Hali
I am incredibly split on this book.
The short review: I share Sim's overall opinions, I detest how they conveyed them. If you read this book, keep in mind that the author is an anarchist that fully supports armed resistance (something that isnt disclosed until more than halfway into the book) and is very anti-west, anti-capitalist.
The positives: I have to commend Sim Kern for even writing this book – most works I know of on the topic of Palestine are incredibly academic. This book wants to introduce people to pro-Palestinian activism with humor and personal anecdotes and stories, a great tool to make people interested in what you're teaching. It doesnt just try to introduce you to the topic, it cites and talks about many other books, authors, journalists etc, so further research is very accessible. I can tell a lot of love went into this book.
The negatives: This book is, in my opinion, very irresponsible. The author doesnt disclose their political camp (anarchism) until the very end. This wouldve been important to keep in mind throughout the book as Sim Kern commonly uses concepts, theories and phrases associated with anarchist and marxist theories and writings. The use of these in of themselves isnt an issue; it is an issue if this rhetoric comes before explanations and definitions. As much as I agree that Israel (the state) is evil, this book suffers severely from not giving its reader the chance to form their own opinion at all. As a fellow educator, I wouldve kinda expected better from Sim Kern.
The book also commonly lacks context. Reading that non-muslims were "dhimmis", a PROTECTED CLASS, in muslim empires, was crazy. Im no expert on early caliphates but a simple internet search shows that non-muslims commonly lived in effectively ghettos. As for newer muslim empires, which I am actually knowledgable on; dhimmis were still second class citizens whose entire lifelihood was dependent on the goodwill of or usefulness for the current ruler. Sim presents the existence of dhimmis as positive. And this happens... fairly often. Which is a shame.
Aside those two things, the two lowest points in the book for me were:
- writing what is effectively fanfiction over Yahya Sinwar, a man who was probably the mastermind behind the oct 7 attacks and had ties to Iran
- being unable to actually call the terror attacks on oct 7 bad and saying that the killing of civilians was something singular hamas fighters did that wasnt planned at all
I am incredibly split on this book.
The short review: I share Sim's overall opinions, I detest how they conveyed them. If you read this book, keep in mind that the author is an anarchist that fully supports armed resistance (something that isnt disclosed until more than halfway into the book) and is very anti-west, anti-capitalist.
The positives: I have to commend Sim Kern for even writing this book – most works I know of on the topic of Palestine are incredibly academic. This book wants to introduce people to pro-Palestinian activism with humor and personal anecdotes and stories, a great tool to make people interested in what you're teaching. It doesnt just try to introduce you to the topic, it cites and talks about many other books, authors, journalists etc, so further research is very accessible. I can tell a lot of love went into this book.
The negatives: This book is, in my opinion, very irresponsible. The author doesnt disclose their political camp (anarchism) until the very end. This wouldve been important to keep in mind throughout the book as Sim Kern commonly uses concepts, theories and phrases associated with anarchist and marxist theories and writings. The use of these in of themselves isnt an issue; it is an issue if this rhetoric comes before explanations and definitions. As much as I agree that Israel (the state) is evil, this book suffers severely from not giving its reader the chance to form their own opinion at all. As a fellow educator, I wouldve kinda expected better from Sim Kern.
The book also commonly lacks context. Reading that non-muslims were "dhimmis", a PROTECTED CLASS, in muslim empires, was crazy. Im no expert on early caliphates but a simple internet search shows that non-muslims commonly lived in effectively ghettos. As for newer muslim empires, which I am actually knowledgable on; dhimmis were still second class citizens whose entire lifelihood was dependent on the goodwill of or usefulness for the current ruler. Sim presents the existence of dhimmis as positive. And this happens... fairly often. Which is a shame.
Aside those two things, the two lowest points in the book for me were:
- writing what is effectively fanfiction over Yahya Sinwar, a man who was probably the mastermind behind the oct 7 attacks and had ties to Iran
- being unable to actually call the terror attacks on oct 7 bad and saying that the killing of civilians was something singular hamas fighters did that wasnt planned at all