Settler Colonialism - Israel, Palestine and Canada (January 24, 2024)
..."Territoriality is settler colonialism's specific, irreducible element." (Patrick Wolfe)
Todays Ice Sculpture: Settler Colonialism - Israel, Palestine, and Canada
My Reflection
The recent horrors documented on our TV screens and social media are immeasurable for those killed, kidnapped, raped, imprisoned, bombed, taken as hostages, and/or injured in this horrific on-going conflict. The same impact extends to family members, friends and neighbours and cultures more broadly. I am not from Israel nor from Palestine, nor am I jewish or muslim. I have friends of both religions. I have nothing but empathy and sympathy for a lost generation of children and families. I find myself very distressed, not understanding or able to get my head around what is happening, or why. What relevance is it to urban canadians?
Others much closer to the topic and area have much more informed perspectives and knowledge than myself. I encourage you to seek out multiple sources of information about the conflict to see what makes the most sense to you.
My Starting Point
As I have said in this vlog perviously - knowledge assembly, dissemination and interpretation are not neutral exercises. The words selected matters. Definition of words matter. Context matters. Time matters. History matters. Transparency matters. Language matters. Culture matters. Some social actors have access to power and agency, and some don’t. Whose voices are being heard, excluded or minimized? It is important to understand underlying factors that are not well shared can sometimes be used to support or justify actions or reactions.
Next lets next define my words.
Definitions
Colonialism involves the creation and maintenance of one group of people over another for imperialist control and exploitation.
Settler Colonialism destroys to replace. (Patrick Wolfe, 2006, pg. 388). Wolf says "Whatever settlers may say the primary motive for elimination is not race (or religion, ethnicity, grade of civilization, etc.) but access to territory. Territoriality is settler colonialism's specific, irreducible element." Settler colonialism is a structure of support for territory disposition, not a one time historical event. (Source: Patrick Wolfe, 2006. “Settler colonialism and the elimination of the native.” Journal of Genocide Research, 8:4, 387-409, DOI: 10.1080/14623520601056240)
Racism is discrimination and prejudice against others simply based on their race or ethnicity.
Antisemitism is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination specifically against Jews, simply for being jewish.
Zionism is a political movement to establish a physically defined jewish homeland in Palestine on lands that was also home to muslims, christians and others. There is no zionism that is not settler colonialism in practice.
Islamophobia is defined as discrimination or prejudice directed at the religion of islam or muslims more broadly, simply because of their religion.
Source Data
Any collection of materials is subjective. Whose voices do I share? On what basis do I make that decision? Where do I find those sources? Bear in mind that my own curation of materials is subjective.
I looked for sources that has six characteristics. First, sources that seeks to explore unseen underlying factors that pre-configured what is happening today. Second, first person sources from people directly impacted (i.e., palestinians). Third, sources that explore the reason/rationale/understanding of the intensity of the contestation. Fourth, sources that link to what may be happening in Canada, and specifically to urban planning and governance. Fifth, current perspectives were favoured. Finally, where I could, I used video presentations of materials. The latter is a personal preference of mine - I learn better by listening, not just reading.
Power, Agency and Words…Matter
Language shapes our understanding of events in seen and unseen ways, sometimes deliberately and sometimes by accident. News reports and social media tend to use words like conflicts, humanitarian crisis or catastrophes in ways that imply an a false equal footing between social actors (i.e., Israelis vs Palestinians). One side is clearly substantively more powerful in terms of actions and outcomes. The death toll in Palestine now exceeds more than 25,000+ people caused by Israeli munitions. A conflict implies two parties are somehow somewhat equally engaged in resolving the issue - that is not what is happening in Palestine. The International Court of Justice is currently reviewing a charge of genocide in Palestine.
The descriptors “humanitarian crisis” or “catastrophe” imply something that could be avoided, like Covid, extreme weather events, flooding, etc., - military bombing can be stopped. Limiting aid shipments such as food and fuel does not have to be stopped that would limit these crises or catastrophes.
The terms “eviction” has been used to describe palestinians being removed from their homes by Israelis in the West Bank. This implies the Israelis are landlords and the palestinians are defacto renters. The United Nations and international law has already determined that Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank is illegal.
The labelling of some groups and not others as terrorists for the same actions (i.e., killing, injuring, raping etc) privileges one group over another, based on rationales rooted in their own ideology or perspective. In this case, Hamas fighters are labelled militants or terrorists, while Israelis offensive actions are described as defensive actions with massively greater violence visited on innocent people.
The media coverage of what happened on October 7 and beyond is incomplete. Video feeds are often managed by the Israeli Defence forces, where media are taken to selected sites for viewing. There are other media and video coverage on line not filtered by Israel. Western governments particularly in Germany and the United States are silencing oppositional voices to the destruction and human life. Consumers of media need to be cautious and discriminating about news and social media sources. Having said that, here are mine.
A Palestinian Perspective
Mohammed El-Kurd, a writer, journalist and poet from Jerusalem, occupied Palestine. He is also a Civic Media Fellow at the University of Southern California. This presentation is quite long - almost two hours. The first 40 minutes should be enough to get a sense of his perspective.
A Settler Colonial Frame and Palestine
Patrick Wolfe, the Austrialian anthropologist and ethnographer, describes settler colonialism as not just a historical event but a structure, a conceptual framework that supports invasive settler colonial societies by obscuring, submerging, or erasing indigenous presence on the land. Territory is the most significant factor in the perspective of settler colonialism. The settlers aim to permanently replace the existing society with their own and exploit the lands and resources to which indigenous peoples have genealogical relationships. Settler colonialism operates through a "logic of elimination," which means that settler colonial power requires destruction of indigenous peoples and their cultures. he makes connections to apartheid policies and actions in South Africa to Isreali blockades in Palestine. Both of these interviews are about 10 minutes long each. (Note: this video is about 10 yrs old, but remains current.)
Videos 1 and 2 - Settler Colonialism, Palestine and South Africa (Patrick Wolfe)
Video 3: Settler Colonialism, Solidarity and Resistence (Quiquivix, Anderson and Abdou)
The below presentations provides a settler colonial lens to contextualize what is happening in Palestine and in Canada with First Nations people. This presentation is from December of 2023. Linda Quiquivix argues, amongst other things, that the source of the palestine settler colonial realities goes back the 15th century.
Video 4: Israel, Palestine and the Doppelganger Effect (Naomi Klein, Sara Grossman, Beth Miller)
Silencing of Voices in Germany and the West. Speakers in Germany and the United States are being muted by seen and unseen actions of governments. This presentation is from December of 2023.
Canada, Palestine and Settler Colonization
Indigenous scholars in Canada have provided commentary on settler colonization in Canada making alarming comparisons to Palestine. University of British Columbia professor Mike (Fabris) Krebs found similarities between the two in the 2012 Briarpatch journal article (attached). Many of the sometimes violent disposition actions inflicted on indiginious peoples in Canada is based on settler colonialism in ways that settlers from Europe and elsewhere have benefited.
https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/architect-of-apartheid
What does this portend or suggest for urban Planning in Canada? Settler colonialism is a structure, not a historical event. That structure is reproduced and reaffirmed in our land management practices. Indigenous peoples had a reciprocal relationships with the land between the land itself and the people. Settler colonies divided and allocated land amongst themselves, defined by property lines, mapped and assigned uses with unilaterally assigned privileged rights with no right or need of shared benefits between the land, people or both. The relational perspective of land was lost, as was a loss of space and place for aboriginal peoples. Much of what I see are ways to recognize our past, but treating settler colonialism like an historical event, not a structure.
An canadian aboriginal scholar Heather Dorries from the University of Toronto suggests urban planning could focus less on property and more so on “identifying, making and strengthening of the human and more-than-human relationships the flourishing of life requires. Thus, planning without property would support practices of being and belonging rather than practices of exclusion and domination.” (Heather Dorries, 2022. “What is planning without property? Relational practices of being and belonging.” Society and Space” Vol. 40(2) 306–318 DOI: 10.1177/02637758211068505)
Video 5: Urban Planning and Parks (Heather Dorries)
Heather spoke last year in Toronto discussing homeless camps and parks. Her talk is from about 5 minutes to 52 minutes.
My Takes:
I continue to feel enormously sad that anyone has lost their life, and each one is grieved, regardless of religion or culture. Stop the violence in Palestine and Israel NOW. Stop the killing of jewish, muslim, christians and others. Return all the hostages now. Free palestinians from Israeli prisons. Stop the violent rhetoric of destruction aimed at each other.
Isreali-Palestine Atrocities
(a) Settler Colonialism is the underlying reason for the atrocities that created a jewish ethno-state, not a religous based war between jewish and muslims. Stop framing it that way. As noted earlier by Patrick Wolfe, “territoriality is settler colonialism's specific, irreducible element.” Moreover, settler colonialism is not an historical act, but is an on-going structure of decision-making. As noted by canadian Naomi Klein, the atrocities in Israel and palestine suggest “the second world war has not yet ended.”
(b) I support the right of self determination for palestinians in a form they themselves prescribe. Palestinians have a right to return to their homelands, and have the right of free movement inside and outside Gaza and the West Bank that they have not enjoyed particularly since the early 2000s. Prior to the creation of Israel in 1948, jewish, muslims and christian populations lived in harmony and diversity.
(c) Free expression of concern and support in the public discourse for Palestinian population should be supported, not minimized or muted in seen or unseen ways. The same is true for jewish perspectives. Discordant voices should be encouraged to enrich the conversation and solution-making. Active listening is required.
Settler Colonialism in Canada, Planning, and Parks
(a) Settler Colonialism has a long history in Canada, if not across the world, as attested by Quiquivix, Anderson and Abdou above. First nation peoples must have the right of self determination, defined by what that means to them, and accepted by settlers. This is a long term goal that arguably may have begun, but more must occur.
(b) Revisit the property concept in legislation to focus on community and human rights, and reduce the agency of economic interests in decision-making processes. (See Heather Dorris ideas above.) Property and its associated rights and privileges defined in legislation is the basis of all land use decision-making in urban planning.
(c) Revisit the transparency of all government managed processes, while recognizing the unequal levels of power and authority between social actors.
Parks are a settler colonial creation essentially directing people to different socially constructed places to connect with their neighbours and nature in ways not needed before settler colonialism. However, I believe contemporary community engaged parks planning and park services delivery can support the benefits of belonging to something bigger than themselves within a broader community of communities. Parks are places where human flourishing can be promoted, facilitated, and accommodated, but only if the focus of planning processes is human flourishing, not profit maximization. Protection of our public lands on both table lands and in the river valley should not be measured by economic outcomes, but by its use and benefits derived by humans and critter world for generations to come.
Finally, not all media sources are the same, nor are they corrupted. The same goes for elected officials and administrators. My point is simply… do your homework, ask good questions, and practice active listening. My vlog is intended simply to share perspectives, including those perspectives who can be more easily suppressed.