“I Know I’m Not Alone” — the Wisdom of Michael Franti

(Michael Franti, world-renowned musician and human rights worker, travels to Iraq, Palestine and Israel to explore the human cost of war with a group of friends, some video cameras and his guitar. His documentary film, “I Know I’m Not Alone — A musician’s journey through war in the Middle East,” inspired the following article.)

Sometimes there is no choice but to be courageous. It is not even courage or a choice, but something natural. Michael Franti, dreadlocks, colorful dashiki, guitar, walks through war zones — Baghdad, Palestine — making up a song from a single Arabic word he learned: “Habibi, Habibi, Habibi…” “My friend, My friend, My friend…” — and sings a mantra of hope.  Dusty dark eyed children leave their makeshift playgrounds of debris and twisted metal to gather around this strange man. They clap, jumping up and down. Adults living from crisis to crisis raise their arms and dance, momentarily free of dread.

Is peace so unreachable, so beyond imagination? In Michael Franti’s world, and in the world of so many dreamers like him, the answer is simple. Have a party, dance, sing, make music together, and share the basics — habibi — friendship. Be human.

So he went to Baghdad in the midst of man-made hell. Roadside bombs, spools of razor wire and concrete bunkers, fear and distrust, abductions, armed guards girdled by fear and body armor. He stands at a checkpoint face to face with a soldier. The image is incredible. A stark contrast of two philosophies of life. Soldier: grim-faced, helmeted, machine gun gripped across his chest, flak jacket, uncertain. Michael: guitar on his hips, protected by his smile, song on his lips, handshake, friendship in his eyes.

Behind the soldier’s protective gear, the face of fear: a son, a father, a husband far from home. Michael is trying to show that if we do not hide behind forbidding and aggressive barriers, there is no reason to hate or fear. Our protection is our nakedness — the celebration of who we are without forcing others to be like us. It is his very uniqueness that is his protection because he is not a threat to others.

Michael goes into Baghdad neighborhoods where his translator warns that he could be killed or abducted. What happens is “habibi” — a kiss on the cheek, food shared, people opening their hearts, baring their souls, telling their doubts, fears, anger and hope, spontaneous dancing.

The documentary film, “I Know I’m Not Alone,” produced from his trip, is proof that there is more that people have in common than what separates them. Even enemies, like the young Palestinian farmer facing the young Israeli soldiers at the wall of hate separating their lands have the same hopes. They feel that they could live as neighbors in peace, but they are caught in a web of animosity woven by others. Events are so out of control that they have come to think that their trap is their safety net! Michael shows us that hope is not totally extinguished if we are human together. There is no concrete wall or barrier of razor wire, no religion or philosophy, no army or insurgency that can protect us. Only in our humanity — our habibi, our beloved friendship — can we be free and happy. Michael Franti’s wisdom is to celebrate together what unites us, and confirms “I Know I’m Not Alone!”

© 2006 Richard Sidy

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Archives 2005 Volumn 4	January: "Standing up for Humanity" February: "The Wake of Disaster" – a poem March: "Unity in Diversity April: "Life is Calling" May: "Entertainment" – a poem June: "Thought and Imagination" part 1 July: "Thought and Imagination" part 2 August: "Imagination and Healing" September: "Malice or Neglect? – Lessons of Katrina" October: "Protecting Children" November: "Intelligent Design or Evolution?" December: "Building with one hand, destroying with the other"
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