“Stay Human”. That’s how the italian Vittorio Arrigoni was used to sign his articles from Gaza before being killed. And “stay human” in Gaza is not a light matter. It’s a stay human “despite all”: despite the embargo, despite the wall, despite the raids, despite Israel and Hamas. Despite the privations, the fears, the poverties.
Gaza is an open air jail. Isolated from Israel, occupied by an extremist party, forgotten by the rest of the world. But who lives inside – almost two million of people – dreams about a normal life. A family, friends, a decorous job. He wants to have fun, make sport, surf on internet, listen to music.
From the outside, Gaza is a hell. From the inside, Gaza is a place of dignity and hope that nobody wants to describe. Because the international journalism shows only pain and suffering, destruction and poverty. But luckily it is not only like this.
“Gaza is Wonderful” it is a provocation, but just to a certain extent. Because the project has the goal to show the other side of Gaza. The one that is ignored by the media, that only a few think it exists indeed. The Gaza of the new generations, who don’t forget the tragic political context and yet they look ahead, they dream the peace, they imagine a better future and they try to build it every day.
They are the young people that yell to the world “we are here!”. They are the rappers that put into rhyme their uneasiness. They are the surfers that dream California riding the waves of Gaza City. They are the skaters that defy Hamas and race at night along the streets. They are the deejays that play techno music and the writers that set down their messages to the walls. They are the poets, the directors, the artists or simply a girl who smokes where she would not be allowed to, or a couple of lovers that dines by the sea. Because as in any other city that overlook the Mediterranean sea, also in Gaza life can be marvelous…
