MASSACHUSETTS

Join BU Students for Justice in Palestine for a discussion and exploration of the current situation of being a Palestinian women living under the occupation.

Feminism, National Survival and War: Palestinian Women under Occupation
By Ghada Hashem Talhami, D. K. Pearsons Professor of Politics, emerita, Lake Forest College.

According to Cheryl Johnson-Odim, there is a clear relationship between racism, imperialism and gender discrimination.. The case of Palestine provides a perfect example of the victimization of women by world forces, particularly an entrenched military occupation supported by the United States. Palestinian feminists and activists have struggled alone, offering a feminism of service, with very little recognition or support by Western women, particularly in the United States. Being the most vulnerable members of society, these women have endured the violence of two intifadas, the dismemberment of the Palestinian people, loss of family farms and homes due to the escalating pace of Israeli settlement building, and the official Israeli policy of home demolitions, the apartheid wall, and living in the shadow of a large number of checkpoints which regulate and control their daily movements. In addition, the Bush administration program of exporting democracy abroad, which espouses feminist liberation, has already delegitimized the Palestinian feminist struggle as an imported Western campaign. How can the slogan “sisterhood is global” be applied here in order to strengthen the Palestinian quest for self-rule and a dignified existence?

This event is a part of Israel Apartheid Week which is taking place from February 25th to March 5th.