Palestinian Anarchists in Conversation: Recalibrating Anarchism in a Colonized Country

“I’m honestly still trying to kick the nationalist habit,” jokes activist Ahmad Nimer, as we talk outside a Ramallah cafe. Our topic of conversation seems an unlikely one: living as an anarchist in Palestine. “In a colonized country, it’s quite difficult to convince people of non-authoritarian, non-state solutions. You encounter, pretty much, a strictly anticolonial – often narrowly nationalist – mentality,” laments Nimer. Indeed, anarchists in Palestine currently have a visibility problem. Despite high-profile international and Israeli anarchist activity, there doesn’t seem to be a matching awareness of anarchism among many Palestinians themselves.

Does the current conflict in the occupied territories make your heard spin? Then watch my interview with Palestinian anarchist Budour Hassan, to get some solid analysis from someone in the front lines of this struggle.

My interview with SubMedia on the uprising in Palestine

A Stone’s Throw from Freedom from subMedia.tv on Vimeo.

This week we look at the anti IMF-TPP-WORLD Banks protest in Peru, Kahnawake Mohawks warning to Montreal’s mayor. On the music break, Shadia Mansour and M1 with “Al Kufiyyeh 3arabeyyeh” Our featured interview is with Budour Hassan, a Palestinian anarchist based in Jerusalem, who breaks the current uprising in the occupied territories.