Name Samah Sabawi | ||
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Born 1967 Palestinian Territories | ||
Words by samah sabawi
Samah Sabawi (Arabic: سماح السبعاوي; 1967) is a Palestinian-Australian-Canadian writer, commentator, author and playwright. She has written and produced the plays Cries from the Land (2003) and Three Wishes (2008), both successfully received in Canada. In 2014, Sabawi completed a sold-out season of the play Tales of a City by the Sea, which had an Arabic production by Al Rowwad Theatre in Palestine and an English production by La Mama Theatre in Melbourne, Australia.
Contents
- Words by samah sabawi
- Against the tide samah sabawi
- Wheeler Centre Incident
- Tales of a City by the Sea
- Views on the Palestine Israeli conflict
- References
Sabawi's essays and opeds have appeared in various media outlets including The Australian, Al Jazeera, Al-Ahram, The Globe and Mail, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald among many others. Her poetry has been featured in various magazines and books, most recently in an anthology published by West End Press titled With Our Eyes Wide Open: Poems of the New American Century. She is a frequent guest/co-presenter on 774 ABC Melbourne's Jon Faine's Conversation Hour. She appeared alongside Israeli writer Ari Shavit, BBC News New York and UN Correspondent Nick Bryant, actress Miriam Margolyes, and numerous others.
Sabawi is a policy advisor to the Palestinian policy network Al Shabaka, and a member of the board of directors of the National Council on Canada-Arab Relations. She participated in various public forums on peace building, women in conflict areas, the Palestinian right of return, as well as various presentations for interfaith groups. Previously, she was a public advocate for Australians for Palestine, Executive Director and Media Spokesperson for the National Council on Canada-Arab Relations (NCCAR), and a Subject Matter Expert on the Middle East's cultural and political landscape for the Canadian Foreign Service Institute's Center for Intercultural Learning.
Samah Sabawi is currently co-editing an anthology of Jewish and Palestinian plays from diaspora for the Playwrights Canada Press, Canada’s major publisher and distributor of Canadian drama.
Against the tide samah sabawi
Wheeler Centre Incident
Sabawi was controversially dis-invited from a speaker panel at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne, due to pressure from opposing speakers. Following a social media storm of protest, the Wheeler Centre reversed their decision. Sabawi joined Peter Beinart, Mark Baker, Or Avi-Guy, Maher Mughrabi and Dahlia Scheindlin in the event What we talk about when we talk about Israel/Palestine. The panel was later broadcast on ABC's Big Ideas and is currently viewable on the Wheeler Centre website.
Tales of a City by the Sea
In November 2014, Sabawi's play Tales of a City by the Sea (described as a "Palestinian story of love and separation") premiered in Melbourne, Australia and Aida refugee camp, Palestine. With the venue entirely filled for each viewing, the play received highly positive reviews from The Sydney Morning Herald, The Music, The Australian Jewish Democratic Society and Melbourne.Arts.Fashion. The reviews have been compiled on the play website.
Views on the Palestine-Israeli conflict
Sabawi's family left Gaza following Israel's occupation of the Strip in the Six-Day War. Although she has lived and worked in many countries around the world she still has "strong ties to her place of birth - ties that have shaped [her] work and identity". As a result of this she is fluent in both English and Arabic and has given speeches and interviews in both.
She has challenged the media's coverage of the Palestine-Israel conflict and is an avid critic of both Hamas and Fatah Sabawi has called for better representation of the Palestinian people She has, for example, criticised the Palestinian leadership for signing the Oslo Agreement. In her view, the Oslo Agreements were "designed to fragment the Palestinian people both physically and politically." She has been a consistent participant of Israeli Apartheid Week and a lifetime advocate for non-violent resistance.