Aziz Abu Sarah: For more tolerance, we need more ... tourism?
Aziz Abu Sarah: For mere tolerance har vi brug for.. Turisme?
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,
og en fredsskaber
da jeg var 7 år gammel,
I remember watching television
a fun thing to do.
måtte være sjovt at gøre.
and threw rocks,
og kastede med sten,
to throw rocks at Israeli cars.
skulle kaste efter israelernes biler.
my neighbors' cars. (Laughter)
at stene mine naboers biler.
about my patriotism.
over min fædrelandskærlighed.
and I know what you're thinking:
hvad I tænker:
hvad fanden skete der med dig?"
what the heck happened to you?"
for at kaste med sten.
of throwing stones.
at tilstå, at han havde kastet med sten.
to confess that he threw stones,
he was released from prison.
han var sat fri fra fængsel.
brug for hebraisk for at få et job,
Hebrew to get a job,
in that classroom
who were not soldiers.
jøder, der ikke var soldater.
like the fact that I love country music,
som det, at jeg elsker country-musik,
for palæstinensere.
for Palestinians.
that we have a wall of anger,
at vi har en mur af vrede,
that separates us.
what happens to me.
hvad jeg kommer ud for.
jeg håndterer det.
to dedicate my life
at dedikere mit liv
that separate people.
skiller folk ad, ned.
but also media and education,
er medier og uddannelse også.
really, can tourism change things?
om turisme virkelig kan ændre tingene.
to bring down those walls
måde at nedbringe disse mure
of connecting with each other
forbinde os til hinanden
formål at forbinde folk,
aims to connect people,
havde vi to rejseledere,
we would have two tour guides,
guiding the trips together,
der guidede ture sammen, hvor de
and archaeology and conflict
med en ven kaldet Kobi -
with a friend named Kobi --
the trip was in Jerusalem --
turen var i Jerusalem -
a Palestinian refugee camp,
palæstinensisk flygtningelejr,
food called maqluba.
mad kaldet maqluba.
and you flip it upside-down.
og vender det så på hovedet.
og palæstinensiske musikere,
Israeli and Palestinian musicians,
I'll teach you later.
vil jeg lære jer det senere.
begge sider at græde,
they did not want to leave.
relationships still exist.
de forhold stadig.
if the one billion people
every year travel like this,
ville rejse ligesom vi gjorde,
from one side to another,
den ene side til den anden,
of their buses of people and cultures,
menneskerne og kulturerne,
en forbindelse med folk.
gruppe fra Storbritannien,
a Muslim group from the U.K.
jødisk families hus,
of an Orthodox Jewish family,
dinners, that Sabbath dinner,
which is a Jewish food, a stew,
en jødisk gryderet,
of realizing, after a while,
efter lidt tid at indse,
their families came out
kom deres familier
til din facebookprofil.
for your Facebook.
måden, I rejser på, med mig.
to change your travel.
mulige steder for at ændre verden.
everywhere to change the world.
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