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Palestinian Popular Struggle and Civil Resistance Theory

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Palestinian Popular Struggle and Civil Resistance Theory Unarmed and Participatory: Palestinian Popular Struggle and Civil Resistance Theory by Michael J. Carpenter M.A., University of Regina, 2008 B.A., University of Regina, 2003 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of Political Science © Michael J. Carpenter, 2017 University of Victoria This dissertation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution -NonCommercial- ShareAlike 4.0 Unported Copyright Supervisory Committee Unarmed and Participatory: Palestinian Popular Struggle and Civil Resistance Theory by Michael J. Carpenter M.A., University of Regina, 2008 B.A., University of Regina, 2003 Supervisory Committee Dr. Scott Watson, Department of Political Science, University of Victoria Supervisor Dr. James Tully, Department of Political Science, University of Victoria Departmental Member Dr. Martin Bunton, Department of History, University of Victoria Outside Member ii Abstract Dr. Scott Watson, Department of Political Science, University of Victoria Supervisor Dr. James Tully, Department of Political Science, University of Victoria Departmental Member Dr. Martin Bunton, Department of History, University of Victoria Outside Member This dissertation advances the literature on civil resistance by proposing an alternative way of thinking about action and organization, and by contributing a new case study of Palestinian struggle in the occupied West Bank. Civil resistance, also known as civil disobedience, nonviolent action, and people power, is about challenging unjust and oppressive regimes through the strategic use of nonviolent methods, including demonstrations, marches, boycotts, strikes, sit-ins, protest camps, and many others (Sharp 2005; Chenoweth and Stephan 2011; Schock 2015). This study employs an approach that minimizes analytical (as well as normative) expectations of perfectly nonviolent forms of struggle (Celikates 2015), and I link this modified pragmatic action model to an organizational principle that has generally been overlooked or discounted in the research literature. On the whole, civil-resistance studies has focused on forms of action to the detriment of exploring forms of organization, or has relegated organization to a subset of action. My research clarifies a participatory approach to organization that is community based, sometimes known as the committee or council system (Arendt 1963). It is radically democratic, yet not necessarily confined to purely horizontal forms of organization. Rather, the model allows, and requires with increasing scale, upward delegation to decision-making and other task-contingent bodies. I argue that without a theoretical framework for apprehending systems of networked and tiered popular governance, Palestinian civil resistance has been insufficiently understood. The dissertation examines Palestinian cases through this framework, linking the conjunction of unarmed action and participatory organization to highpoints of Palestinian struggle. iii Among the cases is a small civil-society movement in the West Bank that began around 2009 striving to launch a global popular resistance. My research suggests that civil-resistance theorists consider the non-dominative element of organization as they do the non-dominative element of action, that just as violent resistance strategies can counter the logic of people power, so too can centralized organization. This logic does not require that participatory organization be perfectly horizontal any more than civil resistance must be perfectly nonviolent. iv Table of Contents Supervisory Committee ........................................................................................................................ ii Abstract ..................................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................... v List of Figures .......................................................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................. viii Dedication ................................................................................................................................................ ix Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 1 0.1 A Puzzle ................................................................................................................................................... 1 0.2 Overview: Unarmed Action and Participatory Organization .................................................................. 4 0.3 Historical Background of Palestinian Resistance .................................................................................... 9 0.4 MetHodology ........................................................................................................................................ 14 (a) ResearcH pHilosopHy ............................................................................................................................ 14 (b) Case design, selection, exclusions ....................................................................................................... 16 (c) Fieldwork methods .............................................................................................................................. 19 0.5 Outline ................................................................................................................................................. 22 Chapter 1 – Civil Resistance Theory I: Unarmed Action ........................................................... 29 1.0 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 29 1.1 Origins of tHe Field ................................................................................................................................ 30 1.2 On MetHods .......................................................................................................................................... 36 1.3 On Power Dynamics .............................................................................................................................. 40 1.4 PusHing Pragmatism ............................................................................................................................. 50 Chapter 2 – Civil Resistance Theory II: Participatory Organization ...................................... 55 2.0 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 55 2.1 Organization in tHe Literature on Civil Resistance ............................................................................... 58 2.2 Organization in tHe Literature on Palestinian Civil Resistance ............................................................. 76 Chapter 3 – The First Intifada and its Aftermath ........................................................................ 85 3.0 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 85 3.1 Eve of the Uprising: Action and Organization ....................................................................................... 87 3.2 The Uprising: Unarmed and Participatory ........................................................................................... 93 3.3 Outcome and Legacy: Partial Success, HigHpoint of Struggle ............................................................. 116 3.4 Oslo and Second Intifada: Centralized, Armed, Unsuccessful ............................................................ 120 Chapter 4 – Anti-Wall Popular Struggle, 2002 – Present ....................................................... 128 4.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 128 4.1 Budrus and tHe Early Period, 2002 – 2005 .......................................................................................... 130 v 4.2 Bil’in and tHe Later Period, 2005 – Present ........................................................................................ 139 4.3 Assessment: Nonviolent, Participatory, Relatively Effective .............................................................. 158 Chapter 5 – Anti-Occupation Popular Struggle, 2009 – present ......................................... 163 5.0 Introduction: Overview, Vision and Goals ......................................................................................... 163 5.1 Organization: New Alliances ............................................................................................................... 173 5.1.1 Popular Struggle Coordination Committee: NGO leadersHip? ..................................................... 173 5.1.2 Leaders follow: Fatah and tHe Palestinian AutHority .................................................................... 178 5.1.3 Nabi SaleH ...................................................................................................................................
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