Palestine and the Culture of Denial

A series on courageous writing and public commentary amid settler colonialism

Despite well-documented evidence of racism and human rights abuse, Israel has long been embraced by many as a manifestation of progressive liberal values. Key to this miraculous act of political alchemy is a very specific form of denial of Palestine.

How can a violent project of dispossession and discrimination be imagined, felt, and profoundly believed in as though it were the exact opposite–as an embodiment of sustainability, multicultural tolerance, and democratic idealism? Despite well-documented evidence of racism and human rights abuse, Israel has long been embraced by many as a manifestation of progressive values. Key to this miraculous act of political alchemy is a very specific form of denial. 

Join Saree Makdisi and Jordy Silverstein as we unearth the underside of the liberal settler imagination.

This discussion is part of a series on Palestine, anticolonial solidarity and public critique at the Institute of Postcolonial Studies in collaboration with the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network and Free Palestine Melbourne.