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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The pod race is a pretty sick sequence. You can tell that George Lucas always wanted to do a big race scene in a movie - compared to the action bits from earlier it's a lot better shot and paced.
Then again, I really gotta wonder how any sport manages to exist with such a high fatality rate, even in the crime capital of the galaxy.
Also hang on, Watto says he's lost everything, but he objectively didn't. He got all the winnings for the race, Qui Gon just got the hyperdrive parts. Then Anakin sells his pod racer - no way that money doesn't go straight to Watto's account too.
Maybe he wagered his shop and all of his inventory or something.
WAIT HOLD ON A MINUTE, if Watto's so destitute, why doesn't Qui Gon take the money from selling the pod racer and buy Shmi Skywalker with it? Watto's desperate for cash, right? He can also take and sell her house and stuff too, not like she'll be taking that with her.
Because Qui Gon doesn't give a shit about Shmi and sees separating Anakin from her as a good thing for his child abuse cult. Jedi hate attachments, especially ones they don't control.
I think it's mostly just bad writing.
Watsonian answers are more interesting
True. For me Watsonian analysis falls apart with, for instance George, where it feels like he just didn't care very much and the result creates inconsistencies that are hard to fit in to a coherent narrative.
It hits me especially hard in the prequels. Having grown up on star wars stories about the Jedi being cool guys doing cool things, it really feels like George ruthlessly deconstructed the Jedi when he'd never actually constructed them in the first place. Obi-Wan being a sneaky duplicitous wizard turned in to them all just being kind of dumb and incompetent. Yoda and Ben being weird wizard hermits turned out to not be a jedi thing, they just fucked up real bad so they ran away to hide. "To old to begin the training", i always thought that was Yoda doing the traditional " you will be denied three times" trope, but no, actually the Jedi induct toddlers and send them to war as child soldiers.
So, to me, a lot of the prequels was too incongruent with existing stories, and prone to inconsistency and outright silliness (Star Wars was fairly grounded and adult as science fantasy adventures go. George justifying the silliness of Phantom Menace as "it" s for kids" always felt like a cop out for him).
I really think the prequels suffered bc, from what i've heard, a whole generation of filmmakers were intimidated by George and turned him down when he asked them to collaborate.
Idk, i could ramble about Star Wars, and I have, for hundreds of pages. I got opinions. But yeah, Watsonian analysis, i do agree it's cool and good.
I dunno, you can accuse the prequels of a lot but I don't really think apathy is one of them. I think they honestly do a lot more to realize the setting than the original trilogy did. That is, there's a real feeling in the original trilogy that only the places our heroes are at the moment exist or matter. The force is mysterious and does whatever the plot demands, and the light and dark side are simply good and evil. It's much more Buck Rodgers than space opera.
The prequels, and to an even greater degree the prequel era ancillary material like the clone wars show, make it a fleshed out enough setting that you even can do Watsonian analysis of it. I would even contend that The Phantom Menace is actually more adult and grounded than A New Hope.
Hmm, yeah, I can see that. That's fair. Like you actually get to see what traffic looks like on Coruscant, or what people's lives are like on Tattoine. You've got a good point.
I remember thinking that on my second or third watch. If the pod racer was enough for a bet against one slave before the race than profits selling it should be worth the other slave after the race.
Speeder bikes in retvrn of the jedi were pretty cool. I bet George really like that bit and wanted to do more of it.