Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans,
And miss it both night and day?
I know it's not wrong, the feeling's getting stronger
The longer I stay away.....
My name is Morgan, and I'm a human rights activist, writer and filmmaker.
I started this blog in 2009 while serving with AmeriCorps in New Orleans. I was already interested in Palestine after studying Arabic and Race and Ethnic Studies in college, and studying abroad in Jordan. The more I learned about New Orleans, the more I saw how interwoven the struggles for human rights and dignity are in those two places. I started this blog to talk about issues that unite the people of New Orleans and Palestine.
I posted about refugees, evacuees, the right of return, dignity, justice, equality, education, housing, incarceration, displacement, collective memory, survival, and the centrality of community and family.
In 2010 I visited Palestine/Israel for the first time to spend Christmas in Bethlehem and see the Israeli military occupation first-hand. I followed my gut, and that trip changed my life. On one hand, I came back heavy-hearted because the infrastructure of military occupation and colonization was so oppressive to Palestinians that I met, and on the other hand I was inspired by the strength and dignity of their resistance. I came back home determined to help end my country's complicity in the Israeli occupation.
Back in the states, I took inspiration from groups that reached across divides of faith, race, class and nationality to end the occupation. The U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. Friends of Sabeel North America. Jewish Voice for Peace. Interfaith Peace-Builders.
In the fall of 2011, I went back to Palestine and spent eight months in Al Aqaba, a village under demolition order, to teach English and maintain the Al Aqaba Guest House.
My aim is to tell stories that bridge gaps in understanding, and to show complexity, not to make excuses for oppression and apartheid, but to reveal their breaking points, the cracks where humanity and hope for equality and justice shine through.
Interviews with foreigners (ajaneb) I met in the West Bank/Jerusalem:
One of my webcam videos from the Al Aqaba Guest House, dedicated to New Orleans music/food...
(watching these videos can become an exercise in "spot the unchecked privilege")
Mercury News
Morgan Bach: Martin Luther King Message Leads to West Bank
Shalom Rav
Young I/P Activist Blogs You Need to Read
Mondoweiss
If you give a Palestinian the right to bike in the Jordan Valley...
A Night in Bil'in
Hundreds of Israeli soldiers show up in village targeted for demolition
Desecrating the American flag
My first trip to Palestine
I know it's not wrong, the feeling's getting stronger
The longer I stay away.....
My name is Morgan, and I'm a human rights activist, writer and filmmaker.
I started this blog in 2009 while serving with AmeriCorps in New Orleans. I was already interested in Palestine after studying Arabic and Race and Ethnic Studies in college, and studying abroad in Jordan. The more I learned about New Orleans, the more I saw how interwoven the struggles for human rights and dignity are in those two places. I started this blog to talk about issues that unite the people of New Orleans and Palestine.
I posted about refugees, evacuees, the right of return, dignity, justice, equality, education, housing, incarceration, displacement, collective memory, survival, and the centrality of community and family.
In 2010 I visited Palestine/Israel for the first time to spend Christmas in Bethlehem and see the Israeli military occupation first-hand. I followed my gut, and that trip changed my life. On one hand, I came back heavy-hearted because the infrastructure of military occupation and colonization was so oppressive to Palestinians that I met, and on the other hand I was inspired by the strength and dignity of their resistance. I came back home determined to help end my country's complicity in the Israeli occupation.
Back in the states, I took inspiration from groups that reached across divides of faith, race, class and nationality to end the occupation. The U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. Friends of Sabeel North America. Jewish Voice for Peace. Interfaith Peace-Builders.
In the fall of 2011, I went back to Palestine and spent eight months in Al Aqaba, a village under demolition order, to teach English and maintain the Al Aqaba Guest House.
My aim is to tell stories that bridge gaps in understanding, and to show complexity, not to make excuses for oppression and apartheid, but to reveal their breaking points, the cracks where humanity and hope for equality and justice shine through.
Interviews with foreigners (ajaneb) I met in the West Bank/Jerusalem:
One of my webcam videos from the Al Aqaba Guest House, dedicated to New Orleans music/food...
(watching these videos can become an exercise in "spot the unchecked privilege")
Mercury News
Morgan Bach: Martin Luther King Message Leads to West Bank
Shalom Rav
Young I/P Activist Blogs You Need to Read
Mondoweiss
If you give a Palestinian the right to bike in the Jordan Valley...
A Night in Bil'in
Hundreds of Israeli soldiers show up in village targeted for demolition
Desecrating the American flag
My first trip to Palestine
