Gaza Youth Break Out (A Manifesto for Revolution in Gaza, Palestine)

A revolutionary wave is sweeping the Middle East the likes of which we have never seen before….

Fuck Israel. Fuck Hamas. Fuck Fatah. Fuck UN. Fuck UNWRA. Fuck USA! We, the youth in Gaza, are so fed up with Israel, Hamas, the occupation, the violations of human rights and the indifference of the international community! We want to scream and break this wall of silence, injustice and indifference like the Israeli F16’s breaking the wall of sound; scream with all the power in our souls in order to release this immense frustration that consumes us because of this fucking situation we live in; we are like lice between two nails living a nightmare inside a nightmare, no room for hope, no space for freedom.

We are sick of being caught in this political struggle; sick of coal dark nights with airplanes circling above our homes; sick of innocent farmers getting shot in the buffer zone because they are taking care of their lands; sick of bearded guys walking around with their guns abusing their power, beating up or incarcerating young people demonstrating for what they believe in; sick of the wall of shame that separates us from the rest of our country and keeps us imprisoned in a stamp-sized piece of land; sick of being portrayed as terrorists, homemade fanatics with explosives in our pockets and evil in our eyes; sick of the indifference we meet from the international community, the so-called experts in expressing concerns and drafting resolutions but cowards in enforcing anything they agree on; we are sick and tired of living a shitty life, being kept in jail by Israel, beaten up by Hamas and completely ignored by the rest of the world.

We are youth with heavy hearts. We carry in ourselves a heaviness so immense that it makes it difficult to us to enjoy the sunset. How to enjoy it when dark clouds paint the horizon and bleak memories run past our eyes every time we close them? We smile in order to hide the pain. We laugh in order to forget the war. We hope in order not to commit suicide here and now. During the war we got the unmistakable feeling that Israel wanted to erase us from the face of the earth. During the last years Hamas has been doing all they can to control our thoughts, behaviour and aspirations. We are a generation of young people used to face missiles, carrying what seems to be a impossible mission of living a normal and healthy life, and only barely tolerated by a massive organization that has spread in our society as a malicious cancer disease, causing mayhem and effectively killing all living cells, thoughts and dreams on its way as well as paralyzing people with its terror regime. Not to mention the prison we live in, a prison sustained by a so-called democratic country.”

More here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gaza-Youth-Breaks-Out-GYBO/118914244840679?v=info

Vote for ImMEDIAte Justice on http://www.refresheverything.com/immediatejusticefilms

ImMEDIAteJustice was created last year by Co-op members and Wonder-Women, Tani Ikeda and Sylvia “Strawberry” Raskin. The org trains youth in media literacy and reproductive health with a gender conscious lens. Through this program, professional filmmakers provide the mentorship, tools, & distribution teens need to share their vision with the world.

Now they need our help! They’ve entered Pepsi’s month long contest “Refresh Everything” for the chance to win $25,000. To win, they need to be voted into the top 10 projects by March 31st. Each person can vote daily, so please vote! Help Strawberry and Tani educate young women about reproductive justice and change the world!

To vote, visit http://www.refresheverything.com/immediatejusticefilms  (Pepsi requires that you sign up, but fear not, they won’t spam you)

More about IMJ:

The focus for summer 2010 is to create positive sexuality education films by LGBTQ youth. They envision sexual education as an inclusive, exploratory, youth-driven process that utilizes new media as a tool to share and safely access information. Their online community, CALIBODYPOLITIX, keeps young women informed about reproductive health and justice in California with the largest network of national and local reproductive health resources for youth.

The program and retreats foster positive self-image, supportive female alliances and media literacy skills, as participants graduate through a two-tier leadership development program that increases their influence as filmmakers and leaders of the next generation of women.