1 00:00:09,051 --> 00:00:13,049 I'll start with this poem, I wrote this poem when the bombs were dropping on Gaza. 2 00:00:13,049 --> 00:00:18,039 And I was the media spokesperson for the coalition doing a lot of the organizing 3 00:00:18,039 --> 00:00:21,032 and we'd stayed up to about six o'clock in the morning, 4 00:00:21,032 --> 00:00:24,064 perfecting every sound bite and by the end 5 00:00:24,064 --> 00:00:27,039 if you're a Palestinian you know, most Palestinians get tired 6 00:00:27,039 --> 00:00:33,011 and start pronouncing our 'p's as 'b's so we become Balestinians by the end of the day. 7 00:00:33,011 --> 00:00:35,096 So I was practicing my p's all night. 8 00:00:35,096 --> 00:00:39,056 And the next morning one of the journalists asked me: 9 00:00:39,056 --> 00:00:44,080 "don't you think it would all be fine if you just stopped teaching your children to hate?" 10 00:00:44,096 --> 00:00:47,006 I did not insult the person, 11 00:00:47,006 --> 00:00:50,037 I was very polite but I wrote this poem 12 00:00:50,037 --> 00:00:54,073 as a response to these types of questions we Palestinians always get. 13 00:00:56,015 --> 00:01:00,023 Today, my body was a TV’d massacre. 14 00:01:00,023 --> 00:01:05,097 Today, my body was a TV’d massacre that had to fit into sound-bites and word limits. 15 00:01:05,097 --> 00:01:11,096 Today, my body was a TV’d massacre that had to fit into sound-bites 16 00:01:11,096 --> 00:01:17,011 and word limits filled enough with statistics to counter measured response. 17 00:01:17,011 --> 00:01:21,056 And I perfected my English and I learned my UN resolutions. 18 00:01:21,056 --> 00:01:26,071 But still, he asked me: "Ms. Ziadah, don’t you think everything would be resolved 19 00:01:26,071 --> 00:01:31,016 if you would just stop teaching so much hatred to your children?" 20 00:01:31,016 --> 00:01:32,019 Pause! 21 00:01:32,056 --> 00:01:36,015 I look inside of me for strength to be patient 22 00:01:36,015 --> 00:01:40,087 but patience is not at the tip of my tongue as the bombs drop over Gaza. 23 00:01:40,087 --> 00:01:43,012 Patience has just escaped me. 24 00:01:43,012 --> 00:01:44,017 Pause! 25 00:01:44,017 --> 00:01:45,015 Smile! 26 00:01:45,015 --> 00:01:47,007 We teach life, sir! 27 00:01:47,007 --> 00:01:48,056 Rafeef, remember to smile... 28 00:01:48,056 --> 00:01:49,050 Pause! 29 00:01:49,050 --> 00:01:51,012 We teach life, sir! 30 00:01:51,012 --> 00:01:56,029 We Palestinians teach life after they have occupied the last sky. 31 00:01:56,029 --> 00:02:00,088 We teach life after they have built their settlements and apartheid walls, 32 00:02:00,088 --> 00:02:03,030 after the last skies. 33 00:02:03,030 --> 00:02:05,027 We teach life, sir! 34 00:02:05,027 --> 00:02:06,060 But today, 35 00:02:06,060 --> 00:02:12,045 my body was a TV’d massacre made to fit into sound-bites and word limits. 36 00:02:12,045 --> 00:02:15,044 And "just give us a story, a human story. 37 00:02:15,044 --> 00:02:17,012 You see, this is not political. 38 00:02:17,012 --> 00:02:19,071 We just want to tell people about you and your people, 39 00:02:19,071 --> 00:02:21,055 so give us a human story. 40 00:02:21,055 --> 00:02:24,021 Don’t mention that word “apartheid” and “occupation”. 41 00:02:24,021 --> 00:02:25,052 This is not political! 42 00:02:25,052 --> 00:02:29,075 You have to help me as a journalist to help you tell your story 43 00:02:29,075 --> 00:02:31,075 which is not a political story". 44 00:02:31,075 --> 00:02:34,034 Today, my body was a TV’d massacre. 45 00:02:34,034 --> 00:02:37,095 "How about, you give us a story of a woman in Gaza who needs medication? 46 00:02:37,095 --> 00:02:39,029 How about you? 47 00:02:39,029 --> 00:02:43,047 Do you have enough bone-broken limbs to cover the sun? 48 00:02:43,047 --> 00:02:45,080 Hand me over your dead 49 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:50,067 and give me the list of their names in one thousand two hundred word limits". 50 00:02:50,067 --> 00:02:51,068 Today, 51 00:02:51,068 --> 00:02:56,069 my body was a TV’d massacre made to fit into sound-bites and word limits 52 00:02:56,069 --> 00:03:01,048 and move those that are desensitized to terrorist blood. 53 00:03:01,048 --> 00:03:03,001 But they felt sorry. 54 00:03:03,001 --> 00:03:06,031 They felt sorry for the cattle over Gaza. 55 00:03:06,031 --> 00:03:09,046 So, I give them UN resolutions and statistics 56 00:03:09,046 --> 00:03:10,033 and we condemn 57 00:03:10,033 --> 00:03:11,040 and we deplore 58 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:12,016 and we reject! 59 00:03:12,016 --> 00:03:16,059 And these are not two equal sides: occupier and occupied. 60 00:03:16,059 --> 00:03:17,063 And a hundred dead, 61 00:03:17,063 --> 00:03:18,084 two hundred dead, 62 00:03:18,084 --> 00:03:20,028 and a thousand dead. 63 00:03:20,028 --> 00:03:23,056 And between, that war crime and massacre, 64 00:03:23,056 --> 00:03:27,028 I vent out words and smile "not exotic", 65 00:03:27,028 --> 00:03:29,059 smile "not terrorist". 66 00:03:29,059 --> 00:03:35,024 And I recount, I recount a hundred dead, two hundred dead, a thousand dead! 67 00:03:35,024 --> 00:03:36,076 Is anyone out there? 68 00:03:36,076 --> 00:03:38,012 Will anyone listen? 69 00:03:38,012 --> 00:03:41,021 I wish I could wail over their bodies. 70 00:03:41,021 --> 00:03:44,060 I wish I could just run barefoot in every refugee camp, 71 00:03:44,060 --> 00:03:46,016 and hold every child, 72 00:03:46,016 --> 00:03:47,052 cover their ears 73 00:03:47,052 --> 00:03:49,091 so they wouldn’t have to hear the sound of bombing 74 00:03:49,091 --> 00:03:52,012 for the rest of their life the way I do. 75 00:03:52,012 --> 00:03:54,088 Today, my body was a TV’d massacre. 76 00:03:54,088 --> 00:03:56,008 And let me just tell you, 77 00:03:56,008 --> 00:04:00,011 there’s nothing your UN resolutions have ever done about this. 78 00:04:00,011 --> 00:04:03,028 And no sound-bite, no sound-bite I come up with, 79 00:04:03,028 --> 00:04:05,068 no matter how good my English gets! 80 00:04:05,068 --> 00:04:08,024 No sound-bite... no sound-bite... no sound-bite... 81 00:04:08,024 --> 00:04:10,091 no sound-bite will bring them back to life! 82 00:04:10,091 --> 00:04:12,080 No sound-bite will fix this! 83 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:13,075 We teach life, sir! 84 00:04:14,001 --> 00:04:15,012 We teach life, sir! 85 00:04:15,012 --> 00:04:24,023 We Palestinians wake up every morning to teach the rest of the world life, sir! 86 00:04:31,075 --> 00:04:32,083 Thank you!