Ran Greenstein | The Gaza Solidarity Debates

Abstract:  This presentation looks at debates surrounding the events of October 2023 and subsequent developments in Israel/Palestine. It examines different perspectives on the Hamas attack and the Israeli military campaign against Gaza, with a focus on the role that notions of historical context, colonial rule, indigenous resistance, and the South African model, played in them. It does not deal with the military campaign itself, except as a background to intellectual and activist attempts to place developments in a proper context. These attempts mostly fall on the liberal-left side of the political spectrum, leaving aside mainstream Israeli and Palestinian perspectives. The presentation highlights arguments and positions that share some common - even if vague - foundation in progressive politics, despite their differences.

 

A copy of the draft paper is available here.

 

Ran Greenstein is a research associate in the School of Social Sciences at Wits University. His recent publications include Anti-Colonial Resistance in South Africa and Israel/Palestine: Identity, Nationalism, and Race (Routledge, 2023), and Confronting Colonialism and Race: Between Social Theory and Political Practice (forthcoming).