2011 was a devastating year for The Freedom Theatre. In April, Juliano Mer Khamis, co-founder of The Freedom Theatre and its visionary leader, was murdered. We staff and members of The Freedom Theatre, will not forget and we will not cease to demand, unconditionally, that those responsible for Juliano's death be brought to justice. Just as The Freedom Theatre was built on the inspiration and legacy of Arna, Juliano's mother, so will its future work be built on the legacy of Juliano. It will carry on his message to promote freedom-not only for the Palestinian people but for all human beings. We are mourning, but we will continue our resistance through art, continue our struggle, continue to do our better than best. As Juliano would say: The Revolution must go on!
"You don't have to heal the children in Jenin. We are not trying to heal their violence. We try to challenge it into more productive ways. And more productive ways are not an alternative to resistance. What we are doing in the theatre is not trying to be a replacement or an alternative to the resistance of the Palestinians in the struggle for liberation, just the opposite. This must be clear. I know it's not good for fundraising, because I'm not a social worker, I'm not a good Jew going to help the Arabs, and I'm not a philanthropic Palestinian who comes to feed the poor. We are joining, by all means, the struggle for liberation of the Palestinian people, which is our liberation struggle. We're not healers. We're not good Christians. We are freedom fighters."
Juliano Mer Khamis, 1958-2011
"The revolutionary message will not pass away. It will come storming the yellow sands and the mountains covered by almond trees...from here, from the Freedom Theatres stage, where men were and are made to be free and engaged in the cultural revolutionary battle for freedom. In thousands of silences only one voice is raising up; it's the freedom fighters, to whom you taught how to carry the cultural gun on their shoulders. Juliano, your mother's children have passed away, your mother, Arna, has passed away and so did you-but your children are going to stay, following your path on the way to the freedom battle, and we will go on with your revolution's promise, the Jasmine revolution."
Juliano's students
"I think it was 1989, we were in Geneva attending one of the international women conferences, trying to make bridges and common action against Israeli occupation. We were a group of palestinian, israelies and international women, among the israelies there was Arna. I was taken by her love for humanity and by her sharp vision. Not all the israelies liked her, she was too radical for some of them, but i immediately felt she was unique. We talked about our life and she spoke about Juliano, she was proud of her son. I met Juliano many years later, when he presented Arna's film in Jerusalem to the Women in Black International conference. After the film, we all danced and i finded a pipe fo water, we started to throw water to each other and we were jocking like child. He also was unique. The freedom of his thought, the determination to deal with his plurime identity, his frankness that sometime sound rudness, but also his humanity and kindness. A real human, being able to face also his contraddictions. I admired his committment to go back to Jenin and among the ruines to rebuild this time not the Stone Theatre but the Freedom Theatre. I felt so honored, privileged and moved when he ask me to be part of the Freedom Theatre foundation. When he was killed, the pain for his loss was immense and is still there. I thought about the people of the Theatre, about Zakaria and all the people he lost. But we are still here and resist, resist the military occupation, the occupation of the mind and the fanatics who killed Juliano. Art is freedom, culture is freedom. Juliano is with us and the Jenin Freedom Theatre lives."
