A Tale of Two Cities ~ The Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural Project – The Legacy of Rachel Corrie

The Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural Project is an inter-disciplinary, interactive, multi-site public art project centered around the theme of building solidarity between people on a global scale. Inspired in part by the life of Rachel Corrie, the mural is a memorial to her and the many hundreds of thousands of other lives lost in the quest for justice. The project  in part carries out her dream of building a sister city relationship between Rafah, Gaza Strip, Palestine, where she was killed in 2003,  and Olympia, Washington, USA, where she was born and raised. 23 year old Rachel was committing and act of civil disobedience, trying to protect the home and family of a Palestinian doctor, when she was crushed to death by 9 foot bulldozer.

ORSMP crosses borders and recognizes the unique relationship that now exists between the people of Olympia, Washington, the people of Rafah, Occupied Palestine.  ORSMP makes visible how the dynamics at work in Palestine and Israel are linked to a wide range of social justice struggles around the world.
The mural, in downtown Olympia WA, is thought to be the largest Palestinian solidarity mural in the world. On an olive tree of peace, with branches spanning 100 feet wide, hang over 150  huge leaves each designed by an artist or social justice organization representing people who are homeless to Latin American solidarity to Native American land struggles from the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

The project uses  culture and technology in innovative ways to build community and to organize for social change.  Each image in the tree will have audio files accessible by cell phone introducing themselves and explaining their leaf.  There may also be  music or a poem, etc to give a cultural flavor to the image and its authors.

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