1 00:00:09,266 --> 00:00:13,518 I'll start with this poem, I wrote this poem when the bombs were dropping on Gaza. 2 00:00:13,518 --> 00:00:17,863 And I was the media spokesperson for the coalition doing a lot of the organizing 3 00:00:17,863 --> 00:00:20,703 and we'd stayed up to about six o'clock in the morning, 4 00:00:20,703 --> 00:00:24,070 perfecting every sound bite and by the end 5 00:00:24,070 --> 00:00:26,762 If you're a Palestinian you know, most Palestinians get tired 6 00:00:26,762 --> 00:00:32,150 they start to spell 'p's as 'b's so we become Balestinians by the end of the day. 7 00:00:32,150 --> 00:00:35,623 So I was practicing my p's all night. 8 00:00:35,623 --> 00:00:39,106 And the next morning one of the journalists asked me: 9 00:00:39,106 --> 00:00:44,600 "Don't you think it would all be fine if you just stopped teaching your children to hate?" 10 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:46,943 I did not insult the person, 11 00:00:46,943 --> 00:00:49,863 I was very polite but I wrote this poem 12 00:00:49,863 --> 00:00:55,699 as a response to these types of questions we Palestinians always get. 13 00:00:55,699 --> 00:00:59,624 Today, my body was a TV’d massacre. 14 00:00:59,624 --> 00:01:05,941 Today, my body was a TV’d massacre that had to fit into sound-bites and word limits. 15 00:01:05,941 --> 00:01:11,389 Today, my body was a TV’d massacre that had to fit into sound-bites 16 00:01:11,389 --> 00:01:16,903 and word limits filled enough with statistics to counter measured response. 17 00:01:16,903 --> 00:01:21,518 And I perfected my English and I learned my UN resolutions. 18 00:01:21,518 --> 00:01:26,223 But still, he asked me: "Ms. Ziadah, don’t you think everything would be resolved 19 00:01:26,223 --> 00:01:30,608 if you would just stop teaching so much hatred to your children?" 20 00:01:30,608 --> 00:01:32,223 Pause! 21 00:01:32,223 --> 00:01:35,187 I look inside of me for strength to be patient 22 00:01:35,187 --> 00:01:40,303 but patience is not at the tip of my tongue as the bombs drop over Gaza. 23 00:01:40,303 --> 00:01:42,780 Patience has just escaped me. 24 00:01:42,780 --> 00:01:44,223 Pause! 25 00:01:44,223 --> 00:01:45,103 Smile! 26 00:01:45,103 --> 00:01:46,511 We teach life, sir! 27 00:01:46,511 --> 00:01:47,981 Rafeef, remember to smile... 28 00:01:47,981 --> 00:01:49,276 Pause! 29 00:01:49,276 --> 00:01:50,604 We teach life, sir! 30 00:01:50,604 --> 00:01:55,623 We Palestinians teach life after they have occupied the last sky. 31 00:01:55,623 --> 00:02:00,519 We teach life after they have built their settlements and apartheid walls, 32 00:02:00,519 --> 00:02:02,622 after the last skies. 33 00:02:02,622 --> 00:02:05,143 We teach life, sir! 34 00:02:05,143 --> 00:02:06,272 But today, 35 00:02:06,272 --> 00:02:11,956 my body was a TV’d massacre made to fit into sound-bites and word limits. 36 00:02:11,956 --> 00:02:14,903 And "just give us a story, a human story. 37 00:02:14,903 --> 00:02:16,630 You see, this is not political. 38 00:02:16,630 --> 00:02:19,021 We just want to tell people about you and your people, 39 00:02:19,021 --> 00:02:20,911 so give us a human story. 40 00:02:20,911 --> 00:02:23,517 Don’t mention that word “apartheid” and “occupation”. 41 00:02:23,517 --> 00:02:24,903 This is not political! 42 00:02:24,903 --> 00:02:29,102 You have to help me as a journalist to help you tell your story 43 00:02:29,102 --> 00:02:31,179 which is not a political story." 44 00:02:31,179 --> 00:02:33,870 Today, my body was a TV’d massacre. 45 00:02:33,870 --> 00:02:37,349 How about, you give us a story of a woman in Gaza who needs medication? 46 00:02:37,349 --> 00:02:38,703 How about you? 47 00:02:38,703 --> 00:02:42,990 Do you have enough bone-broken limbs to cover the sun? 48 00:02:42,990 --> 00:02:45,271 Hand me over your dead 49 00:02:45,271 --> 00:02:50,277 and give me the list of their names in 1200 word limits. 50 00:02:50,277 --> 00:02:51,421 Today, 51 00:02:51,421 --> 00:02:56,423 my body was a TV’d massacre made to fit into sound-bites and word limits 52 00:02:56,423 --> 00:03:01,543 and move those that are desensitized to terrorist blood. 53 00:03:01,543 --> 00:03:02,863 But they felt sorry. 54 00:03:02,863 --> 00:03:05,784 They felt sorry for the cattle over Gaza. 55 00:03:05,784 --> 00:03:09,303 So, I give them UN resolutions and statistics 56 00:03:09,303 --> 00:03:10,263 and we condemn 57 00:03:10,263 --> 00:03:11,107 and we deplore 58 00:03:11,107 --> 00:03:11,903 and we reject! 59 00:03:11,903 --> 00:03:16,234 And these are not two equal sides: occupier and occupied. 60 00:03:16,234 --> 00:03:17,340 And a hundred dead, 61 00:03:17,340 --> 00:03:18,186 two hundred dead, 62 00:03:18,186 --> 00:03:19,939 and a thousand dead. 63 00:03:19,939 --> 00:03:23,503 And between that war crime and massacre, 64 00:03:23,503 --> 00:03:26,390 I vent out words and smile "not exotic", 65 00:03:26,390 --> 00:03:29,105 smile "not terrorist". 66 00:03:29,105 --> 00:03:34,848 And I recount, I recount a hundred dead, two hundred dead, a thousand dead! 67 00:03:34,848 --> 00:03:36,224 Is anyone out there? 68 00:03:36,224 --> 00:03:38,028 Will anyone listen? 69 00:03:38,028 --> 00:03:40,864 I wish I could wail over their bodies. 70 00:03:40,864 --> 00:03:44,220 I wish I could just run barefoot in every refugee camp, 71 00:03:44,220 --> 00:03:45,710 and hold every child, 72 00:03:45,710 --> 00:03:46,942 cover their ears 73 00:03:46,942 --> 00:03:49,116 so they wouldn’t have to hear the sound of bombing 74 00:03:49,116 --> 00:03:51,522 for the rest of their life the way I do. 75 00:03:51,522 --> 00:03:54,540 Today, my body was a TV’d massacre. 76 00:03:54,540 --> 00:03:56,107 And let me just tell you, 77 00:03:56,107 --> 00:04:00,350 there’s nothing your UN resolutions have ever done about this. 78 00:04:00,350 --> 00:04:02,380 And no sound-bite, no sound-bite I come up with, 79 00:04:02,380 --> 00:04:05,140 no matter how good my English gets! 80 00:04:05,140 --> 00:04:07,300 No sound-bite... no sound-bite... no sound-bite... 81 00:04:07,300 --> 00:04:10,463 no sound-bite will bring them back to life! 82 00:04:10,463 --> 00:04:12,703 No sound-bite will fix this! 83 00:04:12,703 --> 00:04:13,909 We teach life, sir! 84 00:04:13,909 --> 00:04:15,688 We teach life, sir! 85 00:04:15,688 --> 00:04:31,780 We Palestinians wake up every morning to teach the rest of the world life, sir! 86 00:04:31,780 --> 00:04:32,701 Thank you!