Ramy Youssef Instagram – i had the honor of performing standup at the first ever palestinian comedy festival.
we played to some of the most amazing crowds i’ve ever experienced. they laughed a lot, then fed us a lot of food.
most comedy festivals take place at one main venue, but we did shows in various spaces around the region because our audiences were under occupation, and unable to come to us.
the show i remember most almost didn’t happen. we planned to perform in gaza, but at the last minute we were denied entry by the israeli defense force. but we’re arabs— so we figured out a way.
we found an office in ramallah with a webcam, and performed comedy virtually for the gaza audience thirty minutes down the road. (i think making us the original zoom comedians)
after the show we did a q&a, and one question that has always stuck with me was a young girl from gaza asking us about flint.
she said, “I heard the water there is making everyone sick. america is beautiful, but detroit has been abandoned. Is there anything we can do to help the people in michigan?”
the girl who asked this question is currently a citizen of nowhere. she’s not welcome where she is, yet there is no way for her to leave. still the first thing she wanted to ask a group of americans, was how she could help us.
occupied people are occupied everywhere. those who are abandoned can feel each other from across the world.
israel and palestine is not about jews vs. muslims. historically there have been very strong, beautiful, and yes sometimes complicated judeo-muslim relationships.
but that’s not what this is about. this is about a group of people that is occupied.
this is about holding the israeli government, and the united states government accountable— both in the region and in america.
maybe for some americans the hardest part of this conversation is looking at how many rockets our own country has launched? is it easier to say this is spiritual, ancient, and unsolvable?
maybe this is politically difficult, but it’s not morally difficult.
we should be able to speak up for that young girl in that way that she hopes to speak up for us.
and i wanna be able to get heckled in gaza. | Posted on 15/May/2021 21:10:30
