Voices for Justice-2003 Tour

April 23, 2003 at 7:00 p.m. (Performance)
Hanes Center Auditorium

April 24, 2003 from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. (Workshop)
2518 New Student Union Building, UNC-CH Campus

Voices for Justice, a group of artists and activists, will perform and lead a workshop sponsored by Bridging the Divide: Academics, Activists, and Social Justice in the Aftermath of September 11.

The Voices for Justice tour is designed to counter the deceptions of the mainstream media around the issue of Palestine, and to reach new audiences through music, video, spoken word, and art. The performance features three women who will speak in support of justice and liberty for the people of Palestine.

The tour includes first-hand reports from Palestine as well as from activists in the Palestine Solidarity Movement in the U.S. Among those organizing the tour are activists from the International Solidarity Movement (http://www.palsolidarity.org); Al-Awda, the Palestinian Right of Return Coalition (http://www.al-awda.org); SUSTAIN (Stop US Tax Aid to Israel Now - http://www.sustaincampaign.org); Jews Against the Occupation (http://www.jewsagainsttheoccupation.org); and the International Women's Peace Service.

Local sponsors, thus far, include NC Divest and Bridging the Divide. We are looking for other co-sponsors. Please forward the names of your organizations to Liz Mason-Deese at masondee@email.unc.edu

Featured speakers of the event include:

Ora Wise -- The daughter of a rabbi, Wise was born in Jerusalem. Her political awakening came working in the West Bank with the Israeli peace group Rabbis for Human Rights. Here in the U.S., she has worked tirelessly for justice for the people of Palestine. She was one of the organizers of last year's National Student Conference in Solidarity with Palestine, and helped start the Committee for Justice in Palestine while a student at Ohio State University.

Nijmie Dzurinko -- Dzurinko is a youth organizer and Arab-American activist from Philadelphia who recently returned from three months in Palestine working with the International Women's Peace Service (IWPS). She was there to witness and document human rights abuses, to nonviolently intervene to protect human rights, and to support nonviolent civil resistance to the brutal Israeli occupation.

Ellen O'Grady -- North Carolina artist Ellen O'Grady, who lived and worked in the West Bank and Gaza from 1989-1996, returned to the area last July and August with the International Solidarity Movement in their Freedom Summer Campaign. Ellen spent the majority of her time in the Nablus area, assisting Palestinians in need of health care, removing roadblocks, monitoring Israeli checkpoints and restriction of Palestinian travel, listening to stories, and painting portraits. She returned with compelling eyewitness accounts of life under the Israeli siege of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. O'Grady will share paintings and stories from her eight week trip last summer to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The videos include:Amandla Intifada: A stunning and moving eyewitness account filmed in Jenin by the activitist video collective Big Noise Tactical [http://www.bignoisefilms.com] Meen Erhabe (Who's the Terrorist?): A video by Palestinian srtist Jackie Salloum, with the soundtrack by Dam, a Palestinian hip-hop group.

For more information contact Elyse Crystall at ecryst@mindspring.com