Today (Monday, 18.12.23) is a day of Global Strike Action for Palestine against the genocide being committed by the state of Israel on the Palestinian people. As an overwhelming majority (17 out of 21 students so far) we have decided to cancel the event Night of the Anthropocene at Kanuti Gildi Saal. We stand in solidarity with Palestine by taking strike action by withholding our creative labor and cultural output.

How can we discuss the Anthropocene, when injustices are so entangled (including this genocide and the environmental, systematic and humanitarian entanglement of the Anthropocene). Striking is one way to disrupt a corrupt system and challenge the status quo.

We took the decision that instead of sitting in silent strike action, we replace the event with a film screening to platform the voices of Palestinians, their resilience, knowledge, culture and struggles for freedom from a genocidal state. The screening of Foragers (2022) by Jumana Manna will start from 18.15. We will be collecting donations that will be split between the Egyptian Food Bank and medical aid for Palestinians, two trusted organisations that have been successful in getting humanitarian aid into Gaza. More info on charities below.

Film description:

Foragers depicts the dramas around the practice of foraging for wild edible plants in Palestine/Israel with wry humor and a meditative pace. Shot in the Golan Heights, the Galilee and Jerusalem, it employs fiction, documentary and archival footage to portray the impact of Israeli nature protection laws on these customs. The restrictions prohibit the collection of the artichoke-like ’akkoub and za’atar (thyme), and have resulted in fines and trials for hundreds caught collecting these native plants. For Palestinians, these laws constitute an ecological veil for legislation that further alienates them from their land while Israeli state representatives insist on their scientific expertise and duty to protect. Following the plants from the wild to the kitchen, from the chases between the foragers and the nature patrol, to courtroom defenses, Foragers captures the joy and knowledge embodied in these traditions alongside their resilience to the prohibitive law. By reframing the terms and constraints of preservation, the film raises questions around the politics of extinction, namely who determines what is made extinct and what gets to live on.

Donations:

The Egyptian Food Bank (EFB) is a non-profit organization founded in 2006 and registered at the Egyptian Ministry of Social Solidarity under Registration Number 562. Since October 14th, the EFB has been working at the Rafah crossing in collaboration with the Palestine Red Crescent to deliver aid to civilians in Gaza. Regular updates on how donations are used are available through the Facebook page of EFB CEO Mohsen Sarhan Ali.

https://www.efb.eg/

Medical Aid for Palestinians is a UK based non-profit organization offering medical aid in the West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem and Lebanon. With their extensive local knowledge and experience, they work closely with communities, hospitals, clinics and healthcare providers to coordinate care and medical aid even where there are severe restrictions on access. MAP provides immediate medical aid to those in need at times of crisis, while also developing local capacity and skills to ensure the long-term development of the Palestinian healthcare system.

https://www.map.org.uk/

Thank you to Solidarity Cinema for access to their archive where this film was sourced.

18.00–18.30
Performative gathering “ “
Yuko Kinouchi, Tea Lemberpuu, Jane Muts, Maria Elise Remme, Jake Rhys Shepherd, Elo Vahtrik

We warmly invite you to slow down with us through a guided participatory gathering.

We were searching for a pause, stillness. So we ran through forests, we slept in caves, we followed the waters. Everything to escape the noise man has created. The rumor about the man-made room for silence reached our ears. We met John. He told us that after a while all you hear is the blood running within you. Heartbeat and all the sounds we were made of. There are things we can’t turn off.

In “ “ we ask you to join us to slow down, pause, and turn the attention within.

P.S. We ask you to leave your shoes and phone outside the room on arrival.

18.30–20.00
Workshop "Leaf Pounding"
Chloé Geinoz, Sven-Aleksander Mantsik, Vitor Pascal, Liza Tsindelian

The 'Leaf pounding' (this is the name of the technique of hammering plants onto paper or fabric in order to print them on it) project is a printing workshop using ecological and sustainable materials.

Our workshop is based on the different practices of the people in the group. It was important for us that everyone's personal artistic touch could be found in the project: Liza uses second-hand materials, Chloé uses plants a lot, Vitor and Sven have a practice linked to printing techniques and critical text.

18.30–20.00
Installation "I Like Earth and Earth Likes Me"
Eleftheria Kofidou, Jana Mätas, Caroline Pajusaar, KitKit Para, Kadri Vahar, Edgar Volkov

The vertebral column is the main supporting structure of the body and mind, as the nerve cells within the spinal cord carry all the signals that are required to sustain the organism. These interlinked systems – all connected with our spine – control our every activity; our waking, dreaming, and sleeping and our stability depends on their successful collaboration. Our tired bones are only resting when lying on this soil, yet the Earth’s skin is becoming more and more occupied. What would become of our body landscapes after all? Our artificial remains shall be Earth’s new spine.

18.30–20.00
"Can I speak to the manager? It’s about the anthropocene"
Yvette Bathgate, Mihhail Boitsov, Katariina Kesküla, Merilin Põldsam, Kristi Vendelin

Collectively we explore interconnection through the process of binding; artworks, papers and text. A short manifesto style text, alongside five artworks will bind our individual expressions together and will be presented in installation and hand bound booklet formats.