The Revolutionary Social Worker in Palestine: Living the Challenge of Colonialism through Non-violent Resistance—the Struggles of Munther Amira

Abstract

This article explores Munther Amira’s ‘Pedagogy of Revolution’, a unique approach of non-violent resistance that adopts the pedagogy of Paulo Freire and global social work values and principles, for educating, empowering and mobilising Palestinian refugees living in the Westbank, as a means for liberation from the oppression imposed by Israel’s military occupation. The article begins by charting the history of Palestine, locating it as a place of violent upheaval and colonial occupation. It also pays particular attention to Britain’s role in abandoning the Palestinian people describing how this decision contributed to the continuing unrest and violence in the region. Using narrative inquiry methods, and by deploying a lens of contemporary social theory, the article provides a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of Palestinian refugees through the lived experiences of Munther Amira, a Palestinian refugee, social worker and human rights defender. It concludes by showing that regardless of the exceptionalism (or otherwise) of the environment, globally social work should align itself with the defence of human rights through non-violence resistance and, as a matter of urgency, should adopt what we describe as a ‘Pedagogy of Revolution’.