@NataliaGnecco
¿Qué tienen en común Gaza, Alemania y Colombia? Solo una escritora, productora y directora de la talla de la canadiense Amy Miller, cuyas películas se proyectan en más de ochenta festivales en todo el mundo y sus documentales críticos propenden por la transformación de cambios sociales, puede explicarlo en 84 minutos. Su más reciente documental, El poder de mañana (Tomorrow´s power) es un fiel testimonio de la valentía, el coraje y la solidaridad de tres comunidades ubicadas en Europa, Próximo Oriente y Sudamérica que buscan hacer valer sus derechos ante las crisis económicas y ambientales que enfrentan.

Agotar la vía diplomática para lograr un cese al fuego entre  Israel y Hamas, es sin lugar a dudas la preocupación de los líderes mundiales. Mientras los titulares  se concentran en la visita de  Hillary Clinton al Medio Oriente  para hablar con  el presidente de Egipto, Mohamed Mursi y el Primer Ministro israelí, Benjamin Netanyahu, sobre cómo frenar la escalada del conflicto en la franja palestina de Gaza, voces a favor y en contra de este conflicto que deja más de cien palestinos muertos y ochocientos heridos, se hacen sentir desde todos los rincones del planeta.

Since the beginning of Israeli military onslaught on the people of Gaza on December 27, we have seen public meetings in Canada to demonstrate Palestine solidarity, promote peace in the Middle East, as well as fundraising campaigns to purchase and direct the transfer of medical supplies to Gaza hospitals. However, it is always healthy to go farther the news, analyze what is going on, and why this conflict shouldn’t be treated like a natural disaster. As we all know, Israel granted the cease-fire a few days ago, but during the attacks, some non governmental organizations affirmed that Canada was pretty much supporting the Palestinian genocide.

I couldn’t find a better way to debate this matter than writing a bilingual blog, because this is the way we all have learned to have a discussion here in Quebec. On top of that, this intellectual exercise allows people to express themselves in a way that always turns into an enriching cultural experience.

I had the opportunity to attend a conference at the University of Quebec in Montreal, UQAM, where Jeff Halper, Director of Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, gave an interesting speech, that was presented by Professor Rachard Antonios, director of the Department of Sociology of UQAM. During this encounter, I also talked to Abraham Weizfeld, secretary of ACJC, (Alliance des Canadiens/nes Juifs/ves consternés/es) and I received the newsletter from a participant named Tom Tsukerman regarding the situation in Gaza. By the end of the conference, we all had the chance to listen to different opinions from an intellectual bilingual audience.

In addition to this discussion group session, I also interviewed Yann Evima Vouma, a lawyer of International Law, and Humans Rights for Amnesty International, who I met last year in Ottawa.