Palestinian refugees pass on power of culture
Oct 27 2009 The Journal
Peter Mortimer reflects on the recent historic theatre visit to the North East of a special group of Palestinian refugees
The girls, like 17,000 others, live crammed into Shatila’s one square kilometre (about the size of a cricket field) in crudely constructed blocks of flats, a place of no street names, open spaces, pavements, street lighting, grass, trees or even, during my time there, birds.
Less than one year, and more than £22,000 of fundraising later, accompanied by five teachers, they’ve been and gone, leaving an indelible impression at The Customs House, South Shields, The Saville Exchange, North Shields, Bellingham Town Hall, and The Sage. The experience changed their lives, my own, and I suspect many of the audience. Shatila has existed for sixty years, now home to a fourth generation of Palestinians, still dreaming of a return to the land (known as Israel) they see as their home. The political problems of the Middle-East seem intractable, and my own time and work in Shatila was inspired by the great late Palestinian academic and thinker Edward Said, who said, “not the culture of power, but the power of culture.”
Small moments stay in the mind; the unfettered joy of the girls when horse-riding in the beautiful Northumbrian countryside; their sheer delight to discover a Whitley Bay flowerbed (no flowers on Shatila), or a small adventure playground (no swings or roundabouts on Shatila) .
But ultimately I’m reinforced by a sense that human beings, even those living their lives in forgotten squalid places that are a stain on our humanity, have potential for great things.
Peter Mortimer’s book, Camp Shatila, a Writer’s Chronicle, is published by Five Leaves Publications, priced £8.99 and was launched last Saturday as part of the Durham Book Festival.
The author has just been given the North-East CIC Cultural Diversity Award (Arts Category).
Anyone interested in supporting a future Shatila Trust can contact Peter Mortimer at ironpress@blueyonder.co.uk
