katalog-overlapping voices - Ritesinstitute

I see myself as a cultural and social activist; I try to utilize creative capabilities
and the art platforms for social and political change. Without neglecting
aesthetic and artistic values, my projects aim to break through the boundaries
of conformity in art and to generate a viable social and political influence.
Dealing mainly with issues from my own environment, deep in the heart of
ethnic, national and religious conflicts, I try to avoid a vague and elitist attitude.
Instead, I use photography, journalism, internet, street signs, mail and
any other mass-reaching platforms in my work, to involve bigger communities
in my projects.
The “Unrecognized” project is a co-operation with the ‘Regional Council for
Unrecognized Bedouin Villages in the Negev’ (RCUV is a non-governmental
organization aiming for the recognition of these villages and for civil equality)
and with individual leaders and representatives of the various unrecognized
Bedouin villages. 2008 is the fifth year of this on-going collaboration and the
expansion of the project.
The travelling exhibition “Unrecognized” tells the stories of one of the silenced
and marginalized ethnic communities in Israel; the Bedouin of the Negev.
The project includes the travelling exhibition, lectures, workshops, meetings
and events aimed at raising awareness and changing misleading conceptions
about the Bedouin of the Negev.
A new feature of the project is an internet platform which will enable the different
villages to create their own homepages and upload them on the internet,
without the need for mediation or representation by organizations and
activists outside their communities.
A short film dealing with these issues of representation, mediation, translation
and cultural activism is being made at the moment as a reflexive debate
among the active individuals in the Negev.
dIe nIchT anerkannTen beduInendörfer In Israel
Etwa 160.000 Beduinen, israelische Staatsbürger, leben gegenwärtig im
Negev, Israels südlichster Region. Mehr als 80.000 von ihnen leben in 45
„unrecognized villages“: Es sind dies Dörfer, die vom Staat nicht offiziell anerkannt
werden, mit jeweils 500 bis 5.000 Einwohnern. Diese Dörfer gehören
keiner kommunalen Körperschaft an, und ihre Einwohner haben keine
Infrastrukturversorgung mit Wasser, Strom oder Kanalisation, keine planierten
Straßen oder Müllabfuhr. Viele dieser Dörfer haben keine ärztliche Versorgung,
keine Schulen oder Kindergärten. Zahlreiche dieser Häuser oder gar
Zelte werden vom Staat alljährlich zerstört. Aus Angst vor der nächsten Abrisswelle
leben viele Einwohner dieser Dörfer in Wellblechhütten, wo sie im
Sommer unter extremer Hitze und im Winter unter eisiger Kälte leiden.
Seit Ende der 1960er Jahre hat der Staat Israel sieben kleine Städte für die Ansiedlung
der Beduinen aus dem Negev gebaut. Die Beduinen, die in diese
Städte zogen, waren gezwungen, die wichtigsten Quellen ihres Lebensunterhalts
aufzugeben: Herdenwirtschaft und Agrikultur. In diesen Kleinstädten
jedoch kann kein brauchbarer, alternativer Lebensunterhalt gefunden werden.
Bis heute sind die beduinischen Städte führend in der Liste der ärmsten
Ansiedlungen in Israel.
The unrecognIzed bedouIn vIllages In Israel
About 160,000 Bedouin citizens of the State of Israel currently live in the
Negev, Israel’s southern region. Over 80,000 of them live in 45 unrecognized
villages whose populations range from 500 to 5,000 residents. These villages
do not belong to any regional councils, and their residents do not have any
water, electricity or sewage infrastructure, paved roads, garbage disposal,
etc. Many of these villages have no clinics, schools or kindergartens. Countless
dwellings, and even tents, are destroyed by the State every year. Many
residents of these villages, fearful of the next wave of demolitions, live in corrugated
iron shacks, suffering from extreme heat in the summer and freezing
cold in the winter. Since the end of the 1960s, the state of Israel has constructed
seven towns to settle the Negev Bedouin. Those Bedouin moving to
the towns had to give up their main sources of livelihood: herding and agriculture.
No alternative viable livelihood was to be found there. Until this day,
the Bedouin towns in the Negev head the list of the poorest localities in
Israel.
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