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GUERRILLA THEATRE LIVES!
by Sue Katz
Today (Feb 22, 2002) I went to
support some women from our Jewish Women for Justice in Israel / Palestine who
put together a street theatre piece extraordinare.
During each period of pedestrian
crossing in the main Harvard Square intersection, their troupe went into this
piece of street drama. Bonnie plays a Palestinian mother, in kefiya, with a
blanket-wrapped sick infant in her arms. Bonnie carries a large Palestinian
flag. She is being held up at a checkpoint, trying desperately to get to the
hospital, which is symbolized by another player holding up a big Red Cross
banner. In between those two are 3 soldiers with semi-automatic rifles - one
with the large Israeli flag - and another soldier in a tank, a most ingenious
construct strung from the shoulders of the actor. The IDF soldiers with the guns
are cruelly keeping Bonnie from passing through the checkpoint, swearing at her,
beating her, pushing her and the child onto the ground.
For 90 minutes they repeated this
scenario every few minutes as the lights changed, and each time it was riveting:
simultaneously moving, scary and provocative. People reacted with a good deal of
emotion and thought.
The Jewish students of Harvard Law
School mounted a numerous but impotent counter-demonstration with signs saying:
"Checkpoints save lives" and "No Terror, No Checkpoints." The actors cleverly
undermined the counter-demo by joining it. The ones dressed as Israeli soldiers
shook their rifles aggressively in the air, screaming with much more extreme
"right-wingism" than the "real" right-wingers. It was a brilliant way to co-opt
them and they were helpless to cope.
As the first hour passed and the
group song was replaced by more robust chants, the whole atmosphere heated up.
All sorts of people became involved, joined the chanting, asked to pass out
flyers. Signs against the occupation appeared from who-knows-where and our
supporters overflowed the sidewalks. Journalists sought out Jen for interviews.
People really engaged with each other.
One man suddenly attacked one of
our actors. He was quickly neutralized by supporters. As he was taken away by a
policeman he screamed, "Don't beat up women!" And we realized that he was a
troubled guy who had actually believed the scenario and was deeply disturbed by
it. This is guerrilla theatre operating on multiple levels, operating as a
street catalyst.
I felt so energized by it all that
even though I was desperate to pee, I just couldn't leave the spot. It is hard
to find a way to force the Americans to pay the slightest mind to the Middle
East reality. The news from the Region is so very desperate and the vile murder
and destruction are growing to such incalculable proportions that it was good to
do something brutal and visual, to do something that simply could not be ignored
by passers-by.
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