The idea that the Palestinian people have only been able to persist because of their religion is ridiculous to me. They are resisting because colonialism, apartheid and genocide are very bad things to which nobody would want to be subjected, not because of Islam. If Palestinians were atheists, is he suggesting that they wouldn’t have the strength or the will to resist? Would their lack of a belief in the supernatural turn them into doormats for Isn’treal?

I like Hakim’s content, but his position on religion is quite frustrating. He is a Muslim first and a Marxist second. Also, Joram van Klaveren is still a right-winger.

  • cucumovirus@lemmygrad.ml
    205·
    1 year ago

    As far as I can tell, the only thing Hakim is saying, is that it is important to consider Islamic influence on current Palestinian struggle.

    But he isn’t saying this, he’s saying that it’s religion that’s driving the anti-colonial struggle.

    their unshakable faith, which drives their anti-colonial struggle.

    And then he proceeds to give a list of religious texts to read in order for us to learn about the persistence of Palestinian resistance.

    This is a blatantly idealist analysis of the situation in Palestine. Again, no one is saying we need to ignore or even actively reject the influence of religion to the struggle, but it’s simply not correct that religion is driving the struggle. He offers no materialist analysis and no sources to learn about settler-colonialism or the history of Palestine and its resistance.

    The problem with this is that he positions himself as a Marxist educator, but in this post he’s being an idealist.

    He also says this is the “largest missing context” in regards to the Palestinian struggle, but that’s also not true. A lot more people are thinking about this in religious terms, than as an anti-colonial struggle against zionist settler-colonialism and the wider context of western imperialism - which it is in reality.

    You claim he’s just trying to highlight Islamic influence on the current struggle, but his wording is not consistent with this. His post is idealist and not materialist.

    For your take of the post to be true we would have to assume his intentions and say he didn’t communicate clearly enough. If we just read what he wrote, it cannot be considered something a Marxist-Leninist educator should be saying.

    I agree that many western countries have a christian culture, but would reading the bible really help you understand our modern society, especially more than reading some Marxist theory?

    It just feels like you and almost everyone else defending Hakim’s post are trying to find a meaning in his words that just isn’t there if you read them directly, a meaning that you find acceptable and compatible with Marxism, but not one that can be read from the actual words he used.