Aziz Abu Sarah: For more tolerance, we need more ... tourism?
Aziz Abu Sarah: Para uma 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 promotor da paz,
lembro-me de estar a ver televisão,
I remember watching television
a fun thing to do.
and threw rocks,
to throw rocks at Israeli cars.
acertar em carros israelitas.
my neighbors' cars. (Laughter)
nos carros dos meus vizinhos.
about my patriotism.
ao meu patriotismo.
and I know what you're thinking:
e sei o que estão a pensar:
what the heck happened to you?"
que raio aconteceu?"
por ter atirado pedras.
of throwing stones.
to confess that he threw stones,
a confessar que tinha atirado as pedras,
he was released from prison.
pouco depois de ter sido libertado.
para arranjar trabalho.
Hebrew to get a job,
in that classroom
who were not soldiers.
judeus que não eram soldados.
like the fact that I love country music,
como o meu gosto por música "country",
for Palestinians.
that we have a wall of anger,
de que temos um muro de raiva,
that separates us.
que nos separa.
what happens to me.
o que me acontece,
é como lido com isso.
to dedicate my life
that separate people.
que separam as pessoas.
mas também os "media" e a educação.
but also media and education,
really, can tourism change things?
to bring down those walls
de derrubar esses muros
of connecting with each other
nos relacionarmos uns com os outros
da Mejdi Tours,
aims to connect people,
que procura ligar as pessoas
we would have two tour guides,
tínhamos dois guias turísticos,
guiding the trips together,
a orientarem as visitas em conjunto.
a arqueologia e o conflito
and archaeology and conflict
with a friend named Kobi --
com um amigo chamado Kobi
the trip was in Jerusalem --
— a viagem foi em Jerusalém —
campo de refugiados palestinianos.
a Palestinian refugee camp,
Ela é porreira.
food called maqluba.
chamada "maqluba".
and you flip it upside-down.
e vira-se ao contrário.
Israeli and Palestinian musicians,
com músicos israelitas e palestinianos,
I'll teach you later.
eu depois ensino-vos.
they did not want to leave.
que nos fôssemos embora.
relationships still exist.
ainda existem.
if the one billion people
internacionalmente todos os anos,
every year travel like this,
from one side to another,
de um lado para o outro,
of their buses of people and cultures,
dos autocarros, a pessoas e culturas —
realmente com as pessoas...
a Muslim group from the U.K.
um grupo muçulmano do Reino Unido.
of an Orthodox Jewish family,
judia ortodoxa,
dinners, that Sabbath dinner,
de sexta-feira, aquele jantar de "Shabat",
which is a Jewish food, a stew,
que é uma comida judaica, um estufado,
of realizing, after a while,
pouco depois,
their families came out
as suas famílias tinham vindo
para o vosso Facebook.
for your Facebook.
to change your travel.
a mudar a vossa viagem.
para mudar o mundo.
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