Gaza Pheonix: knowledge for peace and reconstruction

CALL believes Gaza can rebuild itself, in its own way, with the help – because a great deal of help is needed – of those who recognise that Palestine exists: a state, with its own history, its own people, its own culture, and the right to live in peace rather than under the threat of brutal genocide.

That is why CALL took part in the second event hosted by the Polytechnic University of Bari in support of Gaza Phoenix. On 9 and 10 July, Grazia Concilio joined two intense days of work, alongside researchers from Bari and Palestinian universities, trying to answer complex questions: how can reconstruction happen, where should it start, and with what resources to begin? Thinking about reconstruction whilst bombs and drones are still devastating everything – even what has already been destroyed – is the true spirit of the phoenix: looking to the future without hesitation.

Grazia Concilio presented “devices for acupuncture-style distributed water management“, designed as part of the Łódź pilot phase of Horizon Europe PALIMPSEST project. Gaza’s tent cities face daily threats to survival; flooding from rain makes things worse still and the climate makes no distinction between the contexts in which a crisis manifests itself. From this comes the suggestion to adopt one or both of the devices, ‘Rain Flowers’ and ‘Meanders’, designed in Łódź, as part of a distributed water management strategy for Gaza.

Both are frugal, DIY-buildable tools that combine effectiveness (containment and filtration of small volumes of surface runoff) with beauty. These tools will be far from sufficient to turn Gaza’s fortunes around. However, they may serve as inspiration for targeted interventions using resources and materials that can be found in Gaza: materials salvaged from the rubble, used to protect a tent today, or to mark out the footprint of a new, equally frugal building tomorrow.

The Polytechnic University of Bari, namely Dino Borri, Angela Barbanente and Valeria Monno believe in this work. As does Rector Umberto Fratino and Antonio Decaro, President of the Puglia Region, both of whom took part in opening the proceedings. They spoke of the importance of transforming the technical knowledge and reflective capacity of those working at a polytechnic into a weapon of peace. Because knowledge must be a weapon of peace, of rebirth, of coexistence. Because knowledge is precious and must not be deliberately squandered on the wrong side of ‘dual use’. Because knowledge can draw on the need for peace and be transformed into innovation. Knowledge for peace and knowledge for reconstruction.