Mira Dabit and Hanna Qassis
Palestinians on tour in USA representing THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION FOR PALESTINE
Host: Basima Farhat
Previously Aired On: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 – Listen to the Show!
MIRA DABIT is a Palestinian youth activist and folkloric storyteller, who lived and worked in north and south Ireland after receiving her BA in psychology and sociology from Birzeit University. She has returned to the West Bank where she is organizing theater projects for youth, along with other initiatives that strive to make marginalized voices heard.
Hanna Qassis was born in Jerusalem in 1983 and is from the town of Birzeit, Palestine. He graduated from Birzeit University in 2006 with a BA in Business Administration, and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in International Studies, also at Birzeit University.
In addition to working for the Academy for Educational Development in the West Bank, Hanna is a political and youth activist and volunteers with several Palestinian civil society organizations.
The speakers will talk about their inspiring struggle for education and for a just and democratic society. “The Right for an Education” tour, sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace, will take place from March 28 to April 27 in cities and campuses across the country.
From East Jerusalem, Mira Dabit, an activist with the Right to Education campaign and an alumna of Birzeit University (Ramallah), will anchor the tour. She will be joined by Hanna Qassis. They will share with American audiences their experiences living and struggling to educate themselves under Israeli occupation, where many of their human rights –including the right to education–are denied. “The checkpoints, the wall, arbitrary arrests make something as simple as going to school a near impossibility for many Palestinians in the West Bank. The situation in Gaza is even worse – they can’t go abroad, they can’t come to the West Bank, and their universities are repeatedly bombed,” said Ms. Dabit. “We are coming to the United States to call on the academic communities here to support us in our resistance to these policies with grassroots, non-violent tactics, such as boycotts, divestment and sanctions.”
The tour, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, will visit New York, Boston, Ithaca, Washington DC, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Seattle San Francisco Bay Area, Albuquerque, Tucson, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego and Los Angeles
Please visit:
www.WeDivest.org
and
www.JewishVoiceForPeace.org
www.wedivest.org for detailed schedule).
