Palestinian Youth Discuss their Identity
Sep 30th, 2009 by LeeAnna
This video summarizes a workshop that was given for Palestinian youth at IBDAA (a grassroots cultural center located in the Dheisheh Refugee Camp in the West Bank). IBDAA is a local activist group that focuses on raising awareness and maintaining Palestinian culture within the camp. They began as a dance troupe that toured Palestinian children performing the traditional Debka dance and now function as a community or cultural center.
In this video Palestinian Youth are brainstorming as to their own identities. What are the things that define them? Do they have hope? What is their hope? The subtitles in the video demonstrate some of the words the youth use to describe themselves, as well as their hopes and dreams. The most obvious trend is that of “ending the sadness”, advocating for the oppressed, having the freedom of movement, and most importantly being free.
What is interesting about this video is how the youth’s identity seems to be extremely (but not completely) caught up in their political struggle. It is fascinating to see the way they express this through their hopes and dreams.
Are Palestinians Subaltern? Yes, I believe they are. They are an ethnic minority that have been removed from their property and remain as institutionalized second-rate citizens in a country that has pushed them behind walls. Can they speak? In contrast to some of what has been discussed in class they seem to speak very well for themselves. Not only the youth on this video who express their desire for freedom, but also those who made the video and the IBDAA Cultural Center, who put on the workshop. IBDAA, and the Palestinians as a whole, seem to have made their struggle very public to the world, with symbolic gestures as well as through the media. Although the Palestinians speak very well in this video it could be debated that they have come to the center in order to be heard. As you see parts of the workshop, and the video are done in English to be heard by the center. They also use a language of the west in their speech, dreams of studying political sciences and becoming a lawyer are common aspirations in youth of our own culture. Their discussions of freedom are easy for us to comprehend, as it is a value of our own country and constitution. What is not discussed in this video is the importance of the land to their heritage and forefathers. The cultural and religious identities that are also a part of their desire for freedom and the ‘right to return’ are not mentioned here, as they may be more foreign concepts for us at the center. More importantly, little is being done to solve the crises of the Palestinians. It is clear that the Palestinians are speaking, but as their situation worsens, one has to wonder: is anyone listening?
It is also interesting to note that the students define themselves as ‘Palestinian’ on what seems to be a national scale. This notion of their nationality has become a part of their identity. There is little evidence that there was any sense of belonging to a wider country among Palestinians case before the British mandate in Palestine and the Palestinians interaction with colonialism. This change of scale in their view of their own identity could be seen as an example of how the colonized begin to see themselves through the lens of the colonizer.
On a personal note, I spent some time in the Dheisheh camp and with some members of IBDAA last summer and was impressed by their work. If anyone is interested in more information, take a look at their website www.ibdaa194.org.
4 Responses to “Palestinian Youth Discuss their Identity”
Thanks to whoever posted this video.
I thought the most interesting thing of your commentary was that the youth’s identity is “caught up in their political struggle.” I thought of a classroom of Canadian students and how our ideas of identity would be less likely to center around “refugees”, “oppression”, “struggle for political rights.” Although, yes, our dreams are similar, our situations certainly are not.
The dream said by one student “to be free” was an exception and certainly made me appreciate my freedom.
Even though lots of the other identity traits like language, culture, religion are more applicable to the average Canadian student, those would not have been the first ones to come to my mind. It was interesting to notice the ones that I found more applicable: nationality, history, family roots.
I saw something similar when I attended a youth conference at the Pearson United World College (Knut, I know you were there too!) were over a hundred students from many different countries attended. There was a Palestinian and an Israeli student (about my age) who attended, it was really neat to watch them explore each other’s identity and perceptions of them.
Its a great organization and a good video. I went to school for two years with several young Palestinians who had danced and participated in the IBDAA group. It’s inspiring to learn about how they integrate that seemingly basic act of preserving their cultural heritage with the discourse around identity which consumes our generation in the Middle East.
It was also great to see how when they were listing components of identity at the beginning, religion was not one of the first to come up. I think in North America (and Europe, but less so) we are bombarded with media that proclaims so much of the strife to be on religious grounds. I understand that in many cases that is a central cause of course, but it is important for people to see that Palestinians do not all define themselves based on any radical religious affiliation, and the conflicts there are not all focused on Muslims attacking Jews.
Jimmy Carter is often dismissed, I think, as a bit of a windbag by many interested in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. In his book “Palestine: Peace not Apartheid” he never really offers any sort of promising suggestions but what I really thought he did well was illustrate how complicated and rooted in questions of identity these issue are. Family roots, questions of nationality and loyalty etc. are major issues these debates and are often obscured by the sort of blanket religious fanaticism we ascribe to the region. Homeland is at the heart of the conflict: be it traditional family pastures, olive groves or the places of worship central to one’s faith. For any development to be made in the peace process there needs to be open transnational literacy and debate that includes these imagined and real spaces and crosses scales, ultimately focused on the realization of and respect for identity.
I really feel groups such as this are necessary for individuals who have been actively marginalized. The people in palestine suffered dispossesion and do not have many ways to hold onto their culture. This is esspecially true since many external ideas about Palestinian identity are very negative. Many mainstream ideas have effectively produced the idea that Palestinians may be marginalized, but they are irrational and will resort to violence immediately to solve their problems, this idea is definetely used to label many Palestinian youth. However it is clear from this video that there goals are not violent nor do they seek violent means to achieve their positive goals. I feel the Palestinians represent a very diverse group that are actively stripped of their voice and in the process they have also been stripped of their dignity.
An interesting point brought up in the original commentary is the youth clinging to the idea of a Palestinian nation and the importance of national solidarity, but this nation is a new idea. It is a very interesting response to oppression, but I think it is neccesary in their case. It is also important to remember that those living in Palestine are very diverse in terms of culture, religion and other factors, so they may be using a form of strategic essentialism in their movements for solidarity.
This video reminded me a lot of a research project I did last year on the Plaestinian women’s movement. This movement began in the early 20th century and its founders were unaware they would be the progenitors of a Palestinian feminism, nor what that meant. They, like these children, defined themselves by their struggle for land. The only thing separating their views from the leaders of the early Palestinian movement was their gender. On this basis they were excluded from speaking out with the men. By rallying together to speak out for Palestinian rights these women were fighting two struggles and building two identities. The video reminds me that by collectively struggling for what you want to see in the world you build important aspects of your identity – framing yourself as what you aren’t.
A great post!