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A Manifesto on Palestine: Rethinking Liberation from Below
We are excited to share a summary of a truly transformative new work, A Manifesto on Palestine: Rethinking Liberation from Below, by Ibraheem Rasras. This manifesto offers a profound and challenging re-evaluation of the Palestinian struggle, urging us to look beyond conventional political and diplomatic frameworks to envision a radically different path to freedom and self-determination.
The Core Diagnosis: Beyond Material Occupation
Rasras argues that the Palestinian crisis is not merely a material one of occupation, dispossession, and statelessness, but also a deep “epistemological crisis”. The very structures intended for liberation, the manifesto asserts, have been “subverted, diverted, or rendered ineffective by the very forces they seek to fight”. This is evident in the recurrence of atrocities, reminiscent of past massacres, seen in Gaza from 2023 onwards. A central critique is leveled against the adoption of hierarchical, statist, and technocratic forms of liberation, which have come to tragically resemble the configuration of the oppressor, shedding their ethical and revolutionary essence. The Oslo Accords are cited as a prime example, transforming the language of liberation into one of “formalized managerial governance” and “conditional sovereignty”. This has contributed to a profound “void in the political contextualization and ethical framework of the political ruling”.The Problem of “Stylistic” Resistance and Internalized Colonialism
The manifesto identifies how Palestinian resistance has, over decades, shifted from revolutionary, bottom-up rhetoric to institutionalized and compromised modes, particularly after the Oslo Accords. It introduces the concept of “stylistic” liberation, where leaders impose their imagined schemes rather than adapting to the realities on the ground, leading to an “alienus” leadership that lacks genuine popular allegiance. This “stylistic” approach also manifests when liberation is pursued through “tools of trivialization” that are external to the collective’s specific needs, such as placing prolonged peace negotiations *before* achieving liberation. This externalization, mirroring the colonizing process itself, leads to a form of alienation, obstructing collective self-control and, in many cases, resulting in the unconscious participation of the colonized in their own subjugation. Distrust stemming from unfulfilled promises by factions like Hamas and Fatah has further deepened fragmentation and a sense of “strangeness” among Palestinians.A New Strategy: The Ethics of Resistance and Anarchic Programs
To counter this multifaceted crisis, the manifesto proposes a radical alternative: a “bottom-up resistance” grounded in a unified mode of ethics, a collective understanding of the cause, and consistent practices. This “ethics of resistance” is not a rigid dogma but an “emancipatory code” and a regulatory framework for all aspects of Palestinian daily life, directly confronting neoliberal values like profit-maximization. It is intertwined with the urgent need for a “cultural revolution” that aims to restructure social circumstances and foster a “revolutionary consciousness”. This cultural shift, implemented in successive waves, includes intensive education on human rights and rooting new “networking-elements” within Palestinian social and cultural life. The goal is to establish a “solid reference-point” that can unify Palestinians, whose power has been fragmented by internal divisions and external pressures.The manifesto champions “anarchic programs” as a strategic framework to dismantle subjugation. This involves collectively disengaging from oppressive laws and creating a vacuum for temporary self-management, thereby strengthening local grassroots power. It envisions an “anarchic rule” based on “organic units” and “free cooperation,” emphasizing self-management, direct worker control, and integrated agriculture and industry. This approach aims to organize Palestinians without the fear of division or surveillance that has plagued traditional political structures.
The Power of the Everyday
Crucially, the manifesto points to the already existing “affirmative, anarchic, and ethical politics” in fragments throughout Palestinian society. These are not found in the monopolies of NGOs or political parties, but in the “spontaneous and often-unrecognized social inventions of ordinary people”. Examples include mutual aid networks in Gaza during siege, informal community schooling, grassroots organizing, and the refusal to cooperate with surveillance. These acts of “everyday resistance”—like a student crossing a checkpoint or a mother going to work despite immense barriers—are seen as foundational for a new paradigm of collective ethics and political orientation.Toward a Horizon of Liberation
A Manifesto on Palestine is a bold call for “breakage,” arguing that “no gradual reform will bring freedom”. It is an “epistemological” task to unveil and amplify these lifeways and forms of knowledge, leading to an ethical reconstruction for a collective life that rejects domination in all forms. The manifesto asserts that the future of Palestine will not come from foreign beneficence or failed peace talks, but will be “constructed by the long disenfranchised of the political arithmetic: the dispossessed, the alienated, the uncredentialed, the everyday”. It invites all to engage in “a problem to be enjoyed more than an answer to be spewed back,” asserting that “freedom must be written by individuals who are living alternatively”.We encourage you to delve deeper into this profound manifesto and join the critical conversation about rethinking liberation from below.
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Rooted in struggle: stories from translocal social movement learning in Ghana, South Africa, Guatemala and Canada
This book is the culmination of several years of partnership between social movements, social justice organizations and academics in Ghana, South Africa, Guatemala and Canada. Called the Translocal Learning Network, this partnership has generated a space for those facing the multiple and overlapping crises of our time to come together and share knowledge and mutually solidarize with each other’s struggles. This knowledge exchange and mutual solidarity has been non-hierarchical and collaborative in nature, and has taken the form of sharing and commenting on complex stories through a participatory research methodology known as narrative restorying. As such, this book will focus on the stories each partner has shared, along with engagement with these stories by other members of the network. This interplay of knowledge sharing will provide a window into the social movement learning of network members.
The central argument of the book was best captured by Thapelo Mohapi in our recent presentation at the Development Studies Association conference at SOAS in London, UK: “It is always assumed that when you are poor, when you are living in a shack, when you live in a rural area, when you are marginalized, that you cannot think for yourself, that you cannot be involved in development, because you are poor”; instead of this “People must make decisions and must be consulted, and they must have a voice to speak about their own development. It must be initiated and completed with the people.” This book is literally a space where those on the front line of struggles against land dispossession, livelihood dispossession, violent resource exploitation, forced marginal living, climate fueled emergencies, and the denigration of cultural and traditional indigenous knowledge share their experiences, learning, successes, and defeats, with those facing similar and related struggles. In addition to these front-line voices, scholars working alongside these struggles, share some of their learnings and ideas that have emerged from the partnership, and these reflections are also brought into dialogue with front-line activists. In other words, this book provides a window into a rich, ongoing dialogue of mutual learning and support that will speak to audiences in the activist and critical academic communities.
To that point, this translocal network uses the notion of translocality to push back on the capitalist, colonial, and neo-liberal agenda of a)maintaining divisions between people struggling against oppression in different parts of the world (through border controls, language divisions, and colonial racialized othering); and, b)maintaining a knowledge hierarchy that states, international institutions, intellectual institutions, and corporations are those best able to contend with the many crises we face, and even within activists, it is those movements and organizations with broad, multinational reach that can best speak for the affected. Translocality rather argues that it is those with local knowledge of crises and context that are best positioned to speak to what needs to change, and that local struggles meeting each other as equals, translocally, is the best way to learn from one another without imposing new forms of knowledge hierarchies. -
Beside the Sickle Moon: A Palestinian Story
From: USD $ 5.00Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageBeside the Sickle Moon: A Palestinian Story
Beside the Sickle Moon is near future literary activism based on Israel’s occupation of Palestine. The story tells a first person narrative through Laeth Awad, a Palestinian who lives above his convenience store experiencing days pass through smoke clouds with his cousin Aylul. One night upon returning to their village from Ramallah they encounter an Israeli checkpoint within the buffer zone that hadn’t been there before. It isn’t long until the two stumble upon Israel’s plans to construct a luxury hotel for incoming settlers, Ma’al Luz. Demolition crews and military personnel are due to fulfill this contract in the months to come and with them as overseer is the infamous Meir Cohen, a Mossad operative who played a key role in the fall of Gaza.
Aylul believes from their father, an Al Qassam militant who died in the battle for Jericho, that only the threat of annihilation breeds the best of human action. They use their contacts to connect with the factions, who grant them strength to defend their village from occupation. With these resources in hand Aylul forms Al Mubarizun, a group crowning themselves Palestine’s final resistance.
Laeth doubts the existence of a future, lost in philosophical ambivalence as he tries to follow his cousin into the depths of guerrilla warfare. He questions the futility of resistance when all former allies have normalized relations with Israel. And what of the innocents on the other side of the Wall who had no say in where they were born? Though a minority of the population, he is not alone in this sentiment. Palestinian youth begin to empathize with this logic enough to create a new social movement, the Forgotten Ones. Coining the derogatory term that their critics slung, the NGO advocates for a peaceful transition to Israel’s colonization where most Palestinians hear whimpers of surrender.
Set in a hauntingly plausible future, where Israel has marked a century of Palestinian occupation … As a novel of the future, Beside the Sickle Moon is, unsurprisingly, preoccupied with temporality, attempting to reconcile the vastness of macro-historical events with the immediacy of everyday life. … One of the most chilling features of Husien’s novel as history is the world’s renewed abandonment of Palestine. In a future of systemic global crisis, nations have closed ranks and shut their eyes. Israeli mines run on the slave labor of Palestinian captives, and refugee camps have become invisibilized death zones … — Londiwe Gamedze https://africasacountry.com/2024/11/reading-the-present-as-history
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The Unfinished Business of Liberation and Transformation: Revisiting The 1958 All-African People’s Conference
This book features essays, speeches, and reflections from the 60th-anniversary commemoration of the All-African People’s Conference (AAPC), an epochal event in the history of Africa’s fight for liberation. The four-day conference was a collaboration between the Institute of African Studies, the Trades Union Congress of Ghana, the Socialist Forum of Ghana, Lincoln University, and the Third World Network Africa. The stories, essays, speeches, and poems featured in this book are not simply a reflection of the past – they are a call to action for the present and future generations of Pan‑Africanists. May this book serve as a reminder that our liberation is intertwined with the liberation of others and that we must work together toward building a more just and equitable world. Let us continue to inspire the next generation of Pan-Africanists and keep the spirit of the All‑African People’s Conference alive. The book offers valuable perspectives on Africa’s current predicaments and what a truly liberated Africa can offer to the world.
The Unfinished Business of African Liberation is a path‐breaking collection of proceedings commemorating the 1958 landmark All African People’s Conference. The volume is essential reading for all those interested in pursuing African decolonization and liberation in the 21st century.
— Amina Mama, Professor, Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies, University of California, Davis, former Kwame Nkrumah Chair in African Studies at the University of GhanaIt is a must‐read for all who care about the contemporary plight of African people.
— Sylvia Tamale, Decolonial feminist & Professor of Law, School of Law, Makerere University, UgandaThis collection presents critical thinking by a wide spectrum of Pan‐African workers, youth, women, students, intellectuals, businesspeople, activists, academics, and politicians. — Adotey Bing-Pappoe, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics and International Business, University of Greenwich
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Oh, Sorry! Rituals of Forgiveness, Crises and Social Struggles in Postmodern Capitalism
As the world grapples with the legacy of crimes of enslavement, colonialism, genocide and mass killings, imprisonment and murder of children, attempts at eliminating cultures and history of Indigenous peoples, looting and other crimes against humanity, the performance of public atonement has become increasingly prevalent. Apologies from state actors and institutions are issued in solemn ceremonies, often acknowledging the collective guilt for historical atrocities. Despite the solemnity of these events, there is a growing scepticism surrounding the sincerity of these apologies, particularly when they are not accompanied by tangible reparations, healing, reconciliation or systemic change. This scepticism is rooted in a perception that these acts of contrition are sometimes less about making amends to the aggrieved and more about assuaging the guilt of the aggressors and maintaining the status quo, providing the illusion of progress without the substance.
In this compelling work, Oh, Sorry! Rituals of Forgiveness, Crises and Social Struggles in Postmodern Capitalism, the authors unveil the complex interplay between public apologies, social justice and popular mobilisations. The chapters are devoted primarily to the experiences of Latin America, particularly of Mexico, Guatemala, Chile, and Brazil. But there is also a chapter on the struggles for Palestine — so relevant in the face of the current genocidal invasion by the Zionist State of Israel into Gaza, the world’s largest and most densely populated concentration camp.Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page -
Being Anti-Colonial
USD $ 5.00 USD $ 25.00Price range: USD $ 5.00 through USD $ 25.00Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageBeing Anti-Colonial
Being Anti-Colonial by Jayan Nayar presents a profound critique of the contemporary engagements with ‘decolonial theory’ and the popular usage of ‘decolonisation’. This work argues that much of the current discourse within critical theory tends to overlook the intricate, essentially praxiological underpinnings of the anti-colonial struggle, thereby comfortably situating itself within the post-colonial status quo. Nayar’s book serves as a radical call to authentically re-engage with the anti-colonial ethos, emphasizing the necessity to confront the enduring architectures of coloniality that define our present. Distinctly divided into two parts, the book first elucidates the conceptual groundwork to reconceptualise ‘anti-colonial’ as a philosophical stance deeply entwined with the fabric of the global (post)colonial reality. Through meticulously argued philosophical foundations, Nayar underscores the (post)colonial present as a state of ‘resettlement’, where the architecture of post-colonial world-making loses sight of its colonial matrices. Being Anti-Colonial is both an invitation and a challenge to the academic community to critically revisit and re-energize the conversation about coloniality.
With his impressive scholarship, Jayan Nayar challenges critics of coloniality, himself included, to question their standpoints. Critical scholars are implicated in assuming the reality of a post-colonial world as ‘(b)ordered’ but requiring reform and justice. Through an incisive critique of coloniality, of the idea of ‘Europe’ of ‘Blacked Lives Matter’ of ‘Zionist-Israelism’, he demands engagement on the frontline of anti-colonial struggles of the violated, subjugated, impoverished ‘subjects’ of (post) colonial normality. — Abdul Paliwala, Professor of Law at School of Law, University of Warwick
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Aufbruch in Jackson [German edition of Jackson Rising: Black self-management and solidarity economy]
German translation of Jackson Rising: The Struggle for Economic Democracy and Black Self-Determination in Jackson, MississippiHow black activists are building liberation practically from below: Departure in Jackson documents the history of one of the most exciting revolutionary experiments in the USA Present.
Since the 1970s, black liberation movements in majority-black Mississippi have taken change into their own hands. The Deep South should become the center of their independence – “Free the Land!” In the 2010s, the election of Chokwe Lumumba as mayor in the capital Jackson took an important step towards implementing the vision of assembly democracy, solidarity economy and an end to racial inequality. Lumumba dies unexpectedly in 2014, but his son Antar and the Cooperation Jackson continue to move forward.
We learn about the pitfalls of radical local politics and struggles for housing and land, democratic economic models and ecology, internationalist solidarity and the parallels to the Rojava Revolution and the Zapatistas, about encouraging experiences in which different concerns go hand in hand.
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I see the invisible
USD $ 5.00 USD $ 20.00Price range: USD $ 5.00 through USD $ 20.00Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageI see the invisible
Truth be told, I never thought I would write another volume of poetry after the last, I will not Dance to Your Beat (2011). The reason was that my previous volumes were reactive to the circumstances of the times. Patriots and Cockroaches (1992) was a reaction to the socio-political corruption that had engulfed Africa and dimmed the enthusiasm that had been built by the years of struggle for independence. Whereas we thought we were stepping into a post-colonial era, what we stepped into was a vicious neo-colonial times. The next collection, Poems on the Run (1995) was a reaction to military autocracy and the repression that followed. The volume was literally written underground. This was followed by Intercepted (1998) all written while detained at Kalakuta Republic of Alagbon Close. We Thought it was Oil But it was Blood (2002) responded to two things primarily – extractivism and the accompanying human and environmental rights abuses in the Niger Delta and elsewhere. The massive erosion of biodiversity and attacks on food sovereignty through the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into our agricultural system inspired I Will not Dance to your Beat.
What you have in your hands, or on your screens, is a compilation that is largely more meditative than the previous collections. There are moments of reflection on the colonial and neoliberal foundations that permit a willful disconnection from nature and the resultant destructive extractivism.
Some of the poems came through conversations and poetry writing sessions with Peter Molnar, Maryam al-Khawaja — Rafto Human Rights laureates and Salil Tripathi, a member of the board of PEN International, in August 2017. The sessions held at a beautifully rustic location in Celleno, Italy, were documented on celluloid by the duo of Maria Galliana Dyrvik and Anita Jonsterhaug Vedå of SMAU, a multimedia firm in Norway. Poetic relationship with Maria and Anita has continued over the years and their work continues to inspire more and more poems.
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Claim No Easy Victories: The Legacy of Amilcar Cabral
“Never has it been more certain that our victory depends principally on our own actions. Tell no lies, claim no easy victories . . .” —Amílcar Cabral On the centennial of Amílcar Cabral’s birth, and fifty years after his passing, Claim No Easy Victories brings to life the resonance of his thought for today’s freedom movements. World-renowned revolutionary, poet, liberation philosopher, and leader of the anticolonial independence movement of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde, Amílcar Cabral’s legacy stretches well beyond the shores of West Africa. His profound influence on the pan-Africanist movement and the Black liberation movement in the United States and the English-speaking world spans the ages—and is only growing in an era of renewed anti-imperialist internationalist struggle. In this unique collection of essays, radical thinkers from across Africa, the United States, and internationally commemorate Cabral’s life and legacy and his relevance to contemporary struggles for self-determination and emancipation. Claim No Easy Victories serves equally as an introduction or reintroduction to a figure and militant history that the rulers and beneficiaries of global racial capitalism would rather see forgotten. Understanding Cabral then and now sheds light on the necessity of grounding radical change in the creation of theory based on the actual conditions within which movements develop. The depth and dimension of Cabral’s theoretical ideas and revolutionary practice of building popular movements for liberation are assessed by each of the authors and critically reanimated for a new generation of freedom fighters. The book features contributions by: Kali Akuno, Samir Amin, David Austin, Jesse Benjamin, Angela Davis, Bill Fletcher Jr, Mireille Fanon-Mendès France, Lewis Gordon, Firoze Manji, Asha Rodney, Patricia Rodney, Olúfémi Táíwò—and others.
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Lines of Fire: Poetry of the Afro-Asian Writers’ Movement
This collection of poems features some of the voices that were persecuted for the power of their words. The poetry cries out against the injustices and brutality of the colonial powers of their time, raging against tyranny and the festering wounds of racism, especially in Palestine. Many of the writers of the Afro-Asian Writers Movement faced torture, imprisonment, exile, and even death, but their words continue to call for a just world. These poets span the length and breadth of Africa and Asia, and their poems speak to all of humanity. Embedded in their verses is a spirit of resilience that knows loss, love, anger, and anguish yet insists on enduring hope.
Edited by Tariq Mehmood, this collection includes poems by:
Salah Abdel Sabour (1931-1981, Ali Ahmad Said Esber, also known as Adunis (1930- ), Mulk Raj Anand (1905-2004), Anar Rasul oghlu Rzayef (1938- ), Nobuo Ayukawa (1920-1986), Fadhil al-Azzawi (1940- ), Abd Al-Wahhab al-Bayati (1926-1999), Mahim Bora (1917- ), Bernard Binlin Dadié (1916- ), Mahmoud Darwish (1942-2008), Osamu Dazai (1909-1948), Mário Pinto de Andrade (1928-1990), D.B. Dhanapala (1905-1971), Mohammed Dib (1920-2003), Gevorg Emin (1918-1998), Sengiin Erdene (1929-2000), Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-1984), Rasul Gamzatov (1923-2003), Daniil Granin (1919- ), Colette Anna Gregoire, better known as Anna Greki (1931-1966), Malek Haddad (1927-1978), Pham Ba Ngoan, better known by his pen name Thanh Hai (1930-1980), Buland al-Haidari (1926-1996), Suheil Idris (1925-2008), Yusuf Idris (1927-1991), Fazil Iskander (1929- ), Zulfiya Isroilova (1915-1996), Ali Sardar Jafri (1913-2000), Ghassan Kanafani (1936-1972), Edward al-Kharrat (1926- 2015), Hajime Kijima (1928-2004), Mazisi Kunene (1930-2006), Alex La Guma (1925-1985), U Gtun Kyi, better known by his pen name Minn Latt Yekhaun (1925-1985), Abdul Hayee better known by his pen name Sahir Lundhianvi (1921-1980), Zaki Naguib Mahmoud (1905-1993), Nazik Al-Malaika (1923-2007), Mouloud Mammeri (1917-1989), Yuri Nagibin (1920-1994), Sergey Narovchatov (1919-1981), Dashdorjiin Natsagdorj (1906-1937), Hiroshi Noma (1915-1991), Gabriel jibaba Okara (1921- ), Amrita Pritam (1919-2005), Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo (1901-1937), Richard Rive (1931-1989), Rady Saddouk (1938-2010), Badr Shakir al-Sayyab (1926-1964), Ousmane Sembene (1923- 2007), Leopold Sedar Senghor (1906-2001), Yusuf al-Sibai (1917-1978), Fadwa Tuqan (1917-2003), Sonomyn Udval (1921-1991), Ramses Younan (1913-1966), and Tawfiq Ziad (1929-1994).
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Política e cultura no pensamento emancipatório africano
USD $ 5.00 USD $ 9.00Price range: USD $ 5.00 through USD $ 9.00Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pagePolítica e cultura no pensamento emancipatório africano
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A atual ausência de uma visão emancipatória para a África está no centro dos nossos problemas políticos relacionados à opressão racial capitalista e colonial. Qualquer tentativa de repensar a emancipação política no continente africano deve ser capaz de localizar uma concepção universal de liberdade no interior das experiências culturais singulares que as pessoas vivem. Quando esteve baseada nas tradições populares, a política emancipatória exibiu tais traços dialéticos, independentemente da maneira específica na qual cada luta pela liberdade foi pensada em diferentes contextos históricos. No entanto, apenas alguns intelectuais militantes compreenderam a importância dessa dialética no pensamento.O presente volume esboça e discute dois pontos de vista particularmente importantes sobre o papel e a relevância da cultura popular na política emancipatória em África. Cada um deles resulta de formas distintas de exploração capitalista e colonialista: o primeiro viu a luz do dia em um contexto colonial, enquanto o segundo é diretamente confrontado pelo estado neocolonial. Todas as políticas emancipatórias são desenvolvidas em confronto com o poder estatal, e todas começam com um processo de discussão e debate através do qual um sujeito coletivo começa a se formar. No continente africano, a construção de tal sujeito político coletivo tem sido informada, de maneira fundamental, pelas culturas populares.
Os dois autores cujos ensaios estão aqui incluídos entenderam isso e colocaram a cultura popular no centro de suas políticas. O primeiro, Amílcar Cabral, aborda o papel central da cultura popular na luta pela independência da Guiné-Bissau nos anos 1970; o segundo, Ernest Wamba-dia-Wamba, aborda a centralidade da cultura popular africana para uma política emancipatória endereçada à atual República Democrática do Congo. Apesar das décadas que os separam, tanto Cabral como Wamba-dia-Wamba desenvolvem, no centro de sua política, uma dialética que ativa os universais da cultura no presente. É essa característica que confere às suas visões uma importância central para o pensamento emancipatório contemporâneo.
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