Here we shall remain, a wall on your chests
We starve, go naked, sing songs
And fill the streets With demonstrations
And the jails with pride.
(Tawfieq Ziad)
LAND DAY:
Statement from the U.S. Palestine Community Network (USPCN)
The U.S. Palestine Community Network (USPCN) invites members of the Arab American community and their friends and supporters to join us as we commemorate this year’s Land Day (Yawm al-‘Ard) with six performances by the Palestinian folkloric band, HANIEN. The group’s first U.S. tour includes concerts in six cities: New Jersey, New York, Youngstown, Houston, San Francisco and Chicago (See below for schedule).
On 30 March 1976, thousands of Palestinians demonstrated in protest of Israel’s plans to expropriate 60,000 dunams of Palestinian land in the Galilee. In the ensuing confrontations with Israeli soldiers, six Palestinians were killed, hundreds injured, and hundreds imprisoned.
Since then, those events have become consecrated in the Palestinian history as Land Day. Subsequently, Yawm al-‘Ard has become one of the most widely-observed Palestinian national anniversaries. It signifies the unity of the land of Palestine; the Palestinians’ attachment to their homeland; the unity of the Palestinian people in historical Palestine and exile in the face of attempts to transform its forced physical fragmentation into a permanent political one; the unity of the Palestinian national cause and destiny; and the indivisibility of the struggle for liberation and return.
In the same vein, Land Day underscores Israel’s inability to crush the bond that exists between the Palestinian and Filasteen. Sixty-one years after the establishment of Israel, Palestinians everywhere, including those living in the United States, continue to resist the physical and discursive erasure of their national homeland, history, and culture. HANIEN’s performances are examples of such resistance.
HANIEN’s tour represents another step by USPCN and other Palestinian American groups on the road towards the rebuilding of our national institutions in the U.S.
SCHEDULE: HANIEN U.S. TOUR
NEW JERSEY
Friday, March 27, 2009
7:00 PM
AKBA Hall
137 Crooks Avenue
Paterson, NJ
Email: [email protected]
NEW YORK CITY
Saturday, March 28, 2009
4:00 PM
WIDI CATERING HALL
5602 6th Ave
Brooklyn NY
N/R to 59th Street in Brooklyn
Email: [email protected]
718-228-8636
YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO
Sunday, March 29, 2009
8:00 PM
Arab Community Center
15 Belgrade
Youngstown, OH
Contact: 330-759-9186
SAN FRANCISCO
Friday, April 3, 2009
7:00 PM
Skyline College Theatre
3300 College Drive
San Bruno, CA 94066
Contact: 408-849-7977
HOUSTON
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Arab American Cultural and Community Center
10555 Stancliff
Houston, TX 77099
Contact: 832-630-6873
CHICAGO
Sunday, April 5, 2009
(Dinner at 6 PM and program starts at 7 PM)
Holiday Banquet Hall
10140 S. Roberts Road
Palos Hills, IL
Contact:
Rahef Awadallah 708.296.3461
Abed Hamdan 708.516.0247
Email [email protected].
