Abdurraheem Desai discusses the goals of the Watermelon Coalition, and the importance of reading in Occupy for Palestine
Abdurraheem Desai – co-leader of the Watermelon Coalition and organiser of the Occupy for Palestine (O4P) reading circle and library – interviewed with The Strand to discuss the kinds of discourse spurred by the reading and education within the encampment over the summer. The Watermelon Coalition’s reading groups are broken down into three parts: philosophy and anthropology, history and political theory, and literature. However, the discussions within these groups go beyond these categories and cover a great variety of topics and readings.
Islamic philosophy
A topic that Desai expands upon is the plight of Islam in the 20th century. A strict dichotomy is often drawn between secular ideology and religion, but Desai wants to question whether that dichotomy actually exists. The philosophy and anthropology readings further explore and question common assumptions, such as the idea that religion inherently differs from science, or even hinders it. This dichotomy seeps into the way we discuss many topics such as ethics, morality, politics, and law, and is vital to conversations surrounding Islam and its potential political application.
Although the reading group explores decolonial theory as a whole and is often critical in their readings, they ensure that they “also [present] positive accounts of what the alternative looks like” in order to understand the full extent of the topics they read.
Israel as a secular nation-state
Israel is often characterised in relation to the Western state, largely debated to be a settler-colonial state. In broad terms, it is seen as a vessel of the West in the Middle East; a state built by the West for this very purpose. This point is contested by Israeli news outlets; however, Desai describes how the reality of Israel’s governance cannot truly be isolated in this way. He explains that “[Israel] does use religion, but religion is not the guiding force of the socio-cultural endeavors in the state, necessarily. The nation-state of Israel itself seeks to preserve its national identity, which [is] identified as Jewish, but it doesn’t use Judaism as the governing philosophy of the state. It actually uses the same model as all other states today, which is modern nation-state governance.”
Desai describes how Israel uses Judaism as an instrument to national identity as opposed to theocratic governance, similar to how the US uses “Americanism” and Canada uses “Canadian-ness.” There is no concrete doctrine defining these identities, and yet, our national identity is built off of this abstract idea. Desai argues that rather than using Judaism to create a theocratic state, Israel instead uses the religion simply as a facet towards the Israeli national identity. This seemingly utilitarian use of religion, relating to the suffering of Islam which Desai mentions earlier, is seen furthermore in Saudi Arabia in their efforts to transition into a nation-state as we know them to look like. Desai argues that Israel may ultimately fail in its attempt to shape identity in this way, as ideology cannot be blanketly applied.
The experience of the non-Western nation-state is not one that can be described using Western thinking or political terms. Governance and ideology tend to be more complex and multi-faceted, manifested in both Israel and Palestine. Religion is deeply-seated in the Middle East, and although this tends to be oversimplified in Western mainstream media, the reality of the role of religion in these states is one that requires much more care and a deeper understanding of relativity. Thus, it is important that these systems are thoroughly explored, something that cannot really occur on such a scale without the Watermelon Coalition’s reading circles.
The Palestinian experience
Upon talking about perspectives within the Free Palestine movement on campus, Desai emphasises that “Palestinians are not […] one monolith.” When it comes to the conflict itself, there are many groups involved such as the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Hamas, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine with their Marxist movement. Such diverse perspectives are equally represented on campus. Although Desai is not Palestinian, he importantly notes that Palestinians each have their own experiences and relationships with Palestine. Relativity within culture and conflict seems to be a severely underexplored facet of both O4P and conflict and revolution-related movements as a whole.
Similar to Desai’s description, during the Women, Life, Freedom movement for Iranian women, it was common to assume that what Iranian people wanted was for the Shah to be returned to the country. However, this is a crude misconstrual of the real diversity in perspective, even within the movement itself.
Among discussions facilitated through O4P, questions can be directed towards Palestinians regarding these perspectives, such as their stance on the discourse. At the core of the discourse lies the question of bias – for example, leaning more towards political Islam, nationalism, or Marxism – and through what lens each individual understands the occupation. For Desai, he “usually goes with the philosophy route, which is balanced out because the other founder of the Watermelon Coalition takes a more historical route.” Facilitating discussions like these is an important part of what O4P does and what Desai has helped do with the reading circle and the library.
Why a library in the encampment?
At the end of the day, being part of O4P is also about learning and being open to new discussions and ideas. Desai says that “the point of the Watermelon Coalition is not to make people into academics; it’s to facilitate this discourse.” Unless you study humanities or social sciences there is very little chance that these conversations can happen that effectively. So, the Watermelon Coalition works to create a third space for STEM and other students to get the chance to genuinely engage with these topics. The reading circle aims to guide people on how to think through new ideas and issues.
The Watermelon Coalition acts neither as an Instagram news source, nor as mainstream media or news. Instead, Desai explains that they work as a kind of in-between, encouraging its participants to question the things they read. With the clear biases often displayed in news outlets, it is vital to think critically about the news and information you consume. Academia is a way to facilitate this kind of thinking, and the reading circle makes this critical approach more accessible.
Conclusion
The most basic contention many have with political movements on campus is that they see them as an echo chamber. However, with the facilitation of the reading circle, this assumption can be easily discredited. It is quite easy for individuals to get wrapped up in political confirmation bias, so being encouraged to have difficult and adversarial discussions, especially from the centre of the Free Palestine movement on campus, is vital. Although the encampment may be over, the practices of critical thinking and media literacy that Desai and the Watermelon Coalition provided are ones that will shape the continuation of the Free Palestine movement on campus.
