Revolutionary Blueprints: The Question of Palestine is a Question of Pedagogy (RE-RELEASE)

Nothing Never Happens

How can we align our pedagogies with the Palestinian freedom struggle and other anti-colonial movements? How do we tune our minds and imaginations toward just futures--even and especially when facing retaliation for liberationist stances?

In light of the reinvigorated global struggle for a free Palestine, and as we witness the state of Israel's ongoing genocidal violence against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, we are re-releasing our January 2021 interview with poet, scholar, teacher, and organizer Dina Omar.

Dina, received her PhD in Anthropology from Yale University and who was one of the founders of the national network of Students for Justice in Palestine, speaks to us about the intersection of Palestine liberation and our pedagogical frameworks -- from our decisions about language and representation, to the exhaustion of social suffering paradigms, to the psychological effects of occupation and eliminatory violence.

A thesis of this episode is that, whether or not our teaching is “about” Palestine, it cannot be separated from its struggle. This of course in part because of the alignment of many of our institutions of higher education with the Israeli state. But, as Dina explains, it is also because of how a colonial project mediates the language we use to think about, much less talk about, what is happening in Palestine and Israel. This means that, whether or not the history and politics of Palestine comes up explicitly in a lesson plan, the practice of learning to read and learning to identify narrative obfuscation, takes on higher stakes.

A list of resources for further learning + organizing:

-Palestine and Praxis Statement, referenced in the episode, written in 2021 and co-authored by Dina Omar.

-The Palestinian Feminist Collective, a collective of Palestinian/Arab feminists working toward Palestinian liberation. See their site for resources + action toolkits.

-Writers Against the War on Gaza, a coalition of culture workers organizing against the war and compiling resources for resistance.

-The Dig, a podcast of Jacobin, has published a number of illuminating episodes on the Palestine, Zionism and anti-Zionism, and the larger contexts around the current catastrophe.

-The Electronic Intifada is an independent news organization focusing primarily on Palestine.

-Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands by Sonia Nimr, recommended by Dina Omar

Show Credits:

Outro music is "Hemlock" by Akrasis. Find their amazing catalog here. Episode photo by Corleone Brown on Unsplash. Editing and audio production by Aliyah Harris. Production by Lucia Hulsether and Tina Pippin.