Join us for a screening of award-winning documentary The Wanted 18 (Palestine/Canada, 2015) followed by a discussion with Marshall Ganz, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School; Suhad Babaa, Executive Director, Just Vision (Impact Producer for The Wanted 18); and Hilary Rantisi, Director, Middle East Initiative.
Watch the Trailer:
About the film:
In the award-winning documentary, The Wanted 18, directors Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan bring to life a story of nonviolent resistance during the First Intifada through a clever mix of stop motion animation and interviews.
It is 1987, and the Israeli army is in hot pursuit of 18 dairy cows in the town of Beit Sahour, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, after a group of Palestinians begin producing milk for the town’s residents. Consequently, the dairy is forced to go underground. The Israeli soldiers find themselves in a game of cat-and-mouse as residents of the town work together to shuttle the cows from barn to barn. The fugitive cows of Beit Sahour and the “intifada milk” become legendary, often distributed under cover of night.
The film recreates the story of The Wanted 18 from the perspectives of the Beit Sahour activists, Israeli military officials, and the cows, in order to create a humorous and thought-provoking tribute to the power of grassroots activism and nonviolent resistance.
Learn more about the film: The Wanted 18
About Marshall Ganz:
Marshall Ganz grew up in Bakersfield, California, where his father was a Rabbi and his mother, a teacher. He entered Harvard College in the fall of 1960. He left a year before graduating to volunteer with the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project. He found a “calling” as an organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and, in the fall of 1965, joined Cesar Chavez in his effort to unionize California farm workers. During 16 years with the United Farm Workers he gained experience in union, political, and community organizing, became Director of Organizing, and was elected to the national executive board on which he served for 8 years. During the 1980s, he worked with grassroots groups to develop new organizing programs and designed innovative voter mobilization strategies for local, state, and national electoral campaigns. In 1991, in order to deepen his intellectual understanding of his work, he returned to Harvard College and, after a 28-year "leave of absence," completed his undergraduate degree in history and government. He was awarded an MPA by the Kennedy School in 1993 and completed his PhD in sociology in 2000. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in divinity by the Episcopal Divinity School in 2010. As senior lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School, he teaches, researches, and writes on leadership, organization, and strategy in social movements, civic associations, and politics. Marshall Ganz also teaches "Leadership, Organizing and Action: Leading Change" an online program designed to help leaders of civic associations, advocacy groups and social movements learn how to organize communities that can mobilize power to make change.
About Suhad Babaa:
Suhad Babaa is the Executive Director at Just Vision, an organization dedicated to increasing media coverage and support for Palestinian and Israeli grassroots leaders working to end the occupation and build a future of freedom, dignity and equality for all. She previously served as the Director of Programming, overseeing Just Vision's educational and community outreach efforts across the United States, Israel, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In this role, she directed Just Vision’s US-based outreach strategy, and worked closely with policymakers, community leaders, educators and students. Suhad has addressed dozens of audiences at venues including the United Nations, Harvard University and film festivals, mosques, synagogues and churches across the country. She has been an integral member of the team's impact campaigns around the award-winning films Budrus and My Neighbourhood.
Suhad is a Global Shaper at the World Economic Forum and Princeton Emerging Leader. She graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania where she received a BA in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics.
About Hilary Rantisi:
Hilary Rantisi is the Director of the Middle East Initiative (MEI) at Harvard Kennedy School of Government's (HKS) Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. She received her Master’s degree in Middle East Studies from the University of Chicago. As Director, Hilary has expanded MEI’s program offerings to best serve a variety of constituents, including Harvard students, faculty, staff and alumni, regional partners and peoples in the Middle East and the general public. Hilary has spearheaded MEI’s growth, enhancing critical learning on and about the Middle East at Harvard through multi-disciplinary Executive Education programs, high-level sector specific workshops, faculty research and support, student mentoring and internship funding, professional development seminars, public education events and more.
Prior to joining HKS, Hilary worked with civil society organizations in Israel-Palestine and focused on religion, politics, and grassroots mobilization efforts in Jerusalem. She co-edited the book Our Story (1999) and has written numerous journal articles, and been an active public speaker on issues pertaining to the Middle East region. Hilary is a native Arabic speaker.
About Just Vision:
Just Vision is a team of human rights advocates, journalists, and filmmakers that highlights the power and reach of Palestinians and Israelis working to end the occupation and build a future of freedom, dignity and equality for everyone in the region. We drive attention to compelling local role models in unarmed movement-building and demonstrate what is possible when leaders at the grassroots choose to act. We tell their under-documented stories through award-winning films, digital media and targeted public education campaigns that undermine stereotypes, inspire commitment and galvanize action.
Co-sponsored by the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.
