Seed Songs for Palestine

Explore how seeds connect with land, culture and indigenous resilience.

Join an evening of short films, song sharing, seed swapping and sowing solidarity with Palestinian growers and farmers.

Organised by Glasgow Seed Library and friends, raising funds for Revive Gaza's Farmland.

About the event

Delve into the significance of seeds, plant life, and relations with land as forms of resistance, in a short film programme which interrogates the dynamics of freedom and survival in the face of environmental and colonial oppression.

Hear from Manal Shqair, Palestinian activist and researcher of Palestinian women's land-based resistance to Israel's environmental colonialism. Learn about practices of eco-sumud: the use of indigenous knowledge, cultural values, tactics and tools to fight back against dispossession and the unsustainable management of land and its resources.

The event will include a half-time comfort break with a sharing of songs for peace and justice by Protest in Harmony Glasgow, a display of seeds from the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library, and a selection of Palestinian breads and sweets created by a local baker.

Seed Songs for Palestine highlights the vital role of seed sovereignty in asserting Indigenous rights and preserving cultural heritage. While Israel continues a relentless campaign of ecocide and genocide of the Palestinian people and their land, this is an urgent call for growers and seedsavers in Glasgow to gather and act in solidarity.

Film Programme

Cecilia Vicuña, Semiya (Seed song) (2015, Chile, 8 mins)


Alanis Obomsawin, Farming (1975, Canada, 2 mins)


Rana Nazzal Hamadeh, We Would Be Freer (2023, Palestine/Canada, 9 mins)


Marwa Arsanios, Who is Afraid of Ideology, Part III Microresistencias (2020, 31 mins)

Ryley Williams, it’s amazing that you still exist (2021, Canada, 4 mins)


Nicolás Grandi and Lata Mani, Nocturne I (2013, India, 5 mins)Total running time: 90 mins

Ticketing

We are raising funds for Revive Gaza's Farmland, a project of The Arab Group for the Protection of Nature. Please donate as much as you are able to.

This event is free for people of Palestinian or Lebanese heritage, as well as refugees, asylum seekers and forced migrants from any country. If this is you, please email hamshya@cca-glasgow.com to book a free Solidarity Ticket. You do not need to tell us your circumstances.

Note from the curators

The films in Seed Songs for Palestine engage themes of seed sovereignty and Indigenous resilience, highlighting the intrinsic connections between land, culture, and self-determination. Delving into the symbolic and practical importance of seeds, plant life, and relations with land as forms of resistance and continuity for Indigenous communities, the films interrogate the dynamics of freedom and survival in the face of environmental and colonial oppression, while also offering poignant reflections on both the fragility and resilience of existence.

Collectively, they illuminate the vital role of seed sovereignty in asserting Indigenous rights and preserving cultural heritage. This collection of shorts presents a rich tapestry of voices and radical perspectives that have existed from time immemorial, considering the intersections of ecological stewardship and self determination which continue to disperse across fertile lands.

Curated by wave~form~projects and re:assemblage collective.

About the contributors

Manal Shqair is a Palestinian climate activist and researcher. Currently, she is doing her PhD in sociology at Queen Margaret University, Scotland, where she also teaches undergraduate courses. Her research examines the role of Palestinian semi-nomadic women in Masafer Yatta in resisting Israeli settler colonial dispossession.

Protest in Harmony Glasgow sing songs of protest and struggle. They sing about peace, justice, the environment and human rights, at events and demonstrations. Anyone can join, no experience necessary, and no auditions. Protest in Harmony believe that song can be a powerful, positive force.

Revive Gaza’s Farmland Project advocates for the resistance against the multifaceted illegal confiscation of land, destruction of the agriculture sector, and the weaponisation of food by the Zionist Entity. By rehabilitating damaged farms, cultivating fruit trees, constructing farm ponds, and providing essential materials for agricultural production we aim to support existing efforts that strive for a more sustainable and self-reliant system, free from dependence on foreign entities.

The Arab Group for the Protection of Nature (APN) is an independent non-profit organisation concerned with the protection of the environment and natural resources of Arab countries against all hazards, including the destructive impacts of wars and foreign occupations. APN was established in April, 2003 by a group of motivated people who aim to protect the Arab environment alongside regional and international organisations.

Khidr Collective is a multidisciplinary collective consisting of Noura Al Khasawneh, Areej Huniti and friends working across art, design and ecology. Khidr Collective aims to create soft encounters in the everyday offering alternative rhythms that nurture a sense of being entangled in the world. By weaving threads of spontaneity and imagination, the collective invites individuals to explore new dimensions of interconnectedness and possibility.

Accessibility

The CCA cinema is a wheelchair accessible space.

Most of the films will have English subtitles, but not full closed captions.

The event will include a comfort break. There will be some vegetarian snacks provided - these will not be nut-free or gluten-free. They will be served in the courtyard space (not the cinema).

Please email glasgowseedlibrary@cca-glasgow.com with any questions or access requests.