Aziz Abu Sarah: For more tolerance, we need more ... tourism?
Aziz Abu Sarah: Per un maggiore tolleranza ci serve più... 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.
e un promotore di pace,
and a peacebuilder,
mi ricordo che guardavo la TV,
I remember watching television
una cosa divertente da fare.
a fun thing to do.
e mi sono messo a tirare sassi,
and threw rocks,
alle macchine israeliane.
to throw rocks at Israeli cars.
dei miei vicini di casa. (Risate)
my neighbors' cars. (Laughter)
del mio patriottismo.
about my patriotism.
and I know what you're thinking:
cosa starete pensando:
che cavolo ti è successo?".
what the heck happened to you?"
di me, venne arrestato a 18 anni,
d'aver tirato dei sassi.
of throwing stones.
d'aver tirato dei sassi, venne picchiato
to confess that he threw stones,
he was released from prison.
poco dopo essere uscito di prigione.
era vendicarmi.
l'ebraico per trovare un lavoro
Hebrew to get a job,
l'ebraico in quella classe
in that classroom
ebrei che non fossero soldati.
who were not soldiers.
sulle piccole cose,
like the fact that I love country music,
per la musica country,
per un palestinese.
for Palestinians.
che c'è un muro di rabbia,
that we have a wall of anger,
that separates us.
che ci separa.
quello che mi succede.
what happens to me.
è il modo in cui lo affronto.
to dedicate my life
that separate people.
che separano le persone.
anche i media e l'istruzione.
but also media and education,
really, can tourism change things?
può cambiare le cose? Abbattere i muri?".
sostenibile per distruggere questi muri,
to bring down those walls
di connessione reciproca,
of connecting with each other
di connettere le persone,
aims to connect people,
abbiamo due guide turistiche,
we would have two tour guides,
che lavorano insieme,
guiding the trips together,
e l'archeologia e i conflitti
and archaeology and conflict
completamente diversi.
con un'amica di nome Kobi,
with a friend named Kobi --
la gita era a Gerusalemme.
the trip was in Jerusalem --
di rifugiati palestinesi,
a Palestinian refugee camp,
del cibo buonissimo.
È fortissima.
che si chiama maqluba, cioè "sottosopra".
food called maqluba.
e poi si capovolge sottosopra.
and you flip it upside-down.
poi c'era un gruppo
Israeli and Palestinian musicians,
e abbiamo ballato la danza del ventre.
posso insegnarvelo più tardi.
I'll teach you later.
da entrambe le parti,
non volevano andarsene.
they did not want to leave.
quelle amicizie esistono ancora.
relationships still exist.
if the one billion people
viaggiasse in questo modo.
every year travel like this,
da un posto all'altro,
from one side to another,
e alla loro cultura dal finestrino,
of their buses of people and cultures,
in contatto con le persone.
proveniente dall'Inghilterra,
a Muslim group from the U.K.
di una famiglia ebrea ortodossa,
of an Orthodox Jewish family,
dinners, that Sabbath dinner,
del venerdì, la cena del Sabbath.
uno stufato ebreo,
which is a Jewish food, a stew,
of realizing, after a while,
their families came out
le loro famiglie erano venute
per il profilo di Facebook.
for your Facebook.
a cambiare il vostro modo di viaggiare.
to change your travel.
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