Even If: Who Must Prove Their Humanity?

A Reading Room discussion of Mohammed El-Kurd’s Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal

Why are Palestinians expected to prove their innocence, restraint and political respectability before their lives are considered worthy of sympathy? In Perfect Victims, Mohammed El-Kurd rejects the demand to become a “perfect victim”. His “even if” insists that Palestinian dignity does not depend on being calm, compliant or politically agreeable.

To mark Folkestone Book Festival, join Tanzidah Islam, SD’s Head of Events, for a frank discussion in the Reading Room. Starting with short excerpts, we’ll examine the stories that cast Palestinian men as threats while presenting women and children as more deserving of grief. What happens to women’s political agency in that framing? How do media narratives, religion and the language of the Oslo Accords shape whose voices are heard and whose demands are treated as legitimate?

We’ll ask what solidarity demands when Palestinians refuse the roles assigned to them. You do not need to have read the book. Excerpts and prompts will be provided. Come ready to listen, question and take part.