The analysis of the Marxists of the Middle East on NGO-poetry (NGO-ification)
The criticism of Arab and Palestinian Marxists (such as George Habash historically, but also contemporary intellectuals) against the invasion of NGOs and flotillas in the Palestinian struggle is catapult.
Marxist theory analyzes this danger through four main axes:
1. Depoliticization and 'humanization'
Their position: NGOs and flotillas turn a national liberation and class struggle into a mere 'humanitarian problem'.
The danger: the Palestinian ceases to be treated as a political subject fighting for his land and freedom, and turns into a "passive receiver of charity" in need of food, medicine and diapers. This is convenient for imperialism, because it erases the causes of the conflict.
2. The theory of the 'shock absorber'
Their position: foreign funding and humanitarian missions act as a decompression valve.
The danger: when the population is on the verge of destitution, the natural outcome is rebellion (intifada). The NGOs, by offering the least possible help for survival, "buy" social peace and sabotage the Revolutionary dynamics of the masses.
3. Creation of a new 'merchant' elite (Comprador)
Their position: the influx of Western money through NGOs has created a new class of Palestinian bureaucrats.
The danger: these people (often moving around the Palestinian Authority or large organizations) are financially dependent on Western funds. So, in order not to lose funding, they comply with the suggestions of the West, adopt a 'politically correct' agenda, and abandon any idea of radical or armed resistance.
4. Breakdown of class solidarity
Their position: flotillas are based on the logic of 'international law' and 'human rights' – concepts that Marxists consider bourgeois inventions.
The danger: instead of the struggle being linked to the global working class and anti-imperialist movements, it is linked to the liberal Western middle class. This leads to a 'lifestyle' activism that exhausts itself in marches, hashtags and symbolic sailings, at no substantial cost to the system.
To sum up, for a consistent Middle Eastern Marxist, 'NGO-poetry' is capitalism's Trojan horse to castrate Palestinian resistance.
Islah Jad [1], in her iconic work 'the NGO-ization of Arab women's Movements' , analyzes with surgical precision how Western humanism altered Palestinian Resistance [1].
Her analysis, as well as that of other Palestinian left-wing academics (such as Khalil Nakhleh), focuses on very specific mechanisms of this alteration:
1. From 'popular networks' to 'projects' (Action Plans)
Before the rule of NGOs and flotillas (notably during the first intifada in 1987), the Palestinian movement relied on grassroots committees.
The alteration: Jad describes how NGOs turned organic social structures into professional offices.
The result: the struggle ceased to be a permanent political act of the masses. It was transformed into a series of 'projects' with an end date, budgets and evaluation reports to be sent to Western financiers.
2. Professionalization of activism (Professionalization)
Jad points out that the influx of foreign money created a new social caste in Palestine: the professional activists.
The alteration: the leaders of the movement are no longer elected by the people on the basis of their militancy. They are selected by Western bodies on the basis of their technocratic qualifications: whether they know English well, whether they know the language of international organisations and whether they can draft funding proposals.
The result: the movement was completely cut off from the Palestinian working class and refugees, acquiring a purely 'elitist' and bourgeois identity.
3. The "Donor-Driven" agenda of priorities
Left-wing academics stress that NGOs and international missions (such as flotillas) impose an 'imported' agenda.
The spoilage: financiers (Western governments, foundations) define what is "important" at a time (e.g. seminars on democracy, peaceful coexistence or gender mainstream).
The result: the central political issue, which is occupation, colonialism and the need for radical subversion, is silenced. Palestinians are forced to adjust their speech to be 'liked' and not lose funds, adopting a neutral language on 'human rights' that does not disturb the status quo.
4. The weakening of political mobilization
According to Jad, NGOs act as mechanisms of depoliticization.
Instead of organizing the world into trade unions, political parties or resistance groups that collectively demand liberation, NGOs focus on individual services and symbolic actions (such as bringing a boat with humanitarian aid).
The result: people become addicted to passivity. Resistance becomes a 'spectacle' or a 'service' undertaken by foreign activists or professionals, while the base of society remains dormant.
Islah Jad concludes that NGO-poetry was a conscious strategy of the post-Oslo era to castrate the Palestinian movement. It turned a collective, radical struggle for self-determination into a fragmented, dependent and 'pink' industry of humanism
Kanafani Solidarity Movement Greece
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