Birzeit University Right To Education Campaign Photo & Video Student Photography Exhibition Opens at Birzeit University Right to Education Campaign, Birzeit University, 28 February 2006 On Monday 27th February, Birzeit University's Right to Education Campaign launched a photography exhibition and book in cooperation with the Birzeit University Photography Unit. The title of the exhibition was "Students Under Occupation - Take a Stand". Kamal Nasir Hall was packed with students, employees and many visitors from outside the University who came to see the exhibition. The reactions were overwhelmingly positive. Marwa, a student of Birzeit University described the pictures as "incredible...I feel that I have walked all the streets and corners that are represented in this exhibition. Despite the different places, the sieges and the closures are the same". (Quoted in an Al-Ayyam newspaper http://www.al-ayyam.com/znews/site/template/Doc_View.aspx?did=34013&Date=2/28/2006) The photographers are all students from Birzeit University and Al-Najah University who came together to work on the Right to Education Photography Project. Their aim was to document student life and the obstruction of Palestinian education under military occupation, through the artistic expression of their own ideas and experiences. The exhibition opening began with a speech from the President of Birzeit University, Dr. Nabeel Kassis, who talked about the history of Palestinian education under occupation, including the military closures of educational institutions, as well as the daily obstruction of access to schools and universities. He stressed that the struggle for the right to education is part of the struggle for all human rights. Following the speech by Dr. Kassis, one of the photographers and student of Birzeit University, Mirna Bamieh, spoke about her experience in the Project. She said that it had changed her perspective of the daily reality around her: "people, markets, streets, stones and even garbage will no longer just randomly figure in my life, everything now has a new dimension." Mr. Christian Sterzing, Director of the Heinrich Boll Foundation which funded the Project also gave a speech, as did the Director of the Birzeit University Public Relations Office, Mr. Ghassan Andoni. As well as capturing the major obstacles to pursuing an education in occupied Palestine - obstacles which include the routine harassment and arrests of students by Israeli soldiers and the daily struggle to reach school and university under a regime of military checkpoints - the photographers have also reflected on the less visual aspects of student life under occupation. The photographs in this exhibition and book touch on themes as diverse as isolation, poverty, resistance, absent classmates, military barriers, student prisoners and determination. A quote by one of the photographers, Fadwa Basha, is featured in the exhibition. It says: "In the world of photographs, when the camera becomes your eyes and your beating heart, the photograph that you take will not be a single moment in your memories, but will be the complete reality and the complete story...It is not just about art photography, it is a moment in history; it is a moment in our time as Palestinian students that tells the world our truth." The Right to Education Photography exhibition will stay open to the public at Birzeit University, Kamal Nasir Hall, from 27th February to 6th March 2006. Opening hours are 12pm - 4pm. After launching at Birzeit University, the exhibition will begin a tour of Palestinian and international venues throughout 2006. Please contact the Right to Education Campaign at right2edu@birzeit.edu if you are interested to host the exhibition.