Pera Museum screens films about cultural resistance

As a part of its "Cultures of Resistance" program, Pera Museum is screening documentaries directed by Lara Lee. Tomorrow and on Dec. 12, the museum will screen Lee's "Life is Waiting Referendum and Resistance in Western Sahara." While a UN-brokered ceasefire put an end to armed hostilities in the territory in 1991, the Sahrawi people have continued to live under the Moroccan armed forces' oppressive occupation, and what peace exists in the area is fragile at best. Tens of thousands of people who are living in the Western Sahara had to leave their homelands to seek shelter in neighboring Algeria which is currently home to 125,000 refugees in camps. In spite of these difficulties, a new movement, with youth at its center, is rising to challenge human rights abuses and to demand the long-promised referendum on freedom. Today's generation is deploying creative non-violent resistance for the cause of self-determination. In doing so, they have to persevere against a torrent of conflicting forces. Risking torture and disappearance at the hands of Moroccan authorities, they are also pushing back against those who have lost patience with the international community and are ready to launch another guerrilla war. This film examines these tensions as it chronicles the everyday violence of life under occupation, giving voice to the aspirations of a desert people for whom colonialism has never ended.

When: Dec. 11-12

Where: Pera Museum