WHEN: Wednesday, 7 December at 6.45pm
WHERE: P21 Gallery (21 Chalton Street, London, NW1 1JD)
Join us at the P21 Gallery for the launch of Dr Hatem Bazian’s latest work ‘Palestine… It is something colonial.’ The evening will begin with an introduction to the Decolonising the Minds series from Amrit Publishers followed by a discussion of the book and Q&A with Dr Bazian.
Email ashiya@ihrc.org to confirm your attendance – free refreshments will be provided
About the book:
In 1902 Theodor Herzl, founder of political Zionism, wrote to Great Britain’s Minister of Colonies Cecil Rhodes stating: “You are being invited to help make history. It doesn’t involve Africa, but a piece of Asia Minor; not Englishmen but Jews… How, then, do I happen to turn to you since this is an out-of-the-way matter for you? How indeed? Because it is something colonial.” Palestine is the last settler colonial project to be commissioned in the late 19th early 20th centuries and still unfolding as we enter into the 21st Century. In centering Palestine’s modern history around settler colonial discourses Dr. Bazian provides a framework to understand and relate to the unfolding events from the late 19th century up to the present in a clear and unambiguous way. Zionism settler colonialism has salient features such as the normative deployment violence, religious justification, having a garrison state to sponsor it, transforming the land and geography and constituting a new colonial epistemology related to it as well as the expulsion and negating the existence of an indigenous population. The book offers a theoretical basis for approaching Palestine as a subject without falling into pitfalls ofan internationally supported ‘peace process’ that on the one hand affirms the settler colonial rights, problematizes the colonialized and dispenses with the ramifications.
Dr Bazian’s book will be available to purchase on the night at a discount and is available to purchase on IHRC’s online shop.
“On 18 September 1982, my operating team and I were forced out of our basement operating theatre in Gaza Hospital, Sabra-Shatilla Palestinian refugee camp, Beirut. We emerged into the horror that while we were struggling to save a few dozen lives, 3,000 unarmed camp residents were massacred by Christian militiamen under the watch of the Israeli Army. I am still shocked and outraged. These people had lost their country, fled their family homes, and became dispossessed refugees in a foreign country – only to meet this brutal end.
Why?
Hatem Bazian’s important book has provided me the answer. It is not mere colonialism. It is settler colonialism. That is the Crux. Many have not realised that since 1948 more than 50% of the population of Palestine has already been living as refugees outside Mandate Palestine. For the remaining 50%, settler colonialism will not stop until they too are driven out, and their desire and ability to return completely annihilated. For me this book is a milestone in understanding the vehement and ruthless persecution of the Palestinians. Genocide is just a step from ethnic cleansing.”
– Dr Swee Ang: Patron and co-founder Medical Aid for Palestinians; Author “From Beirut to Jerusalem”
The mainstream narrative on Palestine has become disconnected from the ideological imperatives of Zionism and the historical legacy of colonially dispossession, which makes Dr Hatem Bazian’s latest work “Palestine… It is something colonial”, one of the more salient books to appear on the subject.
Israel’s occupation is irreversible and the dispossession of Palestinians has been an ongoing reality for many decades and Palestinians are further now than they have ever been in their historical struggle for freedom and self-determination.
Why is that the case? How has a settler colonial project, the last of its kind, gain acceptance in a “post-colonial” era? And is the plight of Palestinians a random consequence of politics and history or the logical consequence of implementing a political project rooted in ethnic cleansing and racial segregation?
Author, Dr. Hatem Bazian joins the philosophical, historical and political dots to provide a very comprehensive and a very convincing answer to these questions and renews what has been neglected of late: a thorough review of Zionism; how it was conceived; reasons for why it is supported; and it’s unfolding as a political project in history.
“Palestine… It is something colonial”, maps out the epistemic root of Zionism and firmly positions it within Europe’s settler colonial period. The book brings together historical facts and in-depth analysis in demonstrating that dispossession and ethnic cleansing is inherent to Zionism and the past and present reality of Palestinians is clear evidence of this fact.
– Nasim Ahmed: Political Analyst from Middle East Monitor
About Hatem Bazian:
Dr. Hatem Bazian is a lecturer in the Departments of Near Eastern and Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies, Editor-in-Chief of the Islamophobia Studies Journal and Director of the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project Center for Race and Gender at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Bazian is a co-founder of Zaytuna College, the first accredited Muslim Liberal Arts College in America, the National Chair of American Muslims for Palestine, Board Member of Islamic Scholarship Fund, and Board Member of the Muslim Legal Fund of America.
Supporting Organisations
Muslim Association of Britain
Palestine Internationalist
Friends of Al Aqsa
In Minds
Palestine Alliance Scotland
Ahlebait Society Scotland
Fattah Movement UK
The Palestine Chronicle
