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To See In the Dark: Palestine and Visual Activism Since October 7
"Timely and clearly written, To See In the Dark is a manifesto to solidarity" Stephen Sheehi, co-author of Psychoanalysis Under Occupation
"Mirzoeff sharply urges us to divest from a mere spectatorship to a genocide, and insists that we see in relation, in solidarity and as an anti-colonial collective" Simone Browne, author of Dark Matters
"Mirzoeff argues incisively for a return to ways of seeing that are grounded in solidarity and resistance" Candice Breitz, video and photography artist
To see Palestine is to see the world. Since October 7th 2023, the forces of racial capitalism and settler colonialism have become all too visible in Israel's genocidal war on Gaza.
In To See In the Dark, Nicholas Mirzoeff explores how images, and especially video, viewed outside Palestine enabled a dramatic switch in public opinion, leading to a global uprising against the genocide.
In this groundbreaking analysis, he connects the personal and the political through his own anti-Zionist Jewishness and its histories of violence.
The result is a new collective and anti-colonial way of seeing, intersecting online and embodied experience.
Nicholas Mirzoeff is a pioneering figure in the field of visual culture and has written extensively on Jewishness and Palestine. His books include How To See The World, and The Right to Look. He has written for the Guardian and The Nation.
"Mirzoeff sharply urges us to divest from a mere spectatorship to a genocide, and insists that we see in relation, in solidarity and as an anti-colonial collective" Simone Browne, author of Dark Matters
"Mirzoeff argues incisively for a return to ways of seeing that are grounded in solidarity and resistance" Candice Breitz, video and photography artist
To see Palestine is to see the world. Since October 7th 2023, the forces of racial capitalism and settler colonialism have become all too visible in Israel's genocidal war on Gaza.
In To See In the Dark, Nicholas Mirzoeff explores how images, and especially video, viewed outside Palestine enabled a dramatic switch in public opinion, leading to a global uprising against the genocide.
In this groundbreaking analysis, he connects the personal and the political through his own anti-Zionist Jewishness and its histories of violence.
The result is a new collective and anti-colonial way of seeing, intersecting online and embodied experience.
Nicholas Mirzoeff is a pioneering figure in the field of visual culture and has written extensively on Jewishness and Palestine. His books include How To See The World, and The Right to Look. He has written for the Guardian and The Nation.
168 pages, Paperback
Published January 20, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 28, 2025
The Bad
• I’ve seen a lot of people these days separate Jews into the “good Jews” and the “bad Jews,” consciously or unconsciously, including some Jews themselves. Mirzoeff seems to have this kind of idea, where Jewish people are in some way guilty by association if they do not prove themselves to be good otherwise. I get this sense in Mirzoeff preferring to refer to himself as a jew, not capitalized, to leave off the proper noun, or when he says things like “Until the carceral, ethnonationalist, militarized, segregated, settler-colonial state of Israel has been abolished, it will not have been possible to be part of the class ‘Jews.’” Like he feels personal shame as a Jew for Israeli military action in Gaza, and is projecting that onto other Jews too who haven’t proved themselves to be actively “anti-Zionist” enough. However subconscious and unintentional, this is still a form of in-group Jewish hatred.
• I’m uncomfortable with how Mirzoeff speaks about Hamas. He refers to October 7 as a big “jailbreak,” and explains how the upside-down red triangle Hamas uses in their videos “has become a symbol of resistance.” He also denies the existence of any sexual violence perpetuated by Hamas on Oct 7. He says the reports were all hearsay, ignoring the fact that the UN report also found and that multiple individuals have come out to speak about sexual assault during captivity. Here’s the thing. The IDF has committed mass atrocities, including sexual violence against Palestinian women. And, Hamas has committed many atrocities, including sexual violence against Israeli women. These things can both simultaneously be true, and denouncing one doesn’t have to mean downplaying the actions of or dancing around support for the other.
• Mirzoeff seems to blame Jewish refugees who initially came to British Mandate Palestine, including his own ancestors, for being refugees there—despite the fact that most of these refugees had literally no choice. Jews that came to Palestine just before the Holocaust (including after Hitler was elected) were fleeing antisemitism and were denied entry into all other countries—they physically had nowhere else to go, and most who didn’t flee all died in the coming years. Holocaust refugees after WWII were brought on ships there from displacement camps with no choice and no other home. Mizrahi refugees who immigrated in the 50s were also fleeing antisemitic violence in their home countries and wouldn’t be accepted anywhere else in the world. We have to hold Zionist and Israeli leaders accountable for their actions, but that doesn’t mean putting blame or judgement on refugees with no other choice.
• Mirzoeff speaks of how any anti-Israel sentiment is being called antisemitism these days, and how Jews who claim to feel unsafe in New York or at Universities aren’t truly unsafe in any way. It’s true that there are people claiming any anti-Israel voices are antisemitic, and there has been horrible police brutality against pro-Palestine protesters. It’s also true that antisemitic violence has spiked in the past year and a half, and some pro-Palestine protesters have said or done antisemitic things (eg calling for Jews to go back to Poland, texting about Jewish student $$$$, using antisemitic slurs like z*o, defacing Holocaust memorial sites, attacking a Jewish school bus and screaming Free Palestine at a bunch of uninvolved kindergarteners — yes these are all real examples). I just graduated from University. I faced hate there, including from some individuals who were also pro-Palestine, and yes, sometimes, I felt physically unsafe on campus. McCarthyism attitudes trying to silence pro-Palestine voices is real, and it’s bad. Antisemitism is also real, and has been on the rise. Again, these things can both be true.
The main issue I have with Mirzoeff’s takes boils down to this: Mirzoeff seems incapable of imagining that Palestinians can be victims, and modern day American Jews can also be victims, and sometimes Jewish Israelis can also be victims too—none of these are mutually exclusive. The fact that the Palestinians face hate and oppression and massacres does not mean that Jewish people, even Israeli Jews, cannot also be victims at times of hate and oppression and massacres. Solidarity with Palestinians does not mean disavowing any care for hatred and violence faced by Jews, be they in the diaspora or not. Standing against hate and massacres should not be a game of ‘picking sides.’
The Good
• Mirzoeff has a lot of knowledge about Palestinian artists and some writers which I enjoyed learning about. He speaks a lot, especially, about Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abu-Rahme’s work together.
• This is one of the first books to discuss the role Instagram has been playing in Gaza and in the pro-Palestine movement. I think because social media is so removed from the world of academia in most people’s heads, it’s not something commonly written about or analyzed, but we are truly witnessing something unprecedented with the way Instagram has been used to broadcast the devastation in Gaza globally so successfully. It’s definitely a topic that deserves some literary attention.
• The details about the looted masks were really interesting.
Final Thoughts / Critiques
I know, I already did a “Bad” section earlier, but I have one more thought to say.
This whole book is supposed to be about “Activism,” but it rarely addresses what is to me the most important part of activism—its lived, tangible effect. The closest he comes is a line mentioning that a minority of university encampments got their schools to divest.
Here’s the thing. You can say you stand in solidarity with someone all you like. You can shout about it and post about it and write a book about it—but how are the actions of your activism actually affecting the people you’re trying to help? Reposting an AI-generated “All Eyes on Rafah” image, for instance—that does nothing but clog up hashtags that might have otherwise been useful. Donating to a Gazan you’re in contact with or to an aid organization, and sharing something trying to get others to donate? That does a little more.
I get that the whole point of “Visual Activism” is to be visible, but if that is absolutely the only thing it does, then it just amounts to virtue signaling (when it’s done by people not within the affected community). I want to know what your activism actually does to help people—what is the goal? What does it change?
With that message, if you actually do want to help some people in Gaza, I think donating is still a valid way, so here are some good orgs to know about:
• Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund
• HEAL Palestine
• Gaza Soup Kitchen
• Rebuilding Alliance
• Clean Shelter
• The Zaynab Project
• The Sameer Project
A lot of these also post regularly on Instagram, so you can donate, and follow their work there too.
• I’ve seen a lot of people these days separate Jews into the “good Jews” and the “bad Jews,” consciously or unconsciously, including some Jews themselves. Mirzoeff seems to have this kind of idea, where Jewish people are in some way guilty by association if they do not prove themselves to be good otherwise. I get this sense in Mirzoeff preferring to refer to himself as a jew, not capitalized, to leave off the proper noun, or when he says things like “Until the carceral, ethnonationalist, militarized, segregated, settler-colonial state of Israel has been abolished, it will not have been possible to be part of the class ‘Jews.’” Like he feels personal shame as a Jew for Israeli military action in Gaza, and is projecting that onto other Jews too who haven’t proved themselves to be actively “anti-Zionist” enough. However subconscious and unintentional, this is still a form of in-group Jewish hatred.
• I’m uncomfortable with how Mirzoeff speaks about Hamas. He refers to October 7 as a big “jailbreak,” and explains how the upside-down red triangle Hamas uses in their videos “has become a symbol of resistance.” He also denies the existence of any sexual violence perpetuated by Hamas on Oct 7. He says the reports were all hearsay, ignoring the fact that the UN report also found and that multiple individuals have come out to speak about sexual assault during captivity. Here’s the thing. The IDF has committed mass atrocities, including sexual violence against Palestinian women. And, Hamas has committed many atrocities, including sexual violence against Israeli women. These things can both simultaneously be true, and denouncing one doesn’t have to mean downplaying the actions of or dancing around support for the other.
• Mirzoeff seems to blame Jewish refugees who initially came to British Mandate Palestine, including his own ancestors, for being refugees there—despite the fact that most of these refugees had literally no choice. Jews that came to Palestine just before the Holocaust (including after Hitler was elected) were fleeing antisemitism and were denied entry into all other countries—they physically had nowhere else to go, and most who didn’t flee all died in the coming years. Holocaust refugees after WWII were brought on ships there from displacement camps with no choice and no other home. Mizrahi refugees who immigrated in the 50s were also fleeing antisemitic violence in their home countries and wouldn’t be accepted anywhere else in the world. We have to hold Zionist and Israeli leaders accountable for their actions, but that doesn’t mean putting blame or judgement on refugees with no other choice.
• Mirzoeff speaks of how any anti-Israel sentiment is being called antisemitism these days, and how Jews who claim to feel unsafe in New York or at Universities aren’t truly unsafe in any way. It’s true that there are people claiming any anti-Israel voices are antisemitic, and there has been horrible police brutality against pro-Palestine protesters. It’s also true that antisemitic violence has spiked in the past year and a half, and some pro-Palestine protesters have said or done antisemitic things (eg calling for Jews to go back to Poland, texting about Jewish student $$$$, using antisemitic slurs like z*o, defacing Holocaust memorial sites, attacking a Jewish school bus and screaming Free Palestine at a bunch of uninvolved kindergarteners — yes these are all real examples). I just graduated from University. I faced hate there, including from some individuals who were also pro-Palestine, and yes, sometimes, I felt physically unsafe on campus. McCarthyism attitudes trying to silence pro-Palestine voices is real, and it’s bad. Antisemitism is also real, and has been on the rise. Again, these things can both be true.
The main issue I have with Mirzoeff’s takes boils down to this: Mirzoeff seems incapable of imagining that Palestinians can be victims, and modern day American Jews can also be victims, and sometimes Jewish Israelis can also be victims too—none of these are mutually exclusive. The fact that the Palestinians face hate and oppression and massacres does not mean that Jewish people, even Israeli Jews, cannot also be victims at times of hate and oppression and massacres. Solidarity with Palestinians does not mean disavowing any care for hatred and violence faced by Jews, be they in the diaspora or not. Standing against hate and massacres should not be a game of ‘picking sides.’
The Good
• Mirzoeff has a lot of knowledge about Palestinian artists and some writers which I enjoyed learning about. He speaks a lot, especially, about Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abu-Rahme’s work together.
• This is one of the first books to discuss the role Instagram has been playing in Gaza and in the pro-Palestine movement. I think because social media is so removed from the world of academia in most people’s heads, it’s not something commonly written about or analyzed, but we are truly witnessing something unprecedented with the way Instagram has been used to broadcast the devastation in Gaza globally so successfully. It’s definitely a topic that deserves some literary attention.
• The details about the looted masks were really interesting.
Final Thoughts / Critiques
I know, I already did a “Bad” section earlier, but I have one more thought to say.
This whole book is supposed to be about “Activism,” but it rarely addresses what is to me the most important part of activism—its lived, tangible effect. The closest he comes is a line mentioning that a minority of university encampments got their schools to divest.
Here’s the thing. You can say you stand in solidarity with someone all you like. You can shout about it and post about it and write a book about it—but how are the actions of your activism actually affecting the people you’re trying to help? Reposting an AI-generated “All Eyes on Rafah” image, for instance—that does nothing but clog up hashtags that might have otherwise been useful. Donating to a Gazan you’re in contact with or to an aid organization, and sharing something trying to get others to donate? That does a little more.
I get that the whole point of “Visual Activism” is to be visible, but if that is absolutely the only thing it does, then it just amounts to virtue signaling (when it’s done by people not within the affected community). I want to know what your activism actually does to help people—what is the goal? What does it change?
With that message, if you actually do want to help some people in Gaza, I think donating is still a valid way, so here are some good orgs to know about:
• Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund
• HEAL Palestine
• Gaza Soup Kitchen
• Rebuilding Alliance
• Clean Shelter
• The Zaynab Project
• The Sameer Project
A lot of these also post regularly on Instagram, so you can donate, and follow their work there too.
Read
July 12, 2025Tens of Palestinians are killed every day, and each day, the news brings more horrifying pieces of information. And just when I thought it was unbearable, there was this: Vucic: Serbia helped supply Israel with arms after Oct. 7. The only protest gesture available to me was to start reading books like this. And to attend student blockades and mass protests for early elections in Serbia to finally remove this disgusting regime.
May 30, 2025
Insightful, in that one navigates the perspective of an anti-Zionist Jewish ally in Mirzoeff, who expands upon and/or rejoins the lens of Berger’s “Ways of Seeing” in this digital landscape, and how we can manifest solidarity beyond colonialism, zionism, and the “white lense”.
December 4, 2025
Beautifully written.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews