Mar. 5 The Many forms of Mobility; Gaza Sunbirds (Curated by CtC)

Theory Stairs, 2:00-3:30 PM; moderator Menko Dijksterhuis

The Great March of Return of 2018—the year-long weekly peaceful rally by Palestinians along the Gaza Strip, at its core demanded Mobility Justice. To date, Gaza has 30,000 people with disabilities as a result of the atrocities and has had one of the highest rates of amputation in the world. In this lecture, we reflect on the humanitarian work of the Gaza Sunbirds who are providing rehabilitation for amputees through sport. In understanding their framing of mobility and the liberatory nature of cycling, we try to look beyond insular ideas of mobility, at the disabling nature of occupation and the role of accessible movement in the struggle for liberation.

Karim Ali, is the international coordinator and co-founder of the Gaza Sunbirds. Launched in 2020, the Sunbirds are a Palestine-based para-cycling team, comprising of 20 athletes in Gaza, most of whom are aged 21 and under, representing Palestine on the global stage. With an original mission of promoting cycling and providing rehabilitation to amputees—in light of the ongoing genocide, the para-cycling team has diverted all its resources to providing mutual aid to communities in Gaza. They describe themselves as “not aid workers, but a group of athletes that know how to make things happen in Gaza.”

Alcide Breaux is an interdisciplinary artist and bioethicist working across video, sound, sculpture, performance, and scientific research. They create work reflecting on inhabiting a pathologized body, and negotiating the fluid systems of biopolitical power that flow through and between private corporations, government agencies, and corporeal forms. In 2022, they co-initiated the disability justice research program Crip the Curriculum at the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam.