Democratic Palestine : 38 (ص 30)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 38 (ص 30)
- المحتوى
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Cultural Struggle is Our Ambition
Nidal Al Saleh made the following interview with Iman Aoun, an actress in Al Hakawati theater
group, while she was visiting Cairo.
The Palestinian intifada is not only resistance by
stones. Could you tell us about the role of cultural
activities in confronting the Israeli occupation?
Before responding to your question, let me tell about the
group itself and how it came into being. The Palestinian Al
Hakawati theater group was created in the mid-seventies by a
group of six people: the director, Francois Abu Salem, and the
actors Jacky Lubeck, Edward Muaalem, Amer Khalil, Nabil Al
Hajer and myself, who were studying drama at the Hebrew Uni-
versity in Jerusalem. There are also other co-workers. The first
play presented by the group was «The Father, Son and Holy
Ghost,» about Arab women and especially Palestinian women.
We aimed to say something about women and their position of
social and economic subordination as it prevails in the Arab
family, due to men’s attitudes. Because of this play’s
enlightened vision it caused a storm of protest in conservative
Palestinian circles.
Concerning our role in the struggle against the Israeli occu-
pation, we don’t believe in a theater of slogans. We tend to use
symbolism and satire, not because we fear confronting the occu-
pation, but we reject sloganism and rhetoric. It is true that our
material is borrowed from the real life of Palestinians under
occupation, but we seek to avoid mechanically copying this real-
ity on the stage. We are not concerned about being direct, and
Palestinians can no longer be aroused by rhetoric. We don’t
claim that we are fighting, although cultural struggle is our ambi-
tion. But we are part of the mass movement in the occupied ter-
ritories, which is trying to restore the Palestinian land, heritage
and right to live.
The martyr Ghassan Kanafani described the «cul-
tural siege» imposed by the Zionist occupation on
Palestinian Arab intellectuals. Surely this siege has
intensified during the intifada. How do the occupa-
tion authorities deal with the work of your group?
Saying occupation means censorship. Our activities, like
other cultural activities, are subject to the censorship of the
military governor. Even the Hebrew theater faces this, but with
the difference in the nature and form of censorship. For exam-
ple, the Israelis consider Jerusalem, where we reside, asa united
city. They therefore stipulate that we get permission from the
military governor before presenting a show in Jerusalem or
other Palestinian cities and villages. But we need two permits in
the West Bank, one from the military governor of Jerusalem
and another from the military governor in the area where we
want to present our show.
Moreover, the Zionist censor tried to impose an Israeli
name on our group. He asked us to use a name such as
«Jerusalem Al Hakawati Group from Israel» or the «Israeli Al
30
Hakawati Group» on our program. However, we rejected this
in spite of the pressure exerted by the censor on the printing
house. When we found such a name on the program, we cancel-
led the performance.
How does the group choose the plays it produces?
To date, we have presented many plays. All of them were
written by the group with the exception of Emil Lahoud’s novel,
The Six-Day Sextet, which we dramatized. In fact, all of us par-
ticipate in preparing the plays which usually begin with an idea
from one of us.
Does Al Hakawati create its own plays because none
are being written in the occupied territories, or
because you are seeking new dramatic methods?
Neither. Palestine does not have a theater tradition, but we
don’t write our texts just out of a desire for experimentation. We
do it because we are very concerned with moving away from
propagandistic art. The plays written in the occupied territories
are characterized by direct agitation, and what we have pre-
sented is aimed at eliminating this. Politics pervades everything;
Palestinians breathe politics, willingly or not. However, we
don’t believe that our battle with Zionism is a political one only,
but a battle of existence. Inour plays, we want to deal with Pales-
tinian life with all its social and class aspects, without ignoring
the political aspect.
How many plays has Al Hakawati presented?
We have presented many plays: Our first plays were «The
Father, Son and Holy Ghost» and «One Thousand and One
Nights of a Stonethrower» which was presented in 1982 and pre-
dicted the intifada. «An Eye for an Eye anda Tooth fora Tooth»
dealt with our struggle against the occupation. «The Story of
Kafr Shama» discussed the relationship between Palestinians in
the homeland and those in exile, raising the following questions:
Does the land exist in the heart and mind, or is it the tangible
soil? And where is the linkage between the two? We also pre-
sented a play entitled «Ali of the Galilee,» among a number of
the others.
Last summer, A/ Hakawati was invited to perform in
the US, but the invitation was cancelled for political
reasons, causing strong protests in the leftist and
Arab press there. Would you talk about that?
We were invited by the Republican Theater to present 15
performances. Everything was going normally, but after signing
the contract with those in charge of the theater, the invitation
was cancelled without reasons being given. Later we learned
that Zionists who were financing the theater pressured those in
Democratic Palestine, March-April 1990 - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 38
- تاريخ
- أبريل ١٩٩٠
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
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