Valleys of Hope and Despair; peace building through independent environmental documentaries

By Joshka WesselsLund University

Sweden

Ecological Peacebuilding: environment, democracy and peace.

• The environmental roots to armed conflicts • Theories of ecological peace-building, peace

with peaceful means• Environmental politics/political ecology. • Impact of occupation on nature.• Environmentalism in religion; the Divineness of

Nature• Holistic approach to peacemaking; there are no

war heros, only peace heros

Wadi Fukin, shedding a tear for human & nature

• Area C• 600 year old terraces, UNESCO designated • Colonisation• Land confiscation• Settler violence and harassment• Marginalisation of agricultural production• Pollution and drying up of Palestinian springs• Sewage spill-over• Peace building despite everything

Research and development

• A passion for water, nature & film• EU-Meda Water film project “Save local, Solve

gobal”• Development “From The Source” media

initiative & blog with personal investment• Inception tour June 2009 (Jordan, Palestine,

Israel)

Challenges of production and development

• Interviews, filming with Palestinian Water Authority, researchers

• Interviews, filming with Israeli environmentalists, researchers

• Cooperation with FoEME, initial idea of “Share the Drop”

Challenges of production and development

• Traveling through Ben Gurion Airport or the Allenby Bridge

• On-going FoEME environmental project “Good Water Neighbours”

• Visit of the Elders to Wadi Fukin and Tsur Hadassah

• Pitching “Share The Drop” in Europe• Being a Western Dutch female filmmaker;

gender, expectations and perception.

Challenges of production and development

• Under reported issues of environment and water, lack of production funding

• Pitching water stories to Television trust for the Environment, Al Jazeera English (UK)

• Putting together a Dutch-Israeli-Palestinian crew

• Connecting with people of Wadi Fukin and Tsur Hadassah

• Entering Bitar Illit

Worldwide broadcast, screenings and audience feedback

• November 2010 TX Al Jazeera English• Repeats throughout 2011• Director’s cut in 2011• Screenings in Environmental filmfestivals, The

Netherlands, Sweden, the UK• Crowdfunding for community tour with

Palestinians Mobile Cinema Association

Challenges and a community tour in Occupied Territories

Challenges and a community tour in Occupied Territories

Challenges and a community tour in Occupied Territories

Realities of conflict, recognitions, fear and mistrust

• Recognising trauma• Suspicion towards the other• Problems working with settlers, collaboration• Anti-normalisation sentiments• Blind spots for our common humanity• Cycle of violence towards Self• Hydrological and ecological cycles of Life

Conclusion

• Daily confrontation with occupation & increasing settler violence, suffocation

• One-staters vs. two-staters (Palestine-Israel)• Anti-normalisation and Arabophobia• Peace industry or peace of mind• Suspicion, traumatic stress and reconciliation• Inter-connectedness, the hydrological cycle• Common humanity and the environment