The Gaza war and the occupation of our resistant imagination | policy

The Israeli government and its Western backers have proven over the past year that their ultimate goal is neither Hamas nor resistance groups, but the Palestinian will to resist occupation and subjugation.

Israel’s actions indicate that its true goal is to end Palestinian aspirations for self-determination. His efforts therefore focused on people, society and quarantine. Extermination, displacement and famine were the three destroyers of man. As for society, all its educational, health, economic and religious institutions were eliminated.

The Knesset’s ban on the operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the West Bank and Gaza not only led to a worsening humanitarian crisis, but also aimed to delegitimize the status of Palestinian refugees and their claims to their homes. and original lands. Gaza has become unfit for human life.

It seems that the position of betrayal and lack of support at the official Arab level; Its objective was to put an end to the aspirations of Arab peoples for common solidarity. The official Arab position was not only a leap from the aspirations of the people and a violation of their existence; Rather, it is ultimately about reshaping one’s future beliefs towards personal and collective belonging. To achieve this, they have taken multiple paths, including black propaganda, polarization and the confiscation of freedoms… which is worth writing about, because – in my opinion – it is a model that will govern our future.

What the Arab official failed to realize – due to his lack of historical sense – is that Palestine has and continues to have an astonishing capacity to restore our understanding of ourselves and our view of Arab reality . A more precise understanding of the war must take into account the broader context in which it is taking place: a Palestinian, Arab and global context as well. It concerns – fundamentally – the spirit of the world, as well as the questions of political existence posed to Arabs in recent decades, although with new formulations such as:

1. The nature of the post-independence state in its relations with its citizens and its relations with the dominant powers in the international system.
2. The situation of the Arab armies, which enjoy enormous privileges and expenses; At a time when most of its countries – if not all – still depend on an external provider – mainly the United States – to ensure their security.
3. The relationship between external exposure and the decline in the standard of living of citizens and the extent of their enjoyment of fundamental freedoms.
4. The relationship between the proposed economic model for the region and the maldistribution of wealth, income and opportunities, as well as further impoverishment policies.
5. The relationship between the three levels of security: human security, country security and Arab security, can one of them be ensured independently of the last two?

The list is long; But it is structured around the major themes that have governed our thinking and our political existence: from the homeland to the family and the meaning of parenthood in it, through religion, the State, the armies, and finally our relationship to the world.

What is happening in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank is just one battle within a broader conflict that is – in my opinion – about the ability to build and maintain or occupy a resistant imaginary. This is the battle being fought today: when imagination is betrayed or deliberately restricted by relationships of domination, exploitation and colonialism.

One of the objectives of the duration of the war – which has already exceeded a year and of which we do not know when it will end – is to kill and to occupy our imagination of resistance. Just as nations are busy, so is imagination. The collective capacity to imagine something other than the status quo is atrophying; It is the target of official Arab collusion with Israel and its Western supporters.

The possibility of creating alternatives to this disturbing vision arises only from a class or a small group who are not harmed by those who let them down, because they live outside the concept of the modern state and are free from constraints of capitalist material abundance.

Emancipatory imagination is the force that inspires people to imagine a different future, beyond the constraints imposed on them by existing political, economic, cultural and religious systems. The flood could have been – if there had been a consensus – an attempt of this type.

The ongoing battle in the region is not only about land occupation, security arrangements and the displacement of Palestinians; Rather, it is about our collective desire to challenge the existing reality and create a better future in which the Arab citizen can enjoy dignity and a decent life.

Emancipatory imagination strengthens the capacity of individuals to collectively question current reality and create alternative pathways to change. Stories that tell of the Flood can offer alternative visions of being, doing, and belonging, which often critique relationships of oppression and exploitation and suggest ways in which we might live differently.

The meaning of the libertarian imagination and its foundations

Resistant imagination focuses on reshaping social, economic, political, and religious/cultural rules and structures from their roots, and is not limited to making superficial improvements or changes.

Resistant imagination – as well as radical imagination whose connotations have been established in critical studies – aims to challenge dominant systems, such as: capitalism, authoritarianism, racism and colonialism, and calls for consider the world as a space that can be reshaped according to needs. the values ​​of justice and freedom.

Resistant imagination is a collective activity produced by dialogical acts of communication, not by individual possession or capacity. It represents our ability to imagine the world as it could be otherwise and drives successful movements for social change.

Resistive Imagination is an approach that aims to get to the root of things, which understands the interconnected crises facing populations globally today as interconnected and derived from exploitation and oppression, and who seeks radical change rather than reform. It speaks of our ability to create something else, and to create it together.

Libertarian imagination means:

• A profound challenge to the status quo: By refusing to accept what exists as “natural” or “inevitable”.
• Reimagine what could be: By considering alternative ways of organizing societies, such as cooperative economic systems or participatory political structures.
• Resist despair: Combat the dominant belief that radical change is impossible, by constructing alternative narratives that encourage people to believe in the unexplored potential of themselves and their reality.

The importance of resilient imagination lies in its ability to:

• Reframing values ​​and goals: When it allows resistance movements to set goals that go beyond superficial reforms, such as completely ending repressive regimes rather than improving them.
• Building solidarity: It is a way to bring people together around a common vision of a fairer future.
• Action Inspiration: It gives people a sense of possibility and ability to make change, which motivates them to take action.
• Breaking intellectual limitations: The emancipatory imagination allows politicians and activists to transcend the limits imposed by the existing order.

Resilient imagination is an essential means to achieve real, holistic transformation. It is not limited to dreaming about the future, but also involves transforming these dreams into action plans and strategies that help build a better world.

Palestinian resistance as an imaginary of liberation

There is a close relationship between the liberation imagination and Palestinian resistance, as the various Palestinian movements, whether political, cultural or social, rely on radical imagination to challenge current reality of occupation and settler colonialism and envision a different future based on liberation and justice.

Radical imagination is clearly evident in the way Palestinians envision their freedom and independence and in their vision of a society free from oppression, even in light of enormous challenges.

Palestinians have embraced resistant imagination as a means of confronting settler colonialism by:

• Challenging colonial reality: Radical imagination allows Palestinians to see themselves outside the framework imposed by Israeli colonialism, whether through their vision of returning to their lands or regaining control of their lives and destiny.
• Rejecting dominant narratives: Radical imagination is a tool to reject the Zionist narrative that seeks to erase the Palestinian narrative and reassert historical rights.
• Consider the return of refugees: By reimagining the collective return of Palestinian refugees despite political and practical obstacles.
• Uprisings: Successive uprisings reflect the capacity to think and act collectively outside the framework of traditional military force, embodying a radical imagination in organizing popular resistance.
• Single-state solution: Some Palestinian intellectuals and activists embrace radical visions of a one-state solution as an alternative to a two-state solution, reflecting a political imagination aimed at creating a shared society based on equality and justice.
• The camps as a political and cultural space: Palestinian camps are not only places of residence, but rather places of resistance and a collective imagination of return.

Palestinian youth rely on radical imagination as a tool to reinvent their identity and their daily, political and cultural practices. They generally use it to develop new struggle strategies based on cultural and social change, such as: digital resistance, popular resistance and boycott campaigns. They often rely on technology to challenge the constraints imposed on them on the ground, rebuilding free space beyond physical walls.

Palestinian youth represent the heart of the radical imagination of resistance, as they innovate to resist the occupation in ways that go beyond traditional methods, with an emphasis on building a future that reflects the values ​​of freedom, justice and equality. Through art, technology, and grassroots movements, radical imagination remains a driving force for Palestinian liberation and an anchor for the restoration of rights.

If some see in the resistant imagination an escape from reality, or a justification of errors and failures, it is in fact a collective constitutive feature of our daily struggles, which invites us to ask ourselves how the could the flood have helped to shape them? Which I will explain in detail in the next article.