Archive of Vijay Prashad
-
The Israel-Palestine Conflict: A Reading List
On Friday 23rd December the UN passed a resolution demanding a stop to Israeli settlement in the occupied territories as, in a shock move, the US refused to veto the resolution. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exploded, calling it a 'declaration of war' (having recently been granted a $38 billion military aid package by the US), and Secretary of State John Kerry criticised Israel's approach to the peace process. But with Trump tweeting that Israel should 'stay strong' until his inauguration, progress still seems unlikely.
Verso presents a list of books from Israeli, Palestinian, and anti-imperialist authors, to explain the conflict and provide some perspectives on the future.
-
The State of Bigoted Violence: Radical Perspectives on Orlando
In an appearance on KPFA’s Flashpoints, Yasmin Nair and Vijay Prashad, alongside other commentators, addressed the state’s role in the normalization of anti-LGBTQ violence, the co-optation of queer struggles, and contradictory media responses to the Orlando attack.
-
Our Vigil Ends
This week, Noura Erakat and I have held a virtual vigil at the Verso Books blog to commemorate the 2014 Israeli bombing of Gaza and the ongoing occupation of Palestinian lands. We tried to highlight various aspects of the occupation and war – themes that have occupied us for many years, and that form the central axis of Letters to Palestine, which I edited and to which Noura contributed. Our vigil now ends.
You can read all of our posts here. -
A Book As A Scream Against a War
I’ve covered wars before. I’ve seen them destroy lives and generations. There is nothing good about them. Nothing clean. People who did not make the decision to go into war often bear the costs of it. There is a liberal desire to believe that civilians have no politics, that they are merely victims. Palestinians in the Occupied Territories are forced into politics because they are a people who are subjugated. They did not ask for the occupation, all of them now being born into it. Most of them are politically against the occupation, but they might not be actively part of the resistance. Yet, Israel makes no distinction between those who are against the occupation as an existential politics and those who are actively against the occupation in a military sense. The bombs destroy the lives of everyone. -
India Turns to Israel
The UN Human Rights Report (the Davis Report) on Israel’s conduct in the war on Gaza last summer is forensic and clear. It points the finger directly at Israel’s alleged war crimes. Criticism of the Palestinian resistance is obligatory. But it says little. The asymmetry of the war is such that Israel bears the greater responsibility for the crimes. That is why the UN Human Rights Council voted overwhelmingly to move the process to the International Criminal Court.
India, strikingly, voted to abstain in the Council. This is a major departure for India, which is why the Palestinian Ambassador to New Delhi was “shocked” (as he told Suhashini Haider, the Hindu’s Diplomatic Editor, today). In the Hindu today, I have an assessment of India’s vote – I ask, Is India bending towards Israel? LeftWord Books published a fine collection earlier this year, edited by the novelist Githa Hariharan, entitled From India to Palestine: Essays in Solidarity. It offers a clear-cut analysis of why India has drifted from its internationalist pro-Palestinian position to the narrower orbit of Israel and the United States. I strongly recommend that book. Of that book, Reem Kabbani writes in Biblio, “With India’s growing strategic cooperation, increasing trade relations and new found military partner in Israel, readers are left with a vivid image of the extent of which India is complicit in assisting the Israeli state maintain occupation and oppression.” The book, she notes, “is a call for global solidarity with the people of Palestine.”