Revolution vs Reform: Resistance

There are multiple places where reform or revolution can take form: should Palestine be a revolution or a reform? Should Spain be a reform or a revolution? I'm sure the answer will always be the same for the oppressed: freedom from their oppressors.

I suppose it becomes a question of how tolerable the oppression is—i.e., whether the context outside of that oppression is stable enough. In Spain, despite the racism I experience, I still have access to a social security system. A Gazan might not be able to say the same. These experiences shape how radical the approach needs to be to achieve its goals. These will always depend on the context in which these oppressions occur, so different frameworks are to be applied.

Foucault's concentrated opposition is better for Spain's context, where there exists multiple spaces to apply efforts to change aspects of the oppressions--judiciary reforms, public opinion (media), political pressures, etc. My existence in Spain is very comfortable apart from the racism aspects, and I would almost never want a violent approach that would break the stability of this country. But yet, many others might feel different about that: prisoners can feel the violence of the system, women see structural and psychological violence against them. But no one is going about killing anyone, because these oppressions can be pressured and resisted with narratives and politics.

Fanon's revolutionary resistance is the way for a place like Palestine, where all spaces of action are constrained in every way possible. Palestine, is fighting for a state at the international level, with extreme pressure applied to those who live there, ranging from their basic bodily integrity (deliberate starving), to their lives; levels which you rarely see in a Spanish local context for example. Even though the result is violence against a human entity, there are at play stakes at the local level: Palestines's unified vision of resistance; the regional level: defending itself from Israel; and the global level: getting a state of their own. Strategies need to adapt here: concentrated opposition and strategic fixes at the local level; violent resistance against Israel at the regional level; diplomatic pressure at the international level. Although it's very hard to delineate what effort affects at what level: October 7th was certainly a regional event with repercussions extending to the international level—-i.e. global discourse, the UN's lack of credibility, Spain vs. Israel-—and at the regional level, obviously.

I think resistance is in daily ethics, which give you the opportunity to see people' experienced violence, in Spain or in Gaza. From there we can work with different frameworks of changing what's happening to the oppressed, either through reform, revolution, both or something beyond. We can only get to the truth as long as we can still hear the voice of the oppressed.