The 56 minute documentary film portrays the life of two refugee children in the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, and the Dheisha refugee camp near Bethlehem in the West Bank. The two girls become pen pals and share their experiences of exile and occupation.

With the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from south Lebanon in 2000 they meet at the barbed wire fence separating the two countries. The film ends with one of the women speaking at a rally in Washington, D.C., where she says of the Israeli occupiers: "They took my land, they took my dream, and they took my childhood. We will continue our struggle until we return to our villages."

The film has won several international awards, including first prize at the 2002 International Women's Film Festival in Italy and best Arab film by the Egyptian Film Critics Association. It is available through Nour Productions, P.O. Box 113/7324, Beirut, Lebanon.

Georges Mehrabian
Natasha Terlexis
Athens, Greece
 
 
Foreman or supervisor?
I was surprised to see the Militant use the word "foreman" in referring to the challenge of running Pathfinders' small printshop with a "working foreman." This is despite the fact that the "foreman" appears to be a woman, Angel Lariscy. She was introduced as "a member of the Brooklyn branch of the party and the daytime foreman in Pathfinder's printshop," according to an article in the February 11 issue.

Wouldn't it be better to use a gender-neutral word like "supervisor," "lead," or "team leader?" Also, it seems to be taking the worst part of capitalist production methods along with the best.

Sally Goodman
Chicago, Illinois

Editor's note: We checked with the printshop on Goodman's questions. The printshop uses working foreman to indicate that Angel Lariscy both carries out production work in the shop and has full supervisory powers for running the operation. This is a norm in many small shops and on construction sites. Forewoman, while listed in Webster's, is a rarely used term. Neither "team leader" or "lead" indicate that Lariscy is in charge of running the shop, and supervisors rarely do production work. The lack of generalized use of a gender-neutral term, like the word "chairperson" has become, reflects the relatively small number of women in such positions as a result of discrimination practiced by the employers.

 
 
Justice for Palestinians
The suicide bombers are the only form of protest that gets the attention of Israel and the United States. They seem a fitting response to the daily murders of Palestinians by the State of Israel. Such acts will likely be occurring outside of Israel in the near future, sending a clear message that Israelis will not be safe anywhere in the world until their government leaves the West Bank and Gaza, dismantles all the settlements, and restores the rights of Palestinians in Israel.

A majority of Americans recognize and support the goals of the Palestinians, which can be described by one word: "Justice."

Francis Hughes
by E-mail

The letters column is an open forum for all viewpoints on subjects of interest to working people.

Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.  
 
 
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