The 10th Hong Kong Social Movement Film Festival has scheduled screenings of Occupation 101 (21-Nov), Inventing Our Life: The Kibbutz Experiment and Enraged (22-Nov)—three movies about Israel/Palestine—among other films on globalisation and oppressed people.

Occupation 101 tries to profile the Israeli-Palestinian conflict within the larger context, and expose the audience to other aspects and narratives which are largely missing from the mainstream media.

Enraged is about a group of Jewish Israeli activists opposed to the occupation, and their effort and struggle to bring it to an end.

Inventing Our Life: The Kibbutz Experiment traces the history of the kibbutz movement—social collectives originally started by some of the Jews immigrated to Palestine in the early twentieth century, they themselves being escapees of the anti-Semitic persecution in Eastern Europe.

The story about kibbutzim is an interesting one. As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is usually framed as a religious, ideological and ethnic issue in the mass media, the significance of its economic impact—about money and resources—is largely neglected. Most people probably don’t realise that the occupation is also a profitable business for some people.

At the same time, while there were nationalism, Zionism and occasional religious factors involved in the kibbutz movement, it’s also a movement dedicated to economic equality based on socialist ideals. However, in the past few decades, there’s been a trend of privatisation and decline among the kibbutzim due to economic pressure and other factors—the money has once again changed hands. It is rather ironic when one considers that some of the kibbutzim were built on depopulated Palestinian villages.

As illustrated by the self-immolation in Tunisia which started the Arab Spring, and similar tragedies in Israel and Gaza in this year, something as basic as food and livelihood is still very much a serious concern for many people while some others go on a wasteful living style. And perhaps we all have more in common than we realise, or are willing and ready to admit.

Speaking of food, a restaurant run and staffed by people with hearing impairment has recently been established in the Gaza Strip.

Note: In Chinese on inmediahk.net.

Last night, two ferries collided off Lamma Island, Hong Kong. One of the boats, carrying over 100 people on the way to watch the National Day fireworks display, sank immediately with its passengers aboard.

36 have been confirmed dead, and rescue operations are still under way.

Update on 4-Oct: The death toll has risen to 38, and flags flew at half mast starting today to mark the start of a 3-day mourning.

Update on 6-Oct: A 10-year old girl passed away yesterday, the rest of the hospitalized are said to be in stable conditions.

More than 200,000 people have been evacuated and 700,000 affected. At least 7,000 houses were destroyed and numerous others damaged.

Below are links to the initial work reports of several NGOs and online donation forms:

• Oxfam
• Red Cross
• The Salvation Army
• UNICEF
• World Vision

Do not withhold good from those who need it, when you have the ability to help.
– Proverbs 3:27

A long time ago, there were a couple, they’d been together for a while, the lady wished to marry so much, but the gentleman was not ready yet. One day, the lady spoke to the gentleman:

“Would you marry me?”

“Ugh… Marriage…? I’m not ready yet,” the gentleman answered.

But the lady didn’t give up, and began to secretly plan for the wedding. Eventually, it was discovered by the gentleman:

“What are you doing? I’ve never seen someone who’d unilaterally plan a wedding with such secrecy like this. Let’s sit down and talk.”

“But I’ve already booked the banquet hall, paid for the gifts, just sent out the invitations, and plan to have babies 3 years later,” the lady said helplessly (cheekily).

“What?! I’d not accept this!!” the gentleman replied angrily.

In the next few months, the gentleman kept asking the lady to put aside the wedding plan and talk. But the lady ignored him and persisted. The date was approaching, and the argument became more fierce, to the point that they’re about to split. A month before the wedding:

“Please, I’ve prepared everything, you’re not going to quit now, are you?”

“When have I ever agreed to marry you!? Why are you so persistent? We’ve had strife before, but we always talked and solved it in a mutually acceptable way.”

“Talk? Of course! Of course! Is it that you’ve a problem of having the wedding in a church? What about a Buddhist temple? As long as you marry me, we can talk about everything!”

“What I meant was that, we should sit down and think if we should marry now, not the details of the wedding plan… Tell me, why do you insist so?”

“My grandfather said, ‘Don’t hesitate, men’s hearts change easily, marry soon, have babies quick, and so…’ and my relatives also said, that if you do not marry me now, then you aren’t in love with me.”

The story continues…

Note: In Chinese on inmediahk.net. This is intended to be a parody of the national education controversy in Hong Kong.