– 16/10/2015 (449 plays)
To all the Muslim (and perceived to be Muslim) kids out there whose lives have changed drastically for the worse after 9/11/01: I love you so much and be safe today ❤️
Sorry not sorry but I’m extremely bitter that so many of you pseudo leftists didn’t give a damn about Syria until Assad put Yarmouk under siege (because apparently only Palestinian Syrians matter to a lot of you), or until ISIS became the monster it is now (guess what?? That was Assad’s doing too!!!!!!!) I can’t believe how many people still can’t acknowledge that Assad and his dogs are responsible for the majority of civilian casualties in Syria, and have been slaughtering Syrians for a looooooooooooong time now.
Again, I see you, and so do the rest of the Syrians who have been screaming about the hell that our country’s been turned into since 2011 to all of you who refused to listen or acknowledge. We see you.
~feelin myself 2nite~
Masafer Yatta: They Destroy, We Rebuild
“They destroy, I rebuild,” shouts Rasmiya Mohammad moments after her home is raided by the Israeli army. Her house in the South Hebron Hills of Palestine has been demolished and rebuilt several times since the Israelis declared her land part of a “closed military zone” in the 1980s. Her words embody a shared sentiment in Masafer Yatta, a group of shepherding and farming communities in the South Hebron Hills where most reside in caves and tents.
The Film
Masafer Yatta is a documentary film that takes an intimate look at the lives of these residents as they resist the threat of eviction, in the context of an ongoing legal battle with the Israeli court. The film will focus primarily on one extended family living among two of the villages in Masafer Yatta: Rasmiya who resides with her family in the village of Jinba, and her brother Ziad who is the last remaining resident of the nearby village of Bir Il ‘Id.
Rasmiya and Ziad are the maternal aunt and uncle of Ryah Aqel, the project’s creator and lead filmmaker. The film will delve into her family’s world as they navigate life in the South Hebron Hills. Aqel was raised on stories of Jinba and Bir Il ‘Id, from the comical to the tragic, and has always been in awe of her family’s resilience. The filmmakers envision Masafer Yatta being an important tool to stimulate both dialogue and tangible action.
We need your support!
This campaign will support Masafer Yatta’s first stage of production in Palestine, including travel expenses, insurance, and basic equipment needs. The filmmakers are based in New York and plan to spend 3 weeks in Masafer Yatta collecting stories, conducting on-camera interviews with community members, and capturing essential footage for the documentary.
Sponsorship
Contributions made through the Indiegogo campaign will cover the filmmakers’ basic travel and equipment needs for the first phase of filming in July. If you are interested in contributing to other aspects of the project, becoming a sponsor, or learning more about producer positions, please e-mail us at masaferyatta@gmail.com.
This is a really important update from my friend. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated and shared, PLEASE continue to reblog and spread to word to help her reach her goal!! So close y'all!!!!!!!
“Two days ago, we received news that my uncle Ziad had been attacked near his home in Bir il-‘Id by three settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement in Umm Al-Arais. He was leaving home to break his fast when the attack took place. His wounds were treated at a hospital in Yatta and he returned home that evening.
These attacks are not an anomaly. Settler attacks are part and parcel of the Israeli state’s policy of displacement and intimidation of Palestinians in these areas, carried out with the hope that Palestinians will abandon their land in the face of these real dangers.
This incident is a further indication of the need for action. We return to our original call for support and urge you to make a donation so that we can document these atrocities. Attacks on communities like my uncle’s are rarely ever reported, and those who commit these attacks are almost never brought to justice. This is what motivates me to make this film now – so these acts can no longer be met with silence, so my uncle’s words can be heard by the world and not buried deep in Israeli court records.
Thank you all who have donated and shared with your communities, we are extremely grateful. Please continue to share as there are two more days to support the film and raise the remaining $3,000 to make sure that we can produce a quality film deserving of the steadfast men, women, and children of Masafer Yatta. With your help, this is possible.”
The campaign was just extended to July 3 because of issues with Indiegogo’s site, P L E A S E continue to spread the word!!
(Source: indiegogo.com)
Masafer Yatta: They Destroy, We Rebuild
“They destroy, I rebuild,” shouts Rasmiya Mohammad moments after her home is raided by the Israeli army. Her house in the South Hebron Hills of Palestine has been demolished and rebuilt several times since the Israelis declared her land part of a “closed military zone” in the 1980s. Her words embody a shared sentiment in Masafer Yatta, a group of shepherding and farming communities in the South Hebron Hills where most reside in caves and tents.
The Film
Masafer Yatta is a documentary film that takes an intimate look at the lives of these residents as they resist the threat of eviction, in the context of an ongoing legal battle with the Israeli court. The film will focus primarily on one extended family living among two of the villages in Masafer Yatta: Rasmiya who resides with her family in the village of Jinba, and her brother Ziad who is the last remaining resident of the nearby village of Bir Il ‘Id.
Rasmiya and Ziad are the maternal aunt and uncle of Ryah Aqel, the project’s creator and lead filmmaker. The film will delve into her family’s world as they navigate life in the South Hebron Hills. Aqel was raised on stories of Jinba and Bir Il ‘Id, from the comical to the tragic, and has always been in awe of her family’s resilience. The filmmakers envision Masafer Yatta being an important tool to stimulate both dialogue and tangible action.
We need your support!
This campaign will support Masafer Yatta’s first stage of production in Palestine, including travel expenses, insurance, and basic equipment needs. The filmmakers are based in New York and plan to spend 3 weeks in Masafer Yatta collecting stories, conducting on-camera interviews with community members, and capturing essential footage for the documentary.
Sponsorship
Contributions made through the Indiegogo campaign will cover the filmmakers’ basic travel and equipment needs for the first phase of filming in July. If you are interested in contributing to other aspects of the project, becoming a sponsor, or learning more about producer positions, please e-mail us at masaferyatta@gmail.com.
This is a really important update from my friend. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated and shared, PLEASE continue to reblog and spread to word to help her reach her goal!! So close y'all!!!!!!!
“Two days ago, we received news that my uncle Ziad had been attacked near his home in Bir il-‘Id by three settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement in Umm Al-Arais. He was leaving home to break his fast when the attack took place. His wounds were treated at a hospital in Yatta and he returned home that evening.
These attacks are not an anomaly. Settler attacks are part and parcel of the Israeli state’s policy of displacement and intimidation of Palestinians in these areas, carried out with the hope that Palestinians will abandon their land in the face of these real dangers.
This incident is a further indication of the need for action. We return to our original call for support and urge you to make a donation so that we can document these atrocities. Attacks on communities like my uncle’s are rarely ever reported, and those who commit these attacks are almost never brought to justice. This is what motivates me to make this film now – so these acts can no longer be met with silence, so my uncle’s words can be heard by the world and not buried deep in Israeli court records.
Thank you all who have donated and shared with your communities, we are extremely grateful. Please continue to share as there are two more days to support the film and raise the remaining $3,000 to make sure that we can produce a quality film deserving of the steadfast men, women, and children of Masafer Yatta. With your help, this is possible.”
(Source: indiegogo.com, via haralambros)
Masafer Yatta: They Destroy, We Rebuild
“They destroy, I rebuild,” shouts Rasmiya Mohammad moments after her home is raided by the Israeli army. Her house in the South Hebron Hills of Palestine has been demolished and rebuilt several times since the Israelis declared her land part of a “closed military zone” in the 1980s. Her words embody a shared sentiment in Masafer Yatta, a group of shepherding and farming communities in the South Hebron Hills where most reside in caves and tents.
The Film
Masafer Yatta is a documentary film that takes an intimate look at the lives of these residents as they resist the threat of eviction, in the context of an ongoing legal battle with the Israeli court. The film will focus primarily on one extended family living among two of the villages in Masafer Yatta: Rasmiya who resides with her family in the village of Jinba, and her brother Ziad who is the last remaining resident of the nearby village of Bir Il ‘Id.
Rasmiya and Ziad are the maternal aunt and uncle of Ryah Aqel, the project’s creator and lead filmmaker. The film will delve into her family’s world as they navigate life in the South Hebron Hills. Aqel was raised on stories of Jinba and Bir Il ‘Id, from the comical to the tragic, and has always been in awe of her family’s resilience. The filmmakers envision Masafer Yatta being an important tool to stimulate both dialogue and tangible action.
We need your support!
This campaign will support Masafer Yatta’s first stage of production in Palestine, including travel expenses, insurance, and basic equipment needs. The filmmakers are based in New York and plan to spend 3 weeks in Masafer Yatta collecting stories, conducting on-camera interviews with community members, and capturing essential footage for the documentary.
Sponsorship
Contributions made through the Indiegogo campaign will cover the filmmakers’ basic travel and equipment needs for the first phase of filming in July. If you are interested in contributing to other aspects of the project, becoming a sponsor, or learning more about producer positions, please e-mail us at masaferyatta@gmail.com.
(Source: indiegogo.com)
Who: Harry, Brooklyn
My mom was born and raised in Damascus, Syria to a Syrian Muslim father and a Lebanese Maronite mother. My dad grew up in Brooklyn and was born to two Pontic Greek parents from the Macedonia region. I vividly remember September 11, 2001 being a huge turning point for my mom and her Muslim sisters. In public they went out of their way to look and act as “American” as possible. They plastered American flags all over their cars and lied to strangers when they were asked about their accents. At home though, they became more intentional about teaching my brother and I about Islam, they read the Qur'an regularly, and started to fast and go to the mosque during Ramadan.
I asked my mom to buy me the Allah pendent I’m wearing in the photos during a family trip to Brooklyn we took when I was in middle school, shortly after September 11. As cheesy as it may sound, it makes me feel safe and protected when I wear it. I’ve also learned it’s a great way to gauge whether someone is worth talking to or not based on the questions they ask or statements they make about it. I don’t remember dealing with much homophobia in high school, but I’ll never forget the racism and Islamophobia I experienced growing up. It had such a profound effect on me that I was too afraid to walk home.
I came out to my parents when I was 13. I wrote a note to my mom in Arabic and left it on her bathroom mirror when she wasn’t home, and went to a friend’s house to spend the night before she saw it. I’m eternally grateful for the love, acceptance, and support my family has always shown me. When I was in high school, the only queer representations in the media I remember were white, skinny, hairless, and rich, which I obviously couldn’t relate to. I remember wanting so badly to meet other queer Arabs and Muslims, to be able to relate to someone on that kind of level was a huge deal for me. I eventually found an amazing group of social justice oriented queer Arabs and Muslims after I moved to New York, and it almost feels surreal to look back on the time when I didn’t have that kind of support in my life.
I’m very social and I enjoy being around people I love no matter how boring what we’re doing might seem to other people. Scary movies, Arabic pop culture from the 40s-60s, (attempting to) dance, and smoking argeeleh are some of my favorite things in the world. I love helping and working with other people, which is how I ended up in social work. I’ve worked with homeless and runaway LGBT youth, and I’m currently providing preventive services to Arab families in Brooklyn.
I’ve been living in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn (where my parents met) for a little over a year. There’s a huge Arab and Muslim population here, and I love walking out of my apartment every day and hearing my native language being spoken by so many people around me.
I think one of the biggest challenges facing queer Muslims in America is decolonizing our mindsets. There have been more than a few times where I’ve seen or heard other queer Muslims regurgitate some very disgustingly racist and Islamophobic rhetoric against visibly religious (and presumably straight) Muslims under the guise of “protecting oneself.” How can you claim to fight against racism and all the other -isms on behalf of others when you perpetuate it against your own?