![Sample our Education journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5932/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Education.jpg"})
Abstract
In this article I argue that Palestinians, in particular Palestinian youth engage in forms of cultural resistance such as filming, video production and dissemination in their everyday lives as a way to re-configure place, space, law, knowledge and violence, through a critical race, feminist, anti-colonial theoretical analysis. Recently, interest in forms of youth political engagement has surfaced in scholarly discussions. The concept of “participatory politics” has been used to frame discussions and analysis on youth engagement. I argue that the current conceptualization of participatory politics is limited when applied to colonial and occupation contexts, particular because political participation is premised on the recognition of citizens. I argue that this conceptualization of participatory politics needs to be extended, by taking into consideration the politics of refusal and revolutionary violence. I offer the concept of an anti-colonial participatory politics that considers these aspects as central to politics and political participation by analysing youth testimonies, video's and films produced by B'Tselem volunteers, Youth Against the Settlements and Emad Burnat (director of 5 Broken Cameras). I demonstrate how Palestinians are not merely reduced to bare life, but underscore how they actively resist their colonization. Additionally, drawing on Willis' (Citation1990) notion of symbolic creativity, I suggest that through the symbolic work of shooting back (filming and video production) in their everyday lives, Palestinian youth enact public pedagogy, whereby cultural production becomes a site of teaching, learning and conscientization which could open up possibilities for social change.
Notes
1. The wall is 8 meters high, with electric fences, trenches, surveillance cameras, sensors, military patrols and watchtowers attached to it.
2. Notwithstanding their illegality, 125 Israeli settlements have been established from 1967 until now, with an estimated settler population of approximately 531,000 in the West Bank, of which routinely harass and physically assault Palestinians (B'Tselem Land Appropriation and Settlements, 2014). The wall cuts through most of the West Bank, and has detrimental effects for Palestinians, as families are divided from one another, children from their schools, and farmers from their agricultural lands, which is the primary sector of the Palestinian economy. As well, the construction of the wall has imposed new restrictions on movements limiting access to schools, hospitals, and jobs. This wall is deemed illegal under the July 2004 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
3. Since July 2014, the IOF have punished Palestinians in East Jerusalem for reacting to the lynching of Abu Khdeir “waging the largest arrest campaign since the second intifada” (Khalek, Citation2014).
4. The First Palestinian Intifada was a Palestinian uprising against the Israeli Occupation of the oPt, which lasted from 1987 -1993.
5. A Roman concept, homo sacer (sacred man) is he who may be killed but not sacrificed.
6. The Palestinian National Authority (PA) is an interim self-government body that “governs” Areas A and B of the West Bank (as of Oslo Accords in 1993).
7. Order No. 101 was commonly used during the first intifada, its use declined after the beginning of the Oslo process. In early 2010, the army once again expanded use of the order, warranting a re-examination of the order and its significance (Btselem - http://www.btselem.org/demonstrations).
8. To see the full details of the order see Naama Baumgarten-Sharon, Citation2010, p.8
9. Some Palestinians living in East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights have been offered Israeli citizenship. Many refuse, as they don't recognize Israel's claim to sovereignty over them. Instead they are permanent residents.
10. The Al-Aqsa Mosque is considered the third holiest site in Islam located in the Old City of Jerusalem. The mosque sits alongside the Dome of the Rock. In 2000 when Ariel Sharon (the former Prime Minister of Israel) made a trip to the Temple Mount surrounded by hundreds of riot police, Palestinians viewed this gesture as a provocation and the Second (Al-Aqsa) Intifada broke out.
11. The Second Intifada was the second Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. It began in September 2000 -2005 and was a period of intensified violence between both Israelis and Palestinians.
12. The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have gone against their official party line by engaging in revolutionary violence, demonstrating their refusal of the killing of Palestinians in the oPt. On July 24th at the mass demonstration at Qalandia checkpoint, after demonstrators were shot at by the IOF, the al-Aqsa Brigades opened fire at the IOF and a prolonged gun fire ensured (Wiles, Citation2014).
13. “Actions committed by Palestinians are liable to lead to ten years of imprisonment and a fine, where the same actions if committed by Israelis would not be considered as offenses” (Naama Baumgarten-Sharon, Citation2010, p. 8).
14. Barbwire is put all around the house, particularly around windows, to protect Palestinian homes from settler attacks. It feels like Palestinians in areas like Hebron live in a cage (Field notes, 2013).
15. Abdo (Citation2014) explains that sexual terms like sharmouta or manuouka (whore) or qahba (prostitute or whore) in Arabic are tabooed and “normatively women should refrain from using them in public. […] Such slurs are frequently used by Israeli interrogators against female political detainees” (Abdo, Citation2014, p. 10).
16. Ehud Olmert said after seeing the video, “he felt ashamed” (Shooting Back Interview, 2007).
17. Hebron is home to 140 000 Palestinians. The city has been divided into two parts, H1 and H2 areas. The H2 area is inhabited by 30 000 Palestinians and 500 Israeli settlers. See map of Hebron's divisions. http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_the_closure_map_2011_12_21_hebron_old_city.pdf
18. Though differences of class, gender, religion and identity status create different conditions for each Palestinian, the identity as a colonized people, without self determination, is a collective identity and form of collective resistance that is shown through each of the videos – whether the video is one minute or ninety minutes.
19. As a result, the Israeli authorities continue to make it harder and harder for people to enter Israel. Those suspected to be travelling to the West Bank for solidarity activities will almost always be denied entry.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Chandni Desai
Chandni Desai is a PhD Candidate in Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Her doctoral work focuses on the significance of Palestinian cultural resistance in the anti-colonial liberation struggle for the decolonization of Palestine. Her research interests include: resistance, social movements, art and activism, decolonization, politics of solidarity, critical race theory, feminism and anti-colonial/post colonial theory.