The reasons why I wear the Keffieh a friend offered me every single day.

As you may know, I went last year in Israel and Palestine during Christmas and the friend who offered me the Keffieh was the person I went meeting during her volonteering job in the Haida camp. She stayed in Palestine during 6 months and it deeply affected her while, as for myself, I only spent one week there. So, why am I wearing a Keffieh ?

First, it is a present from someone I deeply respect and who is a very good friend. But if it was only for this, I wouldn't wear a Keffieh every single day. I would have put it once to please her than I would have put it in the dressing and forget about it. The thing is that the Keffieh has a very strong meaning. It symbolizes the resistance of the Palestinians who are the oppressed against the Israelians who are the oppressors. But I don't want to take side for one or the other ... I think both suffered, are suffering and will suffer of the situation. It then leads me to the second reason.

I'm not wearing the Keffieh to take side with the Palestinians. I'm wearing it to oppose to the oppression taking place in this region of the world. You might say that, it is the same thing as taking side with the oppressed but it is not ! I differentiate three things : the oppression, the oppressor and the oppressed. And, as I already pointed it out, oppressors also suffer. Just like the oppressed. I know that may sound shocking but stay with me so, I will be able to explain.

In the text I wrote when I came back from Israel and Palestine, I mentionned an Israelian jewish named Yehuda and a Palestinian named Mohammed and I said that I felt like they coulld have been friends if both weren't born one as Israelian and the other as Palestinian. But in this text, I would like to report what another Palestinian named Haitham told me and compare it to what Yehuda also told me.

What Haitham told me was and I'm trying to quote as closely as I can remember :

We live in a shitty world, man ! Israelians want to kill us and they can because they are the strongest. But when Palestinians will dominate, we will do the same to Israelians. That's how it is ... That's how the world is !

Now, I would like to try to quote what Yehuda told me, again, as closely as i can remember :

You know, my people were always the weakests. We were on the bad side of the stick. Now, we are on the other side and you can say whatever you want, but it is a more comfortable side !

There are so many things to say about this two quotes and I will try to point some of them.

The first thing that strikes me when I think of them is how both of them are convinced they cannot escape the oppression. The only thing they can do, is fight to be the oppressor which is the one that suffers the least from the situation. But in both of their mind, oppression itself cannot be avoided ! That's what both, Haitham and Yehuda kind of told me when I was talking to them. At least, that is what I understood.

The second thing I would like to point out is that Haitham didn't say : "If the Palestinians will dominate", he said when. Can't you see how pessimistic that view of the world is ? It means oppressed are going to fight the oppressors and will be in the position of dominance, then become themselves the oppressors that the new oppressed will fight. And everything starts over in an endless loop. The situation doesn't change, the world doesn't change. The only changes we can hope for is to be the one who oppresses in order to momentarily escape violence. And this is shared by Yehuda who told me he preferred the side of the stick he was on but the stick stays there no matter what ...

That's the second reason why I'm wearing the Keffieh ! I cannot accept this worldview. I want to get rid of the stick, namely, the oppression. I want to oppose to it because if we don't point it out as the true problem, we will continue to accuse the oppressors who were once oppressed and will be oppressed again. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say. That leads me to the third reason why I'm wearing the Keffieh.

The third reason is that the Keffieh is a very strong symbol and it is widely known. It is a symbol of resistance for an oppression that lasted more than half a century if you only take into account the creation of the israelian state. And what I do, is taking this strong symbol for a very specific oppression, namely the israelo-palestinian conflict and I generalize it to any kind of oppression. Be it racism, islamophobia, social exclusion, economic violences, sexism, LGBTQ harrassement and violences, school harrassment, and many others ! You name it.

Indeed, these last two years were full of oppression and movement who tried to oppose to it. From the #metoo hashtag to the #GiletsJaunes. Also, the reactions I see in the world are worrying me. Trump was elected on the promise to build a wall, Macron was elected but made reforms that made the poor poorer and the rich richer, Bolsonaro was elected in Brazil, Poutine is becoming more and more agressive with its neighbour, China wants to create a society inspired by a Black Mirror scenario and so much more ...

I just can't stand this and I want to oppose to all of those in the public space ! So, to recap, this Keffieh is a present from a dear friend, I'm sensitive to the situation in Israel and Palestine and I want to generalize what is going in this region to what is happening in the entire world even in our daily lives.

Those are the reasons why I wear a Keffieh every single day!