Palestinian Identities of Diaspora: Growth and Representation Online – Sarah Al-Yahya

Palestinian Identities of Diaspora: Growth and Representation Online

SARAH BASHAR AL-YAHYA

Introduction

Arguing that those with power cannot fully impose their hegemony on a historical discourse, Siegfried Kraucer, one of the leading film theorists and cultural critics of the 20th century notes that “There are always holes in the wall for us to evade and the improbable to slip in” (Kraucer 8). History, as we know it, might be predominantly written by victors. However, in the current time of globalization and modern tools that act as vehicles for transmission, silenced memories can come to life resembling weapons “to those against whom the tide of history has turned” (Abu Lughod and Sa’di 6).

Through a cultural project of eight years entitled We Were and Still Are…Here, Tarek Bakri, a Palestinian researcher, attempts to break the wall Kraucer speaks of by documenting Palestinian oral history and the collective memory of Palestinians after the year of the Catastrophe or “Nakba” which is the year a settler-colonial state of Israel was established on 80% of mandatory Palestine through the destruction and massacre of hundreds of villages and towns (Masalha 2-3). He does so through sharing stories of the past and stories of individuals returning to visit what they define as their home villages. Bakri shares his work in the form of audiovisual productions or text posts and images shared on his social media pages: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and his website. Fueled by his dedication to the homeland and a belief stated on his website that “memory is an undeniable human right and that memory is identity” (Bakri We Were and Still Are...Here), he accumulated over thirty thousand followers on Facebook and thousands of followers on other social media platforms.

Looking at Bakri’s work, one can ask: how can we look at the online world and social media as vehicles for memory transmission and historical narratives? The concept of media and how it carries, shapes, and manages

memory is often present in theories of memory and history. For instance, in his Theory of Social Memory, Peter Burke argues that memory is affected by the “social organization of transmission”, specifically citing five different media employed for this transmission; oral traditions, still and moving images, actions/rituals, and space (47-48). What about online space and the digital realm? Andrew Hoskins, a memory researcher, addresses this question in his book, Digital Memory Studies: Media Pasts in Transition. According to Hoskins, digital memory is different, it is seen as a transformer of the parameters of the past (The Restless Past 5). Hoskins also outlines concerns regarding digital memory and its validity, depth, accountability, and bias (“Memory of the Multitude” 85-109). Nonetheless, I believe we should look at the online world as an extension of the physical world, specifically in terms of memory because it provides us with more options to archive, commemorate, and resist forgetting what is specifically relevant for populations dealing with realities of loss, dispersion, and struggle, such as the Palestinians (Schulz 2).

The desire to commemorate and resist forgetting is reminiscent of Pierre Nora’s work on lieux de memoire. A lieu de memoir’s fundamental purpose is to “stop time, to block the work of forgetting, to establish a state of things, to immortalize death, to materialize the immaterial” (Nora 19). It emerges from “moments of history torn away from the movement of history” and a will to remember, and it is “material, symbolic, and functional” begging the question, can’t lieux de memoire also exist online? (Nora 12, 14, 19) This inquiry leads me to other questions regarding the role of social media in memory. Is social media sufficient in communicating complex collective memories and collective trauma? Is it powerful enough to serve purposes like blocking forgetting?

There is an inextricable link between society and social media as all content online is socially mediated. Bakri’s work is in line with sociologist Maurice Halbwachs’s work On Collective Memory, a concept he developed. Specifically, Halbwachs argues that collective memory exists within a social context where the memory of the group aids the memory of the individual (38). Similarly, sociologist Jeffrey Alexander looks at and dissects the concept of collective trauma which he deems dependent upon social

mediation, specifically through trauma carrier groups that represent trauma and make meaning out of it for the wider community (Olick et al. 308-309). Informed by concepts of collective memory, collective trauma, and digital memory, this essay aims to explore Tarek Bakri’s online memory project as a lieu de memoire, and Bakri and his team as a carrier group. I will argue that works like Bakri’s play an important role in creating and solidifying the Palestinian identity of the 21st century which keeps an important historical conversation and narrative alive. It is crucial to analyze Tarek Bakri’s work as his project paves the way for many others that hope to achieve similar goals specifically in the Arab world and in the context of the Palestinian cause, but also in other contexts. I will first cover the historical context of the Nakba and the implications it has on generations of Palestinians. Then, I will look at the Palestinian identity in diaspora and how Bakri’s work plays a role in reshaping and informing it about historical events and inherited trauma. Finally, I will look at common criticisms of forms of digital memory and analyze how Bakri’s We Were and Still Are…Here manages to rise above them.

Nakba and Palestinian Generations of Diaspora

In A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe draws a timeline of the existence of the Zionist movement and settlements in Palestine. In his chapter on the Nakba of 1948, he covers the military plan of Zionist forces highlighting their goal of cleansing a future Jewish state of as many Palestinians as possible (Pappe 129). 1948 was a year of massacres committed against Palestinians, many of whom were killed, evicted, or terrorized out of their lands (Pappe 130). This is what Pappe referred to as “a grim scene” (135) that repeated in almost every village; Israeli soldiers surrounding a village from three sides, leaving the fourth for villagers to flee. When people refused to leave, they were forced onto lorries that drove them to the West Bank or remained to be blown up and destroyed with the village (Pappe 135-136). One example is the massacre of the village of Tantura, on May 23, 1948. The night before May 23, Zionist forces attacked the village from all four sides which led to a large number of villagers being held captive. Out of a population of 1500, 200 men were massacred by Zionist

forces (Pappe 136) and the rest were held in prison camps and then released through prison exchanges to exile (Al-Wali 6). That year, the 14th of May was the day Zionists celebrated the birth of the state of Israel, while the Palestinians mourned the day of Nakba or ‘Catastrophe’ the next day, May 15.

As a result, the majority of Palestinians live in the diaspora; a term relating to a group of people that were forcibly scattered to at least two countries in the world, with most having refugee status (Schulz 2, 8). Nonetheless, many anthropological accounts highlight that the Palestinian cause is often disregarded and excluded from history and reduced merely to a humanitarian question of refugees, rather than an ongoing struggle for independence and statehood (Abu Lughod and Sa’di 4). These experiences of exclusion and exile “have been the building blocks in shaping Palestinian national identity” (Schulz 2). The Swedish professor and researcher of Middle Eastern affairs Helena Lindholm even argues that the main narrative of Palestinian identity, one of suffering and struggle, was composed in diaspora (Schulz 2).

Palestinian Identity in the Diaspora

The displacement of an estimated 750,000 Palestinians was rightly termed the Catastrophe as it depicts the collective trauma endured by this group which is deeply rooted within their collective identity today (Pappe 138). Alexander explains this link between collective trauma and identity. He sees trauma as attributed to phenomena that affect collective identity and destabilizes structures of meaning and culture ( Olick et al. 308). In the case of the Palestinian Catastrophe, the trauma is not entirely an event of the past. It is ongoing and the consequences are still evident, leading to a constant revision and re-remembering of the past by Palestinians ( Olick et al. 309). Schulz refers to Palestinians as people whose main characteristics are that of unwanted mobility and rootlessness. She argues that for current generations, Palestinian identity is what is constituted by journeys in exile and everything that comes with that such as experiences of suspicion and harassment (Schulz 85-86). The main term Palestinians have associated with diaspora is “ghurba”, directly translating into estrangement which indicates the traumatizing potential of their continuous Nakba (Schulz 91). This estrangement tends to

trigger desperate searches for lost roots, says Schulz (85). As Burke states, “when you have these roots you can afford to take them for granted, but when you lose them, you feel the need to search for them” (54).

One of the main ways Palestinians in diaspora deal with this trauma and loss of roots is through the creation of institutions that could serve their interests. Lieux de memoire, such as Tarek Bakri’s project, serve that purpose. In his posts, Bakri vocalizes the trauma of Palestinians in the diaspora through the individuals he films and interviews. In one of his YouTube films, he follows a third-generation Palestinian coming from Sweden to visit her family’s village “Lubya”. Overwhelmed with emotions, she asks herself: “if they did not expel them from this land, I should have been born here. Who would I have been if I were born here? What would I be doing? They took my language. They took our land…It’s so hard.” (“Don’t Cry Grandma, We Will Return Soon” 1:50 – 2:15). In this clip, Bakri communicates questions that many Palestinians ask themselves in diaspora that indicate a conflict of identity. Visually documenting these moments could be seen as a form of “meaning making”, one of the main ways trauma carrier groups who are “collective agents of the trauma process” articulate the social pain of their people (Olick et al. 308). “We Were and Still Are…Here” serves a goal of communicating trauma to viewers globally who have access to such content due to its online nature. Hence, it gains international solidarity which goes to show the functional aspect of Bakri’s project.

What should be noted here is how Bakri’s approach differs from that of traditional archiving in terms of addressing the Palestinian identity. In an interview, he emphasizes this difference saying that historians have covered a lot, but he is certain that thousands of stories have not been told yet. He describes these materials as “dry” and says that his project changes this dynamic as it is predominantly linked to the refugee narrative. Through accompanying people to visit their village, he builds his collection of memories and achieves his functional goal of visually documenting the post-Nakba generation (“Tarek Bakri: Protecting Palestinian Memory is a Collective Responsibility”). His approach triggers emotional reactions from his audiences as they leave comments about how bittersweet it is to

watch such content. A commenter on one of his Facebook posts says: “… your happiness touches our hearts and makes us happy” (Dhadha). Tarek recreates physical experiences for viewers online and allows them to put themselves in the shoes of the individuals he films. This indicates his role in carrying and representing trauma as he can address and involve generations of Palestinians in diaspora signifying the material aspect of his work. Although it is online, he succeeds in communicating highly physical experiences and triggering reactions of pain and praise.

Furthermore, Bakri strengthens the Palestinian identity in diaspora by enabling Palestinians to live experiences that are linked to space and geography. As mentioned earlier, Peter Burke looked at space as one of the media through which transmission of memory occurs (Olick et al. 190). This idea is inspired by Halbwachs’s work On Collective Memory through space, where he says: “Every collective memory unfolds within a spatial framework” (Halbwachs and Jeanne 6). Indeed, Schulz makes it a point that collective memory in the context of Palestinian nationalist discourse is linked to geography and the symbolic memory of orange groves and olive trees (15). Symbolism that includes elements of the land plays a unifying role for Palestinians in exile which is why symbols recur in many cultural representations (Abu Farha 344-345). Although online, this aspect does not escape Bakri’s project. In almost every video, subjects are filmed gathering soil and olive branches in bags or picking oranges. One of his videos, titled “She Returned to Jaffa and Reclaimed Two Oranges”, starts with him telling the woman he is accompanying “Alright look, let us take something from your village, as something borrowed on the hope that one day we return here and give it back” (1:46 – 1:50). This extends beyond the realm of video as the subjects often take what they collect back to other Palestinians in diaspora. Also, audiences watching are being educated about this symbolism and how images of the land are intertwined with their identities, thus achieving the symbolic aspect of a lieu de memoire.

Bakri’s work does not stop at reflecting images of trauma and communicating them as a carrier group. He takes it a step further by invoking messages of hope and return which strengthens the position of a

Palestinian in diaspora. An example is a post he made to commemorate 72 years since the Nakba. On Facebook, he wrote “they went far after Nakba and expulsion and said: “The old will die and the young will forget.” Let’s take a tour in these photos to see how Palestine looked and how the generations are not letting go [of] the right to return to Palestine through the initiative “We were and Still are .. Here”” (“Today Marks 72 years”). In the same post, he gives an example of Ahmad AlKhalidi, a third-generation Palestinian who came from Australia searching for his grandfather’s house. AlKhalidi named his daughter Jaffa, maintaining his connection to the land and hoping to return. Presenting such emotions online triggers similar reactions from audiences in the comments. One comment from YouTube says “Returning is inevitable if we all work together and hold ourselves responsible…” (Khanfar). The right to return has been considered as the “foremost of Palestinian rights” by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (Schulz 140). This right has a legal basis as seen in UN Resolution 194 and article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Abu Sitta). Holding on to an internationally recognized right is one of the strongest positions Palestinians in diaspora can take, and in his work, Bakri clarifies that, supporting identities in fragmentation. Bakri not only succeeds in presenting social pain but also sparks a spirit of responsibility and hope.

Digital Memory: Common Criticisms

This final section looks at criticisms of digital memory and examines how Bakri’s project navigates such challenges by achieving just as much as traditional forms of archiving and more, which strengthens him as a carrier group and his project as a lieu de memoire.

When thinking of digital memory, there are always threats that digitization poses to remembrance that we must consider. History and memory mediated online are exposed to threats of privacy and security (Hoskins, “The Restless Past” 5), as well as the threat of being vulnerable to any changes in the network (Hoskins, “Memory of the Multitude” 105). However, we must pay attention to Bakri’s focus on using his online platform to resist erasure which is evident in the title of his project; “We Were and Still Are…Here”. Rather than going for a descriptive title, he chooses a statement with underlying

meanings of persistence and through it, he clarifies the educational aim of his project. This statement is omnipresent in his work. He uses it as a recurring hashtag to sign his posts.

When asked about his concerns about digitization in an interview, Bakri indicates that technology adds a dimension that is not present in other media, which is the possibility of audience interaction and addition (“Tarek Bakri: Protecting Palestinian Memory is a Collective Responsibility”). This links back to the common concern of digital memory hindering deep engagement with content as the goal of making everything “taggable” and “likable” sometimes overpowers anything else (Hoskins, “Memory of the Multitude” 104). Nonetheless, a scroll through Bakri’s page shows that his project is reliant on audience participation. On a Facebook post of his, several comments add to the historical instance he is sharing from a different angle. An example is this comment: “Thank you, Thank you so much<3 This place was also visited by the martyr Abdelqader Al Husseini before he died in the battle of Al Qastal…I remember my grandma describing to me how he looks in detail, and she told me he attended the meeting in the “Jibreen” home” (AlKhawaja). Allowing users this form of agency to add and engage in historical discourse not only keeps this crucial conversation alive but also enriches and helps Palestinian identities to be more confident and resilient. Representation and solidarity provided by Bakri’s work communicate the population’s trauma and aids them in growing out of it, keeping the return in mind.

Conclusion

The Nakba had and still has an extreme influence on the identity of Palestinians in diaspora. Through collective remembering, communities of Palestinians remain connected, sharing their suffering and trauma. In this essay, I explored the digital aspect of remembrance, particularly analyzing We Were and Still Are…Here as a medium of communicating and maintaining Palestinian identity and struggles. The debates around this form of memory transmission are many, however, in this essay, I looked at Tarek Bakri as a carrier group and his project as a lieu de memoire, and explored how his work succeeds in influencing the (re)construction and strengthening of the

Palestinian identity. However, can we treat all online content in the same manner? How can we evaluate anonymous pages and productions? The questions about digital memory are endless, and the discussions still seem to be few. Bakri’s project, however, is a great way to start this conversation.

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