Recordings from the literary festival The Free Word in Amsterdam’s Public Library.

Poetry introduced by Pieter Sjoerd van Koningsveld:
Khazal Al Majidi (Iraq, Holland) Arabic
Al Galidi (Irak, Nederland) Dutch
Amjad Nasser (Jordania, England) Arabic

Songs by Klaske Oenema
Sometimes when I’m walking
If you live your life right
Wind is coming in
I was waiting for her

Where we are not
by Lina Issa and Aitana Cordero
As a student from Lebanon Lina has been denied her residence permit for The Netherlands for strictly bureaucratic reasons. Since she appealed against this decision she has not been able to leave The Netherlands and re-enter the country.
Not being able to travel home herself, she cast a replacement and sent Aitana, a Spanish dancer and choreographer, to Lebanon for ten days as her stand-in, messenger and recording device. She visited different people – Lina’s family and friends – and traced the places of her memory and what constitutes the idea of ‘home’ for her. Aitana performs a lot of tasks that Lina gave her in a hand written notebook and herself wrote impressions and experiences in a notebook.
Where we are not is a narrative of exchange between two women, bringing forth their differences. What they exchange are not only ‘subjective’ differences, but also the reality of inhabiting extremely different political spaces.
Where we are not

“Tu eres un Senegalais of not?” Spanish, Wolof

On the phone with Serigne Modou in Jaen, Spain. What happened with the hungerstrike of detained migrants that started in February.
Hablamos con Serigne Modou, portavoz de los migrantes detenidos en huelga de hambre. En Jaen, Espana.