Palestine and Censorship in the Arts
Location: Ada Slaight Hall in Daniels Spectrum | 585 Dundas Street East
Censorship in the arts has always been a critical issue in global cultural politics and, over the past year, the “Palestine Exception” has gained even more heightened urgency.
This panel will witness the various forms of censorship faced by pro-Palestinian artists, creatives, and organizers, with a focus on film, journalism, and social justice education. The discussion will examine how violent restrictions on voice and expression have shaped the narratives of our interconnected global struggles as well as impacted the portrayal of Palestinian identity and resistance in arts and culture.
Speakers and panelists
Moderator
Pacinthe Mattar is an independent journalist. Born in Egypt and raised between Canada, Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E, she received a National Magazine Award for her article “Objectivity Is A Privilege Afforded to White Journalists.” In 2022, she was the Martin Wise Goodman Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.
Panellist
Rania El Mugammar is a Sudanese artist, abolitionist, community organiser, and social justice educator based in Tkaronto (Treaty 13). Rania’s artistic and community work is deeply rooted in Black liberation, decolonization, transformative justice, and repair.
Panellist
Dania Majid is the co-founder and president of the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association and is the lead author of ACLA’s 2022 report “Anti-Palestinian Racism: Naming, Framing and Manifestations.” Dania is also the co-founder and Artistic Director of the Toronto Palestine Film Festival and sits on the steering committee for the Hearing Palestine program at the University of Toronto.
Panellist
Saeed Teebi is a writer and lawyer. His debut collection of short stories was a finalist for the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize, the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, and the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award. The title story, “Her First Palestinian,” was shortlisted for the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize. Teebi was born to Palestinian parents in Kuwait and has lived in Canada since 1993.
