MENA Video Transcript
The purpose of this session is to embark together on an imaginal journey, to vision collectively what a feminist economic transformation could look like in the Middle East and Northern Africa.
Visual:
A dreamy holographic image swirls on screen.
TV static as transition.
Title card reads: "Imaginings of a Feminist Economic Transformation in the Middle
East & North Africa" with the Oxfam logo in the corner.
TV static as transition.
Speaker #1:
And the dream that we have is to hear your voices directly, because you are the ones who create this dream, you are the ones who bring this to reality
Visual:
Zoom call with two women on screen. The one on the left is speaking.
Montage of participants making different hand gestures like mimicking glasses and holding their hands in a U-shape like a smile.
Speaker #2:
We always feel that we lack this alternative, or this imagination of an alternative
that we can actually reach, rather than something that we can just imagine. But something
that we can actually work toward and make happen.
I would like to invite us to think about it as a transformation.
Montage continues.
Speaker #2:
We don't want to recover and go back to where we were, but we want to recover and move to something, to a new system, to a new structure, to a new world.
Visual:Return to Zoom call with two women on screen. Now, the one on the right is speaking.
Facilitator:
I'm going to take you on a little imaginal journey.
Visual:The facilitator speaks to the camera.
Facilitator:
Before returning to the present I invite you to look for one gift, a symbol that this happened, that you traveled here, that this is possible.
Visual:
Screen recording of a Google Jamboard with the title: Visions: the highlights of
what you saw. Facilitator clicks through four identical pages with different
sub-headings: Music, Poetry/Story, Visual Art and Scene/Skit.
Screen recording of Google Jamboard with someone typing onto various sticky notes.
These read: No multinational corporations, universal basic income, no more extractive
industries, all resources are public good, clear and fresh air, oceans, environments
are protected.
Facilitator:
So, this is now a moment where we get to collectively make art together.
Visual:Zoom call with all participants on screen and Facilitator speaking in the top left corner.
Facilitator:
To create a collective picture of what we saw in the future.
Visual:Montage of participants holding up drawings to the camera. The first one depicts a heart with the words "safety and kindness" in the middle. The second one depicts a house with solar panels and trees.
Speaker #3:
It was green, you know, you could walk and you could breathe, and it was airy and
open, you know, very communal.
People were doing things together, people were there for each other.
Montage continues. The third drawing shows a small town with trees around it, a lake in front of it and the sun shining.
Speaker #4:
A group of people woke up. They decided to pack their bags and travel across the MENA. A dream, no it's a reality. Traveling was never the dream now, and never the end goal. It was easy, a simple choice.
Visual:
Montage continues. Another drawing depicts the earth in the centre of a scale with
the symbols for men and women on either side. The word "Balance" sits on top of the
scale and the word "Justice" is underneath.
The next drawing depicts a landscape where people are dancing in a circle, there is
a lake on one side and a forest on the other.
The final image is a screen recording of the graphic recording, which captures the
themes of the session. Along the right side in bold letters it reads "Travel is not
the goal, it is easy, safe". There are images of women in warm homes, sitting on the
beach, as politicians and leading movements. There is nature and flowers throughout the
image. The sun is shining and work is reimagined.
Fade to black.
Facilitator:
So beautiful!
Visual:The facilitator claps.