The crucial fire

Omar Barghouti

As a Palestinian dance choreographer working in the midst of conflict, I am often asked: what is the rationale of your artistic engagement under the circumstances?
If "engagement" with something is interpreted in a passive sense, as a mererelation to that thing, then the question implies a certain degree of volition indeciding whether or not to relate to issues of conflict and trauma. I personally do notthink that in a situation of conflict artists have a choice of whether or not to reflectthe impact of conflict on them and on their society. Their only choice seems to bewhether to go beyond this reflection stage, by actively engaging in the conflict situa-tion in order to contribute to its change.
Those who opt to do so can be calledconscientious/progressive artists, or those interested in progressive social change, ifwe agree on some spacious definition of "progressive". Their choices lie in thevisions, the methods, the approaches and the diverse means of realising (vocalising,articulating, visualising) those respective visions. At the other end of the spectrum, ivory-tower artists, who are supposedlyproducing "art for the sake of art", can be perceived as also reacting to the conflict--albeit in an extreme way--attempting to isolate themselves from its repercussions,its trauma and its stigmas. Far from being disengaged from the conflict, theyessentially express a distinct attitude to the conflict, therefore entering into a spe-cific relationship to it. Escapism, aloofness, and retrograde indulgence in folk-lore are but some of the possible manifestations of such counter-engagement bysuch artists.
Conflict, it seems, has its own way oftouching everyone within its reach, irrespective of one's actual involvement in itor will to get involved in it.

Dancing the conflict

The fact that I am a dance choreographer, for example, does not, indeed cannot,negate or even dilute the other aspects of my identity. Nor does it in any meaningful way mitigate the direct and indirectimpact of the simmering PalestinianIsraeli conflict on me, my family, and allmy significant others, not to mention my society at large. I personally had a close encounter with death when three Israeli tank shells hitmy building on 7 April 2001, virtually destroying my apartment, but miracu-lously sparing me--for the time being. Six months later, unconsciously, andwithout any preconceived plan, I choreographed a dance around the theme of siege,where people are trapped in a circle, and battered from all directions, while trying,as much as possible, to remain steadfast. The blows increase in intensity andimpact until the surrounded people drop on the floor, not without putting up mas-sive, yet passive, resistance. Only after the music stops, with the bodies lying on thefloor, a few shaking arms start emerging from the pile of bodies, slowly, faintly,yet with resilience and determination, ultimately making defiant fists in theotherwise death-filled air. Although Jmy main inspiration was the brutal siege of aPalestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, now, in retrospect, I see this dance as alsointrusively describing my little siege in an apartment under fire, waiting to die,yet refusing to give up.
It seems to me that even if I try toescape from the conflict, it will inevitably catch up with me, and when it does itwill hit me even harder, with vengeance, so to speak. I do not have a choice thennot to engage it; all I can decide is how to and towards what ends.

Transient artistic engagement

Having said that, I also believe that artistic engagements vary to a large extent intheir degree of affecting evolutionary change in a situation of conflict. And bythis change, I do not mean transient escapism from the misery of beingoppressed, nor the ephemeral pleasure of living a fantasy that allegedly promoteshope and happiness, for these constitute medicine for the sore symptoms ofoppression, not the root causes of it.
    They can be effective, indeed indis-pensable, if accompanied by some parallel regard to the true causes of oppression.Otherwise, they can be quite dangerous, since they briefly elevate the recipients'level of hope, leaving them to crash on the hard ground of reality a momentlater. Physics and common sense tell us that the higher your expectations float,the deadlier your collision will be when they are frustrated.
    Another danger in such transitory artistic experiences is that they encourageforgetfulness, which often translates into mental submission to injustice.
    On the contrary, artistic engagements that challenge an unjust reality by pro-voking praxis (reflective action), in Paulo Freire's words, or by taking the audienceinto a "deeper medium"--in Mary Ann de Vlieg's words--of thinking abouttheir reality are not just effective, they are absolutely necessary in any conflict situa-tion. From my experience, nothing can imitate the profound, transformativeeffect of an art that impacts the hearts and the minds of the oppressed.

Evolutionary artistic engagement

I believe that an evolutionary art form cannot but emphasise process rather thanproduct. It is always seductive to look for products, timely results, concrete out-comes in any artistic engagement, yet these are far less important than theprocesses launched by such engagements. The former are more easily quantifiableand detectable--therefore fundable!--but they are less enduring and not quite aseffective as the latter.
    Moreover, for an artistic process to gen-uinely contribute to conflict resolution, it needs to reconcile the ostensibly incom-patible tendencies of authenticity and universality. But is there an inescapableopposition between the two? From my experience, this dichotomy is anythingbut given. Artistic engagements can share some universal aspects while maintainingtheir unique character, I think.
    El-Funoun's latest production, Haifa, Beirut & Beyond ... is an instance of that. It is more than anything else an evolu-tionary artistic engagement that triggers processes of thinking and action in regardto a particularly sensitive dimension of the Arab-Israeli conflict: dispossession andexile. Asked to introduce this important work in El-Funoun's brochure I wrote:
    Can you dance your tragedies? Can you dance your dreams? If you are Palestinian,you almost have no choice but to try doing both, for if you do one without theother, you choose to indulge in obsessive victimness or nai"ve illusion.
    In Haifa, Beirut & Beyond..., El-Funoun dances the essence of the Nakba, thePalestinian catastrophe of dispossession in 1948, when most Palestinians wereuprooted and turned--almost overnight--into refugees. We dance it,not in passive reminiscence, but in a spirit of catharsis, change and progress. Butto do that, we are compelled to dance our dreams as well. No less challenging atask, for sure.
    In the process, we realise that dancingour tragedies can help us rehabilitate our injured souls, to heal our buried collectivetrauma, and to make peace with our past, with all its pain, remorse, and hauntingguilt. And in dancing our dreams, we can take the process a step further, to fulfilour aspirations for justice, peace and dignified living.
    This project has indeed involved a process of growth, of learning, engaging,experimenting, failing, standing up again, analysing, critiquing, being cri-tiqued (severely!), and ultimately of succeeding in having an unmistakableimpact on the discourse related to the plight of refugees and the struggle forjustice and enduring peace. El-Funoun has carried evaluations at several levels:internal and external, with officials, intellectuals, students, workers, womenactivists, business people, artists involved. Several columns were written in thepapers to evaluate the "uniqueness and beyond-ness" of this work. Only a few,however, had the insight and experience to delve into the processes involved in thework, rather than indulging the immediate outcome that is convenient to detect,and to interpret.
    Of those few, Hanan Ashrawi had thisto say about it:
    "I'm extremely proud (at the personaland collective levels!) of the troupe in all aspects. As a Palestinian, I feel that this isprecisely what is lacking in our public presentation--an artistic, culturalendeavour of the highest calibre that would render our reality comprehensibleand place it in the middle of a human expression of creativity that makes itrecognisable in a multi-faceted manner."

Negotiation vs dialogue

Part of the universality of an evolutionary artistic engagement involves communica-tion with the "other". Promoting understanding, sharing, combating stereotypes,and co-learning are among the most obvious objectives sought in such communi-cation. I fully subscribe to the views of
    Carlos Fuentes, the distinguished Mexi-can writer, who wrote: "No culture [...] retains its identity in isolation; identity isattained in contact, in contrast, in breakthrough.
    "However, in an asymmetrical relationship (one involving power disparity), dia-logue is not possible at first. Any communication is within the realm of negoti-ation. Only after both sides have challenged preset attitudes and stereotypescan the relationship become more equitable, more balanced; and only then cantrue dialogue evolve, and thus the possibility for sincere collaboration. Dance, identity and conflictGoing back to the main question raised, whether artistic engagement is possible inconflict, I think that the answer is almost straightforward, at least to someoneimmersed in the situation of conflict: in conflict, art is simply a necessity.
    The following shows why.
    Intrigued by the particular form ofresistance my colleagues in El-Funoun and I have chosen, a visiting Belgianfilmmaker once asked me with some hesitation:
    "After all this war and destruction of basic infrastructure, how do you convinceyourself and the dancers to persevere in doing what you are doing? Isn't dance avery low priority in time of war?"
    I must admit that until then I hadnever asked myself that question. But my words nevertheless came out promptly,almost spontaneously:
    "Do we have to stop creating dance,music, art and literature to join the battle of `reconstruction'? Is reconstruction onlyapplicable to devastated buildings, roads, water pipes and electricity poles? Howabout shattered dreams and shaken identities, don't they need reconstruction aswell?"
    I could only recall John Stuart Mill'sdefinition of humans as "unique", "selfcreating", and "creative individuals" whoare "culture-bearing".
    In contexts of colonialism, culturalexpression acquires particular eminence in shaping the collective identity. This ismostly due to the role played by the colonist in influencing the native's identi-ty. As Jean-Paul Sartre once described the French settler-colonist in Algeria:
    "[H]e has come to believe that the domestication of the `inferior races' willcome about by the conditioning of their reflexes. But in this he leaves out ofaccount the human memory and the ineffaceable marks left upon it; and then, aboveall there is something which perhaps he has never known: we only become what we areby the radical and deep-seated refusal of that which others have made of us.
    "Immersing themselves in cultural praxis, the natives then expand the "inefface-able marks" left upon their human memory. Despite the widespread devastationcaused by the illegal Israeli military occupation, Palestinians cannot afford not tointegrate cultural rehabilitation and identity reformulation into their overall battleof reconstruction and struggle for emancipation. Our very humanity has beenrestricted, hampered, battered by the relentless dehumanising efforts of our tor-mentors. As a reaction, the process of decolonising our minds assumes crucialprecedence. Restoring our humanity, our dreams, our hopes and our will to resistand to be free, therefore, becomes even more important than mending our infra-structure. Thus, we dance.
    But our fetters do not all disappearwith the end of our subjugation to the colonist. We've always had some form ofshackles, cultural, social, that have also hindered our assumption of our due posi-tion in world development. In our cultural struggle, we cannot but address thoserestraints as well.
    Cultural expression to us, then, servesdual purposes: self-therapy and expansion of the "free zone" in our collective mind,where progressive transformation can thrive. In response to all the attempts tocircumscribe our aspirations, we must push on, dreaming and being creative,boundlessly. Thus we dance.

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