Path: ...!Xl.tags.giganews.com!local-2.nntp.ord.giganews.com!news.giganews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail
NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 07 Jun 2024 15:10:50 +0000
Subject: Re: Do you condemn Hamas?
From: danmin@danminart-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Danart)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
User-Agent: newsSync 666975223
References: <u4a46j95r9phinj6ub6k2nkp9o73qs4rpc@4ax.com>
Message-ID: <luCcncNHcoxnv_77nZ2dnZfqnPoAAAAA@giganews.com>
Date: Fri, 07 Jun 2024 15:10:50 +0000
Lines: 396
X-Usenet-Provider: http://www.giganews.com
X-Trace: sv3-EWyMU03I4+V0WIxZKg1Nl/qKIzahLnR/BUG9VVWQDz4Tu8Ki7nwgejB9BgBdtsgurerSD/vUVJ8kY8V!bMrIhjlHrm2F4ZnSo2J4vtHye5Ppb+j18AG1BnB9A9lDIrmp9jVeIyQHXK9VvM3qN3Y914uqrHNw!3w==
X-Complaints-To: abuse@giganews.com
X-DMCA-Notifications: http://www.giganews.com/info/dmca.html
X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers
X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly
X-Postfilter: 1.3.40
Bytes: 18558
X-Original-Lines: 1


 > NefeshBarYochai wrote:
 > This question became seemingly ubiquitous following October 7. As
 > Palestinians defied the imagination, breaking out of Gaza after
over a
 > decade and a half of living under total air, land, and sea
blockade,
 > many found themselves having to face this question.
 > 
 > Whether it be from Zionists using the violence we witnessed on that
 > day as a means of creating story after story of atrocity propaganda
—
 > to force well-meaning allies into a corner or even those who
genuinely
 > considered themselves pro-Palestine who struggled with the reality
of
 > decolonial violence — the question of whether or not Palestinian
armed
 > resistance factions deserved support or criticism became a major
point
 > of contention. It was easy for many to support the cause of
 > Palestinian liberation when they viewed Palestinians as perfect
 > victims, but when Palestinians fought back, suddenly the question
of
 > solidarity became muddled.
 > 
 > Months later, after tens of thousands of Palestinians have been
 > murdered by Israeli Occupation Forces in Gaza amid an ongoing
 > genocide, and after thousands in the West Bank have found
themselves
 > imprisoned or under regular attack, sympathy for those resisting
their
 > own annihilation has grown, with the conversation becoming more
clear
 > than it was in the days proceeding October 7. As videos spread by
 > resistance factions across Gaza and Lebanon find a regular and
 > enthusiastic audience and chants in support of those putting their
 > lives on the line take root in protests nationwide, it is clear
many
 > have grown to accept the necessity of armed struggle in the
 > Palestinian context, though a true consensus has yet to be
achieved.
 > 
 > To that end, the answer to the question “Do you condemn Hamas?,”
 > particularly for those of us on the Left as we analyze the history
of
 > Palestine and why resistance occurs in a colonial context, should
have
 > always been clear.
 > 
 > A violent phenomenon
 > 
 > As Frantz Fanon’s oft-cited statement from Wretched of the Earth
has
 > made clear, national liberation, national reawakening, restoration
of
 > the nation to the Commonwealth, whatever the name used, whatever
the
 > latest expression — decolonization is always a violent event.
 > Palestine is not an exception to this reality.
 > 
 > The colonization of Palestine by Zionists, like all colonialism
 > throughout history, brought with it widespread and constant
violence
 > levied in all forms against the Palestinian people. This was by
 > design, as the very nature of settler colonialism is a necessarily
 > brutal one given the end goal of the wholesale elimination of the
 > Indigenous population in all forms but nostalgia. This violence
does
 > not simply manifest itself through the military campaigns waged by
 > Zionist settlers and the Israeli occupation army, but through every
 > part of the colonial endeavor itself — an endeavor that can only be
 > sustained through the suffering, exploitation, repression, and
death
 > of Palestinians and all else that the colony wishes to conquer. 
 > 
 > Palestinians, whether in Occupied Palestine, in refugee camps in
 > bordering nations, or in the diaspora around the world, are forced
 > every single day to wrestle with the reality of this settler
colonial
 > violence. The very existence of the Zionist project poses an
 > existential threat to the lives of millions, who have in some cruel
 > twist of reality been deemed existential threats by the project for
 > the simple reason that their existence undermines its legitimacy. 
 > 
 > This violence does not occur without resistance. Throughout
history,
 > whether it be in Algeria, South Africa, Ireland, or Palestine,
 > colonized people have risen up in the face of brutal violence to
free
 > themselves from the shackles of their own oppression. This
resistance
 > does not generally start as armed struggle, but through civil
 > disobedience, protests, general strikes, and similar tactics. Yet
when
 > these tactics fail, as they often have, or when exceptional
violence
 > is waged against the people in response, armed struggle becomes a
 > necessity. 
 > 
 > The colonial power, its legitimacy owed solely to the force it
 > undertakes to maintain its existence, creates the conditions for
the
 > resistance that will rise against it. The more violence and
repression
 > colonized people face, the more they resist. Violent resistance
 > becomes mainstream out of sheer necessity given their material
 > conditions. This creates a cycle of violence, one perpetuated first
 > and foremost by the violence of the colonial entity itself. 
 > 
 > Even before the official foundation of the Zionist project in 1948,
 > this cycle was well established. The Balfour Declaration came into
 > existence in 1917, signifying Britain’s official endorsement of
 > Zionist aspirations. By 1929, a fifth of Palestinians found
themselves
 > landless. By the 1930s, many Palestinians found themselves
unemployed
 > and economically destitute, as Zionist capital, backed by favorable
 > imperial British laws and treatment, began flowing ever more
 > intensively into Palestine, according to Ghassan Kanafani’s seminal
 > work on the 1936 Great Palestinian Revolt.
 > 
 > These factors spurred resistance of their own variety, including
the
 > Buraq Uprising of 1929, efforts by Palestinians to pool resources
to
 > purchase land, sporadic violence, as well as Palestinian notables
 > lobbying for better treatment from their British overlords. This
blend
 > of violent and non-violent efforts would all be suppressed or
 > ultimately met with limited success.
 > 
 > In 1936, when British forces murdered Syrian revolutionary figure
 > Shaykh ‘Izz al-Din al-Qassam, Palestinian popular resentment turned
 > into a general strike, and ultimately into popular revolt, which
was
 > put down brutally by Zionist and British forces by 1939. Only a few
 > years later, Zionists would ethnically cleanse more than 750,000
 > Palestinians from upwards of 530 cities, towns, and villages and
kill
 > thousands more in what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or the
 > “catastrophe”. These ethnic cleansing campaigns continue up to the
 > modern day.
 > 
 > Palestinians would rise up as a result of the subjugation they
faced,
 > again through a combination of violent and non-violent struggle
that
 > would be met with even more violent oppression. When Palestinians
 > waged cross-border raids into occupied territory, they were met
with a
 > Zionist invasion in Lebanon and massacres at Sabra and Shatila.
When
 > Palestinians rose up during the First and Second Intifadas, they
were
 > met with violent crackdowns, mass arrests, and widespread violence
 > that would lead to the intensification of their own violent
resistance
 > efforts. When Palestinians in Gaza took to marching to the wall
that
 > surrounded them in the March of Great Return, hundreds were killed
and
 > thousands more injured by Israeli soldiers. The cycle of violence
 > continued and intensified.
 > 
 > Fast forwarding to today, Palestinians continue to live in
bantustans
 > in the West Bank, and what could functionally be described as a
 > concentration camp in Gaza, with Palestinians in the 1948 and 1967
 > territories living under brutal apartheid management structures.
They
 > have resisted every step of the way, each time seeing thousands
 > imprisoned, murdered, displaced, and millions utterly subjugated
and
 > exploited as the Zionist project continues toward the ultimate goal
of
 > eliminating them in all forms but nostalgia.
========== REMAINDER OF ARTICLE TRUNCATED ==========