A couple weeks ago, I led a zine making workshop/Palestinian solidarity event for my local Asian racial solidarity group. I gave a primer on zines and DIY as well as the political roots of DIY publishing, and some tutorials. The theme was reconnecting to resistance in an open learning circle since the Asian continent has a long and wide breadth history of resistance. We provided zine making supplies and I brought both some Palestinian zines and a curated collection of examples from my personal zine library! It was also potluck style.
It was kind of interesting leading this workshop! I don't consider myself to be an expert on revolutionary histories, there's a lot of theory and info to catch up on, but I read a lot of PFLP and Palestinian resistance writing when I was in my undergrad because I was able to meet Joe Sacco who was the cartoonist who published Footnotes in Gaza and Palestine (around 2017?). I also designed some posters for his Toronto visit in partnership with the TPFF. Most significantly, I read Strategy for the Liberation of Palestine by the PFLP - it is both a historical document and a live program that lays out the fundamentals of Palestinian liberation as well as localized analysis (160~ pages). There were Asian people in attendance originating from all over the continent and of varying faiths but no one was familiar with historic Palestinian resistance, only with the current narrative about israhelli occupation - so of course I was happy to to talk about Ghassan Kanafani, Leila Khaled, and the PFLP and the historic 3rd world solidarity movements across Asia!
Most people weren't familiar with zines either, so I was also very sparkly-eyed in info dumping about zines to the room! One of the participants brought musakhan rolls which are a traditional Palestinian dish... they were SO yummy... I did have more than I should have... and they included the recipe as one of the zine pages!!! There were also many Filipinos present resulting in me going home with a lot of leftover turon (it helped me survive my ongoing depressive episode in April lol)
Overall it was so nice having conversations with others regardless of where they were at in their politicization journey. There is always more to learn, and more time to spend with one another...and we can all grow together too 🫶🏼 politicization can be very personal and I think as long as we can develop principles, sense for collective, and maintain revolutionary imagination - we can survive together!
Here are some of the Palestinian zines that I brought for people to sift through! I have like 20+ pdfs on my computer and more from encampments that I've visited and will hopefully scan soon!
Palestine: An Introduction from DecolonizePalestine
ABCs of Occupation & Resistance by Rachel Mattson
The Palestinian Struggle for National Liberation by OBF-HRD/Manila University
BDS: What it is, Why it matters by Leila Abdula Razzaq
Digitized copy of Ghassan Kanafani by Anni Kanafani (Beirut, 1973), found via the internet archive!
From Galilee to Gaza, A voice from Palestine from CrimetheInc.
Handala and Other Symbols of Palestinian Resistance & Revolution by...me! (I'll add a link later)
kianamaiart
turnnoffyourmind
annaxmalina
titsay
