Youth Radio - Topic: gaza

TYR: Snapshot from a Youth Driven Newsroom

wilmer — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:55:15 -0600

Greetings educators!

We’re a little late posting this month’s Teach Youth Radio segment, in part because Youth Radio’s newsroom has been swamped with deadlines, and as a result it’s been extra hard to pick which story to feature here as a centerpiece for our curriculum ideas.

In the same short period, Barack Obama officially became President of the United States, Israel launched an assault on Gaza, and the nation’s economic crisis escalated to a point where sources that used to say these are the worst conditions since the 1980s now report that on some measures, it hasn’t been this bad since the Great Depression.

With these events unfolding on the national and international scale, there was also a local story of tremendous significance to Youth Radio and our varied communities. On New Year’s Day, 22 year old Oakland resident, Oscar Grant, was shot and killed at a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station while he was being held face-down by a transit officer. The incident and its aftermath unleashed community outrage about this one young man’s death and long-standing struggles with police brutality.

If there is one guiding principle at Youth Radio that applies across all of these topics, it’s that every story is a youth media story. Needless to say, then, it’s been an intense few months.

So, we’ve decided to try something a bit different for this episode of Teach Youth Radio. Instead of focusing on just one story in-depth, we highlight several youth-produced stories from our very recent archive. As always, we’re eager to hear what you think.

Story One:

Oakland, Beauty and Ugliness
Brandon McFarland
Outlet: NPR

In this commentary, Brandon reflects on his hometown, Oakland, in the wake of the shooting of 22-year-old Oscar Grant by a transit officer on New Years Day. Brandon opens the story by reflecting on what makes him proud to be from Oakland. Something he doesn’t mention here is that as a music producer, Brandon goes by the name 1 o.A.k.—further evidence of his tight relationship with his city. And yet Brandon closes the story by acknowledging:

A lot of Oakland isn’t beautiful. There are some streets that I won’t ever walk down. And I’m desensitized to violence, because like most Oaklanders, I’ve got friends and loved ones who have been shot and killed. And even though I lived in Oakland when I was in high school, I went to Berkeley High, because my parents felt like Oakland public schools failed them back in the day.

This might be the ugliest part of my city…that it continues to fail people the same way it did generations ago. Schools were bad for my parents and they’re still bad today. Black folks were dehumanized by cops in the 60’s, and on New Years day 2009, a 22 year-old black man named Oscar Grant was shot in the back by a police officer. It’s hard to believe that all of this ugliness makes up my beautiful city.

Something that stands out about Brandon’s commentary is the way he uses narrative to capture mixed feelings. Work through Brandon’s text with your students, noting the concrete details he offers to juxtapose what is ugly and beautiful about Oakland to him. Check out the range in his references—from music to violence to education. With this textual analysis in mind, then have your students reflect on something that inspires profoundly mixed feelings in their lives. Maybe it’s their hometown, or their school, or their family, or someone they’re close to. Ask them to write across the top of a piece of paper: “It’s hard to believe that all of this ugliness makes up my beautiful BLANK.” Start by having each of your students fill in the blank, and then free-write off of that prompt. Share the narratives and discuss.

Story Two:

What about Joe the Student? By Taylor Riddle
Outlet: NPR

In this commentary, Taylor Riddle explores the impact of the economic crisis on college students from middle class families. Youth Radio first met Taylor through our coverage of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, where he was among the youngest delegates. The last thing he expected the following fall was to find himself facing the prospect of having to drop out of the University of Arkansas because he and his family were short on money. Taylor wrote this piece last year, after the election but before the inauguration. At that time, Taylor noted:

Everyone’s talking about the bailout for Wall Street, and a possible bailout for auto companies, but I’d like to see a bailout package for higher education, for people like me, an average student from an average town - Jonesboro, Arkansas. The country wants young people to be able to compete in this global economy. But the U.S. can’t produce a large pool of college graduates if many of us have to drop out.

Now it’s February, and President Obama just passed a massive stimulus package. Have your students research the details of the package. Where will the money go? Who is getting “bailed out?” What are Obama and his supporters counting on to restart the US (and global) economy? What are their critics pointing to as the bill’s shortcomings? Look specifically at the stabilization package aimed at education. See if your students can find out whether Taylor and other students like him will benefit from the solution that’s passed. Have them make predictions about outcomes of the stimulus package for various key stakeholder groups they care about, and identify measures by which they can track what happens over the next six months. Chart the progress of these groups over that period of time, debating what counter-proposals your students would support to strengthen the national and world economy.

Story Three:

Gaza City Diary, By Safa Joudeh
Outlet: huffingtonpost.com

Safa Joudeh is a freelance journalist living in Gaza City. She kept a journal throughout the assault on Gaza that began late last year. Youth Radio got in touch with her through one of our graduates, who’s been working in and covering the region for many years and has formed a strong network of young journalists and citizens. At a time when it was difficult to get through to Gaza residents, Youth Radio used the Internet, skype, and phone lines to find and share stories from young people experiencing the war first-hand.

Have students read Safa’s journal to themselves, while you post five pieces of butcher paper on the board. Label them with the following headings:

1. This gave me a strong feeling;
2. I have a question about this;
3. I can relate to this part;
4. This is an image I will remember;
5. This is someone else I want to hear from.

Hand out sticky notes to all of your students, and ask them to jot down quotes from Safa’s writing that fall within each of these five categories. Invite your students up to the board to post those passages on the appropriate piece of butcher paper (for the fifth one, ask them not to pull from Safa’s writing, but to think of other people they’d want to hear from to get a better handle on the story Safa tells—e.g., a government official, a young person in southern Israel, a family member, a middle east historian, a military expert). Spend time discussing the passages that appear under each category. Probe why students chose the excerpts they did, and discuss ways to follow up on the questions they raise through further research.

Use this exercise to scaffold a close reading of Safa’s story in such a way that creates an open space for discussing a topic that often leads to polarized views. You might also use Safa’s story as a model for how young people can use the diary format to share experiences with deep personal immediacy and global political significance. You can find another example of this genre from Youth Radio’s archive in the eight-part Emails from Kosovo series.

Palestinian American Teen Watching Gaza from the U.S.

rebecca — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 13:24:26 -0600

by Rocky Tayeh

I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. I am the youngest of eight siblings from a Palestinian Family. My mom's family still lives in Jerusalem.

At home we have a special satellite dish which broadcasts news from overseas. When the fighting gets bad in Israel, my mom cries and yells every night. She screams for us to come downstairs and witness the tragedy on television. Violent images of dead bodies and people crying keep showing up on these news shows.

It started all over again when the war in Gaza started. However, I can't force myself to see this situation from my mom's passionate perspective. My sisters and my mom go to Jerusalem every summer. They love their homeland. I refuse to go. I don't feel I am connected to a land I don’t know that much about. I also fear that I am putting my life in danger going to a war zone. My grandmother calls my mom sometimes and fills her in on the violence, which makes everyone sad. I try so hard to push away all these news reports and close my ears and eyes. What I try to do is understand this conflict from a fair point of view. I think the Israeli people have every right to guard and protect themselves from missile attacks and terrorist threats. And because of that, my sister screams that I have become "Americanized".

It was my friendship with many Jewish people that changed my perspective about this conflict. Sometimes we even joke about how we are supposed to hate each other. My friend Sarina begs me not to "throw a rock" and I beg her not to bomb my neighborhood because I threw a rock. I also babysit for a Jewish family. I have grown to love this family like my own. They treat me with such respect and passion and they always tell me: "Make yourself at home". I know some would call me a traitor for this, but I find it so beautiful that I help watch their children and house. Even my mom, who runs a daycare center with a lot of Jewish kids, has built very strong and loving relationships with their families.

But I also know she has probably gone through some hard times here in the US. I often find it extremely hard to say that my family is from Palestine. I fear I will be stereotyped. I used to wear a Middle Eastern scarf around my neck. After September 11, a lot people started looking at me like I had a bomb, and a couple of times I even got stopped by the police. It was a horrible feeling. I can only imagine how my sister feels, she always wears the scarf. From an early age I felt it wasn't cool to look or act Middle Eastern. That's why I like using my middle name Rocky.

When I look at all this madness in Gaza and Israel, I simply can't understand why across the globe we can't live together. Why at the holiest place on earth there is so much violence and death. I think we can live together under one government, not looking at people as Muslims or Jews.

There is No Place Safe in The Gaza Strip

noah — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:21:52 -0600

23-year-old blogger Sameh Habeeb reports on the continued fighting in Gaza City where the homes of his relatives have been hit, and his home has been damaged by shrapnel. His family is now debating leaving their neighborhood but there’s no safe place to go. He also weighs in on the media coverage about the tunnels in Gaza, which have been used for smuggling weapons, but also goods and food for civilians. Most tunnels are now shut since the war and the black market for food distribution has been impacted.

Sameh Habeeb’s blog is GazaToday.

(Aired on PRI's The World on January 13, 2009)

Words from the Darkness of a Gaza Strip Home

miguel — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:30:35 -0600

Fida Qishta is a 26-year-old freelance journalist and blogger living in Rafah City, in the Gaza strip. She is also an International Solidarity Movement Gaza strip coordinator
In this interview Fida comments on the recent events in the Gaza strip, her experiences and her views.

A note about the photographs. Photos for this story were appropriated under a creative commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license from the flickr stream of Amir Farshad Ebrahimi. View more of Amir's excellent photos at Flickr. Be advised that due to the subject nature many of the photos are extremely graphic.

Brief Ceasefire in Gaza: A Youth Perspective

wilmer — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:01:58 -0600

As heard on BBC/PRI's The World.

23 year old Sameh Habeeb lives in Gaza City and is one of many young bloggers who have been writing about what’s happening in the area. His blog is at www.gazatoday.blogspot.com Youth Radio reached him after today’s brief ceasefire.

Gaza City Diary: Safa Joudeh

noah — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:01:07 -0600

Freelance journalist Safa Joudeh lives in Gaza City and in the past two weeks her home has become a warzone. She has been keeping a journal since the first day of the war.

December 27th, 2008

It was just before noon when I heard the first explosion. I rushed to my window and barely did I get there and look out when I was pushed back by the force and air-pressure from another explosion.

What followed seems pretty much surreal.

Outside my home, which is close to the two largest universities in Gaza, a missile fell on a large group of young men. We’ve all been warned not to stand in groups as it makes for an easy target, but they were waiting for buses to take them home. Seven were killed, four college students and three young men.

The three young men were our neighbors. Nothing could stop my 14-year-old brother from rushing out to see the bodies of his friends lying in the street. He hasn't spoken a word since. As I'm writing this I can hear their funeral procession go by outside. They were best friends, spent all their time together when they were alive. They died together and now they are sharing the same funeral together.

Never had we imagined anything like this. It all happened so fast but the amount of death and destruction is inconceivable, even to me. I’ve been watching TV seeing images that you probably can’t see in the US.

There were piles and piles of bodies in the locations that were hit. As you looked at them you could see that a few of the young men were still alive, someone lifts a hand, and another raises his head. They probably died within moments because their bodies were burned, most had lost limbs, some of their guts were hanging out and they were all lying in pools of blood.

December 28th, 2008.

This has been one of the longest nights of my life. About an hour ago they bombed the Islamic University, destroying the laboratory building.

We heard the first explosion, the windows shook, the walls shook and my heart felt like it would literally jump out of my mouth. My parents, siblings and cousins, who have been staying with us since their home was damaged the first day of the air raids, had been trying to get some sleep. We all rushed to the side of the house further from the bombing.

Hala, my 11-year-old sister stood motionless and had to be dragged to the other room. I still have marks on my shoulder from when Aya, my 13-year-old cousin held onto me during the next four explosions, each one as violent and heart-stopping as the next.
"I'm mostly scared of the whoosh," I told my sister, referring to the sound a missile makes before it hits. Those moments of wondering where it's going to fall are agonizing.

Looking out of the window moments later the night sky had turned to a dirty navy-gray from the smoke.

January 3rd, 2009

At the moment, and in the midst of the aggression, it is hard to make sense of the current situation or make future predictions. It's hard to come to grips with the numbers and the extent of our losses. It's hard to even remember a time when basic necessities such as food, water, warmth and daylight weren't a luxury.

January 5th, 2009

I stayed up most of the night and caught a few hours sleep after the sun rose.

When I awoke, I readied myself for yet another day if incessant drones and constant nearby explosions, but today, would prove a calm day for my family.

After lunch we all spent a half hour on our balcony, looking out through the metal railings like caged birds…breathing in the fresh air that we so longed for. We heard occasional explosions in the distance but stood there anyway, breathing in the fresh air that we so longed for.

We passed the day reviving small shreds of our former livers. My father, a doctor worked a few hours at his downstairs offices. My 3 brothers gathered water from the only working tap in our 14-story building. And my sister and I tried to tidy up the house as much as possible.

That night, huddled around the television, watching footage of families who’s day was not like ours, our gloomy mind state returned. And it wasn’t so much that their suffering reminded us of the suffering we were likely to face tomorrow. It was more that today’s calmness reminded us of our need to experience real life again.

It was a state that made me feel lost, wondering if the real world ever existed. Wanting to be anywhere but here, and wishing that the clock would turn back and things could be as they had once been before.

January 6th, 2009

My grandmother, uncle, aunt, their 2 year-old boy, my brother and his wife all arrived at our door today, shaking with terror. They live in A neighborhood recently bombarded by Israeli artillery shells and missiles, and They made their way to our house in cars belonging to strangers who had stopped to offer them a lift after seeing them out on the street.

Today is also the day when many people made the mistake of thinking that UN facilities would provide safety and protection from Israeli bombing and shelling. They were wrong. 3 UN facilities were attached and the Al-Fakhoura school would end up a gravesite for more than 40 people.

January 7th, 2009

Much rain and little hope.

We prayed for rain, and at last rain came tonight. A heavy, tumbling shower of clear refreshing beautiful rain.

We prayed for rain hoping that it would blind the visual capacity of Israeli warplanes and gunships. We prayed for rain to combat the fires that have been rising from homes, due to the attacks.

We also prayed for rain to cleanse our street of the sewage water that has started to seep from the drains. For over a week now, waste pumps have stopped working in Gaza city because of the lack of electricity. We don't know whether we should close our windows to keep out the stench, or open them so they don't blow in during an attack.

Israel announced a 3 hour ceasefire today, in order to allow trucks of aid to enter Gaza, loaded with food and medicine. Our joy was unbound, and we quickly readied ourselves to go to shopping for necessary items and even some not so necessary ones, such as chocolate and chips.

But the ceasefire was not what was promised…close artillery fire kept us from leaving our house.

We spent the rest of the day trying to get over our disappointment, and wondering about what kind of state we’ve been reduced to. It’s a sad thing to become overjoyed at the opportunity of walking in the street and shopping for necessities. But to feel unworthy of even that, is a sad thing indeed.

Today is the 12th day of the Israeli air and ground raids on Gaza and the only change we have witnessed is the steady rise in the intensity and ferocity of the attacks.

For more excerpts from Safa Joudeh's diary, and links to news articles for context and contrasting viewpoints, see our earlier story or read full entries at electronicintifada.net.

A note about the photographs. Photos for this story were appropriated under a creative commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license from the flickr stream of Amir Farshad Ebrahimi. View more of Amir's excellent photos at Flickr. Be advised that due to the subject nature many of the photos are extremely graphic.Read More:
For one historical perspective on the invasion of Gaza check out Ben Cohen at The Daily Banter.

Israeli Teen Blog

brett — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:30:26 -0600

Not long before the Gaza assault, 26-year-old Israeli Nir Kouris had the idea to create a blog with some teens he’d met through summer camp. The young people live in Sderot, Ashkelon, and other areas of Israel targeted by Hamas rockets. The site is called joinmylife.co.il, and people are taking notice throughout the blogosphere, social networking sites, and youtube. Here Nir shares some of the perspectives he’s heard from the teens uploading their stories.

Gaza Border Stories: Other Voices

wilmer — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:13:51 -0600

Eric Yellin, 43, is a member of a group called Other Voice which was formed about a year a go. It’s a group of people from towns in Israel like his – Sederot – and other communities which are close to the border with Gaza. During his time with Other Voice Yellin made contact with Sameh Habeeb, whose work we've featured earlier.

Yellin on his work with Other Voice:

“This group has been trying to create contacts and dialogue with people in Gaza…The moto of this group is to try to create some kind of relationship and normality with people who are seemingly and supposedly “our enemy”…What we try to do in our dialogue is not to get into an argument about who started or who is right because I think it’s very clear that violence just brings on more violence…I think that part of what we are trying to do is to try to see how even though there may be differences or there may be places where we might find ourselves arguing about political questions, we try to connect to the human question of how to help each other, how to connect through the things that are common…We find that there are many more common points in our lives than things that separate us. Unfortunately a lot of these common things are painful things: our fear, our suffering, our loss of dignity, our problem finding jobs, our problems with educating our kids because they can’t always go to school, and just a lot of uncertainty about our future in general.”

Gaza: Sameh Habeeb Reports

wilmer — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:14:57 -0600

[Note: All photos for this article are courtesy Sameh Habeeb.]

Sameh Habeeb, a 23-year old freelancer, has been reporting from Gaza every day at his blog Gaza Today. He spoke with our Senior Producer, Lissa Soep via Skype yesturday. In the audio clip above, Sameh tells about witnessing the aftermath of an attack on one of the U.N. schools, and the difficulty of remaining a detached observer when your home ahs been turned into a warzone.

Below is an except from his blog. You can also view more of his photos at his Picasa achive.

***
Day 11 of Israeli War On Gaza

Death toll 620, injured 3000 and most of them Civilians

By Sameh A. Habeeb, A Photojournalist, Humanitarian & Peace Activist in Gaza Strip.

*Numbers and Figures of Israeli War on Gaza:

*Total death toll: 620 while Wounded: 3000.

*Civilians: 220 children and 130 women killed since the start of this War. Many old men and young people were killed and the number is estimated of 80 and this is all according to the Medical sources.

*Thus, we could say so far: Around 430 civilians killed and 190 are policemen and militants.

* More than 1 thousand child among the wounded!

*11 Ambulances bombed and 4 vans for civil defense hit.

*30 paramedics wounded and 7 killed.
[more@GazaToday]

Gaza City Diary: Excerpts from Safa Joudeh [Updated w/Audio]

noah — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:35:53 -0600

We have fled for too long, Gaza is our last refuge and our home after we were displaced from what is now called Israel. All this happened 60 years ago. What more could they want? We have nowhere left to go.” – Safa Joudeh, January 5th 2009.
In a series of diary entries, appearing originally on electronicintifada.net, 27 year old freelance journalist Safa Joudeh reports from Gaza City, in the epicenter of the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip. What follows are excerpts of the entries, presented in chronological order, alongside links to news headlines of the day for context and contrast. [About the photos in this article.]

December 27, 2008

"The amount of death and destruction is inconceivable"

Six locations were hit during the air raid on GazaCity. The images are probably not broadcasted on US news channels. There were piles and piles of bodies in the locations that were hit. As you looked at them you could see that a few of the young men were still alive, someone lifts a hand, and another raises his head. They probably died within moments because their bodies were burned, most had lost limbs, some of their guts were hanging out and they were all lying in pools of blood. Outside my home which is close to the two largest universities in Gaza, a missile fell on a large group of young men, university students. They'd been warned not to stand in groups as it makes them an easy target, but they were waiting for buses to take them home. Seven were killed, four students and three of our neighbors' kids, young men who were from the Rayes family and were best friends. As I'm writing this I can hear a funeral procession go by outside; I looked out the window a moment ago and it was the three Rayes boys. They spent all their time together when they were alive, they died together and now they are sharing the same funeral together. Nothing could stop my 14-year-old brother from rushing out to see the bodies of his friends laying in the street after they were killed. He hasn't spoken a word since. [More@electronicintifada.net]
Headlines for Dec. 27th:
Israeli assault on Hamas kills more than 200 AP/The Boston Globe

December 28, 2008

The longest night of my life
About an hour ago they bombed the Islamic University, destroying the laboratory building. As I mentioned in an earlier account, my home is close to the university. We heard the first explosion, the windows shook, the walls shook and my heart felt like it would literally jump out of my mouth. My parents, siblings and cousins, who have been staying with us since their home was damaged the first day of the air raids, had been trying to get some sleep. We all rushed to the side of the house that was farthest from the bombing. Hala, my 11-year-old sister stood motionless and had to be dragged to the other room. I still have marks on my shoulder from when Aya, my 13-year-old cousin held on to me during the next four explosions, each one as violent and heart-stopping as the next. Looking out of the window moments later the night sky had turned to a dirty navy-gray from the smoke. [More@electronicintifada.net] Headlines for Dec 28th:
Israel hits more targets- AP/ABC Action News
Thousands across Middle East protest Gaza attack- AP via NPR
Massive Airstrike In Gaza Opens Operation “Lead Cast”- Defense Update.com

January 5, 2009

Resisting to protect our own
The evening of 3 January, we realized that if there was any truth to Israeli war minister Ehud Barak's words, it's that this invasion will be a long one. At approximately 9:15pm local time Israeli forces entered the Strip from three locations...

Many people were not even aware that the invasion had begun, thinking the whole time that Israel had just intensified its air raids. GazaCity has been without power for a few days now and radio batteries were running out. Almost all the residents of GazaCity have been confined to their homes for over a week and all of the stores have been closed. People are relying on word of mouth to get the news, very few are lucky enough to have generators and leftover fuel...

For the past few days we have seen over 10 mosques, holy places of worship, bombed, frequently while people were praying inside. We have seen children being pulled out from under the rubble who looked like there was not a single bone unbroken in their small bodies. We have seen hospitals overflowing with bloody corpses and people taking their last breaths. We have seen friends on television being resuscitated at sites of Israeli air raids. We have seen entire families swept off the face of the earth in one blow, and we have seen our streets, homes, neighborhoods become unrecognizable ruins from the amount of destruction.

And yet Israel continues to blatantly and insistently affirm that the offensive is not aimed at the civilians and that it's war against the political and military wings of Hamas. Meanwhile we, the people of Gaza, are collectively experiencing a kind of terror and violence that no human being should ever endure. One almost begins to suspect that the Israeli war forces are acting on a delusion that they have created and come to believe.[More@electronicintifada.net]
Headlines for Jan 5th:
Israel Drives Deeper Into Gaza, Rebuffing Diplomatic Efforts- New York Times
Iran says 70,000 volunteer for Israel fight- AP

Pre-Offensive Entries
Safa Joudeh has been chronicling life in Gaza for the year leading up to the Israeli offensive. Read her pre-offensive diary entries:

A psychological siege, December 3, 2008
Witnessing the siege, January 14, 2008
A note about the photographs.

Photos for this story were appropriated under a creative commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license from the flickr stream of Amir Farshad Ebrahimi. View more of Amir's excellent photos at Flickr. Be advised that due to the subject nature many of the photos are extremely graphic.

Audio produced by Brett Myers and Rebecca Martin.