The Anthology

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Anthology Theme

The era of the Unity Intifada, the focus of last year’s Resistance Arts Scholarship and the spark of renewed conviction and resistance for Palestinians all around the world, also highlighted another era, one that has existed in the shadows of the disastrous Oslo Accords, which foregrounds our struggle as a new generation.

The loud-ringing and familiar questions of who am I, where do I belong and what is my role in the fight for Palestine took a different form for all Palestinian youth in exile as youth amassed on the frontlines in Palestine and in demonstrations throughout the diaspora. These are questions too often answered by familiar symbols, the clamor of identity crisis and identity politics, in the wake of assimilation, defeatism, and tokenization of “Palestinian-ness”, which we inherit from the severing of our collective society and the pressures of survival. When we grapple with our identities in crisis, it is one drenched in political implications, emotional shrapnel, nostalgia and more than a century of resistance. Reclaiming our rich and vibrant legacy of Palestinian struggle and youth leadership in our national liberation struggle, the courage and ingenuity of our cause, is the very lineage that holds the keys to unlocking necessary answers to these questions in crisis.

Our current generation of Palestinian youth in exile are experiencing increasing level of alienation from our homeland, especially in the Global North or “the West”. Unlike our parents’ and grandparents’ generations, who could participate in Palestinian national politics, our generation is denied the pathway to inform our own struggle and engage in meaningful participation in our national politics from wherever we exist, something that has demarcated our history as Palestinian people and for which we are known throughout the world. Our generation is faced with current questions about who we are and our role in the movement because of the vacuum left by the Oslo Accords. In the pursuit of defining, understanding and grappling with who we are, we are called to create what can be through relearning the history of what was.

This year we ask you, Palestinian youth, where do we go from here?

The Oslo Accords, signed in 1993 by Yasser Arafat, Itzhak Rabin, facilitated by Bill Clinton, resulted in the total collapse of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), the recognized representative governing body of the Palestinian People world-wide. The signing of the Oslo Accords subsequently dissolved the Department of Popular Organizations, which allowed for transnational engagement through groups like the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS), General Union of Palestinian Women, General Union of Palestinian Workers, General Union of Palestinian Doctors, and many others. The Oslo Accords changed the trajectory of Palestinian life, politics, and fate of our people and our struggle. It notably created the administrative, non-representative Palestinian Authority, whose role is to coordinate Israeli colonial rule over the Palestinian people, which still operates today as an extension of Israeli government policies and aspirations for the Land of Palestine and its people.

Last year, we challenged Palestinian youth in the shataat of North America to imagine what the future of our struggle might look like through engaging the new landscape of resistance created through the Unity Intifada. This year, in our seventh year of the Ghassan Kanafani Resistance Arts Scholarship, we aim to encourage Palestinian youth to engage in our People’s current historical moment by reclaiming and re-engaging in a broader, political Palestinian identity. In the decades since the Oslo Accords, Palestinians have witnessed our homeland shrink before our eyes, with global powers intent on keeping us politically separated from our national resistance and removing more parcels of land from the Palestinians that live upon them. The Oslo Process has left us to grapple with questions of identity and belonging in a void, away from the political process, from the land, and from each other.

We do not have a definitive answer as to what to do and who we are post-Oslo, but we are building the path forward through taking up the responsibility of rebuilding our national liberation struggle, in the way that Palestinian youth always have. It is our collective responsibility to answer these questions as those who are in charge of building the future of Palestine, who have to carry the implication of over 74 years of political and cultural resistance to the dissolution of our struggle and ourselves. This is why the PYM was birthed and it is why we still exist.

So, we ask you, our new generation of Palestinian youth in exile, what are your reflections on your own identity crisis or questions of authenticity? Where do you seek your answers and what are they? What does it mean to reengage our role of rebuilding a Palestinian community and reinvigorating our national liberation struggle worldwide? How do we revive a revolutionary Palestinian identity, one that confronts Zionism around the world and rebuilds collective participation in exile? How can we rebuild our Palestinian civil society in a way that serves our needs now? How do we free ourselves? How do we Return to Palestine?

About the Project

The Palestinian Youth Movement’s Ghassan Kanafani Resistance Arts Scholarship is open to Palestinians residing in the United States or Canada who are aged 18-25.

Each year, the contribution of prize money to the top three submissions is intended for their educational expenses in order to propagate their paths of inquiry and creativity.

The scholarship is the first of its kind in North America. By awarding these scholarships and compiling an anthology of our top 20 submissions, we aim to provide a space for Palestinians in the diaspora to reflect on their Palestinian identities, positionality, and relationships to Palestine.

We are raising funds to help support the continuation of the scholarship initiative. You can support in a few ways:

1. Donate and receive an anthology (either in digital or printed format)

2. Donate below (without receiving the anthology)

3. Sponsor a scholarship (e-mail gkscholarshippym@gmail.com for more info!)

This is a completely grassroots initiative, so all funds will go directly to the scholarship awards and expansion of this initiative for years to come. Please consider contributing to this cause and sharing with all of your networks and friends.

Anthologies

Below are the options to donate and receive either a digital or printed version of our past Ghassan Kanafani Resistance Arts Anthologies!

2019 ANTHOLOGY

To donate and receive a digital version of the 2019 anthology, Knocking on the Doors of Jerusalem, click here.

2017 Anthology

To donate and receive a printed version of the 2017 anthology, click here. Click below for the digital version.

2016 Anthology

To donate and receive a printed version of the 2016 anthology, click here. Click below for the digital version.

SUBMISSIONS

A sample of the work: 2016 submission by Salsabeel Abdelhamid

Winning submission in 2019: Handala’s Dream by Lina Abojaradeh

DONATE TO THE FUND

To donate to the Ghassan Kanafani Scholarship Fund without receiving the anthology, click below.