Play it again, for Palestine

Writer actor and drama therapist 39yearold Ben Rivers grew up hearing about the conflict in Palestine whether he was in UK or Australia So after completing his degree as a drama therapist and having worked long enough in Playback Theatre in UK and Australia in September 2011 Rivers left everything behind to work in Occupied Palestine comprising the West Bank and Gaza StripA session in progress inside Occupied PalestineA trained drama therapist and playback theatre artiste Rivers has been working with different communities in the Palestine He uses the medium to help the people share their stories Rivers is joined by volunteers from around the world as well as trained Arab musicians and actorsA session from Occupied PalestineldquoPalestine is a very important issue in todays world Itrsquos something that features heavily in the news in both UK and Australia I grew up reading and hearing about it from an early age I was eager to learn more The struggle at Palestine or Middle East has an impact on world politics and as long as therersquos conflict in this region the world itself is at the brink of a devastating warrdquo says Rivers who is in the city to conduct a workshop on Playback theatre as part of Mumbai Local by JunoonFirst contactWhen Rivers reached Palestine he was surprised by the generosity of its people ldquoI was expecting a very bitter broken and angry people because they had to face such daily humiliation But people over there over the last 65 years have found many ways to strengthen their humanity and keep their spirits and sense of humour alive I was overwhelmed by the generosity towards each other and to those who come there Itrsquos a lesson by itselfrdquo he addsLife with guns and spying armiesRivers believes that working in any conflict area is a challenge but he was baffled by the Israeli apartheid in occupied Palestine ldquoAs an international in occupied Palestine I have a bit of a choice of where and when I wish to go but this choice is limited decisions like whether I want to stay at the front of a demonstration and be caught in the army firing or chose to stay behind arent mine I live at an international camp which is a bit safer but there also the Israeli soldiers break into in the night arrest people and imprison them without any civil trialrdquoMost of his performances are held in the outdoors mdash under trees in caves in open fields Though Rivers has not been targeted yet he says that the Israeli Army often monitors their sessions take pictures of the participants and some times stop it in the middle ldquoThey have many ways to harass peoplerdquo he sharesSome of his colleagues have been deported and banned from travelling across Israel ldquoIf you have dark skin have a Muslim name you may not be harassed and not allowed to enter Israelrdquo he warns adding ldquoThey want to deter internationals from coming and seeing the human rights violations or joining the resistance against this Israeli apartheid What exists in Israel today is very similar to the Apartheid that was there in South AfricardquoMethodsRivers uses two drama techniques to help conflictaffected people share their stories mdashPlayback Theatre is a form of community theatre where he asks people to share their stories the other is psycho drama or drama therapy where he usually trains Arab mental health workers or social workers on how to use drama therapy to counsel peopleWith this theatre the intention always is political or community building But before a performance they have to do a lot of outreach and relationship building work with the community ldquoWe perform only among communities where relationships have been established We have realised that there is a great hunger in the world to know more about Palestine but we donrsquot get much of the Palestinian perspective They want to tell the world what its like to live in Palestinerdquo he adds Apart from conducting theatre sessions Rivers and his group also help build schools and conduct workshops for childrenThe global activistldquoI have worked in Egypt Jordan Lebanon Australia and North America for the last one month I have also been working with different theatre groups in India and people who are struggling from oppression or occupationrdquo says RiversBen RiversA month ago the activist was in Ahmedabad where he worked with members of a denotified tribe using community theatre to help them express their storiesOn Today 6 pm onwardsAt Kitab Khana near Flora Fountain Fort