Shooting back in the occupied territories: An anti-colonial participatory politics

Abstract

In this article I argue that Palestinians, in particular Palestinian youth engage in forms of cultural resistance such as filming, video production and dissemination in their everyday lives as a way to re-configure place, space, law, knowledge and violence, through a critical race, feminist, anti-colonial theoretical analysis. Recently, interest in forms of youth political engagement has surfaced in scholarly discussions. The concept of “participatory politics” has been used to frame discussions and analysis on youth engagement. I argue that the current conceptualization of participatory politics is limited when applied to colonial and occupation contexts, particular because political participation is premised on the recognition of citizens. I argue that this conceptualization of participatory politics needs to be extended, by taking into consideration the politics of refusal and revolutionary violence. I offer the concept of an anti-colonial participatory politics that considers these aspects as central to politics and political participation by analysing youth testimonies, video's and films produced by B'Tselem volunteers, Youth Against the Settlements and Emad Burnat (director of 5 Broken Cameras). I demonstrate how Palestinians are not merely reduced to bare life, but underscore how they actively resist their colonization. Additionally, drawing on Willis' (1990) notion of symbolic creativity, I suggest that through the symbolic work of shooting back (filming and video production) in their everyday lives, Palestinian youth enact public pedagogy, whereby cultural production becomes a site of teaching, learning and conscientization which could open up possibilities for social change.