Cashmere Talks – Listening Session by Rest as Resistance

‘Rest as Resistance’ is a series that is initiated in solidarity with Palestine, and aims to offer spaces for exchange, reflection and collective grieving. It is conducted by a group of cultural workers who are based in Berlin, and cooperates with various institutions in Berlin. This 150-minute show, which was recorded live at Cashmere Radio on the 2nd of December, features sound, discursive and spoken-word contributions from Palestinian friends and allies.

Opening with a soundscape created by Azad in the first weeks of October, and followed by a soundscape of the Alliance of Internationalist Feminists protest (25th November), the show provides an insight into the active forms of resistance that are currently taking place frequently in Berlins streets, organised by multiple intersectional groups.

Together with our first live studio guest, the German-Lebanese writer and performer Jara Nassar, we talk briefly about the way the political situation in Germany impacts culture and arts, and the issues of pinkwashing – before we get to hear her reading of a fragment of the Gaza Mono-Logues.

Amongst our valuable sound contributions is also the work by Bint Mbareh, a sound researcher, who explores how listening and music can help us understand and internalise time differently. In this rain-summoning piece, made especially for today's programme, she improvises with her interlocutors and research friends, a group of ladies from around Palestine, who are generous enough to sing the songs to her.

The project ‘Bedtime’ by Karolina Grzywnowicz, and has been conceived in collaboration with inhabitants from refugee camps throughout the West Bank in 2019. Aida, Dheisheh, Fawwar, al-Arroub, Balata, Jalazone, Qalandiya – those are the Palestinian camps where Karolina has been collecting lullabies, to explore the subject of sleep, as a form of resistance.

Further focusing on the West Bank, the show continues with an auditive fragment from the lecture performance by Anas Alkhatib, who grew up in Dhiesheh Camp and is now studying at NY Bard College's OSUN program. ‘Cheap: Suit’ is an interactive lecture performance that explores the role of the suits and the human body of a refugee in narrating the city, spatial environments, and lifestyles.

The show ends with Dirar Kalash's track from the Sonic Liberation Front series, previously played on Radio Alhara. The Sonic Liberation Front was established as an act of resistance by a collective of sound artists who recorded the sound of protests in Palestinian streets, aiming to unite and support the people of Palestine.

More information on each contribution can be found on the Rest as Resistance Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rest.as.resistance