Blog post by Sarah Lockwood, Cinema & Photography '15, FLEFF Intern, Blairstown, NJ

I had the utmost pleasure of speaking with Menna Khalil, an activist with the Arab Spring movement the Middle East, specifically Palestine and Egypt. For the duration of our talk we covered her personal background, the current state of the movement, and the influence of modern media on the state of the revolution.

Menna was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt, until the age of 10. At this point her family moved to Chicago, Illinois. Chicago is home to a large, supportive Palestinian culture. She attended DePaul University in Chicago. During this time she joined Students for Justice in Palestine.

As a member of SJP for all four years of her college career, Menna continued the traditions of activism and connection that the predecessors of the club began. During her time as member, Menna helped to coordinate speakers and film festivals for Palestinian rights and activism, concerts from Palestinian groups, as well as an over two-year-long project to bring Palestinian works to the art museum on-campus.

By bringing together the DePaul community, the Chicago community, and the Palestinian arts communities together, Menna's work with SJP influenced a large portion of the activism work she would continue through her current graduate studies and field work in Egypt.

Her work during college combined with her family heritage has "absolutely" connect Menna to her current activism work.

Part Two of our interview will detail the current Arab Spring movement, about which Menna and her husband, Michael Kennedy, will be talking this evening (7pm, Williams 225, Ithaca College).

The Middle East continues to represent an intersection between the economic, political, religious and cultural interests of the East and West. The conflict has been changed considerably through developments or changes in policy, leadership and perceptions. However, the issue at its most base form was and continues to be a struggle for multiple groups to call the same land their home.

While most of us find ourselves comfortably halfway across the world and removed from any recent conflict in Libya, Iraq or Israel, we are obligated to bear witness and to observe testimony from a variety of sources with the intention of gaining understanding. For the 2011 festival, the Checkpoints Activism Panel on Tuesday, April 12 will present personal voices from some recent areas of conflict for a variety of perspectives. The purpose of this panel will be to observe and discuss tactics of bearing witness. Additionally, the panel will illustrate one of FLEFF’s many strengths by bringing an impressive variety of perspectives for an engaging and hopefully transformative dialogue.  

Here are the details:

 What: Checkpoints Activism Panel: Documenting Iraq, Burin: Stories from a Palestian Village, and Witness to Uprising:  Voices from Cairo and New York.

Where: Ithaca College, Friends 309  

When: 7 p.m.

Who:  Beth Harris (moderator) Menna Kahlil and Michael Kennedy.

Admission: Free. 

See you there!