by NOEMI LOPINTO

Daniel Bitton achieved some notoriety this year as the director, producer and editor of the documentary Wesley Willis: the Daddy of Rock ’n’ Roll. His film has played at Montreal’s Cinéma du Parc, across Canada, 11 American states, in Europe and will be on Australian cable television in February.

Bitton’s next pet-project is the creation of the Semitic Social Club, whose goal is to take the debate between Concordia’s Arabs and Jews out of the hands of the activists. Bitton, who is pursuing an anthropology degree at Concordia, says the idea first came to him when he witnessed the infamous Netanyahu demonstration on Sept. 9. “I saw an Arab guy holding a Che Guevara flag and an Israeli guy with an Israeli flag whacking each other in the head, like the Flintstones,” says Bitton. “I also saw people trying to have political discussions, and they broke down very quickly.”

Bitton’s original idea was to get the two factions into the boxing ring together - but he decided that probably wouldn’t work. So he and his partners, Palestinian activist Leila Mouammar and Israeli Itsik Romano, will be sponsoring the club. Bitton says he chose them because they have credibility within their respective communities. They are there to make sure the dialogue doesn’t get out of control, and that all sides are represented in the debates. The club has received a tentative promise of participation from both Hillel and Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, although Bitton says they each suspect the other’s motives.

“This is a mediation for people who don’t know how to talk to each other. I see people at Concordia events and it’s always the same shit,” Bitton complains. “A pro-Palestinian speaker talks to a pro-Palestinian audience and a few angry Jews pepper them with questions afterwards. Or vice versa. The debate is controlled by the activists. I want a forum event, I want lots of people, I want to have an Arab and an Israeli each telling their version to an opposite audience. They all think the other is insane because they don’t know the other version of history.”

Bitton says the activists do have a role to play in the club - as walking encyclopedias, sources of information for the other side. “A lot of people are frustrated, but also curious,” says Bitton. “If you want to destroy their arguments, you have to understand where they’re coming from. You can’t have opinions if you don’t talk to other people.”

When Bitton is not thinking about politics or plugging his documentary, he’s poring over ancient manuscripts, books and articles. He says he plans to write a book, entitled, Why the World Is So Fucked Up - and What You Can Do About It. :