The idea that the Palestinian people have only been able to persist because of their religion is ridiculous to me. They are resisting because colonialism, apartheid and genocide are very bad things to which nobody would want to be subjected, not because of Islam. If Palestinians were atheists, is he suggesting that they wouldn't have the strength or the will to resist? Would their lack of a belief in the supernatural turn them into doormats for Isn'treal?
I like Hakim's content, but his position on religion is quite frustrating. He is a Muslim first and a Marxist second. Also, Joram van Klaveren is still a right-winger.
I feel like I'm either deluded or turning into a plain old Western atheist chauvinist scrolling through these comments.
But everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that Hamas was specifically propped up by the Israelis (multiple quotes from Israeli leadership attesting this) in their struggle against the secular PLO because the PLO was a bigger threat to Israeli plans for domination. Except in the past decade they've gone off the chain so to speak. Kind of like the mujahideen sponsored by the United States in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet friendly government, which also went off the chain and started attacking the US.
Israel wants palestine divided with a militant Hamas in the west that they can crush/conquer with impunity, and a weakened/coopted PLO in the east that cannot resist creeping colonization. But as far as I can tell the high point of hopes for a palestinian state were back in the 90s when there was a broad secular coalition under Arafat and a strong PLO.
i guess we're going off the track here. hamas was propped up by israel because they were religious fanatics, that's true. they never had the majority support, even now the popular support is for the resistance, whether it is saraya al quds or abu ali mustafa brigades, it doesn't matter.
majority muslim population does not necessarily mean a sharia state. in fact most muslim countries are secular.
but islam always plays a big role in these situations, mostly because it gives people a sense of community. we can feel the same thing in demonstrations or civil disobediance. you trust your comrade. when i'm in a demonstration i always have a milk+anti-acid mixture to help people that are exposed to tear gas.
so hamas has a use for a limited time. when that time comes to an end, free people of palestine will decide their fate. and if you look at the historical thought leaders of palestine, they're mostly left leaning, even a good portion is marxist leninist.
I wrote the comment thinking of the Iranian revolution which afaict ended with the clerics taking power and imprisoning/murdering all the atheist leftists they could find. But it's a very different situation from Palestine desperately struggling to form any kind of state at all. My bad and thank you for responding patiently.
It was just weird seeing praise in the op and some comments (in a leftist/Marxist community) for the use of religion as an organizing principle, as smth good in itself instead of a necessary/temporary evil. Like, even our anthem has a line for "Ni dieu, ni césar, ni tribun!"