Authors in Support of Occupy Wall Street and Related Movements

[statement from occupywriters.com] [statement from occupywriters.com]

Authors in Support of Occupy Wall Street and Related Movements

By : Jadaliyya Reports

[The following statement was issued by a group of authors in support of the Occupy movements. It was recently published on occupywriters.com]

We, the undersigned writers and all who will join us, support Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy Movement around the world.

  • Lorraine Adams, author of Harbor
  • Rose Aguilar, author of Red Highways
  • Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina
  • Steve Almond, author of Letters from People Who Hate Me
  • Katie Arnold-Ratliff, author of Bright Before Us
  • Margaret Atwood, author The Handmaid`s Tale
  • Rosecrans Baldwin, author of You Lost Me There
  • Russell Banks, author of Lost Memory of Skin
  • Jon Robin Baitz, author of Other Desert Cities
  • Rick Bass, author of Why I Came West
  • Matthew Battles, author of Library
  • Elif Batuman, author of The Possessed
  • Alison Bechdel, author of Dykes to Watch Out For
  • Aimee Bender, author of The Girl in the Flammable Skirt
  • Karen E. Bender, author of Like Normal People
  • Kate Bernheimer, author of Horse, Flower, Bird
  • Anselm Berrigan, author of Notes from Irrelevance
  • David Bezmozgis, author of The Free World
  • Carla Blumenkranz, editor, n+1 Magazine
  • Max Blumenthal, author of Republican Gomorrah
  • Robert Boswell, author of The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards
  • Helen Boyd, author of My Husband Betty
  • Adam Braver, author of November 22, 1963
  • Jane Brox, author of Brilliant
  • Maria Bustillos, author of Dorkismo
  • Judith Butler, author of Gender Trouble
  • Cynthia Carr, author of Our Town
  • Emily Chenoweth, author of Hello Goodbye
  • Lance Cleland, editor, Tin House
  • Joshua Cohen, author of Witz
  • Randy Cohen, author of The Good, the Bad and the Difference
  • Kim Cooper, author of Neutral Milk Hotel`s `In the Aeroplane Over the Sea`
  • Lucy Corin, author of The Entire Predicament
  • Caleb Crain, author of American Sympathy
  • Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours
  • Anne-Christine D`Adesky, author of Under the Bone
  • John D`Agata, author of About a Mountain
  • Eric Darton, author of Divided We Stand
  • Siddhartha Deb, author of The Beautiful and the Damned
  • Jonathan Dee, author of The Privileges
  • Samuel R. Delany, author of Through The Valley of the Nest of Spiders
  • Stacey D`Erasmo, author of A Seahorse Year
  • Marcy Dermansky, author of Bad Marie
  • Toi Derricotte, author of The Black Notebooks
  • Matthew Dickman, author of All-American Poem
  • Kira Brunner Don, editor, Lapham`s Quarterly
  • Timothy Donnelly, author of The Cloud Corporation
  • Andre Dubus III, author of Townie
  • Jennifer Egan, author of A Visit from the Goon Squad
  • Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed
  • Ben Ehrenreich, author of Ether
  • Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues
  • Brian Evenson, author of The Open Curtain
  • Paul La Farge, author of Luminous Airplanes
  • Henry Farrell, Crooked Timber
  • Harriet Fasenfest, author of A Householder`s Guide to the Universe
  • Paul Ford, Ftrain
  • Steve Fraser, author of Wall Street
  • Sasha Frere-Jones, The New Yorker
  • Jaclyn Friedman, author of What You Really Want
  • Peter Gadol, author of Silver Lake
  • Neil Gaiman, author of American Gods
  • V.V. Ganeshananthan, author of Love Marriage
  • Keith Gessen, author of All the Sad Young Literary Men
  • Jennifer Gilmore, author of Something Red
  • Todd Gitlin, author of Undying
  • Christopher Glazek, editor, n+1 Magazine
  • Myla Goldberg, author of Bee Season
  • Vivian Gornick, author of Fierce Attachments
  • Kevin Alexander Gray, author of Waiting For Lightning to Strike
  • Mark Greif, editor, n+1 Magazine
  • Tom Grimes, author of Mentor
  • Lauren Groff, author of The Monsters of Templeton
  • Jason Grote, author of Maria/Stuart
  • Allan Gurganus, author of Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All
  • Beth Gutcheon, author of Leeway Cottage
  • D.D. Guttenplan, author of American Radical
  • Marilyn Hacker, author of Names
  • J.C. Hallman, author of In Utopia
  • A.S. Hamrah, n+1 Magazine
  • Chad Harbach, author of The Art of Fielding
  • Thom Hartmann, author of Threshold
  • Adam Haslett, author of Union Atlantic
  • Ernest Hebert, author of Never Back Down
  • Chris Hedges, author of War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning
  • Jane Hirshfield, author of Nine Gates
  • Adam Hochschild, author of To End All Wars
  • Arlie Hochschild, author of The Second Shift
  • Roger D. Hodge, author of The Mendacity of Hope
  • Donovan Hohn, author of Moby-Duck
  • Michael Honey, author of Going Down Jericho Road
  • Adam Horowitz, co-editor, The Goldstone Report
  • Andrew Hsiao, editor, Verso Book of Dissent
  • Cynthia Huntington, author of Heavenly Bodies
  • Lewis Hyde, author of The Gift
  • Marlon James, author of The Book of Night Women
  • Sarah Jones, author of Bridge & Tunnel
  • Kathryn Joyce, author of Quiverfull
  • Jessica Francis Kane, author of The Report
  • Esther Kaplan, author of With God On Their Side
  • Mary Karr, author of Lit
  • Remi Kanazi, author of Poetic Injustice
  • Ismail Khalidi, author of Tennis in Nablus
  • Richard Kim, editor, The Nation
  • Laura Kipnis, author of Against Love
  • Roger King, A Girl From Zanzibar
  • A.S. King, author of Please Ignore Vera Dietz
  • Mark Kingwell, author of The World We Want
  • Jay Kirk, author of Kingdom Under Glass
  • Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine
  • Cheston Knapp, editor, Tin House
  • Scott Korb, author of Life in Year One
  • Nancy Kricorian, author of Dreams of Bread and Fire
  • Jim Krusoe, author of Toward You
  • Benjamin Kunkel, author of Indecision
  • Dorianne Laux, author of The Book of Men
  • Jackson Lears, author of Rebirth of a Nation
  • Young Jean Lee, author of The Shipment
  • Gary Lenhart, author of The World in a Minute
  • Jonathan Lethem, author of The Fortress of Solitude
  • Sam Lipsyte, author of The Ask
  • Kenji Liu, author of You Left Without Your Shoes
  • William Bryant Logan, author of Dirt
  • Eireann Lorsung, author of Music For Landing Planes By
  • Maria Luarino, author of Were You Always an Italian?
  • Fiona Maazel, author of Last Last Chance
  • Holly MacArthur, editor, Tin House
  • Peter Manseau, author of Songs for the Butcher`s Daughter
  • Amanda Marcott, author of Get Opinionated
  • Miriam Markowitz, editor, The Nation
  • Sara Marcus, author of Girls to the Front
  • Alane Mason, translator of Conversations in Sicily
  • Anthony McCann, author of I Heart Your Fate
  • Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy
  • Sheila McClear, author of Last of the Live Nude Girls
  • Patrick McGrath, author of Asylum
  • Askold Melnyczuk, author of House of Windows
  • China Miéville, author of Embassytown
  • Mark Crispin Miller, author of The Bush Dyslexicon
  • Katherine Min, author of Secondhand World
  • Lee Montgomery, author of The Things Between Us
  • Rick Moody, author of The Four Fingers of Death
  • Honor Moore, author of The Bishop`s Daughter
  • Keith Lee Morris, author of The Dart League King
  • Bradford Morrow, author of The Diviner`s Tale
  • Brian Morton, author of Starting Out in the Evening
  • Yascha Mounk, The Utopian
  • Quince Mountain, editor, Killing the Buddha
  • Duncan Murrell, Harper`s Magazine
  • Eileen Myles, author of Cool for You
  • David Nasaw, author of Andrew Carnegie
  • Debbie Nathan, author of Sybil Exposed
  • Maggie Nelson, author of The Art of Cruelty
  • Ann Neumann, editor, The Revealer
  • Maud Newton, author of When the Flock Changed
  • Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of Lucky Fish
  • Hoa Nguyen, author of Hecate Lochia
  • Danica Novgorodoff, author of Slow Storm
  • D. Nurkse, author of The Border Kingdom
  • Meghan O`Rourke, author of The Long Goodbye
  • Ann Patchett, author of State of Wonder
  • Benjamin Percy, author of The Wilding
  • Tony Perez, editor, Tin House Books
  • Rick Perlstein, author of Nixonland
  • Charles Petersen, editor, n+1 Magazine
  • Dushko Petrovich, editor, Paper Monument
  • Tom Piazza, author of Why New Orleans Matters
  • Darryl Pinckney, author of High Cotton
  • Letty Cottin Pogrebin, author of Deborah, Golda, and Me
  • Donald Ray Pollock, author of The Devil All the Time
  • Katha Pollitt, author of The Mind-body Problem
  • D.A. Powell, author of Chronic
  • Francine Prose, author of Blue Angel
  • Stephen Prothero, author of Religious Literacy
  • David Rakoff, author of Don`t Get Too Comfortable
  • Jon Raymond, author of Livability
  • Paul Reyes, author of Exiles in Eden
  • Carolina De Robertis, author of The Invisible Mountain
  • Matthew Rohrer, author of Destroyer and Preserver
  • Theodore Ross, author of Am I a Jew
  • Marco Roth, editor, n+1 Magazine
  • Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses
  • Douglas Rushkoff, author of Life Inc
  • Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia!
  • Mike Sacks, author of Your Wildest Dreams, Within Reason
  • Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, author of When Skateboards Will Be Free
  • Lilith Saintcrow, author of Redemption Alley
  • Luc Sante, author of Low Life
  • George Saunders, author of In Persuasion Nation
  • Nikil Saval, editor, n+1 Magazine
  • Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater
  • Frank Schaeffer, author of Crazy for God
  • Elissa Schappell, author of Blueprints for Building Better Girls
  • George Scialabba, author of What Are Intellectuals Good For?
  • Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family
  • Brenda Shaughnessy, author of Human Dark with Sugar
  • Helen Schulman, author of This Beautiful Life
  • Jim Shepard, author of You Think That`s Bad
  • Karen Shepard, author of Don`t I Know You?
  • David Shields, author of Reality Hunger
  • Jody Shields, author of The Fig Eater
  • Rachel Shukert, author of Everything is Going to Be Great
  • Alix Kates Shulman, author of To Love What Is
  • Sarah Shulman, author of Ties That Bind
  • Choire Sicha, The Awl
  • Daniel Smith, author of Muses, Madmen, and Prophets
  • Lemony Snicket, author of A Series Of Unfortunate Events
  • Laurel Snyder, author of Baxter, the Pig Who Wanted to Be Kosher
  • Alisa Solomon, author of Re-Dressing the Canon
  • Anna Solomon, author of The Little Bride
  • Rebecca Solnit, author of A Paradise Built in Hell
  • Ahdaf Soueif, author of The Map of Love
  • Scott Sparling, author of Wire to Wire
  • Scott Spencer, author of Endless Love
  • Rob Spillman, editor, Tin House
  • Kio Stark, author of Follow Me Down
  • Mary Helen Stefaniak, author of The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia
  • Darcey Steinke, author of Easter Everywhere
  • Matthew Stewart, author of The Management Myth
  • Meg Storey, editor, Tin House Books
  • Ginger Strand, author of Inventing Niagara
  • Meera Subramanian, editor, Killing the Buddha
  • Donna Tartt, author of The Little Friend
  • Justin Taylor, author of The Gospel of Anarchy
  • Baratunde Thurston, editor, The Onion
  • Lynne Tillman, author of American Genius
  • Gioia Timpanelli, author of What Makes a Child Lucky
  • Hannah Tinti, author of The Good Thief
  • Pauls Toutonghi, author of Red Weather
  • Catherine Tudish, author of American Cream
  • Jessica Valenti, author of The Purity Myth
  • Ayelet Waldman, author of Red Hook Road
  • Alice Walker, author of Anything We Love Can Be Saved
  • Mike Wallace, co-author of Gotham
  • Michael Walzer, author of Spheres of Justice
  • Philip Weiss, author of American Taboo
  • Gina Welch, author of In the Land of Believers
  • Joel Whitney, editor, Guernica
  • Roger White, editor, Paper Monument
  • Michelle Wildgen, author of But Not For Long
  • Brook Wilensky-Lanford, author of Paradise Lust
  • James Wolcott, author of Lucking Out
  • Naomi Wolf, author of The Beauty Myth
  • John Wray, author of Lowboy
  • Elizabeth Wurtzel, author of Prozac Nation
  • JoAnn Wypijewski, co-author of Painting by Numbers
  • Matthew Zapruder, author of Come on All You Ghosts
  • Eric Zencey, author of Panama
  • Rachel Zucker, author of Home/Birth
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Past is Present: Settler Colonialism Matters!

On 5-6 March 2011, the Palestine Society at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London will hold its seventh annual conference, "Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine." This year`s conference aims to understand Zionism as a settler colonial project which has, for more than a century, subjected Palestine and Palestinians to a structural and violent form of destruction, dispossession, land appropriation and erasure in the pursuit of a new Jewish Israeli society. By organizing this conference, we hope to reclaim and revive the settler colonial paradigm and to outline its potential to inform and guide political strategy and mobilization.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is often described as unique and exceptional with little resemblance to other historical or ongoing colonial conflicts. Yet, for Zionism, like other settler colonial projects such as the British colonization of Ireland or European settlement of North America, South Africa or Australia, the imperative is to control the land and its resources -- and to displace the original inhabitants. Indeed, as conference keynote speaker Patrick Wolfe, one of the foremost scholars on settler colonialism and professor at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia, argues, "the logic of this project, a sustained institutional tendency to eliminate the Indigenous population, informs a range of historical practices that might otherwise appear distinct--invasion is a structure not an event."[i]

Therefore, the classification of the Zionist movement as a settler colonial project, and the Israeli state as its manifestation, is not merely intended as a statement on the historical origins of Israel, nor as a rhetorical or polemical device. Rather, the aim is to highlight Zionism`s structural continuities and the ideology which informs Israeli policies and practices in Palestine and toward Palestinians everywhere. Thus, the Nakba -- whether viewed as a spontaneous, violent episode in war, or the implementation of a preconceived master plan -- should be understood as both the precondition for the creation of Israel and the logical outcome of Zionist settlement in Palestine.

Moreover, it is this same logic that sustains the continuation of the Nakba today. As remarked by Benny Morris, “had he [David Ben Gurion] carried out full expulsion--rather than partial--he would have stabilised the State of Israel for generations.”[ii] Yet, plagued by an “instability”--defined by the very existence of the Palestinian nation--Israel continues its daily state practices in its quest to fulfill Zionism’s logic to maximize the amount of land under its control with the minimum number of Palestinians on it. These practices take a painful array of manifestations: aerial and maritime bombardment, massacre and invasion, house demolitions, land theft, identity card confiscation, racist laws and loyalty tests, the wall, the siege on Gaza, cultural appropriation, and the dependence on willing (or unwilling) native collaboration and security arrangements, all with the continued support and backing of imperial power. 

Despite these enduring practices however, the settler colonial paradigm has largely fallen into disuse. As a paradigm, it once served as a primary ideological and political framework for all Palestinian political factions and trends, and informed the intellectual work of committed academics and revolutionary scholars, both Palestinians and Jews.

The conference thus asks where and why the settler colonial paradigm was lost, both in scholarship on Palestine and in politics; how do current analyses and theoretical trends that have arisen in its place address present and historical realities? While acknowledging the creativity of these new interpretations, we must nonetheless ask: when exactly did Palestinian natives find themselves in a "post-colonial" condition? When did the ongoing struggle over land become a "post-conflict" situation? When did Israel become a "post-Zionist" society? And when did the fortification of Palestinian ghettos and reservations become "state-building"?

In outlining settler colonialism as a central paradigm from which to understand Palestine, this conference re-invigorates it as a tool by which to analyze the present situation. In doing so, it contests solutions which accommodate Zionism, and more significantly, builds settler colonialism as a political analysis that can embolden and inform a strategy of active, mutual, and principled Palestinian alignment with the Arab struggle for self-determination, and indigenous struggles in the US, Latin America, Oceania, and elsewhere.

Such an alignment would expand the tools available to Palestinians and their solidarity movement, and reconnect the struggle to its own history of anti-colonial internationalism. At its core, this internationalism asserts that the Palestinian struggle against Zionist settler colonialism can only be won when it is embedded within, and empowered by, the broader Arab movement for emancipation and the indigenous, anti-racist and anti-colonial movement--from Arizona to Auckland.

SOAS Palestine Society invites everyone to join us at what promises to be a significant intervention in Palestine activism and scholarship.

For over 30 years, SOAS Palestine Society has heightened awareness and understanding of the Palestinian people, their rights, culture, and struggle for self-determination, amongst students, faculty, staff, and the broader public. SOAS Palestine society aims to continuously push the frontiers of discourse in an effort to make provocative arguments and to stimulate debate and organizing for justice in Palestine through relevant conferences, and events ranging from the intellectual and political impact of Edward Said`s life and work (2004), international law and the Palestine question (2005), the economy of Palestine and its occupation (2006), the one state (2007), 60 Years of Nakba, 60 Years of Resistance (2009), and most recently, the Left in Palestine (2010).

For more information on the SOAS Palestine Society 7th annual conference, Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine: www.soaspalsoc.org

SOAS Palestine Society Organizing Collective is a group of committed students that has undertaken to organize annual academic conferences on Palestine since 2003.

 


[i] Patrick Wolfe, Settler Colonialism and the Transformation of Anthropology: The Politics and Poetics of an Ethnographic Event, Cassell, London, p. 163

[ii] Interview with Benny Morris, Survival of the Fittest, Haaretz, 9. January 2004, http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/art.php?aid=5412