Zionism From the Standpoint of its Victims

00:46:04
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZWvvXVR8po

摘要

TLDRThe video delves into the significance of a particular scene from the film "Notre Musique," which profoundly impacted the narrator. This scene features the renowned Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, reflecting on the enduring power of storytelling in the Palestinian quest for liberation. The narrative explores how stories and poetry, from figures like Darwish and the late poet Refaat al-Areer, play a critical role in countering dominant colonial narratives imposed by Zionism and its global supporters. The video highlights stories as instruments of both survival and resistance, illustrating their capability to convey Palestinian history and present struggles despite attempts by powers to silence them. The narrator links contemporary issues, such as the Israeli aggression and genocidal acts, to broader historical and colonial contexts, emphasizing the persistent need for authentic Palestinian narratives. Storytelling is depicted as a means of empowerment and a vital tool for acknowledging and preserving Palestinian identity and history amidst ongoing oppression.

心得

  • 🎥 The powerful impact of a specific film scene featuring Mahmoud Darwish.
  • 🗣️ Storytelling as a tool for Palestinian resistance and cultural preservation.
  • 📜 The historical context of Zionism as a colonial project.
  • 🎙️ The importance of poetry and stories in Palestinian identity.
  • 📚 The countering of hegemonic narratives through Palestinian voices.
  • 🗺️ Linking contemporary violence to historical colonial ideologies.
  • 💡 Increase in global recognition of Palestinian narratives.
  • 🔍 The role of narratives in shaping perceptions of Zionism.
  • 📖 The need for continuous storytelling to maintain cultural heritage.
  • 🌍 Global support and solidarity with the Palestinian cause growing in prominence.

时间轴

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The speaker recalls a scene from a film that profoundly affected them, despite not liking the entire movie. They discovered the film, 'Notre Musique' by Jean Luc Goddard, in a bar in Beirut in 2018. The film features Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, whose words left a strong impression on the speaker, pushing them to reflect on the scene's meaning over the years, particularly in light of recent violence against Palestinians.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    Reflecting on recent events, the speaker connects the necessity of storytelling in the Palestinian struggle with a 2014 TED Talk by the late poet, Refaat al-Areer. Al-Areer's assassination underscores the importance of stories in preserving identities and resisting oppression. Storytelling connects Palestinians with their past, present, and future, becoming a form of resistance against dehumanizing narratives.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    The speaker discusses the dehumanization of Palestinians by Israeli and Western institutions, linking it to colonialism and eurocentrism. Despite historical support from previously colonized societies, recent shifts in global North's discourse show increasing solidarity for Palestinian liberation. Storytelling emerges as a powerful tool of resistance, offering counter-hegemonic narratives that challenge dominant Zionist narratives.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    Citing Edward Said and Salman Rushdie, the speaker emphasizes the fragility of Palestinian narratives compared to the institutionalized Zionist narratives. Stories serve as sites of resistance and empowerment, preserving Palestinian identity against attempts to erase their history. The importance of continually retelling these stories is highlighted as a way to combat narrative disappearance and maintain cultural memory.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    The narrative discusses how colonizers, including the Zionist movement, have historically undermined native stories by eliminating storytellers. Citing examples, the speaker highlights how Palestinian resistance involves storytelling that counters attempts to erase their culture. The narrative stresses understanding structural histories from subaltern perspectives to grasp the continued impact of colonial legacies and Zionism's role today.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    The speaker delves into the historical context of Zionism's colonial roots, tracing its alignment with British imperial interests. The Zionist movement, led by figures like Theodor Herzl, sought to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine, disregarding the indigenous population. This colonial mindset persists, dehumanizing Palestinians and justifying land expropriation under fallacious reasoning of superior utilization, exemplified by early Zionist propaganda.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:35:00

    Continuing with the colonial theme, the speaker illustrates the systemic erasure of Palestinian existence through cultural attacks, such as destroying libraries and archives. Such actions are portrayed as efforts to 'kill the story' of Palestine. Despite these attempts, Palestinian narratives persist, starkly contrasting Zionist propaganda that claims civilizational superiority while ignoring the cultural and historical richness of the native people.

  • 00:35:00 - 00:40:00

    The persistence of Palestinian narratives is discussed at length. While past Zionist attempts to erase Palestinian identity through violence and cultural suppression continue, recent works by academics and artists highlight Palestinian resistance and existence. Films and writings challenge Zionist narratives by vividly portraying Palestinian experiences and the violent realities of the Nakba, offering a more truthful representation of history and ongoing oppression.

  • 00:40:00 - 00:46:04

    The narrative concludes with a reflection on the broader impact of colonialism and its unaddressed legacy contributing to global issues, including current Zionist actions. The speaker calls for dismantled ideologies like Zionism to achieve peace, highlighting the international implications of the Palestinian struggle. This aligns with the belief that recognizing and addressing colonial roots is essential for global justice, advocating for solidarity in dismantling oppressive structures.

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思维导图

Mind Map

常见问题

  • What is the central theme of the video?

    The central theme is the power of storytelling in the Palestinian struggle for liberation and how narratives shape perceptions of Zionism and Palestine.

  • Which film scene has profoundly impacted the video’s narrator?

    The scene from the film "Notre Musique" featuring the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish.

  • Who is Mahmoud Darwish?

    Mahmoud Darwish was a Palestinian poet whose work is highlighted in the film 'Notre Musique.'

  • How does the video view the role of narratives in the Palestinian struggle?

    Narratives are portrayed as crucial in shaping perceptions, resisting colonial power, and asserting Palestinian humanity and history.

  • What connection does the video make between current events and historical context?

    It connects the current violence and oppression of Palestinians with historical colonial practices and ideologies like Zionism.

  • Why does the video emphasize storytelling by marginalized groups?

    Storytelling is emphasized as a means of resistance and preserving cultural identity against dominant oppressive narratives.

  • What historic events does the video relate to the contemporary Palestinian issue?

    Events like the Nakba of 1948, the Israeli invasions, and the ongoing colonial narratives are discussed in relation to today’s issues.

  • How is Zionism portrayed in this narrative?

    Zionism is portrayed as a colonial project rooted in racism and oppression, needing dismantlement for peace and justice.

  • What role do global perceptions and actions play according to the video?

    Global perceptions shape the narratives around Palestine, with increasing discussions and actions in the global north recently recognizing Palestinian struggles.

  • How are cultural tools like poetry and film viewed in the video?

    They are seen as powerful mediums for resistance and storytelling, highlighting Palestinian history and experiences.

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  • 00:00:00
    Have you ever watched a scene in a film
  • 00:00:02
    that stays with you for years?
  • 00:00:04
    For me this happened with this movie,
  • 00:00:06
    And what's funny is I don't like the whole film,
  • 00:00:08
    it's just this one scene
  • 00:00:10
    And I find myself thinking about it a lot these days.
  • 00:00:13
    In order to tell you what I mean
  • 00:00:15
    first I have to tell you about the first time
  • 00:00:16
    I discovered this film.
  • 00:00:18
    This was back in 2018.
  • 00:00:21
    I was sitting in a bar in Beirut with some friends.
  • 00:00:25
    Projected onto one of the walls of this bar
  • 00:00:28
    was a film played without sound
  • 00:00:32
    I didn't pay much attention to it
  • 00:00:33
    it just looked like some whatever film.
  • 00:00:37
    Until I became aware of a brooding figure
  • 00:00:41
    standing completely still.
  • 00:00:44
    I found myself growing increasingly curious.
  • 00:00:48
    And then he spoke.
  • 00:01:17
    I was honestly kind of shocked because
  • 00:01:19
    this isn't just some character in some whatever film
  • 00:01:21
    this is Mahmoud Darwish, the Palestinian poet
  • 00:01:24
    I remember so well I turned to my friends
  • 00:01:26
    and I told this to them
  • 00:01:28
    but they were absorbed in some other conversation
  • 00:01:30
    so I remember turning back to the film
  • 00:01:33
    and focusing on it and trying to absorb
  • 00:01:35
    everything he was about to say.
  • 00:02:19
    If I'm honest at the time I had no idea
  • 00:02:21
    what he was talking about
  • 00:02:23
    But I had this great impression that he was saying something
  • 00:02:27
    profound
  • 00:02:27
    something that I couldn't even make sense of
  • 00:02:30
    at the moment and before I could make any attempts at it
  • 00:02:33
    he continued.
  • 00:03:01
    I rushed back home that night
  • 00:03:03
    and frantically searched for the film
  • 00:03:05
    it didn't take me long 'Notre Musique'
  • 00:03:08
    Jean Luc Goddard, 2004.
  • 00:03:10
    I found the film online I watched
  • 00:03:13
    discovered that I didn't actually
  • 00:03:14
    like the film but I rewatched the clip
  • 00:03:17
    several times and transcribed Mahmoud Darwish's words
  • 00:03:21
    And then I basically spent the next few years
  • 00:03:24
    thinking about what
  • 00:03:25
    what it all means.
  • 00:03:39
    Although I never fully stopped thinking
  • 00:03:41
    about this film and that scene and its implications.
  • 00:03:44
    the last 10 months of barbaric violence
  • 00:03:48
    by the state of Israel
  • 00:03:49
    in the form of Genocide, Aggression,
  • 00:03:52
    and Settler Colonialism, has definitely made
  • 00:03:55
    thinking about stories and poetry and
  • 00:03:58
    narratives feel a little unnecessary
  • 00:04:02
    or at least not the most pressing thing.
  • 00:04:05
    But I was recently reminded of the centrality
  • 00:04:07
    of storytelling and of stories
  • 00:04:10
    in the Palestinian struggle for liberation
  • 00:04:13
    when I watched this Ted Talk from 2014.
  • 00:04:16
    Stories are also
  • 00:04:18
    important in our lives as
  • 00:04:20
    Palestinians as people under occupation
  • 00:04:23
    as native peoples on this land not only
  • 00:04:25
    because they make us they shape us they
  • 00:04:27
    make us the people we are
  • 00:04:29
    but also because they connect us with
  • 00:04:31
    our past they connect us with other with
  • 00:04:34
    our present and they prepare
  • 00:04:37
    prepare us to the future.
  • 00:04:39
    For those that don't know who that was that was
  • 00:04:41
    that was the martyr poet, Refaat al-Areer,
  • 00:04:44
    who was assassinated by the Israelis
  • 00:04:47
    on December the 6th 2023.
  • 00:04:49
    He's possibly best known for writing the poem
  • 00:04:51
    'If I Must Die' which has become an anthem
  • 00:04:54
    of sorts.
  • 00:04:56
    His words, and indeed, his whole story
  • 00:04:59
    really reminds me of what Darwish was talking about
  • 00:05:01
    when he was talking about Trojan poets.
  • 00:05:04
    I think the story and the poetry
  • 00:05:06
    that both men were talking about
  • 00:05:08
    can both be understood literally and metaphorically.
  • 00:05:11
    That is I think they're both actual stories
  • 00:05:14
    that Palestinians tell,
  • 00:05:16
    but also the story of Palestine as a whole.
  • 00:05:20
    It has become painfully clear
  • 00:05:22
    that the state of Israel its government
  • 00:05:25
    its institutions and substantial
  • 00:05:28
    significant portion of its population
  • 00:05:31
    don't consider Palestinians to be human.
  • 00:05:34
    And in many ways the western states
  • 00:05:37
    institutions, media organizations,
  • 00:05:39
    and also large parts of their societies as well,
  • 00:05:42
    don't either.
  • 00:05:44
    And so if you don't think
  • 00:05:45
    these people have a right to live
  • 00:05:47
    then you also don't believe that they
  • 00:05:49
    have a right to narrate their lives.
  • 00:05:51
    It is important to note
  • 00:05:53
    that most formerly colonized societies
  • 00:05:57
    have already for decades stood in solidarity
  • 00:06:00
    with the Palestinian struggle for liberation,
  • 00:06:02
    I'll pull up just one example of this here
  • 00:06:05
    which is a general assembly resolution
  • 00:06:08
    from 1974 and you can see the splits pretty clear.
  • 00:06:12
    But only more recently is there a
  • 00:06:15
    new welcoming development which is that
  • 00:06:18
    there is more discussions and
  • 00:06:20
    mobilizations and actions in the global North,
  • 00:06:23
    in the Metropole,
  • 00:06:26
    the imperial centers in support of Palestinian liberation
  • 00:06:30
    and struggles against occupation and now Genocide.
  • 00:06:36
    But that shift has yet to reach spaces with
  • 00:06:38
    institutional power or influence.
  • 00:06:42
    I do think stories and narratives do still
  • 00:06:45
    play a huge role.
  • 00:06:47
    This is what I think Darwish
  • 00:06:48
    was referring to when he talked about
  • 00:06:50
    poetry as an instrument of power.
  • 00:06:53
    I think the story of Zionism has always appealed
  • 00:06:57
    more to the powerful, to the industrialised
  • 00:06:59
    imperialist West, much more so than the
  • 00:07:03
    Palestinian Story, the indigenous, native story.
  • 00:07:07
    In many ways that colonial story
  • 00:07:10
    is the European story. Europe created and
  • 00:07:13
    nurtured that story long before the
  • 00:07:16
    Zionist movement even began to form.
  • 00:07:18
    It's a story that I think Europe and its extensions,
  • 00:07:23
    have never really
  • 00:07:24
    disentangled themselves from
  • 00:07:26
    both ideologically and materially.
  • 00:07:29
    And I think that hideous face that barbaric violence
  • 00:07:31
    of that era is really showing its face once again.
  • 00:07:36
    But like all colonized people
  • 00:07:38
    Palestinians have always offered their resistance,
  • 00:07:41
    in many ways, including armed struggle,
  • 00:07:45
    but also through telling and retelling their stories.
  • 00:07:49
    And maybe for the first time,
  • 00:07:50
    in part because of social media,
  • 00:07:53
    many people and here I mean in the Global North,
  • 00:07:56
    are understanding Palestine
  • 00:07:58
    from the mouth of the Palestinian.
  • 00:08:00
    There is with that a need to re-examine
  • 00:08:03
    and revisit the hegemonic narratives on
  • 00:08:07
    Zionism, on Palestine, because those
  • 00:08:10
    narratives still exist and they still
  • 00:08:13
    hold tremendous institutional weight.
  • 00:08:15
    And at the same time the counter-hegemonic
  • 00:08:18
    narratives don't have that same
  • 00:08:20
    institutional backing.
  • 00:08:22
    Edward Said, the Palestinian scholar and theorist,
  • 00:08:26
    put it very well in this interview
  • 00:08:28
    with a very young Salman Rushdie.
  • 00:08:31
    There seems to be nothing in the world
  • 00:08:33
    that sustains the story that keeps it there.
  • 00:08:35
    In other words unless you're telling it
  • 00:08:37
    it's just going to drop and and
  • 00:08:38
    disappear sort of like Shahrazad.
  • 00:08:41
    So it needs to be perpetually told
  • 00:08:43
    in order to exist?
  • 00:08:45
    Whereas you feel that the other narratives
  • 00:08:47
    are there and they're kind of permanent
  • 00:08:49
    and they're you know sort of uh
  • 00:08:51
    uh they have a kind of institutional existence.
  • 00:08:53
    and you have to just try and work away at them.
  • 00:08:56
    Seen in this way
  • 00:08:58
    stories can have a subversive aspect to them.
  • 00:09:01
    They can be counter-hegemonic and in some ways they
  • 00:09:04
    can be a site of resistance in and of themselves.
  • 00:09:08
    Now Edward Said warns of this
  • 00:09:10
    if we stop caring about stories if we stop
  • 00:09:12
    telling our stories if we stop listening
  • 00:09:14
    to our parents we create space we create
  • 00:09:18
    vacuum for others to occupy this
  • 00:09:20
    virtual space in our past in our heart.
  • 00:09:24
    I wanted to play at least a couple of clips from
  • 00:09:26
    that Ted talk because I think Refaat's stories
  • 00:09:30
    is such an embodiment of what he was saying
  • 00:09:33
    The Israelis want to kill the
  • 00:09:35
    story and in order to try to do that
  • 00:09:38
    they kill the storyteller but as
  • 00:09:40
    Palestinians have shown they can never
  • 00:09:42
    kill the story.
  • 00:09:44
    They have done this for decades,
  • 00:09:46
    and indeed every genocidal
  • 00:09:48
    regime has done this.
  • 00:09:50
    Because if you want to kill a people,
  • 00:09:53
    you have to kill the story of those people.
  • 00:09:56
    And that's why every genocide
  • 00:09:59
    has always included the
  • 00:10:00
    mass killing of writers, academics,
  • 00:10:04
    scholars, and poets.
  • 00:10:06
    Palestinians know this has always
  • 00:10:08
    been an aspect of Zionism.
  • 00:10:10
    And that's why Palestinian elders always indicate that ...
  • 00:10:32
    telling and retelling their stories is a
  • 00:10:35
    task that every Palestinian indeed every
  • 00:10:37
    colonized person holds incredibly close.
  • 00:10:41
    But I think it would be a mistake to
  • 00:10:43
    simply typecast the colonized or the Subaltern if you will.
  • 00:10:47
    In other words, I don't think its enough
  • 00:10:50
    to understand their situation, even if understanding it
  • 00:10:54
    from them themselves but rather I think
  • 00:10:57
    we should all constantly attempt to
  • 00:10:59
    understand the structures and histories
  • 00:11:02
    we all live under
  • 00:11:04
    from their perspectives as well.
  • 00:11:06
    That is, not simply to understand the colonies
  • 00:11:10
    from the colonized but also to understand the
  • 00:11:13
    center, or the Metropole, from them as well.
  • 00:11:15
    I think this is basically just a
  • 00:11:17
    shorthand description of what
  • 00:11:18
    post-colonialism is.
  • 00:11:20
    The American writer Tony Morrison sums this up
  • 00:11:23
    very concisely as well.
  • 00:11:39
    Or put even more concisely.
  • 00:11:47
    Here are two notes on the
  • 00:11:49
    terms that I'll be using before I start
  • 00:11:52
    the video proper.
  • 00:11:52
    For the first part I will be talking a lot about victimized
  • 00:11:56
    and marginalized and oppressed people.
  • 00:11:58
    By this I definitely do not mean victims
  • 00:12:01
    are static people who lack any agency
  • 00:12:05
    The complete opposite.
  • 00:12:06
    I think people who are victimized under certain structures
  • 00:12:10
    of domination actually hold
  • 00:12:13
    an incredible amount of knowledge and
  • 00:12:15
    awareness of those structures.
  • 00:12:17
    And that awareness, I think, is something that all
  • 00:12:20
    of us can benefit from.
  • 00:12:22
    As bell hooks says
  • 00:12:23
    in this essay entitled 'Marginality as a Site of Resistance'
  • 00:12:55
    And secondly I will be talking a lot about Zionism
  • 00:12:58
    And by Zionism, I don't mean a historical movement
  • 00:13:01
    way back when.
  • 00:13:02
    No. Zionism is what is happening today it is what is still
  • 00:13:07
    unfolding to this present moment.
  • 00:13:10
    It is also the framework that connects the
  • 00:13:12
    genocide in Gaza with the Settler Colonial
  • 00:13:15
    campaign in the West Bank with the
  • 00:13:18
    Israeli aggression on Lebanon and with
  • 00:13:21
    the attachment to Western imperialist
  • 00:13:23
    interests and why western states are so
  • 00:13:25
    heavily backing this rogue colonial regime.
  • 00:13:30
    And I really think you cannot understand the
  • 00:13:33
    current genocide in Gaza without first understanding
  • 00:13:36
    the Nakba of 1948, and you can't really understand
  • 00:13:40
    the Nakba without understanding Zionism,
  • 00:13:43
    and I hate to add a third one,
  • 00:13:45
    but I don't think you can fully understand
  • 00:13:46
    Zionism without understanding colonialism.
  • 00:13:49
    So what I'm going to do in this video
  • 00:13:51
    is not present two equal narratives,
  • 00:13:53
    because in no way are they equal.
  • 00:13:56
    Rather I'm going to try to present
  • 00:13:58
    in part
  • 00:13:59
    the counter-hegemonic narratives of
  • 00:14:02
    Zionism that are produced in its margins
  • 00:14:05
    by its victims and its resistors.
  • 00:14:09
    Even with everything going on today,
  • 00:14:11
    the task of telling and retelling
  • 00:14:14
    this history and these narratives from
  • 00:14:16
    the Palestinian standpoint is something
  • 00:14:19
    that Palestinians are still taking on
  • 00:14:21
    even amidst genocide.
  • 00:14:39
    I found it incredibly powerful that
  • 00:14:42
    after 6 months of surviving and
  • 00:14:45
    documenting genocide, herself now
  • 00:14:49
    displaced an a tent in Rafah, that Bisan would
  • 00:14:52
    return to her original passion
  • 00:14:55
    storytelling.
  • 00:14:55
    I also found it equally telling
  • 00:14:58
    that the story she decided to tell,
  • 00:15:01
    in the moment that she had the
  • 00:15:02
    briefest space away from the urgency
  • 00:15:05
    of her current situation was the story of
  • 00:15:08
    Gaza, its history, and its encounters, and
  • 00:15:12
    resistance against numerous occupying forces.
  • 00:15:16
    Again what's more is hearing her
  • 00:15:18
    recount this history is incredible
  • 00:15:20
    because she cuts through so much propaganda.
  • 00:15:24
    It reminds me of this little clip
  • 00:15:25
    from Rashid Khalidi, the Palestinian academic and writer.
  • 00:15:29
    Older people inside Palestine in the
  • 00:15:32
    refugee camps and in the larger diaspora
  • 00:15:34
    Palestinian diaspora talk of the British
  • 00:15:37
    or the Israelis or the Americans in
  • 00:15:38
    almost the same breath as if they're
  • 00:15:41
    different faces of the same foe
  • 00:15:42
    in other words they see things more clearly than
  • 00:15:45
    a lot of Scholars.
  • 00:15:46
    I don't know why he
  • 00:15:47
    emphasizes older people because as we'll
  • 00:15:50
    see with Bisan, the same understanding exists.
  • 00:15:52
    So after going through the long history
  • 00:15:55
    and Heritage of Gaza, Bisan enters
  • 00:15:59
    the modern era with the end of the first
  • 00:16:01
    World War and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
  • 00:16:36
    See what I mean? I mean I come from Lebanon
  • 00:16:38
    and the amount of times that
  • 00:16:40
    I've heard that the mandates weren't
  • 00:16:43
    colonialism that they were just trying
  • 00:16:44
    to help us and get us ready for
  • 00:16:46
    democracy complete [ __ ] it was
  • 00:16:49
    colonialism pure and simple it was
  • 00:16:52
    backed by incredible amounts of force it
  • 00:16:55
    was heavily opposed by local
  • 00:16:56
    populations and it was just colonialism
  • 00:17:00
    In 2002 the Indian writer Arundhati Roy
  • 00:17:04
    gave a speech entitled 'Come September'.
  • 00:17:06
    where she recounts this history as well.
  • 00:17:10
    On the 11th of September 1922
  • 00:17:11
    ignoring Arab outrage the British
  • 00:17:15
    government proclaimed a mandate in Palestine,
  • 00:17:17
    a followup to the 1917 Balfour Declaration
  • 00:17:22
    which Imperial Britain
  • 00:17:23
    issued with its Army massed outside the
  • 00:17:26
    gates of Gaza.
  • 00:17:27
    The Balfour declaration promised European
  • 00:17:30
    zionists a national home for Jewish people.
  • 00:17:33
    At the time the Empire on which
  • 00:17:36
    the Sun never set was free to snatch and
  • 00:17:39
    bequeath national homes
  • 00:17:41
    like a school bully distributes marbles.
  • 00:17:44
    As for the idea that
  • 00:17:45
    these mandates had anything to do with
  • 00:17:47
    helping the local population, here's
  • 00:17:49
    Arthur Balfour himself, the writer of the
  • 00:17:52
    Balfour Declaration, and the foreign minister
  • 00:17:54
    of the UK at the time.
  • 00:18:37
    Not to flood this part with citations
  • 00:18:39
    but there's also this from the
  • 00:18:40
    same speech by Arundhati Roy.
  • 00:18:43
    In 1937 Winston Churchill said
  • 00:18:46
    of the Palestinians I quote
  • 00:18:49
    " I do not agree that the dog in a manger
  • 00:18:51
    has the final right to the manger
  • 00:18:54
    even though he he may have
  • 00:18:55
    lain there for a very long time, I do not
  • 00:18:58
    admit that right I do not admit for
  • 00:19:01
    instance that a great wrong has been
  • 00:19:03
    done to the red Indians of America or
  • 00:19:05
    the black people of Australia I do not
  • 00:19:08
    admit that a wrong has been done to
  • 00:19:10
    these people by the fact that a stronger
  • 00:19:13
    race a higher grade race a more worldly
  • 00:19:16
    wise race to put it that way has come in
  • 00:19:19
    and taken their place.
  • 00:19:21
    This is Winston Churchill.
  • 00:19:23
    This is someone who is still
  • 00:19:25
    incredibly highly venerated and is
  • 00:19:27
    almost blasphemic to say anything about him
  • 00:19:29
    in the UK. He has a statue outside of
  • 00:19:32
    parliament his face is on the British
  • 00:19:34
    pound this is precisely what I mean when
  • 00:19:38
    I say that Europe has never gotten over
  • 00:19:40
    moved past or been held accountable for
  • 00:19:43
    its long legacy of colonialism and the
  • 00:19:46
    fascism that it breeds.
  • 00:19:49
    So this is the setting of the scene and with the
  • 00:19:51
    British control of Palestine they begin
  • 00:19:54
    to assist the European zionists in
  • 00:19:57
    building a national Homeland for all the
  • 00:20:00
    world's Jewish people in Palestine.
  • 00:20:02
    But why?
  • 00:20:29
    If anyone thinks that this sounds like
  • 00:20:31
    conspiracy thinking this is precisely
  • 00:20:33
    how Theodor Herzl, the founder of the
  • 00:20:36
    modern Zionist movement, envisioned the
  • 00:20:38
    Jewish state. In his Manifesto in 1896 he wrote this:
  • 00:20:56
    By the way that wasn't real footage it was
  • 00:20:59
    It was from this ridiculous 1921 biopic about
  • 00:21:02
    about the man.
  • 00:21:04
    Which also includes this image.
  • 00:21:08
    Yikes!
  • 00:21:10
    Like they say a thousand words
  • 00:21:12
    But yes this isn't just anybody I haven't
  • 00:21:16
    selected some random preacher with
  • 00:21:18
    Kookie ideas this guy's ideas and
  • 00:21:20
    planning and organizing was foundational
  • 00:21:25
    to the early formations of the Zionist
  • 00:21:27
    movement, he is also someone who is still
  • 00:21:30
    held incredibly close in the state of Israel.
  • 00:21:34
    They literally have a mountain
  • 00:21:36
    named after him where they bury their
  • 00:21:38
    notables, politicians, soldiers, whatever.
  • 00:21:42
    This guy is foundational
  • 00:21:44
    and in many ways what he
  • 00:21:46
    set out to do is what is still taking place.
  • 00:21:50
    And in his writing's you notice that
  • 00:21:52
    he doesn't so much as mention the
  • 00:21:54
    Palestinians the native population of
  • 00:21:57
    the land that he was planning on
  • 00:21:59
    colonizing and although that sounds a
  • 00:22:01
    bit strange it's actually kind of
  • 00:22:03
    canonical for colonial thinking.
  • 00:22:06
    The natives don't matter and they only
  • 00:22:09
    matter in so far as they are a nuisance
  • 00:22:12
    that needs to be mitigated.
  • 00:22:14
    To that end,
  • 00:22:15
    Herzl does write this in his Diaries
  • 00:22:28
    Zionism is and always has been a
  • 00:22:31
    colonial project and with that comes a
  • 00:22:34
    complete de-humanization and contempt for
  • 00:22:37
    the native who literally does not
  • 00:22:39
    deserve the land that they stand on.
  • 00:22:56
    It feels almost like she's asking
  • 00:22:58
    very similar questions to the ones that
  • 00:23:00
    Darwish was asking, or rather I think
  • 00:23:03
    she's asking questions that Darwish was
  • 00:23:06
    answering with his questions.
  • 00:23:09
    That sounds a bit confusing to explain what I mean
  • 00:23:12
    let's take a look at this very early
  • 00:23:14
    Zionist propaganda film from 1935
  • 00:23:17
    entitled 'The Land of Promise'
  • 00:23:29
    The film depicts Palestine from the
  • 00:23:31
    perspective of the Zionist colonizer and
  • 00:23:34
    essentially can be read as a visual text
  • 00:23:37
    declaring and depicting the
  • 00:23:39
    righteousness of the Zionist project.
  • 00:23:41
    It starts with scenes of un-civilized
  • 00:23:44
    natives, primitive, backwards.
  • 00:23:49
    The local population have let
  • 00:23:51
    the land decay, it is wasted on them.
  • 00:23:56
    Then we see scenes of Jewish settlers
  • 00:23:59
    modern
  • 00:24:02
    productive
  • 00:24:04
    civilized.
  • 00:24:07
    With shots taken straight from
  • 00:24:09
    Soviet era Cinema, the juxtaposition is clear.
  • 00:24:13
    And with the most modern machinery
  • 00:24:15
    the Jews are bringing back to Palestine
  • 00:24:18
    it's long neglect fruitfulness.
  • 00:24:24
    The film ends
  • 00:24:25
    with this charter calling for funding for
  • 00:24:28
    immigration and colonization.
  • 00:24:31
    The thesis of the film is as follows:
  • 00:24:35
    we deserve the land because we
  • 00:24:37
    can make better use of it.
  • 00:24:40
    This logic is as old as colonialism itself.
  • 00:25:44
    In this specific case the
  • 00:25:47
    Zionist claims of making the desert bloom
  • 00:25:50
    can be dismissed by listening to
  • 00:25:52
    Palestinians who were there before they expelled.
  • 00:26:21
    Oral history is of course crucial in
  • 00:26:23
    understanding this history in providing
  • 00:26:26
    counter hedonic narratives but also
  • 00:26:28
    to re-center the exact same voices who
  • 00:26:31
    have been so heavily marginalized and
  • 00:26:33
    dispossessed by Zionism .
  • 00:26:36
    But what's also hidden within these narratives is the
  • 00:26:39
    tremendous amounts of violence that's
  • 00:26:41
    needed to uphold one and erase the other.
  • 00:26:45
    During the 1948 War, during the Nakba in specific,
  • 00:26:49
    Zionist forces not only
  • 00:26:52
    expelled upwards of 800,000 Palestinians
  • 00:26:55
    from Palestine they also destroyed
  • 00:26:59
    hundreds of villages, razed them, and
  • 00:27:02
    planted over them to remove their traces.
  • 00:27:04
    They destroyed libraries, archives, any trace
  • 00:27:09
    of Palestinian existence on that land.
  • 00:27:12
    Moshe Dayan, a Zionist militant and
  • 00:27:14
    defense minister of the state of Israel,
  • 00:27:16
    said this in 1969:
  • 00:27:53
    No longer exist is a euphemism
  • 00:27:56
    for we destroyed them and try
  • 00:27:58
    as they might the Israelis have never
  • 00:28:01
    been able to kill the story one.
  • 00:28:03
    One fascinating and depressing example of this
  • 00:28:07
    is the Palestine Research Center in Beirut.
  • 00:28:11
    It was founded in 1965 just one
  • 00:28:14
    year after the PLO was founded.
  • 00:28:16
    The Palestine Research Center was a place
  • 00:28:18
    where knowledge was created where texts
  • 00:28:22
    and films were archived, they had at the
  • 00:28:25
    height about 25,000 different volumes in
  • 00:28:29
    their archives they also published a
  • 00:28:31
    bimonthly Magazine on Palestine and
  • 00:28:34
    Palestinian affairs.
  • 00:28:37
    They also published dozens of books.
  • 00:28:39
    And I actually have an example of
  • 00:28:41
    one right here. This is the first book
  • 00:28:44
    they published by Fayez Sayegh
  • 00:28:47
    called Zionist colonialism in Palestine.
  • 00:28:50
    The building that the PRC was
  • 00:28:52
    in had a printing press an archive and
  • 00:28:55
    was a space to understand and learn and
  • 00:28:58
    disseminate knowledge on Palestine on
  • 00:29:01
    Zionism on European colonialism and
  • 00:29:04
    American imperialism and just so much more.
  • 00:29:08
    I said this was a depressing story
  • 00:29:11
    because well in 1982 Israel invaded
  • 00:29:14
    Lebanon and invaded and besieged Beirut
  • 00:29:17
    The building that housed the Palestine
  • 00:29:19
    Research Center was bombed and looted by
  • 00:29:23
    the Israelis and by their fascist
  • 00:29:25
    Christian militia collaborators in Beirut
  • 00:29:28
    The archives were looted and many of the
  • 00:29:31
    possessions are now to be found in an
  • 00:29:33
    archive unit in Tel Abib.
  • 00:29:36
    That experiment was cut short and
  • 00:29:39
    is yet again another example of how the
  • 00:29:41
    Zionists try to kill the story by
  • 00:29:44
    killing the storyteller by literally
  • 00:29:46
    bombing the printing press.
  • 00:29:48
    But obviously things have changed since then/
  • 00:29:50
    In 1979
  • 00:29:51
    Edward Said lamented that:
  • 00:30:02
    But I don't think that is the
  • 00:30:03
    case anymore with books like the
  • 00:30:05
    100-year war on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi
  • 00:30:08
    or The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
  • 00:30:11
    by Ilan Pappe, as well as countless essays on
  • 00:30:14
    Palestine and on Zionism by non-zionist
  • 00:30:18
    sources there is definitely now more
  • 00:30:20
    than ever an abundance of academic
  • 00:30:23
    literature and scholarship on the topic.
  • 00:30:26
    But much more important I think is in
  • 00:30:28
    the music, the poetry, and the films, which
  • 00:30:30
    Palestinians have turned to especially
  • 00:30:34
    since the first intifada.
  • 00:30:51
    One of the most interesting examples
  • 00:30:52
    of this new Palestinian Cinema
  • 00:30:54
    is Elia Suleiman's 2009 film 'The Time That Remains'
  • 00:31:05
    After a prologue depicting the 1948 Nakba
  • 00:31:09
    the film has three parts showing three parts
  • 00:31:11
    showing three stages of Elia Suleiman's life
  • 00:31:15
    In the 70s after the defeat of
  • 00:31:17
    Arab Nationalism in '67.
  • 00:31:22
    In the 80s leading up to the first intifada
  • 00:31:28
    and in the mid 2000s when the film was shot.
  • 00:31:37
    Although the whole film is illuminating
  • 00:31:39
    in its visual metaphors.
  • 00:31:43
    The prologue is the part that stands out the most to me.
  • 00:31:49
    Not only through its depictions of
  • 00:31:52
    the lives and stories that were ruptured
  • 00:31:54
    by the violence and expulsions of the
  • 00:31:57
    1948 Nakba, but also with this depiction
  • 00:32:01
    of Zionist brutality and criminality.
  • 00:32:05
    This scene in specific.
  • 00:32:16
    Although fiction, this scene
  • 00:32:19
    captures a truth that subverts the
  • 00:32:21
    official narratives that the state of
  • 00:32:23
    Israel maintains to this day; that the
  • 00:32:26
    mass expulsions of '48, of the Nakba,
  • 00:32:29
    happened as a result of a chaos of war
  • 00:32:32
    that Arab leaders told people to flee
  • 00:32:35
    that the 1948 war was one for survival.
  • 00:32:39
    All lies.
  • 00:32:47
    I recognize of course that I have
  • 00:32:49
    yet to speak of why Zionism came about
  • 00:32:51
    to begin with, why Jews in Europe felt
  • 00:32:55
    the need to flee why they indeed were
  • 00:32:58
    already fleeing even before Zionism was invented.
  • 00:33:02
    That is the deep brutal and
  • 00:33:05
    genocidal white supremacy in the form of
  • 00:33:09
    anti-Semitism that spurred on this
  • 00:33:12
    movement to begin with. Indeed if you
  • 00:33:14
    were to read Theodor Herzl's Manifesto, you
  • 00:33:17
    get a sense of two distinct parts: the first
  • 00:33:19
    part outlines in great detail the
  • 00:33:23
    real persecution of Jews by white
  • 00:33:26
    Europeans and then the second part a
  • 00:33:29
    plan to colonize another land in order
  • 00:33:32
    to seek safety over there, which feels
  • 00:33:34
    like a morbid non-sequitur. And it's that same
  • 00:33:38
    morbid non-sequitur that is so apparent
  • 00:33:41
    whenever this discourse comes about
  • 00:33:43
    whenever you hear people from the US or
  • 00:33:45
    the UK or Germany defend their decision
  • 00:33:48
    to send more weapons to the state of
  • 00:33:51
    Israel in this moment of genocide. and
  • 00:33:54
    And here again Edward Said's words are incredibly helpful:
  • 00:34:29
    I've been borrowing quite a bit
  • 00:34:30
    from Edward Said in this video
  • 00:34:32
    and specifically that one
  • 00:34:34
    essay not because there aren't any other
  • 00:34:37
    essays on the topic. I do so for two
  • 00:34:40
    reasons: one is because it's a
  • 00:34:43
    foundational essay it still really holds
  • 00:34:46
    up and I think it may be one of the
  • 00:34:49
    first examples of an essay doing what it
  • 00:34:53
    suggests in the title giving an account
  • 00:34:55
    of Zionism from the standpoint of its victims,
  • 00:34:58
    specifically in the English-speaking
  • 00:35:01
    Western world, but also it's kind of
  • 00:35:04
    haunting because when you read it it's
  • 00:35:07
    scary how many of the discourses that he
  • 00:35:10
    names that we are still having and still
  • 00:35:12
    encountering to this day.
  • 00:35:14
    For instance,
  • 00:35:15
    his need to respond preemptively to
  • 00:35:18
    accusations of
  • 00:35:19
    anti-Semitism or his insistence that the
  • 00:35:22
    Nakba did happen set against a hegemonic
  • 00:35:25
    narrative of essentially Nakba Denialism
  • 00:35:29
    and that the refugees that it created
  • 00:35:31
    still exist and in violation of
  • 00:35:34
    international law are not allowed to
  • 00:35:36
    return, or the fact that his need to
  • 00:35:40
    argue that Zionism is a European
  • 00:35:43
    Colonial movement and mostly one of the
  • 00:35:45
    most important things he names in this essay
  • 00:35:49
    incredibly very early on is that
  • 00:35:51
    Zionism is the main obstacle is the main
  • 00:35:55
    force that is preventing anything that
  • 00:35:59
    resembles peace or a resolution to the
  • 00:36:02
    so-called conflict. Another reason that
  • 00:36:04
    I'm using Edward Sid a lot in this essay
  • 00:36:07
    is because he really has a unique
  • 00:36:09
    positionality to connect Palestine to
  • 00:36:12
    the larger and longer history of
  • 00:36:15
    European colonialism and imperialism.
  • 00:36:18
    I think those connections are really
  • 00:36:19
    important especially in a time when we
  • 00:36:22
    see colonial violence everywhere or
  • 00:36:25
    situations that are a result of
  • 00:36:28
    colonialism and in which our movements
  • 00:36:31
    in response need to also be
  • 00:36:33
    anti-colonial in a very real sense that
  • 00:36:35
    connects all of these struggles and
  • 00:36:38
    understands the roots of not just the
  • 00:36:40
    situation in Palestine but also in the
  • 00:36:41
    Congo and in Sudan and across the entire
  • 00:36:46
    Global South.
  • 00:36:47
    But here I have to admit something.
  • 00:36:49
    I didn't play the full clip of
  • 00:36:51
    Mahmoud Darwish in the film 'Notre Musique'
  • 00:36:54
    There is one last bit of it that I hesitate to play
  • 00:36:59
    because I know that it can be very
  • 00:37:02
    very cynically misinterpreted.
  • 00:37:04
    But I think it's
  • 00:37:05
    incredibly powerful and I think even
  • 00:37:08
    more enigmatic than the other clips that
  • 00:37:10
    the other clips that I played.
  • 00:38:22
    There are so many ways to interpret that, I think
  • 00:38:26
    I don't think he's talking about
  • 00:38:28
    the average person who is mobilizing or
  • 00:38:31
    organizing to stop this current genocide
  • 00:38:34
    or indeed for a longer history to stop
  • 00:38:36
    the colonial project of Zionism.
  • 00:38:38
    Some read into it the idea of white guilt the
  • 00:38:41
    idea that states like Germany are so
  • 00:38:44
    heavily defending the state of Israel
  • 00:38:47
    even in this moment of genocide out of a
  • 00:38:49
    sense of historical duty of almost like
  • 00:38:51
    reparations for their vile white-supremacist
  • 00:38:57
    genocidal anti-Semitism.
  • 00:38:59
    Early Zionist thinkers such as Herzl did describe Zionism as
  • 00:39:04
    an antidote to European anti-semitism
  • 00:39:08
    Interestingly enough, here's a quote from
  • 00:39:10
    Arthur Balfour, who although an avid zionist
  • 00:39:15
    is also a raging anti-semite himself.
  • 00:39:38
    Here I think we see why
  • 00:39:41
    the idea of "Jewish problem" is incredibly
  • 00:39:45
    racist and confused.
  • 00:39:47
    What I think its describing is the white-supremacist problem.
  • 00:39:51
    European states in particular
  • 00:39:54
    seek redemption from the state of Israel
  • 00:39:57
    without having to do their own soul
  • 00:39:59
    searching or dismantling of their white-supremacy.
  • 00:40:03
    I think a large reason why
  • 00:40:05
    fascism is in ascendance in the US and
  • 00:40:08
    in Europe is because there has never
  • 00:40:10
    really been a reckoning with colonialism.
  • 00:40:13
    And in many ways colonialism never
  • 00:40:16
    really ended, not just through these
  • 00:40:19
    barbaric examples like the state of Israel,
  • 00:40:21
    or the smaller island nations
  • 00:40:24
    that France and Spain and the UK still
  • 00:40:26
    possess but also through neocolonial
  • 00:40:30
    institutions like the IMF and the World Bank.
  • 00:40:34
    But that's probably a different video essay.
  • 00:40:36
    Here I think postcolonial
  • 00:40:38
    writers have a lot to say for instance
  • 00:40:41
    this quote by American sociologist W.E.B. Dubois:
  • 00:41:11
    In many ways fascism in Europe is
  • 00:41:13
    colonialism brought home and there's
  • 00:41:15
    never been any accountability for
  • 00:41:17
    colonialism.
  • 00:41:19
    This long history is not
  • 00:41:21
    something that just happened over there
  • 00:41:23
    it has formed and reformed the European
  • 00:41:26
    identity in terrifying ways as M notes
  • 00:41:29
    As Aime Cesaire notes:
  • 00:42:07
    When Fanon wrote in
  • 00:42:09
    1961 that there is yet to be a single
  • 00:42:12
    French soldier indicted in front of a
  • 00:42:15
    French court of justice for the murder
  • 00:42:17
    of an Algerian man he really was
  • 00:42:20
    predicting. The same could be said of any
  • 00:42:22
    Colonial regime not least of all the
  • 00:42:25
    state of Israel and what's more
  • 00:42:28
    is what we're seeing being live streamed
  • 00:42:31
    before our very eyes is the bedrock of
  • 00:42:34
    European Colonial history, for which no
  • 00:42:37
    European or American figure has ever
  • 00:42:41
    stood trial for.
  • 00:42:43
    We live in a time of
  • 00:42:44
    multiple ongoing genocides,
  • 00:42:47
    of economic, political, and climate collapse
  • 00:42:51
    all these struggles and collapses have their roots
  • 00:42:55
    in colonialism the current reality feel
  • 00:42:58
    so dictated by bombs, by guns, by police
  • 00:43:01
    batons and by intimidation.
  • 00:43:04
    But I have to believe
  • 00:43:06
    that there is still something in
  • 00:43:08
    identifying the source of Oppression and
  • 00:43:11
    not only in a way that illuminates the
  • 00:43:13
    struggles against the oppressor but also
  • 00:43:16
    in a way that implicates and makes clear
  • 00:43:19
    that we are all implicated.
  • 00:43:22
    I think that is so crucial in
  • 00:43:25
    building an actual internationalist left
  • 00:43:28
    that I think is so needed to tackle some
  • 00:43:31
    of these structures and dismantle some
  • 00:43:33
    of these systems that are literally
  • 00:43:34
    making this world uninhabitable.
  • 00:43:37
    And so in this case in
  • 00:43:39
    specific it needs be said that genocide
  • 00:43:42
    is not only permissible under Zionism
  • 00:43:45
    but is a core facet of it.
  • 00:43:47
    In order for
  • 00:43:48
    this genocide to end in order for
  • 00:43:51
    anything resembling progress or
  • 00:43:53
    development within this so-called
  • 00:43:55
    conflict, Zionism and as a racist
  • 00:43:58
    supremacist, exclusionary, structure and
  • 00:44:02
    ideology needs to be dismantled.
  • 00:44:05
    I say this as a person who
  • 00:44:07
    comes from a country who has for decades
  • 00:44:10
    faced the violence and brutality of this
  • 00:44:13
    structure of this colonial project as
  • 00:44:17
    well as constantly resisted against it.
  • 00:44:20
    But I also say this as a person with a soul,
  • 00:44:24
    as a citizen of the world, who is so
  • 00:44:27
    constantly pained by the daily massacres
  • 00:44:30
    by the injustice and the suffering that
  • 00:44:33
    we are seeing live streamed every single day.
  • 00:44:37
    What's happening Gaza affects all of us
  • 00:44:40
    and it has totally altered the world we live in.
  • 00:44:44
    And I don't know how to end this
  • 00:44:46
    but for some reason I also feel
  • 00:44:48
    like I shouldn't be the one to do it.
  • 00:44:50
    so instead here's the last clip from Bisan's video.
  • 00:45:32
    This video was created with the support
  • 00:45:35
    of 'From The Periphery' a new media
  • 00:45:36
    collective building internationalist
  • 00:45:38
    dialogues and connecting struggles from
  • 00:45:40
    across the world. If you want to support
  • 00:45:43
    our work consider heading over to our
  • 00:45:45
    Patreon by becoming a member you not
  • 00:45:47
    only help create more videos like this
  • 00:45:50
    but also help support all the other
  • 00:45:51
    projects within the collective including
  • 00:45:53
    the podcast The Fire These Times as well
  • 00:45:56
    as my own podcast Politically Depressed
  • 00:45:59
    You also get access to exclusive content
  • 00:46:01
    made just for you.
  • 00:46:03
    Thanks for listening.
标签
  • storytelling
  • Palestinian struggle
  • Mahmoud Darwish
  • Zionism
  • colonialism
  • resistance
  • narratives
  • Nakba
  • Edward Said
  • cultural identity