From Ramallah to New York, Tel Aviv to Porto Alegre, people around
the world celebrate a formidable, transnational Palestinian LGBTQ
social movement. Solidarity with Palestinians has become a salient
domain of global queer politics. Yet LGBTQ Palestinians, even as they
fight patriarchy and imperialism, are themselves subjected to an
"empire of critique" from Israeli and Palestinian
institutions, Western academics, journalists and filmmakers, and even
fellow activists. Such global criticism has limited growth and led to
an emphasis within the movement on anti-imperialism over the struggle
against homophobia.
With this book,
Sa'ed Atshan asks how transnational progressive social movements can
balance struggles for liberation along more than one axis. He
explores critical junctures in the history of Palestinian LGBTQ
activism, revealing the queer Palestinian spirit of agency, defiance,
and creativity, in the face of daunting pressures and forces working
to constrict it. Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique
explores the necessity of connecting the struggles for Palestinian
freedom with the struggle against homophobia.