Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique

Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique is an important addition to the scholarship on social movements and queer and feminist praxes in the MENA region as well as queer and feminist politics and national liberation in the case of Palestine. Sa’ed Atshan uses an intersectional lens for his analysis of queer Palestine and urges activists and scholars to rethink the meaning and practice of critique, solidarity, and social movement building. The book is divided into five chapters focusing on LGBTQ Palestinians and the politics of the ordinary; global solidarity and the politics of pinkwashing; transnational activism and the politics of boycotts; media, film, and the politics of representation; and critique of empire and the politics of academia. Atshan uses ethnography, autoethnography, and sixty-five interviews with queer Palestinians and activists to explore the local and global connections in the Palestinian queer movement. He traces the development of this movement, as well as the pinkwashing branding campaigns by the Israeli state and pinkwashing by Palestinian activists and those who stand in solidarity with them. Atshan’s main critique is against those he refers to as radical purists, who, whether Palestinian or not, privilege a single voice as a representative of the movement. This critique is leveled by academics, journalists, and even queer activists and has contributed in his view to pure ideological positions that have silenced activists and put them on the defensive. He also wonders why the queer solidarity movement for Palestine plateaued after 2012. Atshan distinguishes between critique in the spirit of solidarity and critique as a disciplining mechanism aimed at silencing or disempowering queer Palestinians through discursive disfranchisement. He argues that critiques from radical purists often contribute to the splintering and weakening of the queer Palestinian solidarity movement. Queer Palestinian solidarity activists emphasize the intersection between Israeli militarism, LGBTQ pride celebrations, international tourism, and the erasure of Palestinian suffering. This in their view forms the hallmark of Israeli pinkwashing. In its attempt to brand itself as a gay haven, Israel maintains a hypocritical position that amounts to a civilizing mission for gay rights. Atshan argues that the political currents of radical purism have subsequently helped transform the critique of empire into an “empire of critique” in which queer Palestinians— and to a large extent many of their allies—find themselves under numerous overlapping regimes of surveillance, suspicion, and control. The consequences for such acts are discursive disenfranchisement, prioritizing resistance to Zionism over resistance to homophobia, and a lack of growth of the queer Palestinian solidarity movement.