People as Frontline in Sderot
Authors: Fiona Hager | Amélie Rywalski | Daniele Isepponi | Maria Vermathen
Photos courtesy Fiona Hager
“Nestlé invests in a unique city that should be analyzed in its historical and political context. The context of Sderot is so specific that investing there cannot be understood as simply an economic strategy, but also a decision with political ramifications. Not only is it mere kilometers away from the Gaza Strip, but it is one of the most bombarded cities in the region.” - A.R.
"We tried to analyze how people and institutions, narratives and ideologies, infrastructure and constructions work together to create the landscape of a frontline" - F.H.
“Through a selection of different layers consisting of drawings, maps, infographics and texts, we tried to show parts of this reality from different perspectives. We decided to take a participatory mapping approach and let individuals do a second selection of the layers themselves. Allowing individuals to select and order their layers illustrates how this process of storytelling is an act of power. The choice of translucent yet opaque paper on which we printed the layers originates in the perception that all aspects represented in the illustrations are intertwined in one way or another and can thus be looked at in layered ways. The paper’s opacity reflects the inaccessibility of information held by institutions that support the politics of the local government and by Nestlé itself. The map representing the Palestinian villages in the 1940s and the view of Sderot from behind the fence around the Gaza Strip show what W.J.T. Mitchell (1994) calls ‘the dark side of the landscape.’ Behind the resilience that the landscape is supposed to mediate, there remains violence.”
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From the authors: “In our project, we tried to analyze how people and institutions, narratives and ideologies, infrastructure and constructions work together to create the landscape of a frontline -- a frontline, as Sderot’s mayor Alon Davidi says, “against evil.”
Sderot is located less than a kilometre from the Gaza Strip, in the Southern District of Israel. The city was founded as a development town in 1951, after the inhabitants of the Palestinian villages Najd and Huj had been evicted by the Israeli Negev Brigade in 1948. Due to this situation, resilience has played an important role in constructing the city’s identity. Many different actors converge in Sderot to participate in the construction of this ‘indestructible metropolis.’ The foundation ‘Friends of Sderot’ runs the biggest Hesder Yeshiva in Israel and combines Torah studies with the mandatory IDF military service. The ‘Sderot Foundation’ focuses on resilience centres, developing tourism and promoting employment. Nestlé operates in Sderot because it benefits from Israeli government grants and cheap labour, in the face of Swiss claims of neutrality.”
“Finding the reasons why the company decided to expand in Israel was quite a challenging task due to the very limited information that Nestlé provides... Thanks to external articles and research papers, it was possible to find clues that suggest the company located itself in Sderot to take advantage of government subsidies and the availability of cheap labor, which is due to the lack of other employment opportunities and the situation in the Gaza strip.” - D.I.