History cannot excuse the crimes of the present

Middle East Eye, 2024

Palestine is the ethical battleground of our time, where the racism inherent in Euro-modern/colonial knowledge is dissected, exposed and resisted. This knowledge system, whether by justification or through silence, echoes the historical pattern of colonial atrocities across the Global South, including the unfolding genocide in Palestine.In this light, the Palestinian experience of colonial life and death encapsulates the global issue of ethics and knowledge.

Borders and Conflicts in the Mediterranean Basin, a cura di G. D’Angelo e J. Martins Ribeiro, ICSR Mediterranean Knowledge, Fisciano, 2016, pp. 121-140, 2016

ENGLISH «In war, truth is the first casualty». This famous aphorism can be effectively applied to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as the two parties use to propose an one-sided narrative of the conflict and of the history of Palestine. Indeed history, along with religion, is an important motivator for the two contenders, as both want to be recognized as the rightful «owners» of the disputed territory, and it also serves to seek support on the international scene. The most popular media of Israel and Palestine (textbooks, press, television, public ceremonies, museums, etc.) often propose a quite biased narrative, aimed at strengthening the reasons of one side rather than to offer a fair knowledge. Frequently scholars and historians follow this trend but in recent decades some intellectuals of the two concerned countries have analyzed in a more critical way the history of the «Holy land». However the one-sided narrative is still prevalent, both in Israel and in Palestine. It is to be hoped that this situation may change, given that the way to peace also passes through a more truthful narrative of the conflict, not in search of an impossible «shared memory» but, more simply, acknowledging the reasons of the other. ITALIAN «In guerra, la prima vittima è la verità». Questo famoso aforisma può essere applicato al conflitto israelo-palestinese, giacché i due contendenti generalmente propongono una narrativa unilaterale del conflitto e della storia della Palestina. La storia, insieme alla religione, è un importante motivatore delle due parti in lotta, visto che entrambe aspirano a essere riconosciute come legittime «proprietarie» del territorio conteso. La storia, inoltre, serve a cercare supporto sulla scena internazionale. I media più popolari dei due Paesi (libri scolastici, stampa, televisione, cerimonie pubbliche, musei, ecc.) propongono quasi sempre una narrativa parziale, mirante a rafforzare le ragioni di una parte piuttosto che a offrire un racconto corretto. Spesso anche storici e studiosi seguono questa tendenza, ma in alcuni anni intellettuali dei due Paesi hanno analizzato in maniera più accurata e critica la storia della «Terra santa». Tuttavia la narrativa unilaterale è ancora predominante, sia in Israele che in Palestina. È da augurarsi che questa situazione cambi, dato che la strada per la pace passa anche attraverso un racconto più veritiero del conflitto, non alla ricerca di un’impossibile «memoria condivisa» ma, più semplicemente, riconoscendo le ragioni dell’altro.

Newsletter Memoirs, 2020

On the 30 th June 2020, on the 60th anniversary of Congo's independence, in a letter to the Congolese president, Félix Tshisekedi, King Philip of Belgium for the first time officially apologized (expressing "les plus profonds regrets") for the "colonial wounds" that Belgium inflicted on its former African colony. The king's gesture is part of a (complex, tumultuous, and more reactive than reflective) revisionist movement in relation to historic injustices. The movement has manifested through acts of iconoclasm against the monuments that today symbolize and consecrate historical violations of rights. The monarch's attitude is not unprecedented: in 2000, Pope John Paul II undertook a "purification of memory" with a special liturgy, "Confession of guilt and request for pardon". He said a number of prayers, some of which were for crimes that have tainted the Church in the past (crimes against peace, cultures, other religions, the rights of peoples, the dignity of women, and against Israel). After the act of penitence over the past, the Pope clearly articulated, "never again". Gestures like these exhibit a rupture with the past. They have a simultaneously spectacular, symbolic and political air. However, the two cases mentioned, in particular the most recent one, which is most relevant to colonialism, pose some extremely complex ethical and legal questions. They refer to communal acts perceived today as historical mistakes from the more or less distant past, and they open critical space in relation to the inheritances of historical violence which weigh down the contemporary world. I have highlighted, above, the verbs used in the circumstances in question, because we find imbued in these words the problems that arise whenever there is a "use" of the past (either a repetition of the identical or a translation of diversity). I gather together, in this piece, some considerations that could never exhaust a problem of this magnitude, but that seek to contribute to a broad and open reflection that is tied not so much to our past, but to our future.

Producing Spoilers, 2014

This article is concerned with how the idea of anachronism can interfere with our thinking about social justice, peace, and human liberation. In the case of Israel/ Palestine the idea of anachronism is deployed among liberals, progressives and radical theorists, and activists seeking peace and social justice who express animosity toward religiously motivated settlers and their settlement project. One of the ways in which they differentiate themselves from these settlers is by suggesting that settler actions belong to the past. They also pity Palestinians conceived of as stuck in an oppressive system of settler colonialism that also belongs to the past, preventing them from moving forward. Both perceptions of anachronism limit the ways we can think about human liberation and peace. This article sheds light on a conundrum about who or what belongs to the past, and how thinking in such terms can contribute to the production of a particular moral collective and to the production of enmity. Both perceptions of anachronism frame history as a kind of progress in which peoples or groups might be ranked according to their levels of civilizational attainment, an idea we abandoned long ago as an analytical tool, but seem to have retained as a matter of practical political sympathy and judgment. This temporal conditioning can interfere with the thinking of even some of the most progressive social theorists, and mimics a colonial impulse.

Rethinking History: The Journal of Theory and Practice, 2016

Mediterranean Journal of Human Rights, 2004

Editorial of the Mediterranean Journal of Human Rights Volume 8 Number 2 2004 (Special Issue), dedicated to: HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE FORGOTTEN HISTORIES OF THE ISRAELI/PALESTINIAN CONFLICT

Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 2012

This article juxtaposes colonial guilt with selective historical memory of Palestinian narratives as presented in the Israeli state-mandated history textbooks. The advancement of colonial guilt imposes a particular subjective truth of oppressed groups' historical memories. The purpose of colonial guilt is to keep the power structure intact by maintaining a victimhood hierarchy that engages oppressed groups to compete for the highest level on this scale. The current curricula position the Palestinian narratives on a low rank through its historical interpretation as existing in the shadows of other events. This notion is interrupted by the unofficial history in the Palestinian community, which challenges the presumption of colonial guilt and its manifestation in the Israeli educational system.