Borders, The Nation State and Palestine

The creation of the nation state is almost entirely an artificial construct. Creating a state that is moulded together into a single entity encouraged to share a national identity has not only been a violent process but one that was born from colonialism and one that continues to benefit colonial interests. If we look at any of the wars taking place across the globe in recent times, (Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq) all of them have to do with borders that were imposed on them by imperial powers. Iraq is an example of how the British carved out a country with their own interests in mind and no consideration for the people of the region. The three main ethnic groups, The Kurds, the Sunnis and the Shias, were divided in such a way that certain sects were given power over others therefore ensuring regional tensions and disharmony.

Palestine – Show Up.

The regular bombardments of Gaza is referred to as ‘mowing the grass’ equating Palestinians to weeds, IN THEIR OWN LAND!! David M Weinberg, a former government analyst, wrote this dehumanising quote in the Jerusalem Post ‘If you fail to do so, weeds grow wild and snakes begin to slither around in the bush’ . Imagine if these words were used to describe any other group of people, for example substitute Palestinian for Israeli, it would be an antiemetic hate crime!