Not a Survivor

Are there people on this land who deserve to live life more than others? There are people of flesh and blood, like us, on this land, whose criticism or denigration is considered taboo by the law or by the public. There is no doubt that Mahmoud Darwish reached such a level of popularity that many people justify his mistakes and shortcomings and rush to intimidate whoever dares to harm his good memory. He is exceptionally placed by the mainstream among the “high profile people” for whom criticism is criminalized.

Not a Survivor is an alternative musical and poetic performance that attempts to cross the line of taboos. It is not from a desire to criticize Darwish as a person or a poet, but rather to affirm the legitimacy of the opposite current and the right to express, criticize, differ and be sarcastic, even if this does not correspond to the notions and interests of the mainstream. During the performance, the aura of holiness with which we have surrounded Darwish since his death, may disappear. However, the poet is not the target. There is no point in persecuting those who are no longer among us. The purpose of humanizing iconic figures, in general, is to reduce them back to normal size, by highlighting the situations and facets of their lives that may be inconsistent with the usual image of perfection and idealism. Hopefully, this effort will help restore the ability to be objective in our judgments, the legitimacy of expressing our various opinions, and the freedom to do so.

Project Video

About Jowan Safadi

Juwan Safadi: musician from Nazareth, born in 1973, known for his punchy words and innovative style, which he calls ‘Free Arab Rock’. He started playing this type of music with ‘FishSamak Band’ on international, Arabic and local platforms. In 2012, he released his album Namrud, in which he challenged taboos such as divorce, sexual frustration, coercion in religion and political hypocrisy. In 2015, he released ‘An Takoon Arabyian’ [To be an Arab], a video clip depicting the complex situation of Jewish Arabs, singing in Hebrew for the first time. The video clip attracted the attention of international media and Arab and Israeli news broadcasts. In 2019, he released his album Stay Away from Mid-Evil East and Sing for It, featuring the track ‘The Police Song’, which became popular in protests and revolutions around the world. In 2021, he released Ijmad [man up], an electronic album, featuring tracks about complicated love relationships.