Call for Submission: The 2017 Ghassan Kanafani Writing Scholarship (Deadline 23 August 2017)

New Article Submission

Thank you for your interest in Jadaliyya. We welcome all submissions. The most significant requirement is for Jadaliyya submissions to be analytically compelling and offer a perspective or argument that has not been covered at length either on Jadaliyya or elsewhere. Because of the volume of submissions, well-written pieces are prioritized. Length is flexible, 1000 to 2500 words is the average range. However, we will accept longer pieces. Once submitted, several members of the editorial committee will review your piece and one of them will inform you of the decision.
Author Details
Article Details
Select Countries
Select Keywords
Select Topics
Only RTF, Word, and Pages documents accepted.

Recommended image size: 762x800 px

Location of each image should be indicated in the text of the article via a square bracket caption that includes: (1) a description of the image; (2) the photographer/designer and source of the image. Please note we only use images you as the author have the right to use, which usually means those of your own creation or those published under Creative Commons. Alternatively, you need specific permission from the copyright holder.
Please read the Release Form and provide an electronic signature [your full name] below to confirm that you accept its terms
Required
Hyperlink words in your article if they refer to links on the internet. We encourage more, rather than less, links (try to avoid footnotes—embed them as hyperlinks if possible)

Article added successfully.

Pages Menu BETA
May 15, 2017
[Ilustration of Ghassan Kanafani. By artist known as Watan] [Ilustration of Ghassan Kanafani. By artist known as Watan]

Call for Submission: The 2017 Ghassan Kanafani Writing Scholarship (Deadline 23 August 2017)

By : Jadaliyya Reports

"My political position springs from my being a novelist. Insofar as I am concerned, politics and the novel are an indivisible case and I can categorically state that I became politically committed because I am a novelist, not the opposite." - Ghassan Kanafani

Background

After Ghassan Kanafani graduated high school in Lebanon, he enrolled in the arts faculty at Damascus University. He then left to Kuwait to work as a school teacher, but he spent every summer in Damascus. In the summer of 1956, Ghassan and Fadel Alnaqeeb (who were both members of the Arab Nationalist Movement) met with the late Alhakam Darwazeh, one of the leaders of the movement at the time. Darwazeh told them that the cultural committee of the movement wanted them to devote their time to writing a collection of short stories to be printed and disseminated in the refugee camps.

Ghassan and Fadel were very excited to start their new task, and less than half an hour after Darazeh left, the two of them had already to decided to write six stories each. One of the stories would be titled “The First Returner,” that is, the first refugee who would return to Palestine. Ghassan had already sketched the cover, of course featuring the face of that first returner.

Ghassan’s short story teaches us many things: devotion, determination, commitment, vision, and, indeed, an unshakable belief in victory and liberation. Every time we revisit him, he gives us more reasons to honor him, to celebrate him, and to follow in his footsteps. More than anything, he, along with the many other Palestinian intellectuals, cultural workers, artists and figures, have taught us that intellectual production must emerge from the movement. They have taught us that relevant, timely, nuanced and worthwhile scholarship and art tells the story of the collective and to truly know that story, we must be a part of it. Ghassan has also taught us the power of words in telling our story to the world to humanize our people, make legible our cause, and legitimize our long standing steadfastness and resistance. It is on this premise and with this spirit that we are humbly presenting this anthology. We would like to use this opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to empowering the voices of our youth by cultivating a space for a collective leadership to emerge. We should view cultural perseverance and preservation as central principles in our cause, especially in the face of ongoing cultural erasure and literal occupation and ethnic cleansing.

Previous Writing Competition

The first annual Ghassan Kanafani Scholarship submissions speaks volumes to the incredible talent we have among our youth who give voice to the shared experiences we have all felt about identity, exile, racialization, loss, and placelessness. We live on the margins of invisibility, carrying our homes in our hearts and silencing our memories in order to survive in this strange place. And yet, that silence is tested amidst the hostile social and political conditions of living in the US as young Palestinians. Dislocated, disrupted, and deeply defined by our collective imagination of Palestine, this project along with much of the other activities and programs PYM conducts, is about transforming silence into collective movement work. It is about turning our pain into power, our loss into community, and our silence into resistance.

The works included in this anthology are incredible, and we are so excited to share twenty of the submissions we received for this initiative. All submissions have been submitted by Palestinian youth living in the US. The first three pieces in this 2016 edition of the anthology received the scholarship prizes: Jazella Jajeh with the first prize, George Abraham the second prize, and Hamza Abed the third prize. The remaining 17 all received a special acknowledgement from our five-person jury and are included in this anthology. The jury this year included writers, scholars, poets, and playwrights from the Palestinian community, and we are deeply thankful for their voluntary time and support in seeing this project through.

More than anything, this initiative has shown us how connected we are and how much we need to create spaces for us, by us and from us. To foster deeper senses of peoplehood, community and collectivity despite all that has tried to break us, are the fundamental principles motivating much of our work. The writings in this anthology are testament to this and we would like to sincerely thank you for engaging in this initiative with us. We need your voices, and we hope this project will both uplift these expressions of who we are and inspire others to begin crafting new narratives. 

We also want to thank all of you for reading and supporting us. This is a completely grassroots initiative, and we hope to see your continued support so that we may continue and expand this initiative for years to come--you can buy the anthology and donate easily online. Finally, we hope you enjoy reading this as much as we did and look forward to reading and publishing the submissions for the 2017 scholarship.

2017 Writing Competition

The Palestinian Youth Movement’s Ghassan Kanafani Writing Scholarship is open to Palestinian residents and citizens of the United States, 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. 

Submission Requirements:

  • Eligibility: open to Palestinian-American youth (at least one parent must be from historic Palestine, though they might not necessarily have been born there), must be a US resident (this includes those who are studying here in the US), and must be between the ages of 18-25 years old.
  • Your writing submission should describe your experience around identity, the shataat, or anything regarding your relationship to Palestine and being Palestinian. We accept any form of writing--poetry, short story, fiction/non-fiction. Please limit submissions to 3-5 pages; 3,000 word limit. Feel free to include photos, art, or other multimedia to supplement your writing piece. Get creative! There are no borders to this.
  • In order to ensure objectivity in our review process, DO NOT include your name on your submission piece.
  • One entry per person. The submission must reflect work that is previously unpublished.
  • All applicants must fill out this form to complete submission. If submission materials can not be uploaded here, please send to gkscholarshippym@gmail.com
  • Winning pieces will be published and printed in an anthology that will be posted online and distributed.
  • Application deadline is: August 23rd, 2017.

The scholarship is the first of its kind in the United States. By awarding these scholarships and compiling an anthology of our top twenty submissions, we aim to provide a space for Palestinians in the diaspora to reflect on their Palestinian identities, positionality, and relationships to Palestine. In honor of the works and vision of the heroic novelist, Ghassan Kanafani, the scholarship aims to focus on Palestinian history, our past, present, and future struggles, and our multi-faceted identities.

2016 was the inaugural launch of the scholarship. We hope that it will continue for many years to come. Please support this initiative by buying the anthology and donating to the scholarship. 

  • ALSO BY THIS AUTHOR

    • Long Form Podcast Episode 8: Resigning the State Department Over Gaza With Hala Rharrit

      Long Form Podcast Episode 8: Resigning the State Department Over Gaza With Hala Rharrit

      In this episode of Long Form, Hala Rharrit discusses the factors that led her to resign from the US State Department, the mechanisms by which institutional corruption and ideological commitments of officials and representatives ensure US support for Israel, and how US decision-makers consistently violate international law and US laws/legislation. Rharrit also addresses the Trump administration’s claim that South Africa is perpetrating genocide against the country’s Afrikaaner population, and how this intersects with the US-Israeli campaign of retribution against South Africa for hauling Israel before the ICJ on charges of genocide.

    • Emergency Teach-In — Israel’s Profound Existential Crisis: No Morals or Laws Left to Violate!

      Emergency Teach-In — Israel’s Profound Existential Crisis: No Morals or Laws Left to Violate!

      The entire globe stands behind Israel as it faces its most intractable existential crisis since it started its slow-motion Genocide in 1948. People of conscience the world over are in tears as Israel has completely run out of morals and laws to violate during its current faster-paced Genocide in Gaza. Israelis, state and society, feel helpless, like sitting ducks, as they search and scramble for an inkling of hope that they might find one more human value to desecrate, but, alas, their efforts remain futile. They have covered their grounds impeccably and now have to face the music. This is an emergency call for immediate global solidarity with Israel’s quest far a lot more annihilation. Please lend a helping limb.

    • Long Form Podcast Episode 7: Think Tanks and Manufactuing Consent with Mandy Turner (4 June)

      Long Form Podcast Episode 7: Think Tanks and Manufactuing Consent with Mandy Turner (4 June)

      In this episode, Mandy Turner discusses the vital role think tanks play in the policy process, and in manufacturing consent for government policy. Turner recently published a landmark study of leading Western think tanks and their positions on Israel and Palestine, tracing pronounced pro-Israel bias, where the the key role is primarily the work of senior staff within these institutions, the so-called “gatekeepers.”
Feb 16, 2011 Lebanon
Jadaliyya Reports By :
Jadaliyya Reports

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