Area D - Decolonizing with Palestine

As we are nearing the 75th commemoration of the Palestinian Nakba and the 56th year of ongoing military occupation of the West Bank I spoke to Dr. Ibrahim Shikaki, assistant professor at Trinity College, Hartford, about the political economy of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT '67), and the political and economic contextualization of recent developments in Palestine.

In this interview, recorded in November 2022, we talk about his chapter "The Political Economy of Dependency and Class Formation in the OPT since 1967", published in 2021 as part of "Political Economy of Palestine: Critical, Interdisciplinary and Decolonial Perspectives" (full source below).

Ibrahim explains his trajectory as a researcher of political economy, and argues that Palestine's economy should be viewed through the lens of dependency theory, laying out his own experience living, studying and working in the OPT of '67. He recounts first experiences of the economic ties between the periphery (purposefully underdeveloped states used for extraction and labor exploitation) and the core (industrially advanced capitalist states), and the first moments of re-connecting these different stages as seen in his own life to his work. We reflect on the involvement of the Palestinian diaspora from the Gulf to Chile through the work of Adam Hanieh, who investigated the origins of holding companies in Palestine and the flow of capital, amongst other destinations, to the Gulf countries. Also discussed are recent developments of resistance in the (Northern) OPT '67, as well as the potential tension between Non-Governmental Organizations and resistance groups.

Dr. Ibrahim Shikaki is an assistant professor at Trinity College, Hartford, USA. He completed his education in economics at the universities of Birzeit, Palestine, later completing an MS and an MA in economics in Turin, Italy and the New School, New York, USA. There he defended his PhD thesis "The Political Economy of Growth and Distribution in Palestine: History, Measurement, and Applications".

My thanks go out to Dr. Ibrahim Shikaki, Dr. Brecht de Smet, who provided the initial idea for this podcast, and lastly Abdallah Bushnaq and Nael Masud, whose songs "Falastin" and "Ana Amshi bi Qalbi" (both recorded in Nablus, Palestine, 1982) were featured.

Works mentioned:

Haddad, Toufic (2016): Palestine Ltd.: Neoliberalism and Nationalism in the Occupied Territory.

Al-Shabaka. "The Palestinian Economy: Dependency Under Occupation." April 14, 2021.https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=172359378045816. (Featuring Dr. Ibrahim Shikaki and Dr. Leila Farsakh)

Shikaki, I. (2021). The Political Economy of Dependency and Class Formation in the OPT since 1967. In A. Tartir, T. Dana, & T. Seidel (Eds.), Political Economy of Palestine: Critical, Interdisciplinary, and Decolonial Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan.

Further recommended reading is the work of Leila Farsakh.

This episode was recorded in November 8, 2022.

In this episode Berlin-based activist Majed Abusalama introduces the idea of re-narration of active resistance and repression at German academic institutions. He tells his own story of the repression that followed a protest at a university in Berlin in 2017, the consequences of which still are not clear for the group of activists that was named the Humboldt 3.

Many thanks to Majed Abusalama and Faris Amin, whose track "Get Me Bodied" was featured in this episode.