Hello,
Around 100 people came to watch 'Arna's Children' at Prithvi Theatre on Monday, many of whom shared their views in the post-screening discussion. A viewer mailed us this later that night: I came tonight to see "Arna's children" and was really heart-struck by this movie and all the violence and contradictions it contains. I agreed with the father who first shared his point of view after the documentary: Arna was maybe willing to release the children from the violence they had internalized, but at the same time she taught them to hate their Jewish enemies. Then the documentary reminded me of my own father, born in a French village occupied by Germans at that time, and who was threatened to be shot with his entire family when SS soldiers discovered my grandfather was hiding an American soldier. My father was 5 years old, he was born in a village that is today at 5km from the German border, his mothertongue was German as this region had been occupied several times by Germans, but it took him 50 years to cross the border and admit Germans could be good people. Nobody would have been able to convince him in his youth. Thanks a ton for the documentary. Yet another, Anne, wrote: The documentary reminded me a book of a French-Algerian autor: Yasmina KHADRA, "L'Attentat", translated in English by John Cullen, entitled "The Attack". Read it if you can, it's striking. Pravin Subramanian sent us a long note about the screening. Excerpts: There was a grim silence that hung heavy for five minutes after the screening was completed, only to be suddenly shattered in the din that ensued afterwards. Enthusiastic members from the audience argued about the crux of the entire documentary, the occupation of Palestine by Israel. A member started off initially talking about the mental indocrination of children, lamenting about how they were taught to hold guns before they could learn about pens and crayons! To offset this was a section of audience, actually the majority of the audience who believed the occupation of Palestine to be an illegal occupation and a damnation in the name of human rights. The Jews had no right to murder Arabs in their own land and call it their own, this was not fair! A vicious cycle it was indeed! Jew kills Arab, Arab kills four Jews, Jew kills six Arabs, Arab kills 12 Jews, is there an end to this...? Where does this cycle of violence and retribution end? Can we help? Yes, we can! How can we help? > India is Israel's premier customer for weapons, and the Mossad trains Indian soldiers to fight terrorism in India. Cut off this trade link with Israel, we'll not trade with a country that has colonial fundamentals! We'll not trade with murderers! > Raise global awareness and condemnation for Israel's deeds. Let the whole world stand up against Israel, condemning it for what it does. Let us all speak together, let our voice reach the Parliament of India. We don't want links with Israel, we don't want our money to fund Zionist terrorists in Palestine. Singly, this is just a voice calling in the dark, together we're a force who can make a difference! If we speak together and stand by our decision, the Government will listen. If everyone in the world begins to listen to us, everyone who has a soul, everyone who's borne a child, every mother who's fed her child, every father proud of his offspring's health will stand up against this illegal occupation of Palestine, the murder of innocent Arab children, and Palestine's children will have a bright future. If you agree with this, say yes to life and no to Israel! Not very long ago, we too suffered under the yoke of similar tyrants from Europe. Let us pledge freedom from tyranny for everyone who suffers under its yoke! For your information, Juliano Mer Khamis was slain in April by a masked militant. No prizes for guessing who's funded his murderer... To read the full note and respond to his ideas, visit http://tinyurl.com/Arna-sChildren By the way, Vikalp@Alliance is organising a screening of this film on 15th July. Best, Chandni -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en.
