Upstream - [TEASER] Against Condemning Hamas

Episode Date: April 25, 2024

You can listen to the full episode "Against Condemning Hamas" by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber, not only will you get access to at least one bonus episode a month, usually two or three, as well as early access to certain episodes and other benefits like stickers and bumper stickers, depending on which tier you subscribe to, but you’ll also be helping to keep Upstream sustainable and allowing us to keep this project going. Find out more at Patreon.com/upstreampodcast or at upstreampodcast.org/support. Thank you. “The struggle for Palestinian liberation today is led by the Islamic Resistance Movement — Hamas. Hamas is supported by the entirety of the organized Palestinian left. One might have expected that the left in the imperial core would follow the leadership of the Palestinian left in supporting Hamas. More often than not, though, left intellectuals echo the condemnations that imperialist states make the condition for speaking about Palestine. In so doing, they take a side against the Palestinian revolution, giving a progressive face to the repression of the Palestinian political project, and betraying the anti-imperialist aspirations of a previous generation.” These are words written by Jodi Dean, a past guest on the show and a longtime activist, organizer, professor, and writer. In this Patreon episode, Robert reads an incredibly important piece written by Jodi about the Palestinian resistance movement which, after its publication, actually resulted in Jodi being punished by her university and relieved of teaching responsibilities. In light of the growing attacks on academic freedom, as well as the literal attacks being waged by militarized police forces against professors and students demonstrating on campuses across the country, we thought this was a crucial time to uplift Jodi’s words and share this important piece. As we did last time, Robert will come in from time to time to share his own analyses and reflections throughout the reading. Further resources: Palestine speaks for everyone Petition: Revoke Professor Jodi Dean's suspension from teaching at Hobart and William Smith Colleges Upstream: Climate Leninism w/ Jodi Dean and Kai Heron Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at  upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.  

Hello everybody and welcome to another Upstream Patreon episode. Today I'm going to be doing another reading from an article interspersed with some thoughts and reflections and analysis like we did about a month ago and we got a lot of really great feedback on that episode, the reading that I did of Kai Heron's piece, Forget Ecomodernism. And yeah, I really enjoyed doing it and it sounds like you guys really enjoyed it too. You appreciated the analysis and the reflections that I provided throughout. You really enjoyed the piece. And I've been having a lot of really interesting discussions with a lot of you on Patreon. And so yeah, a lot of really great feedback.

And so I'm definitely going to do more of this. And yeah, today's episode is going to be a really important reading. And there's going to be some continuity with our last reading. It's not the exact same topic, but I thought it would be cool to sort of keep some continuity going in terms of the readings. And so this reading is actually by Jody Dean, who was a past guest on the show.

If you recall with Kai Heron, we had them on to talk about their piece, Climate Leninism. And so yeah, I thought it would be cool to keep some continuity going in terms of keeping the pieces that we read related somehow to previous episodes of the show. But this is going to be a new topic, not completely unrelated. Of course, there's always a thread or two that will connect the topics we cover. But Kai's piece last time was on degrowth and eco-modernism. Jodi's piece that I'll be reading today is about Palestine. And again, like last time, I actually haven't read this piece, but I've been really excited to read it, not only because Jodi is an incredible writer, but also because this piece has generated a huge amount of undeserved controversy. Jodie was actually punished by her university for writing this piece and was relieved of teaching duties because of it. This is of course insane, but I suppose, you know, not super surprising knowing the amount of repression

coming from all of these institutions that maintain the disgusting system that we're all living under. So I'm just going to first, before I get into the piece, I'm going to read briefly from a change.org petition that has been circulating and has been signed by thousands urging Jody Deans University to reinstate her. urging Jody Deen's university to reinstate her. In a letter dated 13 April 2024, the president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Mark D. Gearan, announced that Jody Deen, the Donald R. Harder, 39, professor of humanities and social sciences at the colleges, has been relieved of teaching responsibilities. The reason provided for this decision was that in her article, Palestine Speaks for

Everyone, published on April 9, 2024, Professor Deane expressed views that might make students feel unsafe. Quote, there now may be students on our campus who feel threatened in or outside the classroom. End quote. That makes it clear that President Gearan's suspension of Professor Dean from teaching is viewpoint-based. The text of Professor Dean's article does not contain incitement to violence, is not directed at specific individuals, nor does it create a clear and present danger.

Standard tests for the acceptable limitations to free speech, as per U.S. law and traditions, according to the guidelines adopted by the American Association of University Professors, endorsed also by Hobart and William Smith colleges. Regardless of one's views on the Israel-Palestine conflict and of one's opinion of Jody Dean's writing on that conflict, her suspension amounts to a grave violation of both freedom of speech and academic freedom." So that's from the Change.org petition to get Jodie's suspension overturned, and I'll put the link to that in the show notes. And just before we jump into the piece, I just wanted to note that I was originally planning on releasing this episode at the end of May. It just made sense in

terms of our release schedule. But in light of everything that's been going on in terms of the college campus movement, I just thought it made a lot of sense to do this reading now and release it as soon as possible. Because I think Jodi's voice and her words are especially poignant, not just in terms of the attacks on academic freedom, but now we're seeing the attacks actually escalate into physical violent attacks against students and professors all over the country on college campuses. And I'm actually recording this just a few days after it all sort of popped off with the Columbia campus encampment and the raid by the NYPD on that encampment. And now we're watching as campuses all over the country are joining the movement.

And it's really sparked a whole nationwide Gaza solidarity movement that I see as the front lines of the fight against US imperialism in the United States right now. And it started with punishing professors like Jodi. And of course, she wasn't the only one, but now we're watching it escalate into an all out war. And so I think this is a really important time, like I said, to uplift Jodi's voice and to make sure that her words are heard by as many people as possible and to understand that this repression is nothing new. It's a part of a broader push by the institutions of power right now to silence any kind of dissent against the genocide and to silence any kind of solidarity with Palestinian people. So yeah, it felt like a really important time to read this.

So the piece itself is called Palestine Speaks for Everyone. And the sort of the summary at the top is, against those who would separate good and bad Palestinians, resisting occupation and onslaught, Jody Dean writes in defense of the radical universal emancipation embodied in the Palestinian cause. Okay, let's jump right in. The images from October 7th of paragliders evading Israeli air defenses were for many of us

exhilarating. Here were moments of freedom that defeated Zionist expectations of submission to occupation and siege. In them, we witnessed seemingly impossible acts of bravery and defiance in the face of the certain knowledge of the devastation that would follow. That Israel practices asymmetric warfare and responds with disproportionate force is no secret. Who could not feel energized seeing oppressed people bulldozing the fences and closing them, taking to the skies in escape, and fleeing freely through the air?

The shattering of the collective sense of the possible made it seem as if anyone could be free, as if imperialism, occupation, and oppression can and will be overthrown. As the Palestinian militant Leila Khalid wrote of a successful hijacking in her memoir, My People Shall Live, quote, It seemed the more spectacular the action, the better the morale of our people, end quote. Such actions puncture expectations and create a new sense of possibility, liberating people from hopelessness and despair. And just as an aside, I mean, it feels like decades ago now, but I still remember waking

up the morning after October 7th and seeing the news and the feeling of seeing Palestinians break through those fences. I think anytime we see oppressed or enslaved or subjugated people do that and break through their chains, that's always an exhilarating feeling. Of course, that feeling has been overshadowed now. You know, six, seven months of a brutal assault on the Gazan people, on the Palestinian people, a genocide. And we're all watching that in horror.

That's what Israel does best. It murders civilians, it murders children. The official count at 34,000 dead is definitely an undercount, right? They murdered all of the record keepers. So we actually have no idea what the actual number is. 34,000 seems like a baseline. And that's not to mention the lives destroyed and the injuries and the mental health impacts that are going to last for decades and decades and decades coming out of this.

So I think it's crucial to remember that Israel set the terms of engagement a long, long time ago. And it's the colonizer that establishes the dynamic. It's the colonizer who only speaks the language of violence, and if a colonized people responds in the same language, well, that's on the colonizer. We can't look at it any other way. And as I said, Israel has been doing this for a very long time. And I think there are still some glimpses of exhilaration. For example, just seeing the Gaza Solidarity encampments pop up on college campuses all

across the country just in the last 24 hours is certainly exhilarating. But it's hard to not get overwhelmed by the horror of it all. Okay, back to the text. The images of Palestinians that we see in our imperialist settings are usually pictures of depictions of devastation, bereavement, and death. The humanity of the Palestinians is made conditional on their suffering, on what they've lost, and what they endure. Palestinians get sympathy, but not emancipation. Emancipation would eat away at sympathy. This image of the victim produces the quote, good Palestinian as a civilian, even better as a child, woman, or elder. Those who fight back, especially as part of organized

groups are bad, the monstrous enemy that must be eliminated. But everyone's a target. The fault for the targeting of the quote, good Palestinians is thus placed on the quote, bad ones, further justification for their eradication. Every inch of Gaza provides a hiding place for terrorists. The policing of affect squeezes out the possibility of a free Palestinian. And I mean, Jodi here is completely right. I mean, even left-leaning outlets, they emphasize the children, the women, and rarely do we

talk about the Palestinian men, even the ones that are fighting back in Hamas and looking at them as also losses that should be mourned and understood as part of this colonial project. And I think I even just did it in my last aside, you know, talking about the number of children dead. I think that evokes a certain level of outrage in me just because there are fucking children. But at the same time, all Palestinian lives matter. And when we do emphasize or underscore the innocence of the Palestinians that are dead, it does feed into this narrative that the only good Palestinian is a quote innocent

Palestinian or a woman or a child who's not involved directly in the liberation struggle and that's bullshit and we shouldn't do that. So I really appreciate Jodie calling that out so early and also checking myself as I move forward because I have a tendency to do that too, even though I understand it fits into this narrative of the innocent Palestinian being the only Palestinian that we should actually care about. And I've even called it out before. So yeah, I appreciate that. And I think it's really important for us to continually remind ourselves of that really important point.

Okay, back to the text. Policing affect is part of the political struggle. Anything that ignites the feeling that the oppressed will break free, the occupations and blockades will end, must be extinguished. Imperialists and Zionists reduce October 7th to a list of horrors not simply to block from view the history and reality of colonialism, occupation, and siege. They do it to prevent the gap of disruption from producing the subject that caused it. So just as a quick aside, if you listen to our episode with Jodi and Kai on climate Leninism, they discuss this concept of producing the subject. And I love this. The sentence is really, really powerful. This disruption, this gap, which actually Rebecca Solnit talks quite a bit about.

I don't love Rebecca Solnit talks quite a bit about. I don't love Rebecca Solnit. She is definitely a liberal, but I think that she really hit the nail on the head with her work around disaster collectivism and how disasters, and I think she's generally writing about like natural disasters, quote natural disasters. Of course, we could have a whole discussion about what's natural and not natural about disasters, right? But I'm not going to get into that here. What I want to talk about is Rebecca Solnit's work, which focuses mostly on disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes, and this idea of disaster collectivism, how these disasters open up spaces or gaps in the existing

systems and structures that allow us to sort of imagine different possibilities for the world. And I think that's a really beautiful concept and really powerful. And I think that's a little bit of what Jodi is getting at in this line, that this gap and the disruption that were created on October 7th, like it's very important to the Imperial block led by the United States that we don't think about The resistance fighter that this becomes about something completely different It becomes a humanitarian issue not an issue of resistance to colonialism And I think that's one of the main reasons why immediately right goddamn fucking after the whole thing happened

The very first thing that the ruling elites made goddamn sure was that we all condemned Hamas right whereas Hamas is a resistance movement and if we were to make that connection you know if the mass of people were to make that connection that these are actually deeply deeply oppressed people who are escaping from a concentration camp we would have a very different response to it. So that's why they went hard on the condemning Hamas thing. So I love that line from Jodi and it's absolutely just completely spot on. Okay, back to the text. This was a clip from our Patreon episode against condemning Hamas. You can listen to the full episode by becoming an Upstream Podcast Patreon subscriber.

As a Patreon subscriber, not only will you get access to at least one bonus episode a month, usually two or three, as well as early access to certain episodes and other benefits like stickers and bumper stickers, depending on which tier you subscribe to, but you'll also be helping keep Upstream sustainable and allowing us to keep this project going. Find out more at patreon.com forward slash Upstream podcast or at upstreampodcast.org forward slash support. Thank you.