The relentless harvesting of our psychologies, attention spans, friendships for sellable data. The deep invasions into our privacy, our facial biometrics, our every click. The constant manipulation of emotion for financial gain. The enervation of local media based on falsified statistics. The elevation of ethnic supremacists and genocidaires, the livestreaming of massacres. The endless scroll. The tax avoidance, the lobbying. The experimentation with the moods of entire nations.

The list goes on.

Let us narrow our focus to Palestine:

Israel uses “predictive policing” algorithms to scan Facebook and arrest people based on their posts(1). Hundreds have been detained.

Facebook signed an agreement in 2016 (2) with the Israeli government to “combat incitement” but did not release its details(3). Since then Palestinian accounts have been systemically throttled, suppressing news sites and freedom of expression, while leaving Israeli incitements uncensored.

Facebook deletes accounts at the direction of the Israeli and US governments(4).

WhatsApp, which was bought by Facebook, blocked or shut down around one hundred accounts(5) belonging to Palestinian journalists and activists, and banned them from sharing information and updates during Israel’s military attacks on Gaza in November 2019 (6).

In short, Facebook is a private, monetized space that is entirely surveilled and constructed entirely for profit and control. Our motivations as people interested in decolonization, in social justice, in open and free expression make us directly at odds with the people who run Facebook and the way that they run it. It is not a safe place to be, it is not a smart place to be.

This is the last thing we will post until Facebook is brought under public ownership.

(1) https://www.opendemocracy.net/…/israeli-algorithm-criminal…/
(2) https://www.972mag.com/censorship-online-palestinians/
(3) https://www.adalah.org/…/Letter_Concerns%20of%20Israel-Face…
(4) https://theintercept.com/…/facebook-says-it-is-deleting-ac…/
(5) https://raseef22.net/…/1076083-after-whatsapp-and-the-blind…
(6) https://www.opendemocracy.net/…/israeli-algorithm-criminal…/

PalFest brings together international and Palestinian artists to create new discourses, and 2019 will see it bring together a range of thinkers who work on the intersection of urbanism, power and control. Applicants do not need to have produced work on Palestine before – but we are interested in writers who can see international inter-connections and historical processes that might connect with the ongoing colonization of Palestine – and that can help create new tools with which it can be understood and resisted.

PalFest 2019 will take place between April 5th and 12th in cities across historic Palestine.

The successful applicant will join the travelling group of international authors for a week that will include visits to key historical and political sites in Palestine; meetings with artists, activists and academics; and a free public programme of evening events. All costs will be covered.

Please send:

- a one paragraph proposal (max 500 words) about yourself, your work, and your response to the theme.

- Please send links to your portfolio or any previous work you think relevant

- The names and contacts of 2 people who would be your referees.

PalFest is committed to fostering artistic and intellectual connections between Palestine and the rest of the world. We are looking for writers who will create the next generation of ideas about colonialism and capital in the 21st century – and whose own work will be deepened by an understanding of Palestine.

Please send your letter of interest and any links to info@palfest.org

Deadline: December 10th 2018