As talked about in an replace to this post, a bunch of philosophers posted an open letter, dated November 1, 2023, below the heading “Philosophy for Palestine.”
As of the time of this publish, the letter has 127 signatories.
It begins:
We’re a bunch of philosophy professors in North America, Latin America, and Europe writing to publicly and unequivocally specific our solidarity with the Palestinian folks and to denounce the continued and quickly escalating bloodbath being dedicated in Gaza by Israel and with the total monetary, materials, and ideological help of our personal governments.
We don’t declare any distinctive authority—ethical, mental, or in any other case—on the idea of our being philosophers. Nonetheless, our self-discipline has made admirable strides not too long ago in confronting philosophy’s traditionally exclusionary practices and in partaking straight with urgent and pressing injustices. To this finish, we name on our colleagues in philosophy to hitch us in overcoming complicity and silence.
As we write, bombs have killed over 8,500 folks in Gaza. By the point you learn this, that quantity may have risen. Hundreds extra are trapped below rubble. For over three weeks, a siege of the territory has reduce off meals, water, drugs, gas, and electrical energy. 1,000,000 inhabitants of northern Gaza have been ordered to flee their properties amid airstrikes and upfront of an ongoing floor invasion with nowhere secure to go. Speak of a second nakba is chilling, but apt. Folks of conscience have an obligation to talk out in opposition to these atrocities. This isn’t a tough step to take; what is way harder for us is to show away in silence and complicity from an unfolding genocide.
The entire letter is here.
On November 4th, thinker and political theorist Seyla Benhabib (Yale) posted a response to the letter, explaining why she can’t endorse it. She writes:
My objection to your letter is that it sees the battle in Israel-Palestine via the lens of “settler-colonialism” alone, and elevates Hamas’s atrocities of October 7, 2023 to an act of professional resistance in opposition to an occupying drive. By construing the Israel-Palestine battle via the lens of settler-colonialism, you elide the historic evolution of each peoples…
There is no such thing as a sense of historical past in your assertion nor any sense of the tragedies that befell these peoples, and the numerous missed moments when one other future appeared potential. Though you check with “the situations that produce violence,” you don’t point out that Yitzhak Rabin was killed by a Jewish extremist and Anwar Sadat, after his go to to Israel, was killed by a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the ideological progenitor of Hamas.
You write: “the folks of Gaza have urged allies worldwide to exert stress on their governments to demand a direct ceasefire. However they’ve been clear that this could — this should — be the start and never the top of collective motion for liberation.” In endorsing these calls for, you additionally endorse Hamas’s place because the supposed vanguard of the Palestinian “liberation wrestle.” It is a colossal mistake. Hamas is a nihilistic group which treats the civilian inhabitants of Gaza as its hostage. The chief of the group, Ismail Hanniye, sits in a luxurious lodge in Qatar, whereas kids on the streets of Gaza die. Sure, as Amnesty Worldwide has mentioned, “Gaza is the most important open-air jail on the planet,” however that is additionally on account of the truth that Hamas is an exterminationist group, whose Constitution endorses the destruction of the State of Israel. You additionally implicitly appear to help this if you write that, “If there’s to be justice and peace, the siege of Gaza should be lifted; the occupation should finish, and the rights should be revered of all folks at present dwelling between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, in addition to these of Palestinian refugees in exile.” Amen to that! however do you see Hamas a political group devoted to “respecting the rights of all folks at present dwelling between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean”? This defies historical past and logic. Hamas is devoted to the destruction of the State of Israel; I don’t help that. Do you? What ethical or political logic is guiding your reasoning right here?
Her full response is here.
(Because of a number of readers for bringing these to my consideration.)
Associated:
– George Yancy interviews Judith Butler
– Reid Blackman interviews David Enoch
