chapotraphouse

hirbawi is completely sold out of all colors from what I can tell, which is as awesome for them as it is sad for me

I get reactions of uncontrolled lust mainly

Nabulsi soap is something else comrades could consider buying

I got one around 2020 because i saw it was the last factory that made them in Palestine and I knew they needed money. I was also concerned that Israel might try to pull something and end up bombing the factory. I never really wore it because I’m not Palestinian, but unironically it is probably the only time I felt 100% good about spending money.

I don't know them directly but I've been a customer for a long time and I know they really struggle to get shipments out to their distributor in Germany due to Israel blockading them.

I think what that means is that it can be really hard for them to know when they'll get more stock and what stock they're going to get in. Which means that their distributor is probably going to be very reluctant to take backorders because they don't what to deal with a bunch of refunds or angry/disappointed customers who haven't had their order shipped for 6 months.

Obviously they do limited amounts of pre-orders at times but you should consider hitting them up to request that they start offering gift vouchers - that way you'd be able to provide them with financial support and you would be able to cash in and get your keffiyeh eventually, once they've got the colour you fancy in stock.

Mandela wore it in solidarity with the Palestinian people, so can you

It's not cultural appropriation in the sense that you are commodifying or personally benefitting/helping yourself to sacred cultural artefacts or symbols.

If you aren't wearing one to pass yourself off as if you are Arabic when you're not then that's one thing off the list.

If you aren't selling keffiyeh produced in China at a stall at some hippy market that's another thing off the list.

Keffiyeh aren't sacred, so that's another thing off the list.

Think of it like a sombrero. Not a tacky prop sombrero but an actual sombrero. If you lived in a desert climate or you were travelling through a desert area and you bought yourself a sombrero from a Mexican milliner to wear, that's not cultural appropriation it's just a wise choice and a Mexican is going to look at you wearing your sombrero and they're either going to think "That's a nice sombrero - I wonder where they bought that" or "Finally, a güero has enough sense to wear a wide-brimmed hat under this beating sun. Usually they only come wearing a baseball cap at the very most."

I wear a keffiyeh often, as a white person, and the only time I've ever had people notice it is when a person of Palestinian heritage in a professional capacity felt comfortable enough to open up to me about their political opinions about Zionism and the abuses that Israel is inflicting upon Palestinians (which was ballsy given the context and the fact that there could easily have been repercussions for their employment) and another person who was a migrant from an Arab country who was gushing over the colour of mine and who ended up being an instant friend because I was wearing it.

Think about how you feel when you see someone in the wild wearing a hamsick or antifascist symbol. That's probably a decent approximation of how a Palestinian would see an outsider who wears a keffiyeh.

I've worn mine to protests and Palestinian people like go out of their way to interact with me, waving, saying hello, etc.,

I bought mine probably in June and wore it to a socialist convention in August in solidarity with a pro-BDS group that was the center of a big struggle session in the org. Honestly at the time it seemed a little weird (I was joking "solidarity with BDS and yt pepo in Keffiyehs") but that was like 15000 deaths ago. When the enemies are out in the open its easier to tell who is on your side.

Also "cultural appropriation" is a form of erasure. Since you wear it to try and save the culture of the Palestinians, to protect it and defend it, you aren't appropriating. Like, technically. Appropriation is taking the cultural capital of another culture that can be monetized and commodifying it, while erasing other forms of social and cultural capital that can't be made into commodities. This severs the cultural symbol from its original (now eliminated) cultural and social context, leaving only the commodity. At least that's my formulation

i think the thing to understand about the keffiyah as it relates to palestine is that it is primarily a symbol of political solidarity. of course it has a long history in the levant and the middle east in general, but the specific black and white design which is associated with the struggle for palestinian liberation only came into wider use in the 20th century. if you are a friend of the movement in good faith (and if your purchasing power is going directly in the pockets of gazans under occupation), there is no "appropriation."

from this i would extrapolate further and say that the most basic definition of solidarity as a revolutionary principle requires us to see ourselves as fundamentally like the Other. i think the impulse to separate ourselves from each other in this way, to refuse to adopt another's struggle as our own, is a liberal one, and neutralizes our energies.

Appropriation has different meanings.

If you’re presenting yourself as some activist online or IRL but never actually participate anything or even know what the meaning and history behind the outfits/slogans, then yes it’s appropriation.

The other one is people benefitting from another’s culture without the consequences (e.g. white people with dreads having little consequences socioeconomically, luxury brands “elevating” a subgroup’s “inferior” garment). But the thing is, people are being targeted and harassed for wearing a kefiyah regardless of their culture, race, nationality, etc. You’re benefitting from solidarity and just having a cool garment, but you also won’t be hiding from the unfortunate reality of potentially being a target to fascists.

Your name, skin color, race, etc. may shield you in other situations, but when you wear one, you quite literally become the enemy of two states. I say this 100% sincerely that pro-Palestine people have a lot more to risk than any Zionist.

They keep you cool when it's hot and sunny. They keep you warm when it's cold. It's the most versatile piece of fabric in the world.

They really are

They're super versatile too

They are!

Get a red and white one, then you can educate people by saying you are technically against Hamas, as the red and white keffiyeh is an unofficial symbol for the PFLP - the Marxist political party in Palestine. I thought them libs like to what's better than to support Hamas political rival. Then tell them that actually Neythanyahu sent money and aid to Hamas, so Neythanyahu is a bigger Hamas supporter than you. Oct 7th wouldn't have happened if he sent money to PFLP instead. If anything, we should send money to PFLP

The black-on-black one is also a good choice for having it on hand for the riot.

I'm a big fan of having double masks if you're ever doing black bloc or grey bloc - one outer that you can have as a removable if you get maced with something tighter underneath like a gaiter so that way you're still covered if you remove the outer layer (or worse, if an antagonist tries to remove your outer layer to get images of your face to find out your identity.)

Am I encouraging you to spend a hundred dollars on a personal selection of keffiyeh? Yes. Yes I am.