The International Solidarity Movement
by Safaa Daoud
Since militarism, exploitation and oppression are globalised
problems we need global resistance and global solidarity with each
other in order to be able to construct new social relations. Within the
organising committee of the War Resisters International conference
Globalising Nonviolence we have discussed the problem of how to
mobilise global nonviolent resistance which is guided by local needs
and context, not becoming a new form of imperialism from outside where
foreign (read Western) activists impose their solutions since they
think they know better. The International Solidarity Movement has since
its start shown the possibility and strength of an international
nonviolent intervention in an armed conflict, but despite successes,
there are also (always) problems. We asked Safaa Daoud, a student of
peace and development at School of Global Studies, Gothenburg
University, Sweden, to interview some ISM activists and reflect on the
movement as an example of global nonviolent resistance. (Ed.)
By Safaa Daoud
Shortly after the outbreak of the second Intifada in Palestine, in the
summer of 2001, nonviolence activists in the West Bank called for
international support in the struggle against the Israeli occupation.
At this time, the illegal occupation of Palestinian land showed no
signs of retreat, it rather seemed to advance and intensify. The
Intifada was a result of the Israeli occupation, the lack of power of
the Palestinian authorities and the frustration over the world’s
incapacity to solve the conflict. It was, and still is, a protest
against the failure of the peace agreements signed in Oslo 1993. The
first Intifada happened in the late 80s, and the resistance took the
form of, all in all, a nonviolent strategy. But the general view of
nonviolent resistance during the second Intifada is that it is
ineffective and does not apply to Israeli politics. The violence of the
occupation is fiercer this time and the pressure from the outside world
on Israel to withdraw is weaker than ever before. The fact that the
Palestinian people are unwilling to leave the land is the source of the
general resistance today; to stay put, and not give in to the Israeli
state force. If it is the will of the Israeli government to force the
Palestinian people to withdraw then staying becomes the resistance.
Even though the current general view in Palestine is that nonviolence
is ineffective and that it has shrunk into a small movement compared to
the first Intifada, the direct nonviolence activism has survived
throughout the years. This small nonviolence movement realised that as
long as there isn’t a fully developed, mobilised and organised
Palestinian nonviolence movement, help from the outside world would be
needed in order to continue the work. At this point, the International
Solidarity Movement (ISM) was founded. The anticipated effect of having
international activists taking part in the actions is that it will
reduce the level of violence from the Israeli military. The idea is
that for a country, dependent on legitimacy from the outside world, a
citizen not directly involved in the conflict will hold immunity
against injury or death. This means that it would be harder to use
violence against a nonviolent demonstrator and a non-Palestinian
citizen. But this assumption has been proven wrong. Two activists,
American Rachel Coree and British Tom Hurndall, were killed by Israeli
military in 2003. Many severe injuries and even more lighter injuries
have occurred. Arrests and deportations of international activists are
rather common. Even though this is the case, the general experience is
that the participation of an international citizen in actions actually
does lower the threat of violence from the Israeli military. Also there
have been Israeli peace activists participating in actions with ISM.
But even though they are directly involved in the conflit as Israeli
citizens, the experience is that they receive pretty much the same
treatment from the Israeli military as the international activists do.
The international laws of the UN state that a country under occupation
has the right to defend itself with military force. ISM is in full
agreement with these international laws and with the UN resolutions
that demand Israel to withdraw its occupation. This accord with
international laws is seen as the reason for ISM: s existence. In this
sense the ISM supports the Palestinians right to military resistance
against Israeli military targets. However, ISM believes in the
nonviolence part of the resistance. The nonviolence activist uses this
method exclusively and perceives it as an effective and powerful tool
against the occupation. ISM has not only survived since its foundation,
but also been successful as an international movement working through
nonviolence strategy. In this article I would like to present what ISM
activists has pointed out to me in interviews on what they personnally
think has made their work possible.
Since the foundation of ISM, estimations tell us that about 300 Swedish
citizens have travelled to the occupied territories. Some have
travelled several times. Maria, one contact person for the Swedish ISM
tells me: “The international activists are the tools that make the
struggle possible to perform as the Palestinians want it”. It is a
method of resistance that can mean acting as protection through
following children being harassed on their way to school or guarding
Palestinian homes at risk of being demolished. From my understanding,
ISM has two overlapping goals. First is to demonstrate to the world the
violations of human rights that the occupation implies. This is partly
realized through weekly demonstrations. There are also campaigns held
every summer and widespread demonstrations are made throughout the
occupied territories. Furthermore, activists report their witnesses and
experiences of the occupation to their home countries. A contact person
forwards the information to media. Written reports are also
continuously sent back to home countries and some activists write
articles for newspapers. In a way they are acting as an eye to the
outside world. This is crucial considering the isolation that the
Palestinian people are living in. Another goal is to fill the need of
protection that the Palestinian people lack in many ways. The activist
goes where there is a need to be filled. This can mean protecting a
Palestinian farmer from harassment that make her or him unable to work,
or setting up a vigil outside Palestinian houses that are under the
risk of having family members arrested, only to name a few of the
actions. Lately, the building of the Separation Wall has been in focus.
International ISM activists can be needed in negotiations at the gates
to make it easier for Palestinian people to pass through.
ISM is a movement in the sense that it has no record over its members.
People join the movement and travel to Palestine as individuals, and
not as members of an organisation.
The flexibility of joining is one of the positive things prone with ISM
being a movement.
People, who want to join, book their own ticket and stand for the
travelling and living expenses during their stay. When joining the
movement, the member can be active in the home country, go to the
occupied territories or, by all means, do both. If the decision is to
go to the occupied territories, compulsory procedures will prepare for
the time spent there. The preparation contains a two days-training in
how ISM perceives nonviolence, what is to be expected from the Israeli
military, background and history of the occupation, and further ahead
in time, how to deal with difficult emotional experiences during the
stay. Another point that makes it easy to collaborate is concerned with
the ideological position of the participant. ISM is not connected to
any political parties or religious believes. The demands of
participating are simplified to agreeing on the most basic grounds for
achieving the cause. In this case, the demands are that a participant
should be in alliance with the UN resolutions and to nonviolence.
Hence, in this sense, the ISM is of interest and welcomes those, no
matter gender, age or nationality, prepared to accept these conditions.
In addition, the occupation is not only a territorial matter fought on
specific grounds. It is in no less degree fought in the home countries
of the international activists and needs to be battled there too. This
implies collaborating with other solidarity organisations to pressure
the politics of their governments and to campaign for boycott of
merchandise and trade strongly connected to sustaining the occupation.
One example is to demonstrate outside travelling agencies that sell
vacation trips to occupied territories.
When it comes to the question of decision-making, ISM has no
leadership. It is organised through local groups founded by those
active in the movement. All decisions are taken in consensus. This
makes it optional for participants to join the actions, as it is
important that they feel comfortable in taking part in what has been
planned. However, there have been examples of activists feeling obliged
to contribute. Simply because there come periods when there is a
shortage of activists. Nonetheless, the consensus way of
decision-making has been of great importance for ISM. However, the
international activists are in Palestine due to a call from Palestinian
activists. They go to the occupied territories, knowing that they do so
only to fill a need that the Palestinian activists know more about than
someone coming from the outside. So the decisions that are to be done
rely very much on the knowledge of the fellow Palestinian activists,
talks to the people living in the area where actions are to be made and
the local authorities. This leads us to another condition stated by
ISM, which also can be seen as an additional reason behind its
achievements. For someone coming from the outside, joining the
struggle, means joining it as it is set by those living within the
conflict. This becomes even more important as actions can alter
consequences in form of response from the Israeli military on local
communities where they are taking place. The movement has tried to
avoid situations where the received help is on the conditions of the
one helping. Palestinian nonviolence activists called for the start of
the movement and have since then been the ones stating the core
conditions for how particular actions in the struggle is done. In this
way, the ISM is trying to deal with the post-colonial trap; the
“westerner” helping the “other“. This makes the practical work, on the
occupied territories, easier for ISM, as the international
participators receive a high level of acceptance from the Palestinian
people.
One of the internal problems that ISM experiences are found in the
method of consensus, as there is a difficulty of making sure that all
have spoken and taken part in the decision-making. This is a big
problem especially when looking at it from a gender perspective. Male
leading roles often arise early on in the work. ISM has tried to take
this into consideration. Trainings, recently set up in Jerusalem,
highlight the question of gender structures that exist within the
movement. Furthermore, the number of people coming to join ISM in
Palestine cannot be predicted and that has also been expressed as a
problem. The flexibility of joining the movement is therefore not only
positive as it was mentioned before. Obviously, there have been
different kinds of external problems that make the work of ISM
difficult. Except for expected confrontations with the Israeli
military, there are obstacles such as roadblocks and checkpoints that
make the coordination of activists problematic. There is also a great
need for activists on the occupied territories. But there is insecurity
when crossing the Israeli border, whether to get through or not. Even
though it is legal to be part of the movement, one can easily be sent
back to the home country by border police due to the participation.
The legitimacy of ISM is another important aspect that has been pointed
out to me in talks to ISM-activists. In order to survive, the
legitimacy in the countries where the movement exists is vital. This
can be understood when looking at it from a broader perspective. After
the events of 9/11, the American discourse of world politics involves
the dichotomy of “Either you’re with us, or against us”. This has led
to anti-terrorism laws that made it possible to proclaim organisations
and movements as terrorist and illegal without public evidence or
trials. Even though ISM is critical of US and European politics, these
unjust laws have not yet affected it. Another point of legitimacy must
be recognised as ISM: s nonviolence strategy many times must involve
civil disobedience. Though civil disobedience has been necessary for
ISM, it seems not to have affected the movement’s legitimacy throughout
the years. The Geneva Convention makes the occupation illegal and
stands in this conflict in favour of the Palestinian authorities. But
international forces are not there to uphold the law and do not seem to
be in the near future. What is the weight of international law in this
matter; if a government does not seem to respect it and the rest of the
world do little to uphold it? What then is the weight of the laws in
the same country that does not respect international law? This, as I
believe, is one of the reasons why ISM has sustained its legitimacy in
the eyes of the world. Civilians are taking matters in their own hands
and act upon what is stated in international law and the resolutions of
the UN. This has meant per automatic breaking the laws of the
occupation.
ISM reflects some of the different dimensions of the age of
globalisation. In terms of the globalisation of a struggle, the ISM is
an example of how that can be done. The role of information technology
is crucial to communication and information spreading. That is
essential in order to make an international movement work at all. The
recognition of the impact of international politics is another
dimension. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a battle that involves
more than two nations seen from a global perspective. US and European
politics affect the conflict constantly and so hold a responsibility in
its outcome. Furthermore, a pressure from the rest of the international
community is needed. This is acknowledged by ISM activists that
identify themselves with each other in the frustration they feel over
their governments’ responsibility in the conflict.
As it appears to me, the reason behind why the nonviolent Palestinian
struggle was taken to the international level was because the
violations of human rights saw no territorial limitations. The
International Solidarity Movement is one example of several movements
that saw an issue that applied to people across national borders. The
recognition of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as being something more
than a conflict concerning only territory, gathered thousands of
solidarity and peace activists around the world. The ISM activist sees
through borders and barriers in the matter of human rights and
international justice. No borders in the matter of crossing a country
and few barriers in defying its laws. A serious consequence is that
people’s lives will be at risk, and that is taken into consideration.
But, the prospect of people living under a seemingly never-ending
occupation is taken additionally into the very same consideration.
References:
Information based on interviews and the help of Shora Esmailian, Lo
Bjerregaard and Maria Genberg active in Swedish ISM. The interviews are
done between March and April 2006 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Further
information based on an interview with George Rishmawi for Palestinian
Centre for Rapprochement between people done in November 2005 through a
phone call.
Aladin, Laurieann and Stohlman, Nancy (ed.) Live from
Palestine-International and Palestinian direct action against the
Israeli occupation. 2003. Cambridge: South End Press
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