? ? ?
I was looking at a picture of Hamoudeh—Mohammad Azzehs’ nickname—being carried to a waiting ambulance. He was bleeding profusely, and in obvious pain. A co-worker asked about the picture, and I told her that my friend was shot the day before protesting against the Israeli occupation. He is only 15 years old, and we don’t know if he’ll live or die, I told her. Apparently blind to the wounded, bleeding 15-year-old child in the picture, she replied coolly, “Yeah, but was it a peaceful protest?” Her response is an example of the casually, yet deeply held assumptions of most Americans regarding Palestine. Despite the grossly uneven contest between flak-jacketed, helmeted Israeli soldiers armed with an array of fully automatic weapons, small arms, tanks, armored vehicles, and sniper rifles, and the unprotected, unarmed teenaged children waving Palestinian flags and throwing stones with sling-shots, Palestinians are held guilty for any and all violence. Americans are conditioned to not see Palestinians, to not see Palestine.
Update: More than 15 Capoeira groups are holding solidarity rodas, including:
- Ramallah — Capoeira Freedom Collective Palestine
- Valencia, Bahia — Fundação International Capoeira Angola (FICA)
- Rio de Janeiro — Kabula
- Rio de Janeiro — Caxias
- Sao Jose dos Campos, Sao Paulo — Angoleiros do Sertao
- Rio Grande do Norte
- Washington DC — FICA
- New York — Grupo Acupe
- Chicago — FICA
- London — Capoeira Angola South London
- Oxford — Angoleiros do Mar
- Lyon — Cabula
- Bologna — Angola Dobrada
- Valencia, Spain — Filhos de Angola
- Berlin, Germany
- Amman — Vale da Lua
- Bologna — Angola Dobrada