Presenting…

Thursday, September 21, 2017, 6:30 pm

Marmalade Library

200 West 500 North, Salt Lake City

DISTURBING THE PEACE IS ABOUT PEOPLE BORN INTO CONFLICT, SWORN TO BE ENEMIES, WHO CHALLENGED THEIR FATE. THE FILM FOLLOWS EVERYDAY PEOPLE WHO TOOK EXTRAORDINARY ACTIONS BY STANDING FOR WHAT THEY BELIEVE IN, JUST LIKE THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE THEM – MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., ROSA PARKS, GANDHI, NELSON MANDELA AND MANY OTHERS WHOSE NAMES WE DON’T KNOW. THE MOVIE CHALLENGES ALL OF US – TO UNDERSTAND THE NARRATIVES WE LIVE WITHIN, TO LOOK AT OUR CURRENT ROLES IN OUR SOCIETIES, AND TO DECIDE WHAT ROLE WE ARE GOING TO PLAY IN CREATING A MORE HUMANE WORLD, FOR ALL. AND IT STARTS WITH OUR WILLINGNESS TO DISTURB THE PEACE.

Learn more

…and don’t miss

at Mooo…vie Night!

Thursday, September 28, 2017, 7:00 pm

Unitarian Church

1300 East 600 South, Salt Lake City

(Parking—Plenty of on-street parking or visitors may use the parking lot of Friendship Manor at the corner of 1300 East and 500 South. Enter the parking lot from either of Friendship Manor’s two driveways and make your way south towards the church’s 78 parking stalls.)

“It was quite terrifying,” says Amer Shomali of his decision to make a funny film (featuring talking cows) about a very serious situation (the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in the late 80s and early 90s). “But I’m a cartoonist and humour is part of the way I see things. I believe that a nation that can’t make fun of its own wounds will never be able to heal them.”

“The Wanted 18 tells the true story of a Palestinian committee in the town of Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem, that purchased a herd of cows from a friendly kibbutz owner and used them in a bid to undermine Israeli control. It was a step towards self-sufficiency beset by problems: Palestinians are not a cow-rearing people, which accounts for some agricultural hiccups along the way, and the Israeli authorities did not look kindly even on the smallest gestures of independence – the cows were declared “dangerous for the security of the state of Israel” and became fugitives from the law.”

Read full Guardian interview here.

In the News

…regarding the first ever UN Report that concluded that Israel has established an Apartheid regime

Commentary: For centuries people held the belief that the sun revolved around the earth, until objective facts proving the opposite were finally accepted. Initially those offering such facts were ignored, ridiculed, and condemned. This issue of the Middle East Notes focuses on the crime of apartheid to which the government of Israel stands accused by an array of objective facts. The messengers of these facts are likewise being ignored, ridiculed, and condemned rather than the facts presented being refuted. Personal beliefs and emotional appeals (“post truth”) continue to be used in an attempt to control public opinion.

• A report by UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) Rima Khalaf concluded that Israel has established an apartheid regime.
• Haaretz notes that this report is the first time a UN body has stated the charge of apartheid against Israel.
• Haaretz also reports that the United States called on the United Nations to withdraw this report.
• Ali Abunimah in Electronic Intifada states that Rima Khalaf resigned, following pressure from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to withdraw the landmark report.
• Ma’an News Agency states that the report, now withdrawn, concluded that Israel is guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt” of imposing apartheid policies upon Palestinians.
• Richard Falk in The Nation writes reflections on the report made by himself andVirginia Tilley noting the degree to which Israel’s supporters, in response to criticism, have sought to discredit the messengers rather than address the message.