A group from New Orleans traveled to the Gaza Strip in June 2009 to document, witness and talk with people affected by Israel's massive attack in December 2008 and January 2009 on this 140 sq mile section of land bordering Egypt and Israel/Palestine.
Includes recordings of several speakers who went to Gaza, along with the delegation's answers to audience questions.
Biographical sketches of New Orleans Human Rights Delegation to Gaza Members who spoke at the event.
Abdul Aziz is a social justice activist, photographer, and
filmmaker. He has worked with the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana
(JJPL) organizing among, and advocating for, youth in the criminal
justice and juvenile incarceration systems. He is also a founding
member of the photography collective Monde Noir.
Jewel Bush is a journalist/writer who has received numerous accolades for
her work, including distinctions from The New York Times Regional Media
Group, Louisiana Press Association, and American Association of Sunday
and Features Editors. The New Orleans native has freelanced for The
Times-Picayune, New Orleans Homes & Lifestyles Magazine, and El
Tiempo, a bilingual Spanish newspaper. Jewel currently works in public
relations and marketing, having developed successful media/marketing
campaigns for nonprofit organizations like the American Cancer Society,
institutions like the George & Leah McKenna Museum of African
American Art in addition to annual events such as Patois: The New
Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival.
Lily Keber is a documentary filmmaker and teacher living in New Orleans. Her
film T. Don Hutto: America’s Family Prison brought the plight of family
detention to national attention and continues to be used as an activism
tool across the country. She currently is media trainer for New Orleans
Video Voices, a grassroots media organization devoted to fostering
critical, independent thinking through the direct and meaningful use of
new media. Lily is also the organizer for the New Orleans Documentary
Night (NODOC), a monthly public screening of current non-fiction film.
Taslima van Hattum is a social worker and public health
professional for the University of California San Francisco’s Institute
of Aging. She works on late-life recovery and life reorganization
post-disaster research in New Orleans. In addition she is a
photographer and an active organizer with New Orleans Palestine
Solidarity (NOLAPS).
Emily Ratner is a Jewish American
who is the co-director of Patois: The New Orleans International Human
Rights Film Festival and an active organizer with New Orleans Palestine
Solidarity (NOLAPS). She is one of many Jews in the New Orleans area
who is interested in starting a conversation among American Jews about
their continued support for the Israeli government, and is going to
Gaza in part to bring back photographs, footage, and experiential
knowledge to share with the Jewish community here as we prepare to take
a strong stand on our communities’ direct support for the Israeli
occupation and oppression of Palestine and the Palestinian people.
Jordan Flaherty was the first journalist with a national
audience to write about the Jena Six case, and played an important role
in bringing the story to worldwide attention. His post-Katrina writing
in ColorLines Magazine shared a journalism award from New American
Media for best Katrina-related coverage in the Ethnic press, and
viewers around the world have seen the TV news segments he’s produced
for Al-Jazeera, TeleSur, and Democracy Now.
Map of the Gaza Seige 2008/09 courtesy of
Solidarity Maps blogSee Related Stories:
Starting Over in Gaza - Report from a New Orleanian in GazaNew Orleanians in a delegation during the siegeLocal Protests Continue in January Protesting the Attacks on Gaza via New Orleans
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