Photo by Sarah Manley

A paint-speckled scaffold leans against a concrete wall as paintbrush-wielding students carefully transform it into art.

Painted at College Nine and Ten last Friday across from the Namaste Lounge, the mural emblazoned with “Peace Starts Here” stretches across the wall near McLaughlin Drive. It is written in English, Arabic and Hebrew, all the while interweaving patterns and images of the painters themselves at work. The mural was painted primarily by students enrolled in two College Nine classes that focused on the conflict.

“I am American and Israeli,” said Diana Gilon, a New York-based artist and art instructor. “I identify as culturally Jewish, and I am very passionate about creating collaborative art projects with different communities that initiate dialogue about the peace process and identity and diversity and exploring all those issues together as a community.”

Gilon headed the collaborative project through online media.

“We asked students to upload images on the Flickr account, which was public to the whole school,” she said. “I created drafts [of the mural design] based on their images.”

Student and faculty commented online to decide which images would be used in the mural.

First-year biology student Shannelle Abuseleme, who identifies as half-Palestinian, participated in the mural through a peer-facilitated class on Israel and Palestine.

“I like the mural [that was chosen],” Abusleme said. “We had a discussion in class about why other images couldn’t be chosen, and at the end of the day, everyone just wants peace.”

The image, which centered around the word “peace,” was ultimately chosen for its inclusive message and theme of community action.

“One of the things that Diana noticed in the images that people were uploading was that a lot of them were images of people doing, people taking action,” said College Nine and Ten co-curricular programs coordinator Wendy Baxter, who also spent time painting the mural.

The artists depicted on the wall are actual portraits of student artists, including the student facilitators who directed the peer-facilitated class on Israel and Palestine, Abusleme said.

“People have been painting on the mural next to each other, talking about really different ways of thinking about the conflict and really different experiences with it,” Baxter said.

The mural subtly addresses the varied voices and perspectives on the issue by using a variety of patterns from the region, including those one might see in a mosque or temple, Baxter said.

Participating students were required to fulfill five hours of work on the mural for their respective classes. The classes involved in the mural have used the project as a method of fostering conversation about the issue. Volunteer and College Nine first-year psychology and sociology major Margaux Schindler discussed her perspective on the conflict.

“Oftentimes the North/South Irish conflict is compared to Israel/Palestine,” Schindler said. “I’m from Southern Ireland, born and mostly raised, so my opinions tend to lean toward the Palestinian side of the conflict.”

Schindler said she hoped the mural presents a message of cooperation.

“The mural reminds us that Israel-Palestine is a very diverse situation and should be handled that way,” she said, “and that our end goal is peace between the two states.”

Audiopharmacy performs at Kresge Town Hall, bringing visibility to minorities struggling in the face of ongoing territorial occupations. Photo by Morgan Grana.

Four centuries after the first white settlers landed in New England, Native American groups are reaching across the ocean to war-torn Palestinians.

Aiming to support a liberation struggle some think is analogous to the early days of America’s manifest destiny, the Bay Area-based Indigenous Youth Delegation to Palestine made their first international contact during a two-week tour through refugee camps along the Israel-Palestine border in August 2009.

Ras K’Dee, a member of the delegation and editor of Seventh Native American Generation (SNAG) magazine, shared his experiences from the trip prior to a concert in Kresge Town Hall. The event, a publicity venture in ongoing efforts to increase awareness of minority struggles, was hosted by UC Santa Cruz’s Native American Resource Center.

K’Dee described his goals.

“There isn’t that international wedge of support for Palestine either,” K’Dee said. “In the long run, we want to create a solidarity movement.”

An ethnic Californian Pomo Indian, K’Dee drew multiple parallels between the two groups. He equated the Cherokee Trail of Tears with the forced migration of Palestinians from Israeli lands, and compared placement of Native American children into boarding schools with Palestinian families separated by impassable military checkpoints.

“The U.N. created a land for Jews, who have been historically kicked around Europe,” UCSC student Eliot Rosenstock said. “[The Jewish people] wanted a base, and it hurts me to see my own people now marginalizing another religion.”

Native American Indians are a minority in their own home country. A 2008 diversity report revealed that they make up about 1 percent of the student population at UCSC.

Fourth-year Merrill student and attendee Amalia Coronado stated that as a Native American, she felt a connection to Palestinians in what she felt was a battle for visibility and equality.

“There’s just so much going on everywhere, it’s great to make these cross-cultural ties,” Coronado said. “We’re all fighting for similar things.”

Debates rage over the legitimacy of Israeli settlements, pitting Israelis against Palestinians.

The divide permeates Rosenstock’s own life as well. While his family consists of unequivocal supporters of a Jewish nation, Rosenstock was found tabling on behalf of Palestine.

“To them, as soon as I stop supporting Israel, I become ignorant,” Rosenstock said.

The event culminated in a performance by hip-hop group Audiopharmacy, whose mellow-feeling beats incorporated lyrics of indigenous opposition, a message coinciding with the one carried by the delegation. Or in K’Dee’s words, “resisting the exportation of oppression with solidarity.”

Cross-continental connections were made with the youth of Palestine, who welcomed the delegation as the culmination of a program of study centered around Native American and immigrant populations of the United States.

“It was dope, man,” K’Dee said. “They were doing their traditional dances for us. We did an exchange with them, did some of our own cultural things.”

K’Dee spent two years prior to the trip learning about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the situation of displaced Palestinian refugees.

“We could never provide the real truth if we hadn’t been there,” K’Dee said. “We want to educate people … and the ultimate goal is change.”

In a closing remark, K’Dee noted that Palestinians have so far counted 42 years of what has been considered occupation, while American Indians have counted 560.