Hier findet ihr den Aufruf des Vorbereitungskomitees zur Teilnahme am 28. Farkha-Festival 2023 in Palästina.
Invitation to
28. Farkha Festival in Palestine 2023 – Fighting against Apartheid and for Climate Justice
13th to 20th of August 2023 in Farkha/ West Bank, Palestine
Dear Comrades and Friends,
The Festival Committee, the Youth of the Palestinian People Party and Albad Cultural Center invite you cordially to participate in one week of volunteer work, political discussions and workshops on the Palestinian struggles towards liberation and justice, on struggles of Palestinian women, on left perspectives and cultural activities in the village of Farkha in Palestine.
The 28th edition of the Farkha Festival will be held from Sunday 13th (evening) until Sunday 20th of August 2023. Three days before the festival starts, from Friday 11th to Sunday 13th of August, we will organize political day trips to places and regions of resistance in Palestine to learn more about concrete local struggles directly from political activists and organizations on the ground.
The Farkha Festival is rooted in and inspired by the work of the communist leader Tawfeeq Zayyad, a national poet and politician who was elected mayor of Nazareth in 1973. Tawfeeq played a key role in pressuring the Israeli government to change its policy towards Palestinians – those who remained in their homes after the 1948 war and now live inside Israel, and the Palestinians living under occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Because Tawfeeq tried to bring about change from within, he was constantly threatened by the occupying forces, his projects for the community of Nazareth were rejected, and his funding was significantly cut. Nevertheless, he managed to gather thousands of people every year to organize volunteer festivals in Nazareth and, with the help of the volunteers’ labor, to implement the Nazareth municipality’s plans without additional funding.
The struggle to dismantle the Israeli regime of settler colonialism and apartheid in Palestine goes hand in hand with global international struggles for justice, including climate justice. Palestine is also a climate justice issue. The catastrophic climate crisis is exacerbated by global inequality and oppression. Palestinians living under unacceptable conditions, with no control over their land or natural resources, are at the same time particularly vulnerable to the climate crisis. Environmental and climate justice issues are closely linked to the political realities of military occupation, apartheid policies, and settler colonialism. These include the ongoing theft of Palestinian natural resources, including land and water, and the active greenwashing in which entire forests are being planted with non-native tree species, mostly from Europe, causing enormous damage to biodiversity – to cover up the destruction of Palestinian villages, but also to make it easier for settlers from across the world to feel “at home” in Palestine. The indigenous knowledge of Palestinians about sustainable use of natural resources has been suppressed since the Nakba started.
The Farkha Festival, which for many years has focused on the joint work in the ecological community garden project “Qamr Al-Balad”, has set itself the goal of linking precisely these political struggles for justice in Palestine with other local and international struggles, and with issues of environmental and climate justice. This includes the promotion of sustainable ecological agriculture, the cultivation of native plants and the passing on of this knowledge to the next generation, as well as the political debate on women’s rights, gender relations and decolonial struggles.
For this year, in addition to the work in the ecological community garden project “Qamr Al-Balad” and painting work on the two village schools, the cleaning, renovation and reconstruction of the old village center are planned. We also want to work together to build infrastructure on the surrounding hills by planting trees and building rest and picnic areas that will allow people from the region to visit the hill regularly and spend free time there, in order to prevent the construction of a new illegal settlement outpost.
Farkha Festival is a place of international solidarity with the struggling Palestinian people, but also with struggles around the world – whether in occupied Kurdistan, occupied Western Sahara, the Basque country or elsewhere.
Here you find summarized the most important information:
FARKHA FESTIVAL takes place from 13/08/2023 (evening) until 20/08/2023 in Farkha/ West Bank, Palestine. The accommodation and all services during the festival will be provided to everyone for free. However, donations are highly appreciated.
THREE POLITICAL DAY TRIPS from 11/08/2023 to 13/08/2023 for international volunteers. The tours will most probably take place in Nazareth, Jerusalem, Hebron and/ or in the Jordan Valley. The exact locations and further information will be announced as soon as the program is available. During these three days accommodation, transportation and food expenses need to be covered by the participants. We will collect a fix amount from you and pay for all of us. It will be around 150€ p.p. – depending on the number of participants and accommodation costs.
To make our planning a little easier, please let us know – via email – as soon as possible whether you would like to participate in the Festival AND in the Political Day Trips – OR only in the Festival: solidarity247@posteo.de
For registration we need…
- name
- email address
- mobile number (we use signal)
- your organization (if applicable)
- city and country (to connect you with other participants, e.g. to coordinate your travels)
- languages you speak (to ask you in case for support in translation)
- your motivation: how you heard about us and why you would like to participate
Please don’t hesitate to contact us for further information.
We will contact you individually or via your organization to confirm your participation after your registration.
It is our honor to welcome you in our village. We greatly appreciate your support and solidarity.
Farkha Festival Committee