LISTENING VIGIL FOR PALESTINE

A curation of voices.

Extracted from social media posts.

Curation period : Oct 7th - present
Artists, academics, Journalist, diplomats, lawyers and civilians on the ground. Mostly in english.
 

Curated by Christelle Franca

Logistics & support: Wissam Salem, Juliette Forster


A few words about this project.
by Christelle Franca

I spent many years in the Middle East. I have an intimate connection with the land and its people. I came to know about the many layers of traumas that exist from all bordering sides, in every confession, in every generation. The common thing I heard from these humans was a clear request: to be seen, to be heard in their pains. They don't ask to carry those suffering for them, nor to live them for them, nor to solve them for them. (The interference of the West is at the root of many of these traumas. But that's another story.) They ask to have witnesses, watchers of their suffering , vigils for oppression. THEY SIMPLY DONT WANT TO FEEL INVISIBLE.

That's the root of this project. Being present, paying attention to those who suffer, cry, die. That's the first repair we can offer ourselves. That's what I needed to offer and to offer myself as well. In my own way, I often needed to have witnesses in moments of traumatic passages or grieving time. I offer what I wish to receive. Isn't that what we all wish for?

This vigil goes beyond the political and economic agendas that render humans invisible. It is my call for humanity.To keep the candle lit for each other.
History is not radical. It is nuanced, complex, contradictory. Like those who tell it. Humans.

Intentions

VIGIL def.
" A period of keeping awake during the time usually spent asleep, especially to keep watch or pray" .


WE HOLD THIS VIGIL

- We educate ourselves and each others about the ongoing ethnic cleansing happening in Occupied Palestine. We see how history is repeating itself.

- We honor the courageous voices denouncing the atrocities, diligently expressing in english, so we- the West/ global North- can better understand and act responsibly.

- We ground important documentation outside of the elusive influx of the social media data base .

- We guide eachothers through the noise of social media and beyond the silence of official media by curating entry points and narrative pathways.

- We quiet our nervous system by stepping into the audio signal only,  stepping out of the flow of images, fast fragmented and charged with petritying power. Accessing a  deeper, calmer, more integrated process of informations.

-We hold a vigil for the people, the animals, the land presently sacrificing their lives, so we come out of immature illusions / wake the f.up

-We help each other naming the ghosts  by listening to words who address the un-healed, so those memories can be individually and collectively recognized and some grieving can gently start.

- We help each other tell the stories by providing downloadable audio to anyone engaged with the subject of liberation.

-We remain vigilant for this massive erasing of lives and freedom, unprecedented in its illegality, in its live documentation and its Empire support, can next happen everywhere, to everyone.
tell

• Context
  by Christelle Franca

About listening My listening background is in DJing + sound recording . Since 1997 I have been curating, organizing, archiving, sharing audio documents/testimonies and telling sound stories in Europe, North America and the Middle East.

About PALESTINE: My listening to Palestinians voices started on the ground, while living in Lebanon between 2006 and 2014. I was holding listening workshops for the children of Burj El Barajneh and Sabra-Shatila refugees camps, both in Beirut, while getting into close relationships with Palestinians artists .  

About the VIGIL/ the VIGILANCE:  Back in Canada, I completed my Master's in 2018 on the art of Listening applied to my experience in Lebanon. Basically,  how deep listening practices can free the mind from shallow/sickening/controlling narratives. May those narratives be from the official mainstream Media, or / and from our own inherited belief system. 

D.D
46 ans, musicien

Last week a small group of us was invited by christelle Franca to a listening session, a vigil, a collective aural witnessing. We listen to a selection curated from Radio Vigil, a careful and laboriously compiled collection of soundscapes, interviews and testimonials about Palestine recorded from social media platforms over the last 100+ days. They are powerful attestations, powerful words, and the vigil is a collective practice of bearing witness to voices that are being so often being neglected, silenced, and extinguished.
Our little group was comprised of Canadian, European, Arab and Jewish ears. And there is something extraordinary that can happen when we listen in the presence of others. Opening our ears together, opening our hearts together, witnesssing and grieving together.
This is crucial work, healing work, and I would urge you all to support it.

H.M
55 ans, athée, gestionnaire de la culture

Il est de ces moments cruciaux où un sujet mérite 100% de notre attention, ne serait-ce que pour quelques minutes ou quelques heures.

Parce que ce sont ces moments qui font vibrer l'humanité en nous. Cette expérience de réelle écoute collective permet de mettre en veilleuse les acquis, quels qu'ils soient et les 'a priori' que l'éducation, le le narratif des médias, la distance et le tourbillon de la vie plantent en nous.

Si tristesse, désespoir et colère teintent les propos de ces témoins qui partagent leur douleur face à l'horreur de la situation à Gaza et alentours, à aucun moment ne transparait de haine.

C'est cette profonde humanité qui met en évidence si c'était encore nécessaire que RIEN ne justifie ce qui se passe depuis plus de 100 jours à Gaza.

Rendez service à votre coeur et à votre âme et donnez vous le temps et l’espace d’écouter ces histoires qui ne peuvent passer sous silence plus longtemps.

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Saïd Gharbi
20ans, Tunisian/Canadian student based in Montreal

It's when you close your eyes and listen, where the sound somehow becomes cristal clear. This was for me, above al else, truly a form of meditation about grasping Reality by confronting it's horror. Letting go of all the outside noise, all the judgments, all the hate. A wake up call to those who are afraid to hear. There's not much time left. The bell is ringing. the bell is ringing...

 
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N.V
43 ans, recherchiste

Geste poétique bien plus que politique, cette vigile d'écoute nous donne à entendre des sons, des voix, des vies d'un Ailleurs qui par le fait même n'en est plus un.

En portant à nos oreilles cette courtepointe sonore soigneusement choisie,  Radio Vigil ancre en nous un réel devenu collectif et crée un dialogue indispensable à l'espoir. 

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Z.D.P

22 , mixed media artist, African-Canadian, Jewish

I feel like this was a very important piece of media for me to consume as I find I can be very all or nothing. To be honest I find myself having very little sympathy for the settlers of Palestine and listening to more perspectives about the cycle

Of abuse and trauma was a very important thing for me as it put me back into reality about how complex this is. However, it also isn’t, and we all know the only possible solution to this is a ceasefire now. 

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M.E

21, étudiante en film & art

Aucune personne n’a envie de vivre à l’époque d’un génocide massif, personne ne prend plaisir de voir, de savoir, d’écouter les expériences d’un peuple qui se fait décimé. Toutefois, en ce moment, les médias traditionnels cachent, déforment, mentent afin de bénéficier de la narrative des responsables de cette guerre. Quand je dis responsables je ne parle pas des juifs ou même du peuple israélien mais bien de ceux qui ont le pouvoir de mettre un stop à cette violence mais qui décident d’agir autrement, ainsi qu’aux années de trauma qui ont fait souffrir et changer.

Il est donc nécessaire d’offrir notre écoute, de comprendre la complexité de la situation et de répandre l’information. Je ne suis qu’une franco-canadienne, vivant dans une richesse extrême, la sûreté. Je ne peux pas changer le monde, mais je peux choisit de supporter des projets comme celui-ci, qui sensibilise et éduque et surtout, touche.

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