section of the Wall through Bethlehem: concrete many metres high, strands of barbed wire above that, surveillance devices, an even taller watch-tower at the corner. On their side, Wi’am has trees, and the Wi’am children’s playground abuts the wall, with colourful swings and slides and climbers. Artists, some from the nearby Aida refugee camp, have graffitied the lower parts of the Wall with cartoon drawings and slogans:
“Challenging Empire”
“God Faithfulness and Resistance”
“Love Peace Together”
Section of the Wall through Bethlehem
We met Usama Nicola, Wi’am’s program director. He told us that, at his daughter’s birthday party in the playground, soldiers in the watch-tower sprayed the children with a noxious chemical known locally as ”skunk water” and they all ran screaming. Five laundry washings did not remove the skunk water from their clothing. On the top of the Wall you can see the gun that shoots skunk water remotely. Chemical warfare. Analysts have said that this corner of Bethlehem has experienced the most frequent concentrations of tear-gas in the world. In May 2014, Pope Francis prayed at this location.
Wi’am has programs for children coping with trauma. In Bethlehem there is no post-traumatic stress disorder, because the stress never ends. The program uses music, dance, theatre, painting, and training in how to resist hateful social media. When you see the writing and drawing by resisters on the Palestinian side of the Wall, you start to understand why the arts in Palestine are so prevalent and important.
Later we went to Bethlehem’s nearby Dar al-Kalima University. It teaches programs in all branches of the arts and arts management. It offers an MA in art therapy: “to address the specific requirements of Palestinian society” in the wording of its website, for “clinics, schools, psychiatric institutions, as well as rehabilitation and recovery centers.” The vision of Dar al-Kalima is: “That we might have life and have it abundantly.”
In Mark 14, just before they arrived at Gethsemane, Jesus and his disciples sang a hymn. In John 8, to confront scribes and Pharisees Jesus did not speak, but he stooped and wrote in the dirt with his finger. Through art you can express freely what is deep within. Usama Nicola said, “80 percent of success will come from inside you.”
*About the author
Bill Butt is retired after writing for CBC Television, teaching at Western University in London, Ontario, and thirteen years as Overseas Personnel for the United Church of Canada, based primarily in Angola and Mozambique. He is a member of the CFOS Communications Committee. Along with a dozen other Canadians, he participated in a Solidarity Pilgrimage, November 11-21, 2024, hosted by Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem. Each day of the pilgrimage, he wrote about his personal experience.