Fragmented Letters

“My dear friend,
I am writing to you from good old Europe, the fortress of humanitarian, social and economic achievements.” Jane, London
 

“I hardly turn on my TV. I do not want to go to sleep with these depressing images on my mind produced by the media. We have seen too many of these images. We are on the streets now. Millions around the globe were on the streets against the Iraq war. How did it help? Life goes on, as we know.”
Friedrich, Cologne  

“I would like to express my deep concern about your well being, as Arab anger might turn against any white face / Westerner – please take care. (I am referring to true stories passed on to me.)” Andrea, Zurich 

“I am really worried about your mental and emotional involvement with this conflict. Look at things that are more pleasant. There are problems everywhere, also back home: unemployment, increasing prices, gradual privatization of decent education, ongoing Islamisation of Western societies, natural resources and the climate crisis …. You name it ... Let`s solve our problems. Let them solve their problems.” Frederique, Paris  

“Why get involved? It is not ours, we have nothing to do with this. The Second World War is long ago, why look back. That’s past, that’s history. We’ve done that, we paid for it. It is too far away, it is not up to me to judge. The world is unjust. Politics are corrupt. People are hypocrites. All nothing new.”
Many voices. 

“Anyway, I never really understood, why you had to go there. Living with a people who are so different from us. Why look at misery? Why stay in such a conflict-riven region? Why was a visit to the Pyramids, to Petra not enough?”
Gianluca, Milano
 

”My friend, all my empathy is with you. Hoping to see you back home very soon. I will bake an Apfelstrudel to welcome you. My neighbour gave the recipe of her great-grandmother to me. Yes, plus hot chocolate-vanilla sauce. With a nice cup of Earl Grey I will tell you about the wonderful diving and safari holidays we had in Somalia and Sri Lanka.” Gerda, Vienna

Your very caring friends from Europe
XX YY XY YX

text, 2009, and photographs by Rayelle Niemann:
Khan Younis, Gaza, checkpoint crossing to reach Palestinian land beyond Gush Katif (Harvest Bloc) Settlement, May 2005

 

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