Racialized Violence: From Prisons to Palestine

Sister Solidarity 2017: Art and Activism as Healing

The Women’s Center at UCSC is pleased to invite you to Sister Solidarity 2017, a series of events throughout the month of February, honoring Women’s Heritage Month! This year’s theme for Sister Solidarity is "Art and Activism as Healing."

Through Sister Solidarity we seek to celebrate the importance of women’s activism and highlight their contributions to our society. Our events will focus on a feminist and the social justice approach to art collectives, the Israeli occupation of Palestine and its connection to prison industrial complex. Sister Solidarity seeks to reclaim the word “women” by honoring all women across all intersectionalities.

Sister Solidarity Events:

“Racialized Violence: from Prisons to Palestine”
Keynote Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Time: doors 6:30 p.m., program 7:00 p.m. - 8: 30 p.m.
Kresge Town Hall

“Borderlands: Singing Through The Prison Walls”
Workshop Thursday, February 16, 2017
Time: 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Location: Namaste Lounge, College 9/10

Singer/songwriter Naima Shalhoub will perform and speak about her current work, “Borderlands: Singing Through The Prison Walls”, that was recorded in San Francisco County Jail for incarcerated women. She will perform her renowned song Ferguson- Gaza Blues, which connects the white supremacist state violence against Black people and the 2014 Israeli assault on Gaza. Naima will also speak about the prison industrial complex and its relation to the ongoing Palestinian struggle for liberation. Visiting scholar Mikki Stelder will be joining the conversation to talk about the challenge Black-Palestine solidarity poses for the present and how it helps imagine a different kind of future.

Naima Shalhoub is a Lebanese-American composer, musician, and educator who uses her music and songwriting as a vessel for freedom, advocating for social justice and inspiring healing. She has performed all over the Bay Area, as well as internationally (Cairo, Beirut, etc). Naima has also performed for organizations like Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth, the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund, the National Association for Community and Restorative Justice, and has performed her songs in Arabic, Spanish, French, and Italian. She has spoken and performed on programs opening for Cornel West and Angela Davis.

Mikki Stelder is a PhD Candidate at University of Amsterdam where she will be completing her dissertation with the working title Queering the Occupation: Towards Different Scenes of Speaking. She is currently a visiting scholar in the History of Consciousness Department at UC Santa Cruz under the auspices of Prof. Gina Dent (Fall/Winter 2016-2017). She is also a teacher and an activist who has been involved in Palestine solidarity activism since 2010. Amongst other events and campaigns, she co-organized the Palestinian led Queer Visions at the World Social Forum: Free Palestine in Porto Alegre Brazil in 2012. Since 2015, she has been working on a transnational campaign that calls for a boycott of gay tourism to Israel in collaboration with alQaws: for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Palestinian Society. Her work has appeared in outlets such as Mondoweiss, OneWorld.org, and PinkWatching Israel.

"Borderlands: Singing Through The Prison Walls" will be an introduction to songwriting as a form of healing and a vessel for activism. Naima will be building off from the conversations in her keynote presentation to help students develop their own voice and songs. It will be a space for students to learn about the ways in which art can be a form of activism and as a way to start conversations around social injustices through creation.

To learn more about Naima please visit: http://naimashalhoub.com/borderlands/

There will also be FREE food from Falafel!

For additional information and accommodations please contact the Women’s Center at ( 831) 459-2072 (Monday -Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.) or women [at] ucsc.edu. The Women’s Center is located at the Cardiff House at Lower Campus, next to the Carriage House and TAPS.