In the Shadow of the Martyr: The neuroscience of occupation and why art in Palestine is resistance

On stage in a theatre in London’s Kings Cross, a disturbed man, his face partially covered with tape and a mask, explains a thesis about the human brain to the audience. 

Waseem Khair, the Palestinian actor and filmmaker, wears a doctor’s white coat, and a long key chain hangs around his neck. His movements and his appearance are clown-like - both tragic and comic. 

He explains in Arabic how the primitive, lizard part of the brain, the 400 million-year-old amygdala, still controls much of the brutal, instinctive behaviour of humans - “the strong kick ass, the weak lick ass”.

“It is not the world which makes us suffer, but the way that we look at it,” he says.

Read more: In the Shadow of the Martyr: The neuroscience of occupation and why art in Palestine is resistance