‘Slingshot Hip-hop’

Youth in Palestine have found a way to vent their frustrations with oppression through their music.

A documentary, titled "Slingshot Hip-hop," tells the story of Palestinian hip-hop artists, how they use their art to share their history and the struggle for freedom in Palestine.

"The film shows that the power of art and music can go a long way when working towards peace and enlightenment — in a non-violent way," said Amjad Doumani, co-founder of the Media Decompression Collective.

"Slingshot Hip-hop" will be shown today at 7 p.m., on-campus. There will be a meaningful discussion afterwards where participants will be encouraged to offer input concerning the message as well as the movie in general.

The University of Toledo's Center for Nonviolence and Democratic Education, CNDE, will be hosting the event in cooperation with the Media Decompression Collective, MCD.

CNDE was founded by Dale Snauwaert, Ph.D., associate professor of educational theory and social foundation of education. The organization's purpose is to promote understanding of a nonviolent, democratic, peaceful and ecologically sustainable solution that will ultimately result in a just society.

For more information on CNDE, visit Utoledo.edu/education/centers/nonviolence/index.html or they can be found on Facebook.com.

MCD, the other sponsoring organization, is based in Toledo. It was co-founded by Amjad Doumani in 2004 as a result of problems they saw in the mainstream media. "Back in 2004 I felt, along with other people, that there was a need to fill the vacuum left by the mainstream media; how it was covered and what was covered."

"We called it Media Decompression Collective because we wanted to decompress the media, which is full of sound bites and lacks analysis." Doumani went on to mention that the media also fails to provide the adequate amount to background. "People would watch the news and come away confused rather than enlightened," he said.

MDC had a screening of "Slingshot Hip-hop" at Bozarts Fine Arts & Music Gallery that attracted a sizable crowd of 70, according to Doumani. One of the attendees, a UT professor in the education department, enjoyed the film and suggested a showing at UT. The movie, which will be shown in Gilliam Hall 5300, is free and open to the public.

Gilliam will be an improvement compared to the first venue since the environment is much more conducive to a discussion after the showing.

Through the screening, MDC hopes to promote dialogue. "UT is a place of knowledge and education and so we thought we'd show it there."

Not many Americans are aware of the plight of Palestinians. This ignorance is what encouraged MDC to promote screenings of the film, they wish to "showcase the Palestinian narrative, which is absent from mainstream media. We want to inspire dialogue concerning the life of Palestinians under military occupation," according to Doumani.

According to their website, "Media Decompression Collective supports efforts towards collective social change by providing film screenings that have a focus on social, political and environmental issues." More information on the organization can be found at MDCToledo.org or they can be found on Facebook.com.

Doumani said they're working on getting more screenings scheduled in Toledo, but nothing is confirmed yet.

"Slingshot Hip-hop" information can be found at SlingshotHiphop.com.