The Nakba, commemorated annually on this day as "Nakba Day", was the destruction of Palestinian society and homeland in 1948 following Israel's creation. Nakba Day protests take place around the world and have been attacked by Israel.
The foundational events of the Nakba took place during and shortly after the 1947-1949 Palestine war, including 78% of Mandatory Palestine being declared as Israel, the exodus of 700,000 Palestinians, the depopulation and destruction of over 500 Palestinian villages and subsequent geographical erasure, the denial of the Palestinian right of return, and the creation of permanent, stateless Palestinian refugees.
Although May 15th had been used as an unofficial commemoration of the Nakba since 1949, Nakba Day was formalized in 1998 after Yasser Arafat proposed that Palestinians should mark the 50th anniversary of the Nakba during the First Intifada.
The Nakba was a key event in the development of Palestinian culture and is a foundational symbol of Palestinian identity, along with "Handala", a ten-year old cartoon character developed by Naji al-Ali; the keffiyeh, a checkered black and white scarf worn around the head; and the "symbolic key" (many Palestinian refugees have kept the keys to the homes they were forced to flee).
On Nakba Day 2011, Palestinians and other Arabs from the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and Syria marched towards their respective borders, or ceasefire lines and checkpoints in Israeli-occupied territories, to mark the event. At least twelve Palestinians and supporters were killed and hundreds wounded as a result of shootings by the Israeli Army.
"In resisting the Nakba, the Palestinians have struck at the heart of the Zionist project that insists that the Nakba be seen as a past event. In resisting Israel, Palestinians have forced the world to witness the Nakba as present action; one that, contrary to Zionist wisdom, is indeed reversible." - Palestinian scholar Joseph Massad
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Al-Nakba: The Palestinian catastrophe - Episode 1 | Featured Documentary
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Farha (2021) internationally co-produced historical drama film about a Palestinian girl's coming-of-age experience during the Nakba, the 1948 displacement of Palestinians from their homeland. Its on Netflix
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The History of "Socialist" Zionism | Leftist Zionists did the Nakba & founded Israel
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First off, I recognize that I’m super privileged and so many have it much worse than me
With that out of the way, I am absolutely miserable living in the United States and wish deeply that I could work a job that contributes something to the world and not one of many corporations competing with one another. It gets super fun when people just tell me “if I don’t like it here, I can just leave.” LMAO I fucking wish it was that easy
My hottest take possible, but perhaps the “developing world” is still developing for a reason. You know how dogs and cats live like 20 years max if they’re lucky? Maybe our obsession with endless growth and development is contrary to how humans were meant to live. People say I shouldn’t complain because life expectancy is at an all time high or whatever but what fucking good is that when the majority struggles to fucking live.
Since corporations are people now, we are witnessing what would’ve happened had the Russian Revolution never happened. For the longest time I thought, “Sure, I’m just extremely online. If I go outside things will be different/better.” But as it turns out, most of us are online to distract from the horrors of the outside world. Everything, be it structures or people, has been completely captured by capital. And how does it continue to get worse? Because with infinite growth comes infinite problems
clever words im going to steal them
Wow did I say that. Sometimes my stream of consciousness rants produce something of value lol