Make Apartheid History, the follow-up to Bethlehem Unwrapped, launched online on Saturday 18th July, and we held our first event at London’s Southbank with a programme of poetry and prose linking civil rights, anti-apartheid, and Palestinian solidarity movements.Edited highlights of performances by Paterson Joseph, Miriam Margolyes, Kika Markham, Leila Sansour, Jeremy Hardy and Sam West are here.
Dear Greenbelt Festival friends,
We were delighted to welcome a 3000-strong audience to our mini-Bethlehem Unwrapped Festival at Greenbelt on August 24 this year which included music, dance, spoken word, testimony, poetry and Tom Pursey’s wonderful short documentary about B/U at St James’s Piccadilly.
This poem was written as Israel’s attack on Gazans took its toll.
Tonight, the bombs fall down in Gaza.
As an African voice croons from my kitchen radio,
And the garden breathes through the open door,
And I sip this whisky
And my thumb throbs, caught just now in a cupboard hinge,
Wrapped handkerchief-tight against the pain,
The bombs fall down in Gaza.
As part of our Bethlehem Unwrapped festival
https://tippingpointnorthsouth.org/2014/01/06/bethlehem-unwrapped-wall-comes-down-photos-videos/
we commissioned film-maker Tom Pursey to record all aspects of the event – from the construction (and subsequent public impact) of the 8m high life size replica WALL that was built in front of St James’s Piccadilly, through to all the live events that spanned our two week festival.
We are releasing our short film to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the declaration in 2004 by the International Court of Justice in The Hague (a UN body) that the barrier being built around the West Bank was illegal and should be pulled down.
We hope you enjoy the film – do feel free to share the link
In beautiful surroundings of St Luke’s Church, north London, on Wednesday 4 June at 7.30pm,
90 guests joined us for the premiere of our short documentary about the Bethlehem Unwrapped festival at St James’s Church Piccadilly last Christmas. There was also an auction of the graffitied Wall panels – a historic snapshot of when the Wall came to London.
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Dear friends,
After two incredible weeks, our ‘Bethlehem Unwrapped’ festival hosted by St James’s Church Piccadilly came to end on the 5th January and the replica WALL finally came down. Between December 23rd and January 5th, thousands came to see it and many came to write on it. The vast majority wrote messages of peace and solidarity while small number wrote in favour of the real separation wall. Messages were written in many languages and by British and international visitors alike.
Continue reading
St James’s Church, Piccadilly in association with Amos Trust, Holy Land Trust, Interpal, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) UK, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, P21 Gallery, Tipping Point North South, War on Want & Zaytoun CIC presents:
BETHLEHEM UNWRAPPED – A festival of Bethlehem at Christmas.
St James’s Piccadilly December 23rd 2013 – January 5th 2014
All net proceeds of the Bethlehem Unwrapped festival will be donated to Future Peacemakers Appeal, Holy Land Trust, Bethlehem.
St James’s Church in Piccadilly will be hosting the Bethlehem Unwrapped festival with a packed programme of events.
The festival welcomes Nigel Kennedy, singers Reem Kelani and the Tallis Scholars; chefs Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi; comedians Mark Steel, Jeremy Hardy, Dave Cohen; Also, spoken word artist Rafeef Ziadah and UK slam poetry champion Harry Baker; actor Adjoa Andoh, film-maker Leila Sansour and video artists Larissa Sansour; speakers include ICAHD founder Jeff Halper. The full line-up is available on the Bethlehem Unwrapped website where tickets can be booked.
A major installation will be unveiled on the opening evening, Monday 23rd December
Tipping Point North South 