IETM Focus Den Bosch 2024

Working internationally is a cornerstone in the operation and ambition of IETM members worldwide, and IETM is a vehicle, platform and meeting point for making those ambitions come true. Faced with the climate crisis, global inequalities, and geopolitical tensions in today’s society, the modus operandi of international work needs an overhaul.

In Den Bosch, we celebrate our collective learnings from the past three years and set the course for the years to come.

In this frame, IETM and Verkadefabriek invite the performing arts sector at large to tune into our keynote: international best selling author of Guantánamo Diary Mohamedou Ould Slahi Houbeini.

Tuesday 29 October 2024

Event: Mohamedou Ould Slahi Houbeini

20:00 AEDT (Sydney, UTC +11) / 18:00 KST/JST (Seoul, Tokyo, UTC +9) / 17:00 SGT (Singapore, UTC +8) / 11:00 EET (Bucharest, UTC +2) / 10:00 CET (Berlin, UTC +1) / 09:00 GMT (London, UTC +0) / 05:00 EDT (New York, UTC -4).

This is a story of poverty, pain, suffering, forgiveness and healing.

An African child who grew up in times of loss and drought lost his father at the tender age of eleven.

He tasted pain and suffering and grieved over his loss by throwing himself into school as the first generation of his family to ever attend the modern European school system. He excelled at school as a child, in the total absence of external encouragement. His drive was the words of his father when they lost all the camels, who encouraged him to pursue learning and do everything the father hadn't had time to do because the camels consumed his life.

The African child won a scholarship to study in Germany and after graduation he went back to help his people with the tools he'd learned in Europe. As the main provider of a big family, he needed to work overtime in order to make ends meet at the end of every month. This wasn't a happily-ever-after life as it is related in books but it was satisfying nonetheless.

Or, so he thought. The horrific attacks of 9/11 happened and the young engineer was immediately and wrongfully identified and put on the radar of the most powerful spy agencies of the world: CIA and FBI. He was kidnapped and taken to different secret prisons in Africa, the Middle East, Afghanistan, and finally he landed in the infamous prison of Guantanamo Bay. He was subjected to torture and it took him fifteen years to prove his innocence and be set free.

He realized that the only way to get his revenge on those who destroyed his life and deprived him of seeing his mother ever again was to thoroughly forgive every single person who was involved. And with that honest and total act of forgiveness, he found peace in his heart and around him.

Speaker
Mohamedou Ould Slahi Houbeini

Welcome by
Ása Richardsdóttir, IETM, Belgium
Jeffrey Meulman, Verkadefabriek, Netherlands
Mike van der Geld, Municipality of Den Bosch

About HowlRound TV

HowlRound TV is a global, commons-based, peer-produced, open-access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by the nonprofit HowlRound. HowlRound TV is a free and shared resource for live conversations and performances relevant to the world’s performing-arts and cultural fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and develop our knowledge commons collectively. Anyone can participate in a community of peer organizations revolutionizing the flow of information, knowledge, and access in our field by becoming a producer and co-producing with us. Learn more by going to our participate page. For any other queries, email [email protected] or call Vijay Mathew at +1 917.686.3185 Signal. View the video archive of past events.