Perfect Victims is an urgent affirmation of the Palestinian condition of resistance and refusal―an ode to the steadfastness of a nation.

Palestine is a microcosm of the world: on fire, stubborn, fragmented, dignified. While a settler colonial state continues to inflict devastating violence, fundamental truths are deliberately obscured—the perpetrators are coddled while the victims are blamed and placed on trial.

Why must Palestinians prove their humanity? And what are the implications of such an infuriatingly impossible task? With fearless prose and lyrical precision, Mohammed El-Kurd refuses a life spent in cross-examination. Rather than asking the oppressed to perform a perfect victimhood, El-Kurd asks friends and foes alike to look Palestinians in the eye, forgoing both deference and condemnation.

How we see Palestine reveals how we see each other; how we see everything else. Masterfully combining candid testimony, history, and reportage, Perfect Victims presents a powerfully simple demand: dignity for the Palestinian.

This book touches a lot on how Palestinians are constantly expected (especially by Europeans, who invented anti-semitism) to apologize for being Palestinians, and for being victimized by Jewish people.

Comrades who can't afford to buy the book should definitely not go to annas-archive (dot) org and find a digital copy there, since that would be wrong and we are all law-abiding, copyright-respecting citizens.

I'm making this post a double-chapter one and keeping it up for two weeks, since I tend to forget to update them. We'll see how that works. This is now past where I've read the book, so I'm going to do my best to join the discussion more for this one. Thanks to everyone who has participated so far!

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[–] LeninWeave@hexbear.net 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Anti-zionism reading group Week 5!

Tagging everyone who I had marked down as potentially interested as well as anyone who participated in the last thread and this one so far. Let me know if you want to be added to or removed from this ping list.

@ChestRockwell@hexbear.net @Champoloo@hexbear.net @ratboy@hexbear.net @junebug2@hexbear.net @hellinkilla@hexbear.net @woozy@hexbear.net @SickSemper@hexbear.net @CommunistCuddlefish@hexbear.net @ratboy@hexbear.net @Champoloo@hexbear.net @oscardejarjayes@hexbear.net @Beetle@hexbear.net @SuperNovaCouchGuy2@hexbear.net @SickSemper@hexbear.net @Aradino@hexbear.net @viva_la_juche@hexbear.net @plinky@hexbear.net @towhee@hexbear.net @oculi@anarchist.nexus @SteamedHamberder@hexbear.net @JustSo@hexbear.net @MLRL_Commie@hexbear.net @OrionsMask@hexbear.net

This one is a dual-chapter.

[–] MLRL_Commie@hexbear.net 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The description in chapter 2 of the only acceptable people to be shown to a western audience "if he was a wolf, he must be defanged" felt like a high-brow Citations Needed by a Palestinian expert. Good stuff.

Also appreciate the way he utilizes his definition of humanity/inhuman as well as his desire to become human (feels like Fanon sitting in the background nodding along)

[–] Wmill@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago

I've caught myself thinking about the human comment too tbh part of me has been reworking the term to not be speciesist but yeah I think this is why it stuck with me so much and why the word irked me in a way I couldn't describe. Real on the fanon part

[–] MLRL_Commie@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago

Just finished chapter 5, and I had forgotten that I'd already read ch5 a while ago. But very powerful, and I think, instead of analyzing it as "being too tired or exhausted to care about coming near antisemitism" (sort of what he says directly) we should analyze it as a sort of argument to prove that antisemitism as Europeans invented it is just not a thing outside of European racist circles. Antisemitism as a material force broader than individuals is not relevant to these discussions. It is superseded, which is obvious in the material reality that are imposed the people of the various groups, highlighted in this book. So the tactic is not useful to keep announcing our anti-antisemitism, we must focus on the current relations and how the European tropes should be ignored as European

[–] MLRL_Commie@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Oh shit I hadn't seen this group. I'm gonna catch up, I've had this book on my ereader for a while but only to like chapter 3

[–] LeninWeave@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago

Adding you to the ping list!

[–] OrionsMask@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Didn't know this was a thing, can you add me to the pings? Can't promise I'll actually get to reading it but I'll try

[–] LeninWeave@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago

Done.

[–] Wmill@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago

I just finished chapter 5 and I see this, amazing timing add me to the list.

I've thus far really liked this book, I started reading it only monday would have started sooner but barely got it from my library on Sunday.

Chapter 5 is on my mind rn now and I been thinking of the tropes part of how much colonial forces have become cops in our heads and it brought me back to what I remember on fanon. The tightropes the colonized have to walk Everytime they even speak is an exhausting process. This book has been a great deal putting into words a lot of things I've been thinking about.

Keeping it up for 2 weeks is a good shout, I'll probably finish this book before then but a reread and reposting of thoughts can't hurt so thanks for making this group

[–] LeninWeave@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago

@CARCOSA@hexbear.net Can we get a pin for a day, if we're doing those again?

[–] hellinkilla@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I really struggled to read the ebook (stalled around Ch1). I got through it but had nothing to say on it. So I ordered a physical book. Then while waiting for it, I learned I could access it via audiobook. So a little while ago I put it on while I was fixing some lamps. A quiet activity requiring a minimum of brainpower, so can give enough focus to a book requiring it. I got through to Chapter 8, almost done.

Basically this book is making a point I already agree with. I do not feel my mind has been changed about anything. Perhaps reaffirmed.

So I can't tell if I am

too stupid to understand the book
not noticing when I am learning
not the target audience

Sorry I know it sounds arrogant. But I am not accustomed to reading at all these days, and I don't know what I'm supposed to get from this.

So my comment is a little meta. I'm not criticizing the book or the choice.

[–] SickSemper@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It’s aimed at radlibs who might support a two state solution but condemn violence against the Zionist entity imo. If you already understand that Judaism isn’t a sacred belief that transforms European colonizers into oppressed minorities trying to survive amongst barbarous Arabs, you’re probably good. A lot of this site has internalized Zionism, but unfortunately they won’t be reading this along with us

[–] hellinkilla@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Ya I did think of giving it to someone else to read. "Here, maybe this'll help your fucked up brain." could consolidate if really close already. I liked the "Jewish settlers stole my home. It's not my fault they're Jewish" article/chapter when I read it before. It was useful to see someone articulating fearlessly in a way that was palatable to libs. But not sure how much more the book adds compared to that, except for repetition, which could be useful in some case I suppose. I'd be more likely to share the article than the book.

I am wondering why nobody has anything bad or critical to say of this book. It is all praise. performative? Or too mushy to claw into? Difficult to engage with discussion. But I don't know what else there would be having never done this before. So maybe this is par.

[–] SickSemper@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I don't know what else there would be having never done this before

With you on that. Maybe it’s a thesis with little to disagree on, but you’ve inspired me, I’m going to try to find a point of friction

[–] hellinkilla@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

Good I will read it.

I'd be sad if I wrote a book and a discussion only had agreeable comments. Especially a book like this that is seemingly intended to change minds.

I know for me, when I know the target audience is someone more lib or right wing than I am, I will tend to gloss over political issues of weak analysis because it's sort of required to sacrifice one point to make another. In order to not get bogged down. Like "this is fine" or "good enough".

So I guess the question is what standard

if any

should be applied? What is this book for in this context? Is it for us to sharpen our understanding, or are we reading it so that we can say we read it and tell someone else to read it? Which is really how I felt.

[–] SickSemper@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

The moment of truth! I’ve read the article a million times but it’s even better in context