Aziz Abu Sarah: For more tolerance, we need more ... tourism?
Aziz Abu Sarah: Para maior tolerância, precisamos de mais...turismo?
Aziz Abu Sarah helps people break down cultural and historical barriers through tourism. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
and a peacebuilder,
e membro dos Peacebuilders,
I remember watching television
eu lembro de assistir televisão,
a fun thing to do.
algo divertido de se fazer.
and threw rocks,
e comecei a atirar pedras,
to throw rocks at Israeli cars.
em carros de israelitas.
my neighbors' cars. (Laughter)
os carros dos vizinhos. (Risos)
about my patriotism.
com o meu patriotismo.
and I know what you're thinking:
e eu sei o que vocês estão pensando:
what the heck happened to you?"
o que raios aconteceu com você?"
acusado de jogar pedras.
of throwing stones.
to confess that he threw stones,
que atirou pedras, ele foi espancado,
he was released from prison.
logo depois de ter sido solto.
dos meus 18 anos.
Hebrew to get a job,
para arrumar emprego,
in that classroom
who were not soldiers.
que não eram soldados.
like the fact that I love country music,
de coisas pequenas, como música country,
for Palestinians.
that we have a wall of anger,
que há um muro de raiva,
that separates us.
what happens to me.
o que acontece comigo.
to dedicate my life
that separate people.
que separam as pessoas.
but also media and education,
mas também há a mídia e a educação.
really, can tourism change things?
"Sério? O turismo pode mudar as coisas?
to bring down those walls
de derrubar esses muros
of connecting with each other
de nos relacionarmos,
aims to connect people,
dedicada a aproximar pessoas,
we would have two tour guides,
haveria dois guias turísticos,
guiding the trips together,
conduzindo a excursão juntos,
and archaeology and conflict
arqueologia e conflitos
totalmente diferentes.
with a friend named Kobi --
com um amigo chamado Kobi;
the trip was in Jerusalem --
estava visitando Jerusalém.
a Palestinian refugee camp,
de refugiados palestinos
food called maqluba.
and you flip it upside-down.
e vira ele de cabeça para baixo.
Israeli and Palestinian musicians,
de músicos israelenses e palestinos
I'll teach you later.
depois eu ensino.
they did not want to leave.
relationships still exist.
esses relacionamentos ainda existem.
if the one billion people
se o um bilhão de pessoas
every year travel like this,
todos os anos fizessem isso,
from one side to another,
de um lado para outro,
of their buses of people and cultures,
das janelas dos ônibus,
eles tivessem contato com as pessoas...
a Muslim group from the U.K.
um grupo de muçulmanos ingleses
of an Orthodox Jewish family,
dinners, that Sabbath dinner,
o jantar do Sabá,
which is a Jewish food, a stew,
um guisado típico judeu,
of realizing, after a while,
puderam descobrir,
their families came out
suas famílias tinham vindo
para o seu Facebook.
for your Facebook.
to change your travel.
para mudar suas viagens.
everywhere to change the world.
para poder mudar o mundo.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Aziz Abu Sarah - Entrepreneur + educatorAziz Abu Sarah helps people break down cultural and historical barriers through tourism.
Why you should listen
When Aziz Abu Sarah was a boy, his older brother was arrested on charges of throwing stones. He was taken to prison and beaten — and died of his injuries. Sarah grew up angry, bitter and wanting revenge. But when later in life he met, for the first time, Jews who were not soldiers, Sarah had an epiphany: Not only did they share his love of small things, namely country music, but coming face to face with the “enemy” compelled him to find ways to overcome hatred, anger and fear.
Sarah founded MEJDI Tours to send tourists to Jerusalem with two guides, one Jewish and one Palestinian, each offering a different history and narrative of the city. Sarah tells success stories of tourists from the US visiting a Palestinian refugee camp and listening to joint Arab and Jewish bands play music, and of a Muslim family from the UK sharing Sabbath dinner with a Jewish family and realizing that 100 years ago, their people came from the same town in Northern Africa. MEJDI is expanding its service to Iran, Turkey, Ireland and other regions suffering from cultural conflict. If more of the world’s 1 billion tourists were to engage with real people living real lives, argues Sarah, it would be a powerful force for shattering sterotypes and promoting understanding, friendship and peace.
Aziz Abu Sarah | Speaker | TED.com