Eye4You, 2006Status: done, tested, and ready to be adopted! Go to www.youtube.com and search for 'Eye4You', you'll see how it worked in Sharek Youth Centre ( Nablus, Palestine) and ECL highschool (Haarlem, Holland) Project: connecting Palestinian Youth (14, 15, 16 years old) with Dutch schoolchildren Execution: there is a live connection between the two groups. Palestinian children see the live image of a videocamera, being carried around in Holland, by the Dutch children, at that same moment. Palestinian children can indicate (through live audio) what they want to see, it is as if the are looking around in Holland themselves. There is a parallel chat connection. Goals: connecting children in Palestine and Holland, in order to establish longer term relationships. Keeping hope alive in Palestine. Getting the subject 'Palestine' into (Dutch) schools. Having fun, while doing it. Sharing it, leasing it, copying or adopting it: the project is open for new partners, for suggestions and for new participants from Holland and Palestine. http://www.sendamessage.nl/ 2006-2007-2008 The project kicked off at dec 7 2008, in close cooperation with PPF, Ramallah, contact: Faris Arouri. This project caught media attention worldwide. Visitors to the site: 32000 in the first 8 weeks. Orders: 270, at 30 euro each. All founding costst (not hours, but out of pocket costs) are already covered. Project: use the Wall as advertising space, for Dutch people wanting to send a special message to their Dutch friends or loved ones. A person-to-person 'viral' campaign idea, to make people talk and think about the Wall, which never talked or thought about it before. Target group: our launching customers are the more aware people, but in the end the general public, by viral spreading of the idea, and through media-attention. Execution: Dutch customers pay for a personal message written on the wall. These handwritten messages, shown on an uploaded picture, are sent back to the Dutch customer, and to his relations in Holland the message was personally aimed at. Goals: raise awareness about the situation in Palestine, a) by enabling activists to reach their friends and relations in a surprising way b) to entice the general public to use this very special way of sending a personal message (the information about the Wall travels along), c) generate media attention. d) Enabling local Palestinian organisations to generate money, which they get for each message written down and uploaded. Running time: as long as it works.Sharing it, leasing it, copying or adopting it: After the testphase Palestinian and Dutch ( international) organisations can 'plug in' by a) copying the data and digital delivery system (for free) to create a parallel sendamessage-system, or b) join the system by bringing in orders, or (in Palestine) create capacity to write down and upload commisioned messages. Be Adopted By A Palestinian, 2006Project: not realistic, but truly thought provoking: Palestinians show their strength, by caring about and supporting 'Westerners' to cope with their personal problems (loss, loneliness, whatever). Goal: creating long lasting, personal relationships, with the Palestinians (initially) as the 'giving' side.How to do it: we never found out, but the idea kept haunting us.
Camping Ramallah, 2006Project: viral internet 'comedy', a funny and provoking story told as a sequel.
Execution: on the web a story is told about a naïve Dutch couple who towed their caravan to the West Bank and are now camping at a (fictitious) campingsite in Ramallah. Their story is told in pictures (partly photoshopped, some setbuilding rquired) and by a weekly web diary. Their naïve expectations contrast sharply with the actual situation ( "The Israeli soldiers took the caravan apart at the checkpoint and we can't get to the Mediterranean") . The story also is a parody on how Dutch tourists behave abroad, which makes it attrractive for Dutch viewers. Goal: raise awareness about Palestine, changing the image of Palestine and Palestinians, give activistst a tool ( link) to distribute in their personal network. Target group: a 'campy' and trendy urban, young audience.Secondary activities: ultimately publishing the story as a booklet, actual filming of the story in Palestine, as a short TV-comedy. Funding, preparation: just do it!
www.mypersonalpalestinian.nl, 2006
Project: connect individual Dutch and Palestinians through the internet. Execution: a database gives Dutch with questions about Palestina internet-acces to individual Palestinian citizens. One thousand Palestinians (by that time will) have agreed to answer three emails monthly. Dutch visitors to the site can select the Palestinian counterpart on the basis of a short profile. The system prevents spamming and limits the amount of mails an individual Palestinian gets to a certain number. Goal: Give Dutch people the opportunity to find and check information and facts with Palestinians, directly. Establish personal links. Marketing: market this project as an independent newscource, exisiting organisations on both sides can plug in ( and out) at will. Note: no chattingsystem, only one-to-one connection. Costs: running costs very low, satisfied users on both sides will bring in new ones, start-up costst: building of the site. Attracting first users: by NGO's on both sides. Funding, preparation; just do it!
Longest mural in the world, 2007Project: paint the worlds longest mural on the 'Separation Barrier'. The current record is 5 km, held by Iran. By beating this, the project will make it into the Guiness Book of Records. Goal: generate publicity around the Wall and the suffering it causes. Target group: general public through media attention
General approach: invite wellknown graffiti-artists from different countries to do their part of the mural, all working around a general theme, to bring some unity into the general picture. The work in progress can be followed through a website. Parties involved: Palestinians select an appropriate stretch of Wall. Palestinians approach symphatizing organizations abroad to find ( in their countries) artist willing to participate. The website monitoring the progress of the mural; will be built in, and run from Palestine. Funding has to come from NGO's in other countries. Preparation: between 4 months and a year (estimate).Running time project: 4 years.Variation: Not a pictural mural, but the world longest letter, preferrably an open letter to a celebrity in the West, demanding attention for the fate of Palestinians affected by the Wall.
Palestine Lottery ( Scratch Down That Wall & Win), 2007Project: visitors on internet take part in a 'scratch-lottery'. They pay €2, to do so. Execution:Goals: promote general awareness about the Wall in a surprising way, also through media-attention. The website gives information about theWall. Secondary goal: raising money for Palestinian organisations /charities. Target group: in the beginning people already aware of the situation, enabling them to spread the message in a surprising way, secondarely the ones reached by those 'pioneers'. Additional info: surely in Holland, but probably in many more European countries, the principle of a 'charity-lottery' is well known and totally accepted. Parties involved: the website is built in Palestine, with Dutch support on the marketing-level, since the target group for starters is Dutch. Palestinians run and maintain the site. Money is collected in Holland, and latyer transferred to Palestine. A Dutch organisation does Dutch marketing, logistics ( distribution of prizes), funding to get started. Preparation: 6 months. Running time: as long as it works. Funding: only start-up funding, project can sustain itself. with the cursor the visitor scratches away four Wall-panels, each time revealing a symbol or a word. If you score four identical symbols or words, a small prize is won. Once a year the Big Prize is given away: a free trip to Palestine. Visitors of the site can also give away lotterytickets to their friends. Palolympics, 2007Project: comical, ironical movies on You Tube draw attention to very serious problems in Palestine.Execution: homemade video's, uploaded on You Tube, show Palestinians trying to polevault over the Wall. Strong men throw heavy metal balls against the Wall, or sling balls on a chain towards the Wall to break it. A hundred meter dash, a pan revealing the 'starting shot' was deliverd by an IDF soldier aiming at the athletes. Black humour, indeed. Goal:Target group: the young You Tube visitor. Secondary target: general public, through media-attention. Funding, preparation: just do it! improving the image of Palestinians abroad, by showing their sense of humour, drawing attention to the Palestinian situation. Buy a Balloon/Balloons with a messageIdea and execution: The famous graffiti artist Banksy painted a painting on the notorious separation wall near Qalandia checkpoint. This painting shows a little girl being lifted up by a bunch of balloons: a very powerful icon of the right to be free. What the painting shows we can do for 'real'. We launch a website where visitors are able to a personal balloon for just 2 euro’s. The buyers name or personal message will be printed onto the balloon. The balloon will be filled with helium gas and will be released the together with many other customized balloons when the wind is in the appropriate western direction. Thus the balloon will hover over the wall into Israel’s airspace. On the balloon is a label attatched with a print of Banksy’s painting to which we refer to. The benefit that will be generated by selling the balloons will be used to fund various charity projects in Palestine. These projects we communicate clearly on the website. Purpose: To get attention for the restrictions on freedom that Palestinians face with as a result of the separation wall and to generate benefit to support small scale charity projects in Palestine.Brand group: Media and users of internet by bannering and media attention. Preparation time: 6 months. Duration: as long as it works. Cost: There’s money needed to start up the project, buying the balloons, printing them and to develop a website with CC payment system. ( a similar system system already is in the making for the excution of www.sendamessage.nl, see above!) The Travelling X-mas Tree From Bethlehem, 2007Project: a Christmas tree, a gift from Bethlehem, travels to Holland, and ends up at a main square in a large city. Execution: a Dutch city is willing to welcome the Bethlehem X-mas tree, the tree starts travelling from Bethlehem to ( for instance) Amsterdam. Publicity around the project starts from the moment the tree leaves Bethlehem. The route of the tree, and the problems around transportation, are documented on video and/or photographs. On a website the progress of the X-mas tree is monitored. Whether or not the tree will actually arrive or not is not even the issue, even if certain problems will occur, all will generate media-attention. Background: a Dutch city ( or main church) receives a gift from Palestine. The unexpected aspect of this will generate media attention. The idea of a gift, with a tree from the city that is symbolic for Christmas, will give the Dutch a way of being able to identify with the people in Palestine. The time of Christmas that is so symbolic for love and peace, the fact that the city where Jesus was born was Bethlehem, and the fact that a gift is received will all ad to the change of image. Instead of fighting against the stereotypes, just show them another picture, that of giving, warm people.
Goal: raising conciousness about the isolation of 'Christian' Bethlehem, positive image change, mediaattention, create opportunities for local events, generate media attention. Target audience: Dutch Christians, general public.
"Am I hot in Ramallah?", 2007Project: young women from Ramallah determine the 'coolness' of Dutch young men. Are these guys 'hot' enough for Ramallah? Execution: we form a panel of about five attractive and modern looking young female students from Ramallah, who will judge boys from Holland of about the same age on their looks and sex-appeal. The boys send their digital photographs to a web-platform, to be developed. It would be great to find a platform such as www.retecool.com to take up this non-serious interaction as a weekly item in their online blog. Background: Palestine and Palestinians are associated with many things, but not with pleasant, lighthearted urban life. Palestinians are seen as 'totally not like us Westerners'. Wrong. This project will show in a humourous way that young Palestinians are real people who are very much like the youth in the Netherlands. They too worry about their looks, clothes and whether they are attractive to the opposite sex. Guys in Holland can find out if they are 'hot in ramallah' and whether they would be able to attract girls in Palestine. Dutch guys will be scrutinized by a female 'Palestinian Jury', that will also make some judgements about their character. The review will be quite superficial, but still the discussion and debate of whether 'you are hot in ramallah' may lead to some more insights in cultural differences, and more important: similarities and again media attention, because of the unexpected aspect of it. Goal: connecting young Palestinians with Dutch youth, positive image change, generating media attention. Target audience: young, educated, urban, MTV
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