Testimonies of aerial bombardment and communities of self-expression

Zeinab Mir, Majid Rabet and Safdar Ahmed spoke at the Sydney hearing of the Airspace Tribunal at The Ethics Centre on 14 October 2019. The hearing considered the case for and against a proposed new human right to protect the freedom to live without physical or psychological threat from above. This text expands on the evidence which they presented to the hearing and considers the experience of aerial bombardment, the impacts of trauma and anxiety on future generations and the role of art and activism in thinking outside the medical model, raising questions of accountability and agency, and developing communities of self-expression. The Counsel to the Tribunal was Professor Andrew Byrnes.