Olympia-Rafah Mural Project Mission and Goals

Mission

The Olympia-Rafah Mural Project is an official recognition, by the people of Olympia, Washington, of the sister city relationship that exists with the city of Rafah, Palestine. Through the act of creating a collaborative public mural, we will express our desire for Palestinian self-determination, which is rooted in honoring the common struggles for global justice faced by marginalized people everywhere. By upholding rights for all, we seek to break down barriers to understanding, increase visibility for Palestinian people, encourage imagination, embrace the hope and courage of Rachel Corrie, and bring people together in one voice for change.

Goals

In the process of creating, dedicating, and sustaining an Olympia-Rafah Mural in Olympia:

• We will engage our community in learning about and celebrating the Olympia-Rafah Sister City relationship and will produce a people’s recognition of it.
• We will explore the hidden histories of Palestinians and of others who have suffered under oppression.
• We will educate about Rafah, the Palestinians who live there and their struggle for self-determination, and about the Israeli-Palestinian issue. We will create constructive possibilities for action and change.
• We will acknowledge the human rights of Palestinians and of all people.
• We will strengthen the ties between the Olympia and Rafah communities as we engage those in Rafah in the project and work to bring Rafah artists to participate in creating the mural.
• We will welcome and honor those in our own community whose hidden histories include oppression and struggles for human rights, and will invite expressions of their stories within the mural.
• We will explore the connections between these struggles and global imperialism and empire.
• We will support and strengthen our community by providing a respectful forum for hearing about each other’s connections to the Israeli/Palestinian issue, without compromising principles of truth and justice that inform our efforts on behalf of an oppressed people.
• We will explore how art can be an avenue for dispelling myths, using the creative process to explore different realities.
• We will recognize, explain, and honor Rachel Corrie’s sacrifice.
• We will strive to engage people of all ages—children, young and older adults, and the elderly.
• We will create a finished product that continues the education and dialogue begun during the process of creating the mural.
• We will have a “signature event” to dedicate or celebrate the mural.

Principles

• We believe that the process of creating the mural should be deliberate and as important to the experience as the final product.
• We believe that the mural we design and create should be one that we are all proud of and that becomes an Olympia landmark.
• We believe that murals can bring people together and can be good organizing tools.
• We believe that the process of creating the mural can be a community building opportunity.
• While not every idea, image, or element discussed or suggested will make its way into the mural, we believe that all that is contributed will inform the important discussion and community building that will occur and will impact the mural image that is finally produced.