In these times of troubling and tumultuous news from the Middle East there comes a glimmer of hope of citizen action.
Controversial Conductor Daniel Barenboim just completed a classical concert in Gaza. Israeli daily paper Haaretz captured the interview here.
This is not the first time, is not the first time Barenboim has tried to go to Gaza nor is it the first controversial thing he has done. Whether you agree with him or not though, he represents a reaching out of cultural diplomacy.
Before this diary continues there is much I disagree with Mr. Barenboim about. I do not agree that much with his politics (though I do feel he makes a good case for cultural exchanges). But, whether you agree with Barenboim or not, the man does stand by his convictions.
First one should have a little history to understand Barenboim. According to the wiki link above Barenboim is a citizen of three nations: Israel, Argentina, and Palestine. He is most known for his controversial playing of Wagner in Israel in 2001. Here is a description of this:
At the Israel Festival in Jerusalem in July 2001, Barenboim originally had scheduled to perform the first act of Die Walküre with three singers, including tenor Plácido Domingo. However, strong protests by some Holocaust survivors, as well as the Israeli government, led the festival authorities to ask for an alternative program. (The Israel Festival's Public Advisory board, which included some Holocaust survivors, had originally approved the program.) [23] Barenboim agreed to substitute music by Robert Schumann and Igor Stravinsky for the offending piece, but expressed regret at the decision. At the end of the concert with the Berlin Staatskapelle on 7 July 2001, he announced that he would like to play Wagner as a second encore and invited those who objected to hearing the music to leave, saying, "Despite what the Israel Festival believes, there are people sitting in the audience for whom Wagner does not spark Nazi associations. I respect those for whom these associations are oppressive. It will be democratic to play a Wagner encore for those who wish to hear it. I am turning to you now and asking whether I can play Wagner." A half-hour debate ensued in Hebrew in the hall, with some audience members calling Barenboim a "fascist." In the end, according to reports in the Israeli press, a small number of attendees walked out, and the overwhelming majority remained, applauding loudly after the performance of the Tristan und Isolde ouverture.[24]
Barenboim regarded the performance of Wagner as a political statement, and said he had decided to defy the taboo on Wagner when a news conference he held the previous week was interrupted by the ringing of a mobile phone to the tune of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries.[25] "I thought if it can be heard on the ring of a telephone, why can't it be played in a concert hall?" he said.
The concert sparked controversy, and Barenboim was declared "a cultural persona non grata in Israel" by the Knesset education committee shortly after the concert, a move strongly condemned by the musical director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Zubin Mehta and members of Knesset.[26]
I completely understand why Jews (of which I am one) and Israelis find Wagner repellant. However, I also stand firmly against cultural, academic and sports boycotts and at my own wedding Wagners Ride of the Valkyries was played (as my wife water skiied up to the altar). I believe that cultural exchanges are an important first step towards peace of any kind.
Now onto the concert in Gaza. The interview with Haaretz is very telling.
Among the highlights in my mind:
What was your impression of Gazans’ circumstances?
The quality of life there is very, very low. Not only with regard to culture, but to life in general. I was very impressed, as I said, that they have there 12 universities, and such a high proportion of young people; people there want to learn, and they have the ability via the Internet to receive all the information that they want, and I’m addressing culture now. They have educated people and they also have other people who lack information and education.
Thus, if we want something positive in our future in the region, we have to have concern for the quality of life led by others. That is a much stronger and worthy course to follow than focusing exclusively on political points. I think that the only important type of security that can be won by the state of Israel is to find acceptance among the peoples in the region, particularly the Palestinians.
Thus, our dispute does not have a military solution. Nor − unlike what many say − is there a political solution based on economics and all that. This is a human problem; it’s not a dispute between two states; we have here a dispute between two peoples which believe that they have a right to live on the same small piece of land. And so we have to learn to live with them, or alongside them, but not with our backs to them and their backs to us.
This could turn into a dispute between states come September.
I think that long ago the time came for them to have a Palestinian state, and I’ve supported this idea for 30 years. I also told them that I believe that the struggle for Palestinian independence is a just one, and so it cannot be attained by violence because violence detracts from the sense of justice. I said this yesterday in Gaza, not in Tel Aviv.
Do you think reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah will work out?
I don’t know. I’m not sure. I hope so. Clearly any new step carries with it the potential of not turning out for the best. But if there is somebody to negotiate with, and if the other side has one united voice, that is, of course, preferable to speaking with a divided body.
I recommend reading the whole interview - I found it to be very interesting.
One of the things I found fascinating on this is that this concert was arranged solely through the U.N.
On May 3, 2011, he conducted a concert with an orchestra, dubbed the "Orchestra for Gaza", which includes musicians from five leading European orchestras, at al-Mathaf Cultural House in the northern Gaza Strip. The concert was co-ordinated in secret with the United Nations. Barenboim and the orchestra set off from Berlin, stopped at Vienna and then landed at El Arish in Egypt on a plane chartered by Barenboim, and entered the Gaza strip at the Egyptian Rafah Crossing. The concert, the first performance by an international classical ensemble in the Strip, was attended by hundreds of Palestinians, mainly schoolchildren and NGO workers, who greeted Barenboim with applause.[46] The orchestra played Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik and Symphony No. 40, its first mouvement being the basis of one of the songs of the famous Arab singer Fairuz. In his speech Barenboim said: "Everyone has to understand that the Palestinian cause is a just cause therefore it can be only given justice if it is achieved without violence. Violence can only weaken the righteousness of the Palestinian cause".[47]
Again, in the interests of honest diarying I find I disagree with certain things Barenboim says but I also find hope that he has touched the lives of so many people, both Israeli and Palestinian and that through cultural exchange rather than boycotts people can be brought together to live in Peace.