#OutlookMagazine Anniversary Issue | 'Depression, Anxiety… PTSD' - video Dailymotion

OutlookIndia

After risking hundreds of Israeli checkpoints to treat patients in Gaza, a 21-year-old medical student finds solace in dance ... and anonymity. Listen to the audio excerpts from the latest issue of Outlook - We Bear Witness - only by Pragya Vats.  Read the article: https://www.outlookindia.com/international/-depression-anxiety-ptsd--magazine-339467  #Gaza #Palestine #Dance #GazaGenocide #Israel #Bombing #Violence #Emotions #War #Palestinian #Palestine #WarOnGaza #Oppression #IReadOutlook #ReturnToReading

Transcript

00:00 I am Pragya and I bring to you excerpts from the ear-render issue titled "We Bear Witness".

00:06 The issue is dedicated to the people of Gaza and what they went through.

00:10 Sandra's Diary - Depression, Anxiety, PTSD

00:16 After risking hundreds of Israeli checkpoints to treat patients in Gaza every day,

00:22 a 21-year-old medical student finds solace in dance.

00:27 As told to Shreya Basak of Outlook,

00:31 "A young girl recently walked into the psychiatry department.

00:35 Though she struggled to speak even a word, I could already see so many emotions wrapping her face."

00:42 In the past few weeks amid the genocide in Gaza,

00:45 Palestinians all across West Bank and Bethlehem have reported a spurt in mental health issues.

00:52 Believe it or not, but as a fifth-year medical student, I see so many people coming to me.

00:59 People who are silently suffering from depression and anxiety.

01:03 And most of them suffer from PTSD due to a genocide-like situation that has been going on

01:10 for over 75 years. Unfortunately, there has never been any consolidated data to substantiate

01:17 the mental health conditions of Palestinians.

01:20 My own life has been spent under occupation, restricted by apartheid walls.

01:26 After attending to patients all day and risking my life through tens and hundreds of checkpoints,

01:32 I take time out to practice dabke, a form of Levitanian folk dance that has become

01:39 my form of self-expression and a symbol of resistance.

01:43 Dabke, as a form of art, existed much, much before the occupation.

01:49 It was created when people would build houses and they needed to step on mud on the roof.

01:54 The movement created a rhythm of togetherness.

01:58 Later, with more pakka houses coming up, the practice took the shape of art

02:03 and went on to be performed at weddings and gatherings.

02:06 With the occupation, it became a form of resistance.

02:11 Dabke came before the occupiers and it will stand after all this is over.

02:17 I was born into the occupation, so for me, this dance stands for resistance.

02:22 Whether I am dancing with my relatives at weddings or even on the stage,

02:27 the form transmits through us the wave of feelings we wish to communicate to all.

02:34 The songs we use in dabke are self-explanatory.

02:37 Additionally, nowadays the stage lighting has shifted to dark blue, black and green.

02:43 For me, dance never has had any language,

02:47 but it today has partly become a symbol of resistance against oppression

02:52 because Palestinians have never been threatened like this before.

02:56 As a Palestinian dancer, I always carry the risk of going behind bars.

03:01 It is not easy to choose dancing in Palestine.

03:04 If you are a dabke dancer, you are viewed as a part of the Free Palestine Resistance Movement,

03:09 which we proudly are, but I shall never give up on dancing because of our culture and heritage.

03:15 Dance is deeply satisfying for me.

03:18 It helps me express my identity amid what is happening to our community.

03:23 Much of it is who I am and in the context of what is happening,

03:27 it is more and more critical to preserve that identity.

03:31 What's happening in Gaza is not war because war denotes equality of power.

03:37 This is genocide and ethnic cleansing.

03:40 The Western world tells you that the West Bank is safe and peaceful,

03:45 but believe me, there is no such beyond what the eyes can see.

03:49 No one knows.

03:50 Now, when someone asks me about my hopes, I laugh.

03:54 How will I answer them?

03:56 All hopes have been lost.

03:58 Our faith is broken.

04:00 I have lost all faith in global leadership.

04:03 Even our own leadership has failed us.

04:06 All our remaining hope right now are pinned on the people of Palestine.

04:11 For this and more, read the Year-Ender issue of Outlook.

#OutlookMagazine Anniversary Issue | 'Depression, Anxiety… PTSD'

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