Youth From Gaza Tell Their Personal Stories About War and Siege

- An International Project Advocating For The Rights of Children in Gaza -

THE WORLD’S DEAF EARS

The Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip in December 2008 - January 2009 was extremely violent and led in 22 days to the death of at least 1380 Palestinians, amongst which 431 were children. At least 5380 were wounded including 1872 children. An estimated number of 100,000 people were newly displaced. Houses, schools, hospitals, places of worship and cultural centres were destroyed. A year later, the blockade of Gaza remains and its separation from the West Bank has deepened since the West Bankers were completely impotent to stop the massacre or help their fellow Gazan Palestinians. The media were counting the casualties... The whole world was watching...

Did anybody hear?

THE RISE OF THE PHOENIX FROM ITS ASHES

In 2010, ASHTAR Theatre together with partnering theatres from all over the world decided that it is time to make the voices of our children in Gaza heard and let at least their monologues travel to known places and be heard from people outside their prison Gaza...

The Gaza Mono-Logues are personal stories of a group of children from Gaza which were sent out to the world and performed simultaneously on October 17^th 2010  by over 1500 youngsters in more than 50 cities in 36 countries all over the world. The week before the "International Day of Solidarity with the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People" on November 29^th 2010, the Gaza Mono-Logues reached the harbor of the UN headquarters in New York and were performed twice in its venues. Ever since, ASHTAR Theatre and its partners and friends world-wide have continued to re-perform the Gaza Mono-Logues and new participants and theatres are always welcome to join our global initiative.

THE CONTINOUS CRY OF THE PHOENIX TO THE WORLD

To this day Gaza's children stay isolated and deprived from their basic rights. Hence, ASHTAR Theatre intends to draw attention to the continuous deprivation and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip caused by the war and its rigid closure, and to advocate for the rights and needs of our children in Gaza who are the innocent victims of this ongoing conflict which takes all their life opportunities, dreams and hopes for a better and peaceful future away from them:

* Since January 2011 - Gaza Mono-Logues Performances in Palestine (ongoing)

Since January 2011, ASHTAR Theatre’s groups in Gaza and in Ramallah have been performing the Gaza Mono-Logues on a regular basis with the aim to bring the monologues to marginalized groups from all over Palestine who normally lack access to theatrical and cultural activities.

On March 17th 2011, Oyoun Theatre from the Israeli-Occupied Golan Heights gave an inspiring performance of its theatre adaptation of the Gaza Mono-Logues at the Opening Night of the 3rd edition of ASHTAR Theatre’s International Theatre of the Oppressed Festival in Ramallah, Palestine. A second performance of Oyoun Theatre’s version took place within the Al-Manara Theatre Days, a yearly international theatre festival  organized by Al-Kasaba Theatre, Palestine.

* On 04/06/2011 - The International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression 

A historic day in 1983, when the UN General Assembly decided to commemorate June 4th as they were appalled by the “great number of innocent Palestinian and Lebanese children victims of Israel’s acts of aggression”. Former Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar expressed his concern that “on this solemn occasion, we need to recall the sacred duty, enshrined in the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child, to ensure that all children, without any exception whatsoever, enjoy special protection.”

On this special day, ASHTAR Theatre is going to commemorate the innocent children victims of war in Gaza by re-performing the Gaza Mono-Logues simultaneously with its partners and friends all over the world.

* June/ July 2011 - Europe Tour of the Gaza Mono-Logues