Students from the High School in Vecindario, Gran Canaria island (Spain), called for the Apartheid Wall to be destroyed and declared their solidarity with the Palestinian people during an annual festival. Around 15,000 students from across Gran Canaria attended the festival on April 22nd, which included musical, sporting and art activities. Students from the IES Pablo Montesino de Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, who are active Palestinian solidarity activists prepared their own stalls and displays. A variety of activities culminated in a sea of balloons being released, all bearing messages condemning the Wall and Apartheid Israel.
Students constructed a huge of montage to represent the Apartheid Wall, and used it to list the destruction the Wall is having upon Palestinian land and lives. Apartheid, land theft, poverty, expulsion, abuse of human rights, were some of the terms used to highlight daily experiences of Palestinians under Occupation. Students joined together to fill white balloons with messages denouncing Apartheid Israel and its racist wall, before they were released into the air.
Displays contained information about the situation in Palestine, using computers with maps to reveal the extent of the Apartheid project to rob Palestinians of their land. This revealed the historical process of dispossession and colonialism from the birth of Israel, the construction of the settlements, up to the construction of the Apartheid Wall. Many of the photographs shown at the exhibition were taken directly from the resources available from StoptheWall.org. Older students studying made presentations about the realities of the Occupation and the Apartheid government of Israel and show it to the other students as well to teachers. Students then engaged in a word game to see how much they could recall from the presentation.
At the end of the activity, the group of students responsible for this activity felt satisfied and proud with their work and the way in which the other people responded to their presentation. Their teacher was also full of enthusiasm for the project and the feeling of group solidarity that was evident throughout their efforts. Their work forms an inspiration to other students as to disseminating information about the Apartheid system being imposed upon the Palestinian people, and in particular the major symbol of this project: The Apartheid Wall. Using imagination, creativity and enthusiasm, high school students raised the awareness and consciousness of other students, in a time when solidarity is crucial for Palestinians facing a âfinal solutionâ of ghettoization.
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