Panel, Performance

Organized by Public Movement, SALONS: Birthright Palestine? is a series of performative public debates, specifically staged as congressional sessions, summit meetings, visioning sessions, diplomatic consultations, secret gatherings, and demonstrations. Part of the New Museum’s exhibition The Ungovernables, each salon extends itself outside of the museum, and takes place in different locations throughout Manhattan.

SALONS: Birthright Palestine? will celebrate the choreographies of Birthright ideological youth journeys to Israel; examine the uses and misuses of political branding as they relate to the status of some New York Muslim communities; deconstruct the role played by Birthright in the production of the American Jewish community/lobby; and consider the potential appropriation of such strategies toward the creation of Birthright Palestine. In collaboration with local communities, academics, activists, and specialists, SALONS: Birthright Palestine? performs strategic research towards the final Public Movement action for New York City. In the final salon, the public will vote on whether to initiateBirthright Palestine.

SALONS 2: Visioning Session for Return features Gil Anidjar, Rochelle Davis, Lubna Hammad, and Hagar Kotef presenting positions on scholarly issues related to a Palestinian right of return and the Israeli law of return. Topics may include religion and secularism, the dynamics of nationalism and diaspora, definitions of citizenship, ideas of return, the possibility of financial compensations for displaced Palestinians, and the status of the Palestinian community in New York.

Public participation is encouraged, to include any and all perspectives on these complicated and controversial issues.

Participants 
Gil Anidjar, Associate Professor, Religion and Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies, Columbia University
Rochelle Davis, Assistant Professor, Anthropology, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown Universitys Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service; and fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WITHDREW PARTICIPATION)
Lubna Hammad, Palestinian human rights activist, lawyer, and founding member, Adalah-New York: The Coalition for Justice in the Middle East
Hagar Kotef, fellow, Society of Fellows in the Humanities, Columbia University

SALONS 2: Visioning Session for Return is presented by Public Movement in collaboration with the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School. Public Movements participation is co-presented by The New Museum for Contemporary Art and Artis with additional support from the Ostrovsky Family Fund and the Israeli Lottery Fund.