Documentary raises awareness of Israeli oppression

Over a dozen Bozemanites gathered for a free screening of a documentary that covered the Palestinian struggle for freedom and autonomy under Israeli occupation. 

The Bozeman chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and Montana for Palestine (MT4Palestine) organized a free showing of the 2020 documentary “Mayor” at the Labor Union Temple on Sunday, Feb. 25. Both organizations provided free informational materials, such as a how-to pamphlet on unionizing from the DSA and a list of QR-coded educational resources on the ongoing humanitarian crisis from MT4Palestine. 

“This film showed the totality of [the situation in Palestine]. The most idealized version of peaceful cooperation is not enough,” co-chair of the Bozeman DSA Chris Austin said. The documentary, directed and produced by David Osit, follows Mayor Musa Hadid of Ramallah — an occupied city in Palestine’s West Bank — as he oversees domestic affairs, steps into the international spotlight and watches as a settler regime moves into his city.

Austin went on to compare the rapid changes in Ramallah to changes in Bozeman, stating, “While Ramallah has become more Westernized to gain international support, Bozeman has become more gentrified to attract more capital. This process will create, for the working people of Bozeman, more instability and precarity in prices of goods and housing, unless we work together to create a new city image of a Bozeman that works for all of us,” he said.

Following the film, attendees were invited to share their thoughts on the ongoing conflict in Palestine. One attendee compared the film’s coverage of Israeli discrimination of Palestinians to their own experiences growing up Romani under a hostile Russian government. As an example, they detailed how Romani students were punished for their absence from school after the local government neglected to send snowplows to clear the streets of their neighborhood. 

When asked about MT4Palestine’s goals in hosting events like the showing of “Mayor,” Sophia Fortunato, a chapter leader of the Bozeman branch, responded, “A free Palestine where everyone is equal and safe, Palestinians and Jews alike.” 

Fortunato went on to say that she and MT4Palestine hope to, “mobilize folks in our state to be in solidarity with Palestinian liberation.”  

The Bozeman DSA and MT4Palestine confirmed that they hope to collaborate on similar events in the near future.