Monday July 1 @8PM ET
TOPIC: Decolonizing Environmentalism
Course Description and Key Takeaways: Decolonize your environmentalism with one of Palestine’s foremost experts on Palestine’s ecosystems. Plus, learn how you can use social media for movement building from CODEPINK’s social media team.
Course leader: Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, Founder of the Palestine Museum of Natural History and Tim Biondo, Digital Communications Manager
SCHEDULE:
-30 min on Decolonizing Environmentalism
-30 min on Social Media Skills for Movement Building
Educational Resources:
Palestine Natural History Museum
Monday July 22 @8PM ET
TOPIC: Gaza, Freedom Flotillas, & Peacemaking
Course Description and Key Takeaways: Learn about the history of the solidarity movement to break the siege on Gaza and take a workshop on de-escalation when taking action.
Course leader: Medea Benjamin and Ann Wright
SCHEDULE:
-30 min on Gaza, Freedom Flotillas, & Peacemaking
-30 min on De-Escalation skills
Additional Resources:
Gaza is Our Human Responsibility: 14 Years Since the Gaza Flotilla Raid
Monday August 5 @ 8PM ET
TOPIC: Art and Resistance in Palestine
Course Description and Key Takeaways: Hear how artists and performers in Palestine channel collective creativity into resistance with Chicago-based artist, Mary Hazboun. Plus, skill up with a workshop on organizing in the belly of the beast with CODEPINK co-director Danaka Katovich.
Course leader: Danaka Katovich & Mary Hazboun
Mary Hazboun is a multidisciplinary Chicago based Palestinian artist who practices “The Art of Weeping” as an act of processing grief and somatic healing of bodies through drawing. Graduated from DePaul University in 2017 with a Master’s degree in Women’s and Gender Studies. Mary’s work highlights the nuanced traumas of women and their resistance against different forms of oppression that is manifested in the military machine, patriarchal societies, and forced migrations. She uses art as a way of emptying blocked emotions, opening internal space, and pouring in trauma informed introspections as a form of healing. Mary was born and raised in the city of Bethlehem and moved to the U.S in 2004.
Danaka Katovich graduated from DePaul University with a bachelor's degree in Political Science in November 2020. Since 2018 she has been working towards ending US participation in the war in Yemen. At CODEPINK, she oversees all advocacy campaigns and facilitates our local organizing in the Midwest and in Europe. Her writing can be found in Jacobin, Salon, Truthout, CommonDreams, and more.
SCHEDULE:
-30 min on Art and Resistance in Palestine
-30 min on Movement Building in the Belly of the Beast
Additional resources:
Check out Mary Hazboun’s website and instagram.
Danaka's presentation, CODEPINK Organizer Training
Monday August 26 @ 8PM ET
TOPIC: Palestine, Repression, & Looking Ahead
Course Description and Key Takeaways: Survey the state of the opposition we face as a movement for peace, justice, and liberation in Palestine. Close out Gaza Summer School by reflecting with classmates on what you’ve accomplished and looking ahead!
Course leader: Rania Salem
Born and raised in Chicago, Rania Salem is a Palestinian woman from Dheisheh refugee camp in Palestine. Her family is originally from a village called Jrash that was ethnically cleansed in 1948 then her family was internally displaced to Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem. Rania is an active poet, a program coordinator with the IL Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee rights, and a community organizer with the U.S Palestinian Community Network.
SCHEDULE:
-30 min on Palestine, Repression, & Looking Ahead
-GAZA SUMMER SCHOOL GRADUATION: Member report backs and more
