Fred Moten on Palestine and the Nation-State of Israel
Author(s)
Fred Moten
Jared Ware, host of Millennials Are Killing Capitalism (MAKC), conducted a conversation with cultural theorist, poet, and educator Fred Moten about Palestine, decolonization, settler colonialism, and the nation-state of Israel, streamed live on the MAKC YouTube channel 25 October 2023. We take the liberty to recirculate this in-depth reflection on the Palestinian predicament here on Prospections as part of the “To Read the War” focus.
In light of the compulsion to speak, Moten asks if the questions we should be asking ourselves is rather how we speak, to whom we speak, and with whom we are speaking? “We need to be able to make a distinction between making statements and the ethical practice of thinking and studying together in the face of the common malady that we are confronted with.” In this conversation Moten appeals to a different compulsion, that is, to think and study with one another in regards to how we renew and refine our habits of anticolonial practice.
“. . . [I]t is about the difference between expressing solidarity for their [Palestinian] anticolonial practice, and actually joining their anticolonial practice where they are with the anticolonial practices that we engage in wherever we are. They can’t be made to stand in for the principle of anticoloniality. They can’t bear that weight either. It’s about something beyond solidarity. It’s way beyond the mere expression of solidarity.”
Fred Moten
