Reflections of young Palestinian anarchists in a land occupied for 70
years in which there has been no shortage of brilliant experiences of
self-organization, but in which it is difficult to think of the
anti-colonial struggle as an anti-authoritarian struggle ---- Ramallah,
December 7, 2018, Nena News - "I'm still trying to kick the nationalist
habit," jokes activist Ahmad Nimer, as we talk outside a bar in
Ramallah. The topic of our conversation seems strange: living as an
anarchist in Palestine.
In a colonized country, it is quite difficult to convince people of the
goodness of the non-authoritarian and non-state solution. Most of the
time you are faced with a strongly anti-colonial, often barely
nationalist mentality. And, in fact, Palestinian anarchists today have a
visibility problem. "Despite high-profile international and Israeli
anarchist activity, there does not appear to be a corresponding
awareness of anarchism among many Palestinians."
Contemporary debates about anarchism center on a power approach:
rejecting power "from above" in favor of power "with." When we talk
about anarchy as a political concept, we define it as a rejection of the
State," explains Saed Abu Hijleh, professor of Human Geography at
An-Najah University in Nablus, "we talk about freedom and a society that
organizes itself without the interference of the State. But how do a
stateless people cope with anarchy, a term that implies opposition to
some form of state as a condition of their existence?
In Palestine, various elements of the popular struggle have historically
been self-organized. Although not explicitly identified as "anarchism,"
"people have already organized their lives in a horizontal,
non-hierarchical sense," says Beesan Ramadan, another local anarchist
who describes anarchism as "tactical," questioning the need to give it a
label. . "It is already present, in my culture and in the way
Palestinian activism has worked," he continues. "During the First
Intifada, for example, when someone's house was demolished, people
organized to rebuild it, spontaneously. As a Palestinian anarchist, I
would like to go back to the roots of the First Intifada. It did not
arise from a political decision .
Yasser Arafat declared independence in November 1988, the First Intifada
had begun in December 1987, "to deflect the momentum of the Intifada,"
says Ramadan. The Palestinian issue has become even more complicated in
recent decades. The predominantly horizontal organizational landscape of
the First Intifada disappeared in 1993 with the signing of the Oslo
Accords and the creation of the Palestinian National Authority. Now here
in Palestine," Ramadan observes, "we do not have the concept of
authority that other people reject. We have the ANP and the occupation,
and our priorities are always mixed. "The PA and the Israelis are on the
same level because the Authority is for Israel an instrument of
oppression of the Palestinians."
Nimer shares his opinion and explains that there is growing consensus
that the ANP is "a proxy for the occupation." "Being an anarchist does
not mean having a black and red flag or being a black bloc," Ramadan
specifies, referring to the anarchist protest tactic of dressing in
black clothing and covering the face. "I don't want to imitate Western
groups in their way of 'doing' anarchism. It doesn't work here, because
you have to create a whole consciousness in people. People don't
understand this concept." However, Ramadan believes that the low
visibility of Palestinian anarchists and the lack of knowledge of
anarchism among Palestinians in general does not necessarily mean that
there are few: "I think there are a good number of Palestinian
anarchists. But for the most part, at least for Now, it is a personal
and individual belief, we are active in our own way.
This lack of a unified anarchist movement in Palestine could be due to
the fact that Western anarchists have never really focused on
colonialism. Western writers didn't have to do it," says Budour Hassan,
activist and law student, "their struggle was different." "For an
American anarchist," adds Nimer, "decolonization should be part of an
anti-authoritarian struggle. To me, that's just what has to happen."
Hassan expands the meaning of anarchism beyond mere anti-state or
anti-colonial authoritarianism. He refers to the Palestinian novelist
and Arab nationalist Ghassan Kanafani, noting that although he
challenged the occupation, "he also challenged patriarchal relations and
bourgeois classes." "That's why I think we Arabs - anarchists from
Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain - have to start reformulating anarchism
in a way that reflects our experiences of colonialism, our experiences
as women in a patriarchal society, etc."
Being part of a political opposition will not save you," Ramadan warns.
"For many women, resisting the occupation also means acting agai
https://telegra.ph/Observaciones-sobre-el-movimiento-anarquista-en-Palestina-05-06
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
years in which there has been no shortage of brilliant experiences of
self-organization, but in which it is difficult to think of the
anti-colonial struggle as an anti-authoritarian struggle ---- Ramallah,
December 7, 2018, Nena News - "I'm still trying to kick the nationalist
habit," jokes activist Ahmad Nimer, as we talk outside a bar in
Ramallah. The topic of our conversation seems strange: living as an
anarchist in Palestine.
In a colonized country, it is quite difficult to convince people of the
goodness of the non-authoritarian and non-state solution. Most of the
time you are faced with a strongly anti-colonial, often barely
nationalist mentality. And, in fact, Palestinian anarchists today have a
visibility problem. "Despite high-profile international and Israeli
anarchist activity, there does not appear to be a corresponding
awareness of anarchism among many Palestinians."
Contemporary debates about anarchism center on a power approach:
rejecting power "from above" in favor of power "with." When we talk
about anarchy as a political concept, we define it as a rejection of the
State," explains Saed Abu Hijleh, professor of Human Geography at
An-Najah University in Nablus, "we talk about freedom and a society that
organizes itself without the interference of the State. But how do a
stateless people cope with anarchy, a term that implies opposition to
some form of state as a condition of their existence?
In Palestine, various elements of the popular struggle have historically
been self-organized. Although not explicitly identified as "anarchism,"
"people have already organized their lives in a horizontal,
non-hierarchical sense," says Beesan Ramadan, another local anarchist
who describes anarchism as "tactical," questioning the need to give it a
label. . "It is already present, in my culture and in the way
Palestinian activism has worked," he continues. "During the First
Intifada, for example, when someone's house was demolished, people
organized to rebuild it, spontaneously. As a Palestinian anarchist, I
would like to go back to the roots of the First Intifada. It did not
arise from a political decision .
Yasser Arafat declared independence in November 1988, the First Intifada
had begun in December 1987, "to deflect the momentum of the Intifada,"
says Ramadan. The Palestinian issue has become even more complicated in
recent decades. The predominantly horizontal organizational landscape of
the First Intifada disappeared in 1993 with the signing of the Oslo
Accords and the creation of the Palestinian National Authority. Now here
in Palestine," Ramadan observes, "we do not have the concept of
authority that other people reject. We have the ANP and the occupation,
and our priorities are always mixed. "The PA and the Israelis are on the
same level because the Authority is for Israel an instrument of
oppression of the Palestinians."
Nimer shares his opinion and explains that there is growing consensus
that the ANP is "a proxy for the occupation." "Being an anarchist does
not mean having a black and red flag or being a black bloc," Ramadan
specifies, referring to the anarchist protest tactic of dressing in
black clothing and covering the face. "I don't want to imitate Western
groups in their way of 'doing' anarchism. It doesn't work here, because
you have to create a whole consciousness in people. People don't
understand this concept." However, Ramadan believes that the low
visibility of Palestinian anarchists and the lack of knowledge of
anarchism among Palestinians in general does not necessarily mean that
there are few: "I think there are a good number of Palestinian
anarchists. But for the most part, at least for Now, it is a personal
and individual belief, we are active in our own way.
This lack of a unified anarchist movement in Palestine could be due to
the fact that Western anarchists have never really focused on
colonialism. Western writers didn't have to do it," says Budour Hassan,
activist and law student, "their struggle was different." "For an
American anarchist," adds Nimer, "decolonization should be part of an
anti-authoritarian struggle. To me, that's just what has to happen."
Hassan expands the meaning of anarchism beyond mere anti-state or
anti-colonial authoritarianism. He refers to the Palestinian novelist
and Arab nationalist Ghassan Kanafani, noting that although he
challenged the occupation, "he also challenged patriarchal relations and
bourgeois classes." "That's why I think we Arabs - anarchists from
Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain - have to start reformulating anarchism
in a way that reflects our experiences of colonialism, our experiences
as women in a patriarchal society, etc."
Being part of a political opposition will not save you," Ramadan warns.
"For many women, resisting the occupation also means acting agai
https://telegra.ph/Observaciones-sobre-el-movimiento-anarquista-en-Palestina-05-06
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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