When a person experiences invasion of any kind, one of three phenomena happen: Flight, Fight or Freeze. Any degree of aggression, force, trauma, violence, and post-traumatic stress, triggers the nervous system to react in one of these ways.
Modern warfare and invasion, employing state of the art technology, occupies a massive space in the psychology of the nations unfortunate enough to have to endure it.
In the wake of the most recent war in the Gaza Strip, as well as the ongoing conflict in the aftermath of the war in Iraq, we are faced with millions of people in fight, flight or freeze.
However, anyone situated anywhere between the polarities of victim and perpetrator is affected by this violence, in one way or another.
The following work forms an experimental, experiential, nonlinear narrative, threading together media, politics, industry, intimate and impersonal utterances from people directly and indirectly affected by war and invasion.
[audio:FIGHT FLIGHT FREEZE FINAL 2.wav] We’d like to thank the following for their valuable contribution:
- Stefan Cristoff for playing his own piano composition “Untitled”
- Robert Fisk for excerpts from his public lecture at Concordia University and University of Ottawa. February 19 & 20, 2009
- Ghada (Last name omitted) for excerpts from an interview, February 08, 2009
- Suheir Hammad for excerpts from What I Will, Def Jam Poetry & Live performance on March 31st, Montreal (TBD)
- Ehab Lotayef for excerpts from an interview. April 5, 2009
- Ahmed Mukhtar for a sample of his Kurdish Drumming
- The unknown maker of the home video found on You Tube, “B’Tselem House Demolition in Qalqiliya, August, 2007”
- Concordia University for instruction and the use of equipment
