Individual presentation
Palestine as a portal of decolonizing resistance: dying colonialisms or living systems?
Sean Chabot
Eastern Washington University
Stellan Vinthagen
University of Massachussets Amherst
Our essay focuses on colonial rule and liberation struggles in Palestine as portal for
exploring various repertoires of decolonizing resistance. It starts by clarifying why
Palestine is currently the main portal to our world’s present and future. Next, we show
how colonizing and decolonizing forms of resistance are two sides of the same
continuum rather than binary opposites. This leads us to brief explorations of the
Gandhian, Fanonian, and Zapatista repertoires of decolonizing resistance, highlighting
five key aspects: land, subjectivity, discourse, action, and other worlds. These
decolonizing repertoires emerge in and against colonizing systems yet grow in struggles
beyond them. They also shape Palestinian experiments with decolonizing
resistance. We discuss how the Fanonian repertoire influenced the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) between 1964 and the late-1980s; how the Gandhian repertoire
guided the First Intifada between 1987 and 1993; and how the Zapatista repertoire
resonates with the Palestinian food sovereignty movement since Israel’s 2008 War in
Gaza. Seeing the world through the portal of Palestine demonstrates that national
decolonization within Western systems of dying colonialism is not enough. Only
repertoires of decolonizing resistance grounded in communal autonomy and enabling
healthy living systems can make other worlds against and beyond colonial domination
possible. We conclude by proposing that the emergence and spread of living systems
at multiple scales should be the focus of decolonizing resisters everywhere, whether in
or outside of Palestine.
Share on socials
Register for the Conference
Register to attend the Conference, online or in person, starting from only $10!
You will get unlimited access to sessions like this, 1 year FREE Resistance Studies Hub membership, which includes Journal of Resistance Studies, Resistance Studies Network community platform, and future events and activites. You will have the chance to learn, share, network, connect with Resistance scholars and activists from all around the world!