A Reading List for Those Who Stand with Palestine

For the Global Intifada

Photo by Katherin Ruiz mago on Unsplash

Regarding the situation on the ground in Gaza, I have been at a complete loss of words, for months.

For some background, I’ve been in contact with approximately five families in Palestine since early in the genocide, somewhat consistently. With the help of many comrades, I started Plates for Palestine, a Salt Lake-based organization that holds regular fundraisers for these families. I’ve also worked alongside several other fundraising groups, all with the aim of feeding these people.

I haven’t been in contact with two of those families for almost 60 days. The others are regularly displaced and readily starving. And due to an actual load of bullshit on my side, the money has stopped coming in. It’s frustrating for everyone involved, to say the least.

The biggest problem we’ve all faced on the front of the West is a lack of popular support. We are consistently harassed, disrupted, and ignored by the masses here. People don’t care enough about Palestine; they never have. In our complacency the situation has evolved into something entirely and horrifically unrecognizable.

I hope in creating this list, I can encourage you to not only become more theoretically educated, but inspire you to get some damn boots on the ground! There is so much work to be done for the people of Palestine. It’s honestly overwhelming, and completely exhausting.

As always, feel free to skip around the list as needed. Please open hyperlinks at your own risk.

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Rosa Luxemburg, The Accumulation of Capital

While I’d initially like to include Lenin’s Imperialism, that text is already present in another one of my lists; so, while that one focuses on the finance capital stage, Luxemburg’s work explains the fundamental drive of capitalism to expand and subsume non-capitalist sectors, including through colonial expansion.

This is a complementary and profound way of understanding the systemic need for capitalist states to expand globally. We see the origins and perpetuation of settler-colonialism in Palestine as an integral part of capitalist accumulation.

George Habash, Comrade Habash Speaks: An Interview with the Leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

This is a super cool primary source that provides direct views into the revolutionary thought and strategy of George Habash, a key leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Through this publication we find an understanding of the PFLP’s Marxist-Leninist analysis of the Palestinian struggle, the role of armed resistance, and its place within the broader anti-imperialist movement.

Ghassan Kanafani, Palestine’s Children: Returning to Haifa & Other Stories

While this is mainly a work of fiction, Kanafani’s writings offer a powerful and deeply humanizing portrayal of the Palestinian experience under occupation and exile. I’d recommend this for anyone newer to the movement.

As a prominent Marxist and PFLP leader, Kanafani’s works are imbued with the spirit of resistance, showing the unendingly frustrating impact of dispossession and the enduring will to return. Here I’ve found a vital emotional and cultural understanding, which is often lacking in purely theoretical analysis.

Joseph Daher, Palestine and Marxism

This is a more contemporary work, and it offers a direct and comprehensive Marxist analysis of the Palestinian struggle. Daher unearths the material foundation of Zionism, the strategic importance of Palestine for broader imperialism, and he critically assesses the historical trajectories of Palestinian political movements.

I love it because it connects classical Marxist theory to the specifities of our current clusterfuck.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Strategy for the Liberation of Palestine

This is a foundational document, and it outlines the PFLP’s strategic approach to Palestinian liberation from a Marxist-Leninist point of view. It contains an analysis of the enemy forces, the role of armed struggle, and the necessity of a revolutionary transformation.

In reading this, I got direct insight into how a leading Palestinian Marxist-Leninist organization conceives of the path to victory. It’s important to keep in mind that they aren’t the only collective of their kind, though; there are always differing opinions on the true path forward, as is true of any hard situation. Just something to think about.

V.I. Lenin, The Right of Nations to Self-Determination

This text directly addresses the ‘national question’ from a Marxist-Leninist perspective. Lenin argues for the right of oppressed nations to self-determination, including the right to secession, as a crucial component of the international proletarian struggle against imperialism.

From here, I gained a theoretical basis for supporting the Palestinian people’s right to their land and sovereignty against Zionist occupation.

Mao Zedong, On Protracted War

This work describes Mao’s theories on waging a long-term struggle against a technologically superior army — clearly relevant!

Mao’s ideas on people’s war, the three stages of protracted warfare, and the importance of mobilizing the masses can provide valuable lessons for those engaged in asymmetric warfare against an entrenched occupying power. (I’m kind of obsessed with this book. sorry?)

Domenico Losurdo, War and Revolution: Rethinking the Twentieth Century

Losurdo’s work challenges common liberal narratives about war and revolution, outlining a nuanced Marxist interpretation of the conflicts and transformations of the 20th century. While broad in the ideas described (or scope), the text still helps contextualize the Palestinian struggle within the larger history of imperialist wars and anti-colonial uprisings.

It is in this that we reinforce the understanding that the Global Intifada is part of an ongoing historical process of liberation.

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That’s it for this list :) thank you very much for reading, comrades! Keep Palestine in your hearts and minds, always.