Prohibitions, dictatorships, imprisonment, slavery, oppression and repression. Have you ever wondered how it would be to live in such awful conditions? Can you imagine being in a country and trying to endure all this? Trying to find a way to reach freedom by any means? Without the shadow of a doubt, the girl in the picture must be trying to escape from the tights of repression.
This picture depicts how difficult it is to reach freedom in any circumstance. The photograph was taken in Bilin, near Ramallah the 8th of January 2009 by the French photographer Eric Gaillard. In the foreground, there are three Israeli soldiers with all their weapons, so a fight may have ended not long ago. These soldiers are watching a Palestinian woman standing on top of a pile of rocks, probably from a trench. The woman is wearing a black hijab, black clothes and a scarf. She is holding the Palestinian flag in her right hand and a blanket full of
blood in her left hand. Surrounding her is a lot of black smoke, perhaps from some fires in the city and there can be also seen some buildings in debris. The woman must be protesting against all the casualties and victims caused by the Israeli army. She might be wondering whether the soldiers will take her to prison or they will kill her.
Privileges, rights, indulgences, kindness, benevolence, sympathy and freedom. That is what all should be about. However, war causes lots of repression situations that must be eradicated. But how? What can we do to stop dictatorships and oppression? As Nelson Mandela said: “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
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BY MARTÍ
