1 March 2010 By Ramzy Baroud When American historian Howard Zinn passed away
recently, he left behind a legacy that redefined our
relationship to history altogether. Professor Zinn dared to challenge the way history
was told and written. In fact he went as far as to
defy the conventional construction of historical
discourses through the pen of victor or of elites who
earned the right of narration though their might,
power and affluence. This kind of history might be considered accurate
insofar as it reflects a self-seeking and
self-righteous interpretation of the world by a very
small number of people. But it is also highly
inaccurate when taking into account the vast majority
of peoples everywhere. The oppressor is the one who often articulates his
relationship to the oppressed, the colonialist to the
colonized, and the slave-master to the slave. The
readings of such relationships are fairly predictable.
Even valiant histories that most of us embrace and
welcome, such as those celebrating the legacy of
human rights, equality and freedom left behind by
Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Nelson Mandela still
tend to be selective at times. Martin Luther King’s
vision might have prevailed, but some tend to limit
their admiration to his ‘I have a dream’ speech. The
civil rights hero was an ardent anti-war champion as
well, but that is often relegated as non-essential
history. Malcolm X is often dismissed altogether,
despite the fact that his self-assertive words have
reached the hearts and minds of millions of black
people throughout the United States, and many more
millions around the world. His speech was in fact so
radical that it could not be ‘sanitized’ or
reinterpreted in any controllable way. Mandela, the
freedom fighter, is celebrated with endless accolades
by the very foes that branded him a terrorist. Of
course, his insistence on his people’s rights to armed
struggle is not to be discussed. It is too flammable a
subject to even mention at a time when anyone who
dares wield a gun against the self-designated
champions of ‘democracy’ gets automatically classified
a terrorist. Therefore, Zinn’s peoples’ histories of the United
States and of the world have represented a milestone
in historical narration. As a Palestinian writer who is fond with such
luminaries, I too felt the need to provide an
alternative reading of history, in this case,
Palestinian history. I envisioned, with much
hesitation, a book that serves as a people’s history
of Palestine. I felt that I have earned the right to
present such a possible version of history, being the
son of Palestinian refugees, who lost everything and
were exiled to live dismal lives in a Gaza refugee
camp. I am the descendant of ‘peasants’ – Fellahin –
whose odyssey of pain, struggle, but also heroic
resistance is constantly misrepresented, distorted,
and at times overlooked altogether. It was the death of my father (while under siege in
Gaza) that finally compelled me to translate my
yearning into a book. My Father was a Freedom Fighter,
Gaza’s Untold Story offered a version of Palestinian
history was not told by an Israeli narrator –
sympathetic or otherwise – and neither was it an
elitist account, as often presented by Palestinian
writers. The idea was to give a human face to all the
statistics, maps and figures. History cannot be classified by good vs. bad,
heroes vs. villains, moderates vs. extremists. No
matter how wicked, bloody or despicable, history also
tends to follow rational patterns, predictable
courses. By understanding the rationale behind
historical dialectics, one can achieve more than a
simple understanding of what took place in the past;
it also becomes possible to chart fairly reasonable
understanding of what lies ahead. Perhaps one of the worse aspects of today’s
detached and alienating media is its production of
history - and thus characterization of the present -
as based on simple terminology. This gives the
illusion of being informative, but actually manages to
contribute very little to our understanding of the
world at large. Such oversimplifications are dangerous because they
produce an erroneous understanding of the world, which
in turn compels misguided actions. For these reasons, it is incumbent upon us to try
to discover alternative meanings and readings of
history. To start, we could try offering historical
perspectives which try to see the world from the
viewpoint of the oppressed – the refugees, the
fellahin who have been denied, amongst many rights,
the right to tell their own story. This view is not a sentimental one. Far from it. An
elitist historical narrative is maybe the dominant
one, but it is not always the elites who influence the
course of history. History is also shaped by
collective movements, actions and popular struggles.
By denying this fact, one denies the ability of the
collective to affect change. In the case of
Palestinians, they are often presented as hapless
multitudes, passive victims without a will of their
own. This is of course a mistaken perception; the
Palestinians’ conflict with Israel has lasted this
long only because of their unwillingness to accept
injustice, and their refusal to submit to oppression.
Israel’s lethal weapons might have changed the
landscape of Gaza and Palestine, but the will of
Gazans and Palestinians are what have shaped the
landscape of Palestine’s history. Touring with My Father was a
Freedom Fighter in South Africa, in a recent visit,
was a most intense experience. It was in this country
that freedom fighters once rose to fight oppression,
challenging and eventually defeating Apartheid. My
father, the refugee of Gaza has suddenly been accepted
unconditionally by a people of a land thousands of
miles away. The notion of ‘people’s history’ can be
powerful because it extends beyond boundaries, and
expands beyond ideologies and prejudices. In that
narrative, Palestinians, South Africans, Native
Americans and many others find themselves the sons and
daughters of one collective history, one oppressive
legacy, but also part of an active community of
numerous freedom fighters, who dared to challenge and
sometimes even change the face of history. Comments 💬 التعليقات |