June 2017 will mark fifty years of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. This anniversary renders clear what many activists and scholars have long noted: the highly repressive Israeli military occupation is by no means temporary, but a defining structure of the Israeli and Palestinian political landscape. Within the United States and Europe, the growth of the BDS movement has energized activist and scholarly critique of Israeli state violence, both within its border and the occupied territories. And yet, despite the global growth of popular solidarity with the Palestinian condition, the actually existing realities of Palestinians only worsen.
We are interested in the new kinds of critical thinking and interventions that this anniversary demands. In this panel, we aim to build on the current moment of popular global solidarity with the Palestinian condition by thinking Palestine intersectionally -- drawing on histories and experiences of other anti-colonial and anti-racist struggles across the globe to envision an intersectional politics of hope in this time of political darkness. We will ask: how do these global histories inform our understanding of Palestine as well as inform our strategies for moving towards radical change in Palestine/Israel? How might intersectional thinking productively recalibrate prevailing academic and activist paradigms for anti-colonial work in Palestine/Israel? And what kinds of academic criticism and activism does this particular anniversary of the Israeli occupation both demand and render newly thinkable?
This panel came together thanks to the initiative and work of Rebecca Stein and Shira Robinson.
Thinking Palestine Intersectionally
Date and Time:
Sunday, 19 November, 1pm-3pm
Panel Presenters:
Judith Butler, University of California Berkeley
Angela Davis, University of California Santa Barbara
Noura Erakat, George Mason University
Samera Esmeir, University of California Berkeley
Organizer and Discussant:
Sherene Seikaly, University of California Santa Barbara
Join Us at MESA
ASI Reception
Sunday 19 November, 8:30pm-10:00pm
Wilson A (Mezzanine Level)