The Israeli war in Gaza has entered its ninth month. In this “hell on earth,” as the United Nations has described it, Palestinian women are exposed to atrocities and unimaginable suffering.
Women and children account for 70 percent of deaths caused by the Israeli army’s relentless bombardment.
Pregnant and breastfeeding women face high health and malnutrition risks. There have been reports of cesarean sections performed without anesthesia, births occurring in unsafe conditions, and miscarriages happening at unprecedented levels.
Palestinian women also reported humiliation, torture and sexual violence committed by detained Israeli soldiers. Hundreds of thousands of young women and girls were deprived of education as the Israeli army systematically destroyed schools and universities.
The levels of violence and abuse that Palestinian women face are indeed devastating. This should be a cause for concern and action for all who care about women’s rights.
And, in fact, many defenders of women’s rights spoke out. Among them is Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who has made several statements condemning violence against civilians and calling for a ceasefire. She also donated $300,000 to charities that support the Palestinian people.
But for many, Malala’s solidarity with the Palestinian people rang hollow when it was announced that she would co-produce the musical Suffs with Hillary Clinton. The news caused much outrage, given Clinton’s unwavering support for Israel, rejection of ceasefire calls and historic role in other conflicts in the region.
Many have previously raised criticism of Malala that she is a “puppet” of the West and the bearer of the complex white savior narrative.
In a statement following the controversy, she insisted that there should be “no confusion” about her support for the people of Gaza and condemned the Israeli government’s actions. While it is commendable that she has sought to clarify her solidarity with the Palestinian people, she has failed to distance herself from the powerful figures who are complicit in what is happening in Gaza.
By blaming only Israel, she ignored the involvement of the West, especially the United States.
Since the start of Israel’s war against Gaza, the Biden administration has signed a $17 billion military aid package to Israel. He vetoed a series of ceasefire resolutions at the UN Security Council and ignored condemnations from UN agencies. He rejected a provisional ruling by the International Court of Justice that Israel may be committing genocide in Gaza and criticized the International Criminal Court prosecutor for seeking the arrest of Israeli officials, threatening to sanction him. President Joe Biden even stated in his speech: “What is happening is not genocide”.
With her global influence, Malala can challenge the unconditional US and Western support for Israel. It can confront the structures of colonial rule that they maintain and that cause so much suffering in Gaza and the rest of the Global South. However, she continues to align herself with them.
Perhaps remaining silent about complicity is good for your fundraising efforts, but ultimately hurts your cause. It also reduces its calls and statements about Gaza to performative activism – which consists of being committed to a cause only in words, but not in actions.
This superficial approach to activism is also apparent in her decision to co-produce a musical that talks about the suffrage movement, while also only superficially addressing its racism and exclusion of black women in the Jim Crow era.
Historically, the feminist movement in the West has predominantly represented white, middle-class women. It prioritized their concerns while neglecting the experiences of those who belong to marginalized groups. Any recognition of their struggles has often been performative and selfish.
We saw this in 2022, when Western women’s rights groups, activists and celebrities spoke out in support of women’s protests in Iran and some even cut their hair in solidarity. But many of them – including Clinton, who called for Iran’s removal from the UN women’s commission – are now silent on the plight of Palestinian women and girls.
The white liberal feminist movement typically alienates marginalized women. We then need to ask ourselves why Malala – a black Muslim woman – wants to align herself with this movement and its narrative. She should be working to dismantle oppressive systems rather than giving in to them.
Malala would much better serve the women and girls of color she claims to want to help if she renounced white feminism and embraced intersectional feminism, which identifies and acknowledges the challenges faced by those who experience overlapping systems of oppression like sexism and racism.
Activists who engage in good faith with this concept cannot ignore the colonial and racist structures of domination that affect the lives of women and girls in the Global South and marginalized communities in the Global North. They support women and girls of all colors and creeds and challenge oppression in all its forms, including white imperialist ones.
If Malala and others like her truly stood up for Palestinian women and girls, they wouldn’t be co-producing musicals with Clinton. Instead, they would challenge her for her racist and colonial views and criticize her for her role in America’s deadly colonial activities.
In the past, Malala has been praised for being bold and unapologetic in her fight for girls’ education. There is no reason why she cannot extend this initiative to the women and girls of Gaza. With her unparalleled platform and influence, she can do much better than pander to white feminism.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
