TRAVELLING TO PALESTINE TO TEACH THE KIDS HOW TO SKATEBOARD AND ASSIST THE BUILD OF A NEW SKATE PARK, SIRUS RELECTS ON HIS SKATEPAL ADVENTURES. DURING HIS TIME ON THE WEST BANK HE SHOT A SHORT DOC TO SHOW THE INCREDIBLE WORK SKATE PAL DOES FOR YOUNG PALESTINIANS DURING AN ONGOING TURBULENT PERIOD
by SIRUS F GAHAN
SKATEPAL
ADVENTURES
Working with SkatePAL was, as you can imagine, one of the most amazing experiences I've been lucky enough to live through. We went out to Palestine last summer to help teach the kids over there how to skateboard and assist in the build of three new skateparks. In my time on the West Bank I shot this short documentary to show how the work of the charity is having an incredibly positive effect on the kids during an ongoing, turbulent period.
When we arrived in Tel Aviv the summer war was still going on, so security at the airport was ridiculous, and the Israeli staff there were very keen to shut down and turn away any Palestinian sympathisers. So just getting into the country was a hell of a battle. It felt like this was a taste of what the entire journey would be like, but to be honest once we passed through the battery-cage style border through to Palestine the pressure was off, and the vibe of the general populous was no longer high-strung and paranoid, but rather amiable and lighthearted. Walking along the street we would be greeted kindly and offered food, water and shelter in people's houses, which was a high contrast from the abrasive reception you receive entering the metropolis of Israel. The children we were working with embodied this cultural good nature, but it was split with incredible energy in the form of mischief, noise and outright determination. Speaking only about four words of Arabic made the teaching process difficult to begin with, but we soon remembered how we all learnt to skateboard in the first place: by watching other skaters’ form and technique, and then falling until you no longer fall. The perseverance and excitement of the kids was one of the most inspiring things that I've taken away from my time in the Middle East. The pure joy in their eyes when they get their hands on even the most cheap, broken, polyethylene board is unforgettable, and their unwillingness to give it up at the end of the session, despite being beaten and bruised by the asphalt, makes you feel like a real baby for sitting down after your weekly half hour skate at your perfect local park. Charlie (the founder) and SkatePAL have to deal with far, far more than I could possibly show, or at least show without potentially harming the charity's relationship with governmental bodies in Palestine, but you have to bear in mind that what they have achieved has been done whilst swimming fully upstream on a minuscule budget. They have to fight for every corner of every park they build, and every piece of skate hardwear they secure, all to provide free, quality skateboarding to kids that don't have much else, and wouldn't even know it existed without Charlie.
“That don’t kill me, can only make me stronger”
— Stronger
Firstly any article depicting Kanye West and Nietzsche must give credit that one of Kanye
West’s most popular songs “ Stronger ” literally quotes the quote attributed to Nietzsche in: “ That
which does not kill us makes us stronger.” And any reading into that quotation will lead you to
Nietzsche, but this is too simple. I wish to go further, that Kanye’s persona is the protégé of the
great German philosopher, and embodies the controversial ideas that have loomed over the
philosophical world.
Nietzsche critiques the morality of the Christian world, in short his major criticism is that
this morality has no reason behind it, the Christian tradition presupposes a debt upon us for our
original sin. Kanye West himself feels this weight, stating once in an interview early in his career: “ I
have accepted Jesus as my Saviour. And I will say that I fall short every day .” This idea Nietzsche
finds in the Christian tradition is an idea that we feel guilt from not being able to repay Jesus for
his payment for our sins; this produces a bad conscious in us, which is accelerated as we can never
reach the bar that is set above us. The bad conscious becomes permanent and the debt humanity
owes to God keeps us believing we are in a state of evil, falling short to the expectations made of
humans.
Nietzsche wishes to remove this conception of us being evil for whatever we do, and
questions why we have concepts such as humility and pity, if they are any good outside of this
Christian perspective. I hope you can accept with me that many people in the west, if not
Christian, themselves are Christian cultured, and therefore take this morality to be our own. Taken
normally humility is good. Selfishness and egocentricity are bad. We accept this: so what happens
when someone comes along with a platform and enough confidence to proclaim their own
greatness? Enter Kanye West, global superstar with an ego to show for it.
“ I’m living in the 21 st century doin’ something mean to it, Do it better than anybody you ever seen
do it ”
POWER
Nietzsche promotes the idea that we can be great, that there are people who are great,
introducing the idea of the “ Übermensch ”, the overman or superman who is better than others
and is set up for greatness. The Übermensch should not be suppressed or diluted, can’t be, even.
They will aspire to greatness and accumulate power, in a life-affirming way. If there has anyone
who views himself as an Übermensch , it’s Kanye West, frequently referring to himself as a God, as
the best, and equating himself to the level of Jesus in calling himself Yeezus. And Nietzsche would
agree with this, the Übermensch’s nature is to be the best, and to suppress it or play it down is a
crime to the nature of the being. Hence why the Christian morality is so flawed, it is not in our
interests to stamp out our “negative” qualities, we aspire to greatness in changing these into
greatness.
“ I’m trying to right my wrongs. But it’s funny them same wrongs helped me write this song. ”
Touch
the Sky
Kanye West’s albums appear to be a Nietzschean journey from the self-claimed Christian to
experimenting with the limits of this conceptual framework, any self-gratification from Kanye is
met with distaste from this Christian morality we’re so used to. But there is no reason for us to
value this morality, Nietzsche would argue.
Whether Kanye is arrogant seems at first to be a pretty easy question, most people
wouldn’t bat an eye before calling him arrogant. Arrogance in this sense meaning “ having or
revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities. ” I would be inclined to
disagree. Of course Kanye West has a sense of his own self-importance, and definitely feels like his
ability is superior to some of his contemporaries. But this isn’t necessarily unjustified, whatever
your opinion of him is, Kanye West is clearly successful and to be proud of that isn’t a bad thing.
From personal experience the message of self-worth is a very important one. We have a tendency
to internalise the rejection we get from others, making us feel insecure or unworthy. Nietzsche
would call this the slavish values, told to be humble and not think of ourselves as great, the
Nietzschean-West approach is to recognise that actually you can be great. You do not have to be
humble if you’re good at something: Do not put yourself down. Very few places to we get this
message, most of the time we take humility as good, that we have to keep ourselves down and
can never achieve the greatness which humanity is destined. No wonder there is outrage when
Kanye West states “ I am a God. ”
“ 50 told me go ‘head switch the style up, and if they hate then let ‘em hate and watch the money
pile up ”.
Good
Life
The controversy follows both of these figures, the backlash for subverting some of the
concepts that we hold very dear, proclaiming yourself as the greatest philosopher or as the
greatest living rockstar has a similar consequences in public opinion. And with both thinkers you
sometimes have weed through misogynistic and ignorant ideas, but at their cores, they are
shaking up how we conceive the world. And who’s got a better platform than Kanye West to show
this. Whether you like his music or his attitudes, Kanye West is a genius.
TO SUPPORT THE PROJECT AND DONATE VISIT SKATEPAL.CO.UK