UCL Uncovering Politics

Prison Protests in Palestine

Episode Summary

In this week's episode we are looking at prison protests in Palestine. What are they about? What do they achieve? What can we learn?

Episode Notes

Today we’re looking at protest by prisoners. Some of the most famous cases of protest politics involve protests by prisoners. 

• Think of hunger striking suffragettes in early-twentieth-century Britain.
• Think of the dirty protest among republican prisoners in Belfast in the late 1970s, and then the hunger strikes there in 1981.
• Indeed, just two weeks ago on this podcast we were discussing Alex Navalny, Russian opposition leader, who remains influential despite being behind bars.
• Prison protests may be invisible to the outside world, but they can nevertheless resonate widely.

And in this episode, we're exploring another case – the case of Palestinian prisoners – in particular, of Palestinians who are in prison in jails in Israel. We are joined by Dr Julie Norman, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations here in the UCL Department of Political Science, whose book, The Palestinian Prisoners Movement: Disobedience and Resistance, came out over the summer, and Dr Carl Gibson, Assistant Professor in the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham. 

Mentioned in this episode:

• IAS Book Launch: The Palestinian Prisoners Movement by Julie M. Norman. 25th October 17.30-18.30
• The Palestinian Prisoners Movement: Disobedience and Resistance
• Understanding Nonviolence. 
• The Second Palestinian Intifada