With all due respect comrade, I’m really not sure how anyone could come so confidently to the view that it is “a lot fucking better” to live under Hamas. I really don’t even think the immediate question is which is preferable to live under. They are both horrific. For Palestinians in Gaza it’s not a choice. There is no disagreement on the point that that Zionism is a fascistic settler-colonial project. But they are not only under Israeli occupation or in an Israeli open-air concentration camp, but also, in Gaza, under the local dominance of Hamas. Hamas are themselves a material product of Israel and Zionism, and so separating them in practice is not that easy. If you mean in terms of quality of life, then the quality of life of an Arab Israeli Palestinian or a Palestinian in the West Bank is in no way clearly worse than that in Gaza on average or generally; actually its probably the opposite. Obviously, as just mentioned, this is Israel’s effect as well, but Hamas are part of the equation and we don’t know exactly what an independent society under Hamas would look like, though the material conditions of Palestine and the examples set by other Islamists indicates that it would almost certainly still be pretty terrible.
The primary or principal contradiction of the progressive material interests is going to prioritize the ending of the Israeli occupation. Then the concerns of Marxists there can turn more fully towards combating Islamism (though they would the immense problem of the political legitimacy that Islamist opponents would have gained after any serious defeat of Zionism). But while Hamas ofc do not secure their position simply through coercion, but also use consent and their limited provision of social services, they also ensure dominance through killing, torture, intimidation and extremely regressive social views and policies, most obviously when it comes to gender and sexuality. They have eliminated secular opposition through assassination, torture, sexual violence and intimidation.
Islamism intrinsically, taken relatively in abstraction, is no less reactionary. In a particular concrete situation the question of whether or not its effects are more reactionary overall than Zionism is another question, and depends on the context. In the current context the cause of Palestinian Liberation and the general position of Palestinians makes support for the cause despite the Islamist forms of it clearly the side to support. If the question is whether or not the quality of life for a Palestinian is preferable under the Israeli government in Israel or the West Bank as opposed to in Gaza, then Gaza seems worse for clear reasons, though ofc we’re comparing terrible to even more terrible here. Again, they are Islamists. Islamism is profoundly reactionary. They see women as effectively cattle for baby production, are socially regressive across the board, despise secularism and socialism and are extremely hierarchical. This has immediate effects on your quality of life as a Palestinian, especially as a woman, sexual minority or socialist.
I think people really need to get over the mind-numbingly simplistic and immature idea that because they are opposing Israeli apartheid they are therefore a progressive force outside of the extrinsic function they have of being a vehicle to oppose Zionism. Nationalism also plays a role here as something that, in historical context, can be a limited vehicle for progressive forces in unfavorable political conditions. It’s not incoherent to recognize the fact that Hamas are both extremely reactionary but from a strategic political and geopolitical view are the only vehicle for Palestinian military opposition to Zionism. That absolutely does not imply that it is good to live under them or that it would be better for a Palestinian to be born in Gaza rather than in Israel or the West Bank. The quality of life is worst in Gaza. Obviously, again, this is the fault of Israel, but that does not change the character of Hamas. You are fucked in any case as a Palestinian in this situation. The hope is that their historical role in opposing Zionism will lead to a situation where they can be politically contested and so then a Palestinian society no longer under either Zionism or Islamism can develop materially, economically, socially, politically and ideologically. There will be new contradictions there and new forms of political struggle and class conflict. Were Palestine to become more formally independent of Israel or if Israel were to collapse, even disregarding the international crisis and war which would almost certainly follow, Hamas in the local Palestinian context would return to violent conflict with other Palestinian political orgs, including Marxists, unless a united front against western imperialism were maintained, and would then also face class conflict with the mass of Palestinians, as the elite of Hamas constitute an extremly corrupt economic and political elite within Gaza.
With all due respect comrade, I’m really not sure how anyone could come so confidently to the view that it is “a lot fucking better” to live under Hamas. I really don’t even think the immediate question is which is preferable to live under. They are both horrific. For Palestinians in Gaza it’s not a choice. There is no disagreement on the point that that Zionism is a fascistic settler-colonial project. But they are not only under Israeli occupation or in an Israeli open-air concentration camp, but also, in Gaza, under the local dominance of Hamas. Hamas are themselves a material product of Israel and Zionism, and so separating them in practice is not that easy. If you mean in terms of quality of life, then the quality of life of an Arab Israeli Palestinian or a Palestinian in the West Bank is in no way clearly worse than that in Gaza on average or generally; actually its probably the opposite. Obviously, as just mentioned, this is Israel’s effect as well, but Hamas are part of the equation and we don’t know exactly what an independent society under Hamas would look like, though the material conditions of Palestine and the examples set by other Islamists indicates that it would almost certainly still be pretty terrible.
The primary or principal contradiction of the progressive material interests is going to prioritize the ending of the Israeli occupation. Then the concerns of Marxists there can turn more fully towards combating Islamism (though they would the immense problem of the political legitimacy that Islamist opponents would have gained after any serious defeat of Zionism). But while Hamas ofc do not secure their position simply through coercion, but also use consent and their limited provision of social services, they also ensure dominance through killing, torture, intimidation and extremely regressive social views and policies, most obviously when it comes to gender and sexuality. They have eliminated secular opposition through assassination, torture, sexual violence and intimidation.
Islamism intrinsically, taken relatively in abstraction, is no less reactionary. In a particular concrete situation the question of whether or not its effects are more reactionary overall than Zionism is another question, and depends on the context. In the current context the cause of Palestinian Liberation and the general position of Palestinians makes support for the cause despite the Islamist forms of it clearly the side to support. If the question is whether or not the quality of life for a Palestinian is preferable under the Israeli government in Israel or the West Bank as opposed to in Gaza, then Gaza seems worse for clear reasons, though ofc we’re comparing terrible to even more terrible here. Again, they are Islamists. Islamism is profoundly reactionary. They see women as effectively cattle for baby production, are socially regressive across the board, despise secularism and socialism and are extremely hierarchical. This has immediate effects on your quality of life as a Palestinian, especially as a woman, sexual minority or socialist.
I think people really need to get over the mind-numbingly simplistic and immature idea that because they are opposing Israeli apartheid they are therefore a progressive force outside of the extrinsic function they have of being a vehicle to oppose Zionism. Nationalism also plays a role here as something that, in historical context, can be a limited vehicle for progressive forces in unfavorable political conditions. It’s not incoherent to recognize the fact that Hamas are both extremely reactionary but from a strategic political and geopolitical view are the only vehicle for Palestinian military opposition to Zionism. That absolutely does not imply that it is good to live under them or that it would be better for a Palestinian to be born in Gaza rather than in Israel or the West Bank. The quality of life is worst in Gaza. Obviously, again, this is the fault of Israel, but that does not change the character of Hamas. You are fucked in any case as a Palestinian in this situation. The hope is that their historical role in opposing Zionism will lead to a situation where they can be politically contested and so then a Palestinian society no longer under either Zionism or Islamism can develop materially, economically, socially, politically and ideologically. There will be new contradictions there and new forms of political struggle and class conflict. Were Palestine to become more formally independent of Israel or if Israel were to collapse, even disregarding the international crisis and war which would almost certainly follow, Hamas in the local Palestinian context would return to violent conflict with other Palestinian political orgs, including Marxists, unless a united front against western imperialism were maintained, and would then also face class conflict with the mass of Palestinians, as the elite of Hamas constitute an extremly corrupt economic and political elite within Gaza.