It’s not painting it as anything. It’s a description of the facts of the balance of power among the Palestinians politicals orgs of Gaza. Anything else is idealism ignoring the material conditions. The idea that Hamas is not the politically dominant group in Gaza is simply false. They have ensured their political dominance by brutal suppression of their opposition. The economic and social situation is so fucked that it is no surprise that Marxists are not dominant. The political groups who would ascend to political dominance are going to be Islamist in this context unfortunately. The time of the secular PLO-style secular and progressive Palestinian nationalism is long-passed.
The Palestinian Marxist groups are in a difficult position where the only form of resistance they can muster against Israel is inevitably going to be in conjunction with groups like Hamas. Again, nothing I’ve said criticizes that. They have every right to do so, not that it practically matters whether I nor any else on this site condones it or not. The revolutionary position at this conjuncture, in the contradiction between western imperialism and the global south, is evidently that which supports the Palestinian revolutionary cause against Israeli settler-colonialist apartheid. The fact that it’s mediated by Islamist political and military structures is unfortunate but unavoidable and does not imply that support for Palestinian resistance should not apply. We should make no mistake though and bear in mind that Islamist groups see us as just as decadent and depraved as liberals, and have never hesitated to eliminate us when convenient. Their social project is diametrically opposed to our own.
It’s not painting it as anything. It’s a description of the facts of the balance of power among the Palestinians politicals orgs of Gaza. Anything else is idealism ignoring the material conditions. The idea that Hamas is not the politically dominant group in Gaza is simply false. They have ensured their political dominance by brutal suppression of their opposition. The economic and social situation is so fucked that it is no surprise that Marxists are not dominant. The political groups who would ascend to political dominance are going to be Islamist in this context unfortunately. The time of the secular PLO-style secular and progressive Palestinian nationalism is long-passed.
The Palestinian Marxist groups are in a difficult position where the only form of resistance they can muster against Israel is inevitably going to be in conjunction with groups like Hamas. Again, nothing I’ve said criticizes that. They have every right to do so, not that it practically matters whether I nor any else on this site condones it or not. The revolutionary position at this conjuncture, in the contradiction between western imperialism and the global south, is evidently that which supports the Palestinian revolutionary cause against Israeli settler-colonialist apartheid. The fact that it’s mediated by Islamist political and military structures is unfortunate but unavoidable and does not imply that support for Palestinian resistance should not apply. We should make no mistake though and bear in mind that Islamist groups see us as just as decadent and depraved as liberals, and have never hesitated to eliminate us when convenient. Their social project is diametrically opposed to our own.