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Pour la Palestine comme pour la terre: Ravages de l'impérialisme fossile
Malm unearths the shared roots of colonial adventurism in Palestine and fossil fuelled warfare.
Israel’s pulverization of Gaza since October 7, 2023 is not only a humanitarian crisis, but an environmental catastrophe. Far from the first event of its kind, the devastation Israel has inflicted on Palestine since October 2023 has merely ushered in a new phase in a long history of colonization and extraction that reaches back to the nineteenth century. In this urgent pamphlet, Andreas Malm argues that a true understanding of the present crisis requires a longue durée analysis of Palestine's subjugation to fossil empire. Returning to the British empire’s first use of steam-power in war, in which it destroyed the Palestinian city of Akka, Malm traces the development of Britain’s fossil empire and shows how this enduring commitment to fossil energy continues to drive Western support for the destruction of Palestine today.
Israel’s pulverization of Gaza since October 7, 2023 is not only a humanitarian crisis, but an environmental catastrophe. Far from the first event of its kind, the devastation Israel has inflicted on Palestine since October 2023 has merely ushered in a new phase in a long history of colonization and extraction that reaches back to the nineteenth century. In this urgent pamphlet, Andreas Malm argues that a true understanding of the present crisis requires a longue durée analysis of Palestine's subjugation to fossil empire. Returning to the British empire’s first use of steam-power in war, in which it destroyed the Palestinian city of Akka, Malm traces the development of Britain’s fossil empire and shows how this enduring commitment to fossil energy continues to drive Western support for the destruction of Palestine today.
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First published January 7, 2025
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About the author
Andreas Malm
30 books471 followersAndreas Malm teaches Human Ecology at Lund University, Sweden. He is the author, with Shora Esmailian, of Iran on the Brink: Rising Workers and Threats of War and of Fossil Capital, which won the Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews
January 20, 2025
this book largely consists of the same essay/speech that was published on the Verso blog, along with a short introduction (July 2024), a response about the degree of Palestinian resistance (also published on the blog), and a response about Malm's critique of the flimsy "Israel lobby" thesis. The long essay, if you haven't read it, consists of an attempt to understand the logics of climate catastrophe and Palestinian destruction as a kind of parallelism. it accomplishes this in part through a historical excursis into the narrative of the 1840 British steamship assault on Akka, perhaps first naval venture of its kind. it is a moment that, perhaps, birthed the first versions of the 'people without a land for a land without a people' slogan (from early Christian Zionists). the essay itself is smart (though i find the 'analogic' or 'parallel' argument less helpful than the 'microcosm' one, that climate is 'a planetary version of the Nakba'). the essay itself is even-keeled, in my read, though it ends on the provocative note standing with the Palestinian resistance--the entire resistance.
that's why the objection from Matan Kamanir (not re-published here), and Malm's 'Response to some objections concerning Palestinian resistance' stand out for the intensity of argumentation. i do have to say that this section really changed how i thought and what i've done since reading it--really just give up on the equivocation of comfortable academics and erstwhile trotskyist hopes for some Perfect Moral Ally. most often, such a stance is just cover for doing what academics really want to do--"sneer," Malm once says, but mostly just imagine that they're the good guys and Not Do Anything. i--we--don't have to be that kind of guy.
that's why the objection from Matan Kamanir (not re-published here), and Malm's 'Response to some objections concerning Palestinian resistance' stand out for the intensity of argumentation. i do have to say that this section really changed how i thought and what i've done since reading it--really just give up on the equivocation of comfortable academics and erstwhile trotskyist hopes for some Perfect Moral Ally. most often, such a stance is just cover for doing what academics really want to do--"sneer," Malm once says, but mostly just imagine that they're the good guys and Not Do Anything. i--we--don't have to be that kind of guy.
April 3, 2025
Oh, buckle up, dear readers, because what we have here is a masterclass in intellectual gymnastics, where facts become fiction and fiction becomes "truth" in Andreas Malm's elaborate fantasy novel masquerading as political commentary.
First up, let's address the elephant in the room: Israel's legitimate self-defense against Hamas terrorism is absurdly labeled by the author as a "genocide." And not just a casual accusation; we're talking about the "first advanced late-capitalist genocide," a title that's quite the conflict of interest with reality! According to Malm, this so-called genocide is opposed by a 'transnational coalition' of Western powers—think of them as the Democracy Defenders, supporting the Middle East's only liberal democracy while it battles terrorists who literally have the destruction of Israel in their charter. The U.S., U.K., and other EU countries are finally doing something right, providing defensive capabilities to the Israeli state while it fights for its very existence.
You'd think the world would be a little more horrified by Hamas's October 7th massacre—over 1,200 innocent civilians slaughtered, women raped, children beheaded, and hostages still languishing in tunnels beneath Gaza. But Malm conveniently tunnel visions his way around these inconvenient truths, painting a picture so biased you'd feel ashamed for even questioning his narrative.
Now let's get to the first key contradiction: while Hamas hides its weapons in schools and hospitals, Malm is ramping up climate alarmism like a Hollywood blockbuster sequel that nobody wanted or asked for. Talk about warming up to a stretch! He cleverly suggests that Israel's precision strikes to take out terrorist infrastructure are somehow related to climate change—they're practically causing hurricanes in Minnesota! Who would have thought? The military operations are apparently so powerful they're giving Mother Nature a run for her money!
The same IDF that goes to extraordinary lengths to minimize civilian casualties is apparently also responsible for melting the ice caps. What a polar-izing view! The author cites dizzying statistics of fossil fuel extraction hitting all-time highs, while simultaneously discussing Israel's defense as if precision-guided munitions run on coal rather than advanced technology—a little like blaming your pet goldfish for ocean pollution. That's what I call swimming in delusion!
Our author seems rather unimpressed with the courageous efforts of Israel's leaders who, when they're not doing a pretty good job of protecting their citizens, keep attributing their security measures to "self-defense," as if saying it helps us forget that Hamas started this conflict long ago. He's really defense-less against logic! And just when you think some good old-fashioned historical context would sink in, he brings the political discourse to a standstill with his revisionist history.
With theatrical flair, Malm pulls a curtain over centuries' worth of Jewish connection to the land, ignoring the continuous Jewish presence since biblical times. Talk about history repeating itself—except in his case, it's not repeating, it's being completely rewritten! He laces narratives of "colonialism" while conveniently forgetting that Jews are indigenous to the region and returned to rebuild their homeland after millennia of persecution. Ah yes, because nothing screams "colonial power" like a people returning to their ancestral homeland. That's what I call homeland security!
Malm masterfully crafts sections positing the case for a two-pronged critique: a critique of Israel's right to exist and a critique that doesn't shy away from glorifying the current "Palestinian resistance" led by Hamas. Irony drips from every page when we understand that while he frames terrorism as "resistance," it's actually a calculated strategy by extremists who reject peace offers and prefer perpetual conflict to building a state—talk about a peace of work!
And if you thought this literary cyclone had exhausted itself, Malm doesn't shy away from throwing in some pointed critiques of the very frameworks we usually rely upon to talk about the Middle East. He's really framing the narrative to suit his agenda!
Yet, amid this chaos, there's a call to arms against the only democracy in the region, suggesting that perhaps, just perhaps, there's still hope for delegitimizing the Jewish state in a world where antisemitism is making a fashionable comeback. That's quite the democratic process he's advocating for—silence the only actual democracy in the region!
As for the ecological connection? Malm seems to believe that missiles somehow cause more climate damage than, say, the massive oil industry in neighboring states. Talk about crude logic! Perhaps the smoke from defensive operations is somehow worse than the emissions from the private jets environmentalists take to climate conferences? That's what I call jet-setting double standards!
So, what do we have from Malm? We have a multilayered fantasy so rich that even the most devout skeptics would need to practice utter suspension of disbelief. His work isn't just earth-shattering—it's reality-shattering too!
As we collectively observe the ongoing security operations in Gaza and the unyielding march of terrorist organizations like Hamas, let us spare a thought for the absurd theater of it all. There's a sense of profound irony that in a world where Israel is busy defending its citizens against those who seek its destruction, authors like Malm are, ironically, destroying factual discourse. Remember folks, when it comes to planet-sized leaps of logic, connecting counter-terrorism to climate catastrophe takes the greenhouse cake!
An extra star added for the countless absurd laughs this book offers on every page.
First up, let's address the elephant in the room: Israel's legitimate self-defense against Hamas terrorism is absurdly labeled by the author as a "genocide." And not just a casual accusation; we're talking about the "first advanced late-capitalist genocide," a title that's quite the conflict of interest with reality! According to Malm, this so-called genocide is opposed by a 'transnational coalition' of Western powers—think of them as the Democracy Defenders, supporting the Middle East's only liberal democracy while it battles terrorists who literally have the destruction of Israel in their charter. The U.S., U.K., and other EU countries are finally doing something right, providing defensive capabilities to the Israeli state while it fights for its very existence.
You'd think the world would be a little more horrified by Hamas's October 7th massacre—over 1,200 innocent civilians slaughtered, women raped, children beheaded, and hostages still languishing in tunnels beneath Gaza. But Malm conveniently tunnel visions his way around these inconvenient truths, painting a picture so biased you'd feel ashamed for even questioning his narrative.
Now let's get to the first key contradiction: while Hamas hides its weapons in schools and hospitals, Malm is ramping up climate alarmism like a Hollywood blockbuster sequel that nobody wanted or asked for. Talk about warming up to a stretch! He cleverly suggests that Israel's precision strikes to take out terrorist infrastructure are somehow related to climate change—they're practically causing hurricanes in Minnesota! Who would have thought? The military operations are apparently so powerful they're giving Mother Nature a run for her money!
The same IDF that goes to extraordinary lengths to minimize civilian casualties is apparently also responsible for melting the ice caps. What a polar-izing view! The author cites dizzying statistics of fossil fuel extraction hitting all-time highs, while simultaneously discussing Israel's defense as if precision-guided munitions run on coal rather than advanced technology—a little like blaming your pet goldfish for ocean pollution. That's what I call swimming in delusion!
Our author seems rather unimpressed with the courageous efforts of Israel's leaders who, when they're not doing a pretty good job of protecting their citizens, keep attributing their security measures to "self-defense," as if saying it helps us forget that Hamas started this conflict long ago. He's really defense-less against logic! And just when you think some good old-fashioned historical context would sink in, he brings the political discourse to a standstill with his revisionist history.
With theatrical flair, Malm pulls a curtain over centuries' worth of Jewish connection to the land, ignoring the continuous Jewish presence since biblical times. Talk about history repeating itself—except in his case, it's not repeating, it's being completely rewritten! He laces narratives of "colonialism" while conveniently forgetting that Jews are indigenous to the region and returned to rebuild their homeland after millennia of persecution. Ah yes, because nothing screams "colonial power" like a people returning to their ancestral homeland. That's what I call homeland security!
Malm masterfully crafts sections positing the case for a two-pronged critique: a critique of Israel's right to exist and a critique that doesn't shy away from glorifying the current "Palestinian resistance" led by Hamas. Irony drips from every page when we understand that while he frames terrorism as "resistance," it's actually a calculated strategy by extremists who reject peace offers and prefer perpetual conflict to building a state—talk about a peace of work!
And if you thought this literary cyclone had exhausted itself, Malm doesn't shy away from throwing in some pointed critiques of the very frameworks we usually rely upon to talk about the Middle East. He's really framing the narrative to suit his agenda!
Yet, amid this chaos, there's a call to arms against the only democracy in the region, suggesting that perhaps, just perhaps, there's still hope for delegitimizing the Jewish state in a world where antisemitism is making a fashionable comeback. That's quite the democratic process he's advocating for—silence the only actual democracy in the region!
As for the ecological connection? Malm seems to believe that missiles somehow cause more climate damage than, say, the massive oil industry in neighboring states. Talk about crude logic! Perhaps the smoke from defensive operations is somehow worse than the emissions from the private jets environmentalists take to climate conferences? That's what I call jet-setting double standards!
So, what do we have from Malm? We have a multilayered fantasy so rich that even the most devout skeptics would need to practice utter suspension of disbelief. His work isn't just earth-shattering—it's reality-shattering too!
As we collectively observe the ongoing security operations in Gaza and the unyielding march of terrorist organizations like Hamas, let us spare a thought for the absurd theater of it all. There's a sense of profound irony that in a world where Israel is busy defending its citizens against those who seek its destruction, authors like Malm are, ironically, destroying factual discourse. Remember folks, when it comes to planet-sized leaps of logic, connecting counter-terrorism to climate catastrophe takes the greenhouse cake!
An extra star added for the countless absurd laughs this book offers on every page.
March 25, 2025
Andreas Malm starts by showing how steam power first brought subjugation to Palestine in the early 1840s and how this fossil-fuelled colonialism has continued to suppress the Palestinian people ever since.
As per the title, the author then shows that the latest destruction of Palestine and the climate crisis are both happening in plain sight and yet the forces of colonialism and capitalism are doing very little to stop the destruction of either Palestine or The Earth.
I read the book and wondered what it will take for the human race to rediscover its humanity and do something before it's too late. The book made me rather angry at times and also made me realise it's time to stop talking about doing something and to start doing something.
Recommended
As per the title, the author then shows that the latest destruction of Palestine and the climate crisis are both happening in plain sight and yet the forces of colonialism and capitalism are doing very little to stop the destruction of either Palestine or The Earth.
I read the book and wondered what it will take for the human race to rediscover its humanity and do something before it's too late. The book made me rather angry at times and also made me realise it's time to stop talking about doing something and to start doing something.
Recommended
January 25, 2025
It’s incredible how interconnected the beginning of fossil fuel pollution and the conception of Zionism is. The fact that one of the first major uses of the steam powered violence was against the Palestinian city of Akka is an insane moment of history.
The constant resistance and resiliency sustained by Palestinian people since the 1800s should be enough to embolden all other acts of resistance, such as the environmental movement.
The constant resistance and resiliency sustained by Palestinian people since the 1800s should be enough to embolden all other acts of resistance, such as the environmental movement.
June 1, 2025
“Climate breakdown is precisely the tempest that threatens to ruin us all, and the only thing the great powers have done is to feed it.” The central thesis of this book is 1840 was a pivotal year for both climate change and Zionism: In 1840, the British Empire won its first battle (fortress of Acre) by using coal-powered steamboats (bringing fossil fuels into warfare and creating the decisive advantage). This ignited the globalization of steam, turning fossil capital into fossil empire. Steam no longer needed weather or ocean currents to be on your side. The Brits supported the Ottoman Empire to keep competitor Russia away from India and the Middle East. Napoleon attacked the fortress at Akka (Acre) for 1 ½ years w/o success but Brit steamships took it out in less than three days. The Brits didn’t lose a single man however all four steamers ended up almost completely out of coal. Britain thus showed its power in Palestine and then projected that power “across the globe.” As for Zionism, a Christian Zionist Alexander Keith goes to Palestine in 1839 and returns with a convenient “country without a people” waiting for “people w/o a country” theory. Does anyone think this Alexander meticulously explored all of an area (Palestine) the size of New Jersey by (at best) horse and cart and ONLY then made this comment? There was also an article in the Times in 1939 about Palestine with “Earth without a people for a people without a land.” To make the fantasy seem more real, “the Yishuv wrested citrus production from (the comically non-existent) Palestinians by linking up with” modern irrigation using fossil fuel pumps” putting the fruit of trucks to ports using steamers. So, to British racists, and Zionists since then, if you didn’t have a climate-changing oil-based infrastructure, your land had no people.
This book is about the connection between Palestine and climate, and as such it mentions that five weeks after October 7th, “Chevron resumed operations at the Tamar gas field (off of Haifa)” and 12 new exploration licenses were issued. I haven’t flown since before COVID, but this book tells me that “civil aviation accounts for 3% of the total” annual CO2 emissions. Neta C. Crawford notes that “the US military is the single largest institutional fossil fuel user in the world and the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter.” Hooray, we are number one. October 7th was the day “Israel watched its multimillion-dollar defense system struggle against forms of low-tech warfare.” That day Israel’s leaders passively looked on like Chris Reeves and Stephen Hawking at a tennis match. We shouldn’t have been surprised by Israel’s 10/8 over-the-top Dahiya Doctrine (with delightful floral hints of the Hannibal Directive) response, because back in 2006 Israel resolved to destroy ALL of Lebanon just because three soldiers were killed and two abducted. Israel, like Donald Trump, has made a career out of overacting and over-reacting.
“The state of Israel is now committing the worst crime known to humanity.” For the first time in history, there is zero risk to CHEER on an active genocide, but if you instead cheer for the bull and not the matador - if you applaud resistance, not naked dominance, you will counter-intuitively be targeted and smeared. Now, that’s great PR! Unlike the Holocaust, “this genocide has been a ‘transnational effort’ coordinated and organized by the advanced capitalist countries of the West together with Israel.” With Israel’s new dependence on AI (“Lavender” and “Where’s Daddy?”) to better target and kill its illegally occupied, one can easily say Israel is conducting the first “technogenocide.” Sadistic Nazis switched to gas from mass shooting to make shamelessly slaughtering innocents incur less PTSD for Nazis; just so sadistic Zionists switched to AI and shamelessly slaughtering innocents by Drone to incur less PTSD for Zionists. But of course, on October 7th all that high-tech wizardry was nowhere to be found, and all security was replaced by the dumbest guards since Hogan’s Heroes.
Question: Who does the menial work in Israel if every Zionist comically thinks they are personally chosen by God and that all Palestinians are, at best, animals? Would they refuse, saying, “God did not choose me to sweep your floor, clean the toilet, and stock your shelves, I’ll tell you right now!”
Anyway, back in Gaza, 2005 was when “the State of Israel reconfigured its occupation into a concentration camp. “The essence of the Zionist project is the destruction of Palestine.” “The genocide in Gaza provides an object lesson in callousness. In the climate catastrophe the lives of non-white multitudes in the Global South do not count. They are expendable, of no value.” Israel’s genocide is a gift to late capitalism. “fresh rubble is always poured over the Palestinians.” “It is very good for ExxonMobil and BP that the US and the UK have decided that death of this kind is de rigueur.” “Ecocide here (Gaza) fuses with genocide in a manner never seen before.” “Will people be ever to live again in Gaza?”
What is going to happen to the planet when extreme climate change hits – it will be a Nakba for the planet. But for the author, “Palestinians taught me the meaning of resistance”. Granted the fossil capital industry is not a settler-colonial project, but it triggers the same kind of resistance – to never give up – it’s never too late to resist. Before October 7th, Gaza had become a laboratory for solar power, because it had no choice being denied by Israel all other forms of electricity.
The history shows many times where revolts against White man’s colonialism killed civilians (FLN in Algeria, Mau Mau Rebellion, Nat Turner Revolt, Haitian Revolution, Sepoy Mutiny, Tupac Amaru uprising), whites acted aghast at such violence while pardoning through erasure the years of white violence that led up to such rebellions. But it’s good to remember that such acts of violence against whitey often led to progress (as in South Africa) that would not have happened under continued indefinite meek servitude. It is worth noting that the NLF didn’t kill American civilians in Vietnam because our occupation wasn’t a settler-colonial project. If we look at the Nazi invasion of Norway during WWII, if the Nazi’s had thrown 100,000 Aryan settlers into the mix in addition to soldiers, you would have probably seen resistance from the meekest Norwegians. When you take my land as well, it gets personal.
No Zionist wants you to study the clear non-violent attempts by Hamas to negotiate – the peace offers, bids to negotiate, boycott campaigns, non-violent marches (Great March of Return 2018-2019 which killed 223 Palestinians and maimed or injured 10,000). Non-violence doesn’t make headlines – at best it got Gandhi, JFK, MLK, and Malcolm X all killed. Think of October 7th as “the greatest anti-colonial revolt of the 21st century.”
Hamas’s trajectory has been one of “steady secularization” as it moved from the “deranged and inexcusable anti-Semitism of the first charter”, divorce from the Muslim Brotherhood, and clear move from Islamic to nationalist. Not one Zionist today will tell you about Netanyahu clearly funding Hamas for over a decade or Hamas clearly changing its original odious charter in 2016 with a very reasonable one, because they know you might well agree with the new one which is largely anti-colonial and anti-fascist.
Today’s Zionist will never remind you that “the first duty of a Left in the heart of empire must be a ruthless critique of it.” Today I still have many faux-left PEP (progressive EXCEPT Palestine) Facebook friends who comically state w/o evidence that “EVERY Leftist movement (w/o exception) ultimately turns on its Jews” or who DEMAND conflation of criticism (ruthless critique) of Israel w/ criticism of ALL Jews (strangely including all obvious anti-Zionists Jews like Norman Finkelstein, Noam Chomsky, Gabor Mate or Medea Benjamin) . If you hated the Vietnam or Iraq Wars, did you hate ALL Americans, in the Middle Ages did those who hated the Crusades hate ALL Christians – of course not – you hated those you saw solving problems first through crushing violence and force. And how could any follower of the Golden Rule today morally defend today’s Dahiya Doctrine, let alone the Hannibal Directive?
This was a great book which took a different path from the other 73 Israel/Palestine books I have reviewed since October 7th 2023 – I really enjoyed it, and you will too. I love when authors follow a different path. Kudos…
This book is about the connection between Palestine and climate, and as such it mentions that five weeks after October 7th, “Chevron resumed operations at the Tamar gas field (off of Haifa)” and 12 new exploration licenses were issued. I haven’t flown since before COVID, but this book tells me that “civil aviation accounts for 3% of the total” annual CO2 emissions. Neta C. Crawford notes that “the US military is the single largest institutional fossil fuel user in the world and the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter.” Hooray, we are number one. October 7th was the day “Israel watched its multimillion-dollar defense system struggle against forms of low-tech warfare.” That day Israel’s leaders passively looked on like Chris Reeves and Stephen Hawking at a tennis match. We shouldn’t have been surprised by Israel’s 10/8 over-the-top Dahiya Doctrine (with delightful floral hints of the Hannibal Directive) response, because back in 2006 Israel resolved to destroy ALL of Lebanon just because three soldiers were killed and two abducted. Israel, like Donald Trump, has made a career out of overacting and over-reacting.
“The state of Israel is now committing the worst crime known to humanity.” For the first time in history, there is zero risk to CHEER on an active genocide, but if you instead cheer for the bull and not the matador - if you applaud resistance, not naked dominance, you will counter-intuitively be targeted and smeared. Now, that’s great PR! Unlike the Holocaust, “this genocide has been a ‘transnational effort’ coordinated and organized by the advanced capitalist countries of the West together with Israel.” With Israel’s new dependence on AI (“Lavender” and “Where’s Daddy?”) to better target and kill its illegally occupied, one can easily say Israel is conducting the first “technogenocide.” Sadistic Nazis switched to gas from mass shooting to make shamelessly slaughtering innocents incur less PTSD for Nazis; just so sadistic Zionists switched to AI and shamelessly slaughtering innocents by Drone to incur less PTSD for Zionists. But of course, on October 7th all that high-tech wizardry was nowhere to be found, and all security was replaced by the dumbest guards since Hogan’s Heroes.
Question: Who does the menial work in Israel if every Zionist comically thinks they are personally chosen by God and that all Palestinians are, at best, animals? Would they refuse, saying, “God did not choose me to sweep your floor, clean the toilet, and stock your shelves, I’ll tell you right now!”
Anyway, back in Gaza, 2005 was when “the State of Israel reconfigured its occupation into a concentration camp. “The essence of the Zionist project is the destruction of Palestine.” “The genocide in Gaza provides an object lesson in callousness. In the climate catastrophe the lives of non-white multitudes in the Global South do not count. They are expendable, of no value.” Israel’s genocide is a gift to late capitalism. “fresh rubble is always poured over the Palestinians.” “It is very good for ExxonMobil and BP that the US and the UK have decided that death of this kind is de rigueur.” “Ecocide here (Gaza) fuses with genocide in a manner never seen before.” “Will people be ever to live again in Gaza?”
What is going to happen to the planet when extreme climate change hits – it will be a Nakba for the planet. But for the author, “Palestinians taught me the meaning of resistance”. Granted the fossil capital industry is not a settler-colonial project, but it triggers the same kind of resistance – to never give up – it’s never too late to resist. Before October 7th, Gaza had become a laboratory for solar power, because it had no choice being denied by Israel all other forms of electricity.
The history shows many times where revolts against White man’s colonialism killed civilians (FLN in Algeria, Mau Mau Rebellion, Nat Turner Revolt, Haitian Revolution, Sepoy Mutiny, Tupac Amaru uprising), whites acted aghast at such violence while pardoning through erasure the years of white violence that led up to such rebellions. But it’s good to remember that such acts of violence against whitey often led to progress (as in South Africa) that would not have happened under continued indefinite meek servitude. It is worth noting that the NLF didn’t kill American civilians in Vietnam because our occupation wasn’t a settler-colonial project. If we look at the Nazi invasion of Norway during WWII, if the Nazi’s had thrown 100,000 Aryan settlers into the mix in addition to soldiers, you would have probably seen resistance from the meekest Norwegians. When you take my land as well, it gets personal.
No Zionist wants you to study the clear non-violent attempts by Hamas to negotiate – the peace offers, bids to negotiate, boycott campaigns, non-violent marches (Great March of Return 2018-2019 which killed 223 Palestinians and maimed or injured 10,000). Non-violence doesn’t make headlines – at best it got Gandhi, JFK, MLK, and Malcolm X all killed. Think of October 7th as “the greatest anti-colonial revolt of the 21st century.”
Hamas’s trajectory has been one of “steady secularization” as it moved from the “deranged and inexcusable anti-Semitism of the first charter”, divorce from the Muslim Brotherhood, and clear move from Islamic to nationalist. Not one Zionist today will tell you about Netanyahu clearly funding Hamas for over a decade or Hamas clearly changing its original odious charter in 2016 with a very reasonable one, because they know you might well agree with the new one which is largely anti-colonial and anti-fascist.
Today’s Zionist will never remind you that “the first duty of a Left in the heart of empire must be a ruthless critique of it.” Today I still have many faux-left PEP (progressive EXCEPT Palestine) Facebook friends who comically state w/o evidence that “EVERY Leftist movement (w/o exception) ultimately turns on its Jews” or who DEMAND conflation of criticism (ruthless critique) of Israel w/ criticism of ALL Jews (strangely including all obvious anti-Zionists Jews like Norman Finkelstein, Noam Chomsky, Gabor Mate or Medea Benjamin) . If you hated the Vietnam or Iraq Wars, did you hate ALL Americans, in the Middle Ages did those who hated the Crusades hate ALL Christians – of course not – you hated those you saw solving problems first through crushing violence and force. And how could any follower of the Golden Rule today morally defend today’s Dahiya Doctrine, let alone the Hannibal Directive?
This was a great book which took a different path from the other 73 Israel/Palestine books I have reviewed since October 7th 2023 – I really enjoyed it, and you will too. I love when authors follow a different path. Kudos…
November 15, 2025
Zooooo goed ?? Laatste deel is wel heeeel marxistisch, maar het is allemaal wel zo valid? Aanrader voor iedereen die in een debat wilt kunnen uitleggen 1) waarom de genocide niet de schuld is van 7 oktober (& dus Hamas), 2) hoe de kolonisatie van Palestina niet startte in 2023, niet in 1948, maar wel al in 1840 !! en 3) hoe de genocide allemaal al sinds 1840 te maken heeft met de destructie van onze planeet en fossil fuels
January 26, 2025
I might have thought that the resonance with 1840 was a little unnecessary to explain the immediate problems with Gaza and the climate today, but I guess it does make for better reading and in all honesty it’s probably much more relevant to the story than I’m making it out to be. The way he rebuffs ideas about AIPAC as well as people who are looking for any excuse not to support revolution at the end of the book is impressive and thought-provoking. But all of these parts of the book just complement its main body and argument, which is laid out plainly and very convincingly.
September 15, 2025
💌💸 Crowdfund links and early thoughts
Once again, I’ve made a review that feels longer than the book!! 😭 So, I’m actually going to start at the end. I would highly recommend reading this, and would even moreso recommend visiting Gaza Funds, a website that compiles different crowdfunds to support people trying to survive the famine, bombardment, and many other elements of this grievous war. One crowdfund on the site is set up by Shorouq, a graphic designer trying to safely relocate to Turkey. Shorouq is 26, and she has 5 siblings (Dina, 32; Israa, 30; Mohammed, 28; Mosaab, 26; and Dania, 16) as well as two parents (Walid and Jamila) who will be traveling with her if they can raise enough resources. I’m sure many of us have loved ones around the age of Shorouq and her siblings, or are her age. If anyone reading this is financially able, I am sure they would appreciate all of our support in such a dire situation.
In the Destruction of Palestine is the Destruction of the Earth, author Andreas Malm shows how the entrenchment of two oppressive systems (Zionism and environmental exploitation) are connected. Basically, the more we keep planting fossil fuel extraction projects and new Zionist settlements, the harder it’s going to be to dig them all up. And the whole reason WHY we keep doing this, against all seeming reason, is because a small group of people have amassed an unimaginable number of vested interests in keeping these things going! The core lecture this book publishes felt really vital and instructive. Unfortunately, the second and third chapters (rebuttals to rebuttals of his work) felt a bit petty and like detractions from his core points.
🤯💰 Why is this happening
Malm’s interrogation of the “why” was really helpful to me, as an autistic person who sometimes struggles to understand the hidden motives and true intentions behind people’s statements:
The answer he poses is a profit motive I never realized—like our country has no business interests with the victims of a genocide that would cause us to protect them. However, we have ALL THE FINANCIAL CONNECTIONS IN THE WORLD that would incentivize our leaders to turn a blind eye to the Zionist fossil fuel empire:
Malm’s coverage of the history of Zionism as an imperial, steam-powered project to entrench capitalist interests in Palestine and the broader region, as well as his work to bring this argument to the modern day, was just really instructive. Again, a lot of people already probably knew this, but for me, it helped connect a lightbulb like WE ONLY SAVE THE PEOPLE WE HAVE A FINANCIAL INTEREST TO SAVE. The deaths of countless people are literally not as moving to the powers that be, despite that seeming to be unimaginable to many of us.
These pieces about financial interests are also how Malm breaks apart the lobby theory, which I didn’t realize how much I believed—basically the party line that our country supporting the genocide of the Palestinian people and destruction of their homeland is truly against our best interests as the US, and we’re just continuing on because we’re irrationally tied to and influenced by Israel. The truth is much worse: our country benefits so much from having Israel as our proxy state and regional enforcer and partner in fossil fuel extraction that it actually makes sense for us to support Israel even as they slaughter tens of thousands of people! Like Biden literally calls our money to Israel the “greatest billion dollar investment we make” because of how much the US gets out of the alliance.
Malm argues we especially benefit from this Faustian alliance in times of increased competition with Russia and China, because of Palestine’s strategic location between “us” and “the others”. The PLFP’s 1969 document called the Zionist entity a “bridgehead” for the US, something I learned means “a strong position secured by an army inside enemy territory from which to advance or attack.” So basically yes, the lobby is a SYMPTOM of the issue, not literally causing the issue. Because after all, since when does the US not support violent dispossession?
So yes, basically I really appreciated the way Malm laid out his arguments. If people have other recommendations for work that does a similar interrogation/explanation, PARTICULARLY around our current domestic politics, I would love to read it.
🌏⛓️ Masters, and thus destroyers, of the earth
Okay so here’s another interesting framing: not just showing the US as the cop of the world, but as the master of the earth: “[Netanyahu] and Biden have again been sitting down for a tête-à-tête, thrashing out the details of cooperation and coordination: the master of the earth will never rein in the master of Palestine.” (10) Just like Israel faces no real limits to how much it can violate the Palestinian people (particularly those in Gaza,) the US is facing no real limits to how much we can lead the violation of the earth and our climate. Licenses for oil and gas projects are GROWING, not decreasing, and my country has more licenses than all other countries! There seems to be no declaration of enough is enough, because of who is in charge (as Malm explains through the “why” sections of the book.)
Malm does a good job at setting out the history of the West’s destruction of the Earth, whether it was Britain’s use of steamboats (powered by coal) to destroy the Palestinian city of Akka in 1840. He notes that they could have continued using wind to guide their boats, but unlike steam, it could not be controlled or mastered. This immediately rung a bell in my head, because it seems like so much of our fossil fuel dependence is about this desire for mastery. We could do things more slowly, or with less control, but that is never enough. Even the current AI craze, which is going to DEVASTATE our water supply, is soooo tied to our desire to become masters of everything, even when there’s already a less destructive—albeit slower—path to the same thing we want to do.
My final interesting thought on this topic of mastery was how Malm shows its ties to colonialism. Fossil fuels are not are not from the earth, they’re from below it and being used by powerful entities to conquer and alter the conditions above the ground. In this way, the logics of fossil fuel extraction are actually very similar to the logics of colonization itself!! We should NOT be able to take things from anywhere, establish domain everywhere, and create ruinous standards of productivity “just because.”
🪖⚠️ Environmental impacts and colonial formations of war
This part of the book, where Malm speaks about how the carbon emissions from the first 60 days from the bombs dropped in Gaza equal the annual emissions of 30 low-emitting countries, is what I thought this whole book would be about. I am glad to learn it taught me other things, but these points are worth noting, too. For instance, I didn’t think that in addition to the human and social violence created by these bombs, the war jets and US airplanes transporting the bombs from our factories are using petroleum to get over there in the first place! It’s back to the steamboats bombarding Akka in 1840, like we shouldn’t even be able to get around like this!!! In fact, this level of devastation is only possible when we begin “mobilising the boundless capacity for destruction only fossil fuels can give.” (57)
As Malm notes, the “high-tech genocide” made possible through our country’s involvement has created a particularly dire situation:
At the same time that this is a technologically-oriented genocide, Malm also celebrates the resistance fighters’ technological disruptions. Part of their ability to overpower—however briefly—the Israeli surveillance state was remarkable, because it broke something that previously was seen as insurmountable. We now are aware that even the most high-tech military apparatuses can be breached, and we saw that happen in 4K. That’s part of what this unrelenting punishment of Gaza is about, like WE—the rest of the imperial subjects—cannot come to realize that the surveillance state isn’t truly as omnipotent as we make it out to be.
There’s still so much I didn’t discuss here, like how engaging of a historical writer Malm is—he had to be to keep me comfortable with the science notes. I learned different things from the wars of the past, about how Britain supported the Ottoman Empire as a counterbalance to Russia, not dissimilar to how the US now uses Israel. I also think this is a really helpful book for showing how trade is not the neutral force it’s made out to be in our country, but actually it’s often the start of violent settler colonial and fossil fuel projects, many of which involve warfare to “clear the way” for commerce. Just like many British cotton “manufacturers” wanted access to the Middle East to have “new markets” for their “product” in the 1800s, many American oil companies urged their government to support Israel’s formation in 1948, not out of actual concern for Jewish people, but because they believed Zionists would best protect their commercial interests in the area. Just terrible, terrible trends of this stuff!!
Once again, I’ve made a review that feels longer than the book!! 😭 So, I’m actually going to start at the end. I would highly recommend reading this, and would even moreso recommend visiting Gaza Funds, a website that compiles different crowdfunds to support people trying to survive the famine, bombardment, and many other elements of this grievous war. One crowdfund on the site is set up by Shorouq, a graphic designer trying to safely relocate to Turkey. Shorouq is 26, and she has 5 siblings (Dina, 32; Israa, 30; Mohammed, 28; Mosaab, 26; and Dania, 16) as well as two parents (Walid and Jamila) who will be traveling with her if they can raise enough resources. I’m sure many of us have loved ones around the age of Shorouq and her siblings, or are her age. If anyone reading this is financially able, I am sure they would appreciate all of our support in such a dire situation.
In the Destruction of Palestine is the Destruction of the Earth, author Andreas Malm shows how the entrenchment of two oppressive systems (Zionism and environmental exploitation) are connected. Basically, the more we keep planting fossil fuel extraction projects and new Zionist settlements, the harder it’s going to be to dig them all up. And the whole reason WHY we keep doing this, against all seeming reason, is because a small group of people have amassed an unimaginable number of vested interests in keeping these things going! The core lecture this book publishes felt really vital and instructive. Unfortunately, the second and third chapters (rebuttals to rebuttals of his work) felt a bit petty and like detractions from his core points.
🤯💰 Why is this happening
Malm’s interrogation of the “why” was really helpful to me, as an autistic person who sometimes struggles to understand the hidden motives and true intentions behind people’s statements:
“the events of the past half year have raised anew the question of the nature of this alliance. What, exactly, is it that ties the state of Israel and the rest of the West so closely together? What explains the willingness of countries like the US and the UK to collaborate in this genocide? Why does the American empire share Israel’s goal of destroying Palestine?” (15)
The answer he poses is a profit motive I never realized—like our country has no business interests with the victims of a genocide that would cause us to protect them. However, we have ALL THE FINANCIAL CONNECTIONS IN THE WORLD that would incentivize our leaders to turn a blind eye to the Zionist fossil fuel empire:
“The genocide is unfolding at a time when the state of Israel is more deeply integrated in the primitive accumulation of fossil capital than ever. The Palestinians, on the other hand, have zero stake in that process: no platforms, no rigs, no pipelines, no companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. But Arabs in the UAE and Egypt and Saudi Arabia do, of course. This is the political economy of the Abraham Accords and its expected sequels: a unification of Israeli and Gulf capital in the process of making money by producing oil and gas.” (56)
Malm’s coverage of the history of Zionism as an imperial, steam-powered project to entrench capitalist interests in Palestine and the broader region, as well as his work to bring this argument to the modern day, was just really instructive. Again, a lot of people already probably knew this, but for me, it helped connect a lightbulb like WE ONLY SAVE THE PEOPLE WE HAVE A FINANCIAL INTEREST TO SAVE. The deaths of countless people are literally not as moving to the powers that be, despite that seeming to be unimaginable to many of us.
These pieces about financial interests are also how Malm breaks apart the lobby theory, which I didn’t realize how much I believed—basically the party line that our country supporting the genocide of the Palestinian people and destruction of their homeland is truly against our best interests as the US, and we’re just continuing on because we’re irrationally tied to and influenced by Israel. The truth is much worse: our country benefits so much from having Israel as our proxy state and regional enforcer and partner in fossil fuel extraction that it actually makes sense for us to support Israel even as they slaughter tens of thousands of people! Like Biden literally calls our money to Israel the “greatest billion dollar investment we make” because of how much the US gets out of the alliance.
Malm argues we especially benefit from this Faustian alliance in times of increased competition with Russia and China, because of Palestine’s strategic location between “us” and “the others”. The PLFP’s 1969 document called the Zionist entity a “bridgehead” for the US, something I learned means “a strong position secured by an army inside enemy territory from which to advance or attack.” So basically yes, the lobby is a SYMPTOM of the issue, not literally causing the issue. Because after all, since when does the US not support violent dispossession?
So yes, basically I really appreciated the way Malm laid out his arguments. If people have other recommendations for work that does a similar interrogation/explanation, PARTICULARLY around our current domestic politics, I would love to read it.
🌏⛓️ Masters, and thus destroyers, of the earth
Okay so here’s another interesting framing: not just showing the US as the cop of the world, but as the master of the earth: “[Netanyahu] and Biden have again been sitting down for a tête-à-tête, thrashing out the details of cooperation and coordination: the master of the earth will never rein in the master of Palestine.” (10) Just like Israel faces no real limits to how much it can violate the Palestinian people (particularly those in Gaza,) the US is facing no real limits to how much we can lead the violation of the earth and our climate. Licenses for oil and gas projects are GROWING, not decreasing, and my country has more licenses than all other countries! There seems to be no declaration of enough is enough, because of who is in charge (as Malm explains through the “why” sections of the book.)
Malm does a good job at setting out the history of the West’s destruction of the Earth, whether it was Britain’s use of steamboats (powered by coal) to destroy the Palestinian city of Akka in 1840. He notes that they could have continued using wind to guide their boats, but unlike steam, it could not be controlled or mastered. This immediately rung a bell in my head, because it seems like so much of our fossil fuel dependence is about this desire for mastery. We could do things more slowly, or with less control, but that is never enough. Even the current AI craze, which is going to DEVASTATE our water supply, is soooo tied to our desire to become masters of everything, even when there’s already a less destructive—albeit slower—path to the same thing we want to do.
My final interesting thought on this topic of mastery was how Malm shows its ties to colonialism. Fossil fuels are not are not from the earth, they’re from below it and being used by powerful entities to conquer and alter the conditions above the ground. In this way, the logics of fossil fuel extraction are actually very similar to the logics of colonization itself!! We should NOT be able to take things from anywhere, establish domain everywhere, and create ruinous standards of productivity “just because.”
🪖⚠️ Environmental impacts and colonial formations of war
This part of the book, where Malm speaks about how the carbon emissions from the first 60 days from the bombs dropped in Gaza equal the annual emissions of 30 low-emitting countries, is what I thought this whole book would be about. I am glad to learn it taught me other things, but these points are worth noting, too. For instance, I didn’t think that in addition to the human and social violence created by these bombs, the war jets and US airplanes transporting the bombs from our factories are using petroleum to get over there in the first place! It’s back to the steamboats bombarding Akka in 1840, like we shouldn’t even be able to get around like this!!! In fact, this level of devastation is only possible when we begin “mobilising the boundless capacity for destruction only fossil fuels can give.” (57)
As Malm notes, the “high-tech genocide” made possible through our country’s involvement has created a particularly dire situation:
“Ecocide here fuses with genocide in a manner never seen before. Bosnia was not a less habitable land after 1995 than before 1992. Rwandan soil and water and air went relatively unscathed through the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Tutsis. But will people ever be able to live again in Gaza?” (68)
At the same time that this is a technologically-oriented genocide, Malm also celebrates the resistance fighters’ technological disruptions. Part of their ability to overpower—however briefly—the Israeli surveillance state was remarkable, because it broke something that previously was seen as insurmountable. We now are aware that even the most high-tech military apparatuses can be breached, and we saw that happen in 4K. That’s part of what this unrelenting punishment of Gaza is about, like WE—the rest of the imperial subjects—cannot come to realize that the surveillance state isn’t truly as omnipotent as we make it out to be.
There’s still so much I didn’t discuss here, like how engaging of a historical writer Malm is—he had to be to keep me comfortable with the science notes. I learned different things from the wars of the past, about how Britain supported the Ottoman Empire as a counterbalance to Russia, not dissimilar to how the US now uses Israel. I also think this is a really helpful book for showing how trade is not the neutral force it’s made out to be in our country, but actually it’s often the start of violent settler colonial and fossil fuel projects, many of which involve warfare to “clear the way” for commerce. Just like many British cotton “manufacturers” wanted access to the Middle East to have “new markets” for their “product” in the 1800s, many American oil companies urged their government to support Israel’s formation in 1948, not out of actual concern for Jewish people, but because they believed Zionists would best protect their commercial interests in the area. Just terrible, terrible trends of this stuff!!
Read
January 3, 2025die OG Vorlesung 10/10, die ergänzenden Ausführungen riesige Krise
der eigentliche text, der namensgebend für dieses dünne bändchen ist, war aus meiner politik-/nachhaltigkeitswissenschaftlichen perspektive essenziell zu lesen, besticht in seiner ausführlichkeit und tiefe trotz der kürze des textes.
bei den ausführenden erklärungen und stellungnahmen wurde mir dann doch auch anders und ich konnte dem geschriebenen politisch, normativ und emotional nichts abgewinnen
bin enorm zwiegespalten, von daher keine bewertung
der eigentliche text, der namensgebend für dieses dünne bändchen ist, war aus meiner politik-/nachhaltigkeitswissenschaftlichen perspektive essenziell zu lesen, besticht in seiner ausführlichkeit und tiefe trotz der kürze des textes.
bei den ausführenden erklärungen und stellungnahmen wurde mir dann doch auch anders und ich konnte dem geschriebenen politisch, normativ und emotional nichts abgewinnen
bin enorm zwiegespalten, von daher keine bewertung
April 6, 2025
Everyone should read! Short and digestible and provided new insight on what’s happening in Gaza both historically and current framework. Ok the more i think about it the more im like woah that actually was so good and helped me to adjust/critique my thinking on things
Really strong format of a central essay (with a clear, convincing argument about the parallels of climate crisis and Palestinian occupation) and then responses to critics (also persuasive) regarding Palestinian resistance and the Israel lobby in us
Really strong format of a central essay (with a clear, convincing argument about the parallels of climate crisis and Palestinian occupation) and then responses to critics (also persuasive) regarding Palestinian resistance and the Israel lobby in us
March 4, 2025
“I think the real disgrace in the West is that the left cannot clearly and without equivocation support the Palestinian struggle for self-emancipation. This is a topic for another lecture and many texts, but I think we should say it loud: we stand with the resistance and we are proud.”
November 4, 2025
lucid and easily makes the argument that the destruction of Palestine and the earth are innate to capital's operation and imperialistic need to grow and conquer new markets. everything is happening as planned.
Malm's support of the PLFP and, especially, his plea to Marxists to support actually-existing Marxist struggle is refreshing and uncompromising. an example of using academic study for liberatory purposes that refuses to dilute itself on the grounds of nit picky critiques of resistance, etc. thinking outside the West, etc. etc. etc.
Malm's beating heart!
Malm's support of the PLFP and, especially, his plea to Marxists to support actually-existing Marxist struggle is refreshing and uncompromising. an example of using academic study for liberatory purposes that refuses to dilute itself on the grounds of nit picky critiques of resistance, etc. thinking outside the West, etc. etc. etc.
Malm's beating heart!
March 30, 2025
Phenomenal. Malm's ability to interlink the histories of the crises that face us and to communicate their urgency is second to none.
March 23, 2025
The Destruction of Palestine is the Destruction of the Earth is one of the first from Verso Books in a new series of “Palestine Pamphlets”. These short works offer insight into more niche matters that have arisen in the post October 7th landscape of Middle East geopolitics. This work in particular is a manuscript from a lecture author Andreas Malm gave at the American University of Beirut in April of 2024.
Manuscripts of lectures aren’t usually my preferred way of consuming this kind of information, I find that watching or listening to them offers a better understanding of the presenters words, but I actually found this one quite engaging. The bulk of this work is the main essay at around 75 pages, which looks to showcase the destruction of the earth through the context of Palestine from its earliest points of European imperialist expansion.
Referring back to the advent of steamboats and the burning of coal in the siege of Akka in 1840. This was a really fascinating subject to look at and probably the highlight of this essay for me. As someone who is interested in Ottoman history I was shamefully previously unaware of this period of history and this discussion definitely piqued my interest in learning more.
Expanding on this Malm does a great job of joining together the concepts of imperialism, resource cultivating destruction of the planet, and how zionism relates to those points, even from its earliest stages. While referencing current events this essay is mostly steeped in the bigger picture of zionist expansion from its inception.
Malm’s citations offer many great points to expand learning on these subjects, which ultimately is what I would expect is the goal of this Palestine Pamphlet series. This is a short work, and while it offers a lot in discussion and thoughts to ponder, it is far from a definitive work and more so a jumping off point for these subjects to be studied in greater depth elsewhere.
My biggest issue with this essay is Malm’s discussion on the Israel Lobby Theory, which he is highly critical of. Personally, I have not met many people who’ve taken issue with discussing the concept of the Israel Lobby, but I’ve also never come across someone who insists on referring to it as a theory either.
Malm mentions this “Israel Lobby Theory” point towards the end of the essay and to me it felt like it was only loosely related to the grander thesis being presented here. Offering a criticism of the left in how they have gravitated towards calling out AIPAC lobbyists in their funding of US political candidates in efforts to push pro Israel legislation. Malm references the words of Ghada Karmi, someone I was previously unaware of prior to reading this essay who seems to also have ties to Verso. He points to her blaming the Israel Lobby for the entirety of US policy in the Middle East and how that is clearly untrue when it comes to the grand history of US (and British) interaction with Israel and foreign policy in the Middle East. It seems strange to pick this one figure as the representative of leftists who like to draw on AIPAC for US relations with Israel, especially when I’ve never heard anyone suggest this in the past.
The history of US foreign policy in the Middle East and its allyship with Israel is multifaceted and can be based on many factors such as US Imperialism, Cold War proxy wars, Christian Zionism, oil, homegrown antisemitism that hopes to migrate Jews in America to half a world away, and of course politicians taking AIPAC money in order to maintain a Pro Israel status quo policy making in the House and Senate.
For the last 50 years there have been countless examples of US politicians winning seats with the help of AIPAC money as well as politicians who were critical of Israel losing their seat after running against an opponent funded by AIPAC. There are many politicians who’ve changed their tone once assuming office and taking AIPAC funding as well.
This is not an Israel issue exclusively but an issue with lobbyists in general. The Gun Lobby and the Oil Lobby have done the same in pushing legislation that is antithetical to the wellbeing of American citizens and it seems quite surprising that an environmentalist such as Malm wouldn’t understand this.
Maybe I’m missing his point in this but by him bringing up this criticism of those calling out the Israel Lobby I feel he is making a misguided step that ultimately offered very little to his original thesis and hurt it in the long run. There is probably some nuance in this discussion that we share but if that is the case it isn’t found here.
After the main body of the essay he offers responses to criticism he received after its initial release both on his stances on Palestinian Resistance and his criticism of the Israel Lobby Theory. I found his response to criticism of supporting Palestinian armed resistance to be really good and a great takedown of those who condone violence in the face of oppression. This section itself is worth reading for those interested in this book.
His response to criticism of his take on the Israel Lobby Theory is less well done and is really just a response to a Jacobin article critiquing his point. I could care less about the takedowns of specific points that are being argued and wish he would just expand upon his reasoning for this view. He does to a limited capacity where he says his bringing up of the Israel Lobby Theory to show that it doesn’t hold that much weight in the century and a half history of zionism but overall it just feels like he’s skirting around the reality of present day discussion in which most people address this point. Overall, this whole point in the main essay and response just felt like leftist infighting that unfortunately I, as a goodreads nobody, have now contributed as well.
Outside of this one issue I found a lot to like about this essay, Malm as a writer and researcher, and this format of pamphlet being published. Even with my issues with Malm’s take on the back end of the essay, I still highly recommend this. While not an introductory work when it comes to Palestine, it is a great jumping off point for someone who already has a good understanding of the subject. The history is a great exploration into colonial violence on a grander scale and his defense of Palestinian resistance is well worth reading. The list of sources also lends to further learning and discussion on these subjects which should definitely be talked about.
Manuscripts of lectures aren’t usually my preferred way of consuming this kind of information, I find that watching or listening to them offers a better understanding of the presenters words, but I actually found this one quite engaging. The bulk of this work is the main essay at around 75 pages, which looks to showcase the destruction of the earth through the context of Palestine from its earliest points of European imperialist expansion.
Referring back to the advent of steamboats and the burning of coal in the siege of Akka in 1840. This was a really fascinating subject to look at and probably the highlight of this essay for me. As someone who is interested in Ottoman history I was shamefully previously unaware of this period of history and this discussion definitely piqued my interest in learning more.
Expanding on this Malm does a great job of joining together the concepts of imperialism, resource cultivating destruction of the planet, and how zionism relates to those points, even from its earliest stages. While referencing current events this essay is mostly steeped in the bigger picture of zionist expansion from its inception.
Malm’s citations offer many great points to expand learning on these subjects, which ultimately is what I would expect is the goal of this Palestine Pamphlet series. This is a short work, and while it offers a lot in discussion and thoughts to ponder, it is far from a definitive work and more so a jumping off point for these subjects to be studied in greater depth elsewhere.
My biggest issue with this essay is Malm’s discussion on the Israel Lobby Theory, which he is highly critical of. Personally, I have not met many people who’ve taken issue with discussing the concept of the Israel Lobby, but I’ve also never come across someone who insists on referring to it as a theory either.
Malm mentions this “Israel Lobby Theory” point towards the end of the essay and to me it felt like it was only loosely related to the grander thesis being presented here. Offering a criticism of the left in how they have gravitated towards calling out AIPAC lobbyists in their funding of US political candidates in efforts to push pro Israel legislation. Malm references the words of Ghada Karmi, someone I was previously unaware of prior to reading this essay who seems to also have ties to Verso. He points to her blaming the Israel Lobby for the entirety of US policy in the Middle East and how that is clearly untrue when it comes to the grand history of US (and British) interaction with Israel and foreign policy in the Middle East. It seems strange to pick this one figure as the representative of leftists who like to draw on AIPAC for US relations with Israel, especially when I’ve never heard anyone suggest this in the past.
The history of US foreign policy in the Middle East and its allyship with Israel is multifaceted and can be based on many factors such as US Imperialism, Cold War proxy wars, Christian Zionism, oil, homegrown antisemitism that hopes to migrate Jews in America to half a world away, and of course politicians taking AIPAC money in order to maintain a Pro Israel status quo policy making in the House and Senate.
For the last 50 years there have been countless examples of US politicians winning seats with the help of AIPAC money as well as politicians who were critical of Israel losing their seat after running against an opponent funded by AIPAC. There are many politicians who’ve changed their tone once assuming office and taking AIPAC funding as well.
This is not an Israel issue exclusively but an issue with lobbyists in general. The Gun Lobby and the Oil Lobby have done the same in pushing legislation that is antithetical to the wellbeing of American citizens and it seems quite surprising that an environmentalist such as Malm wouldn’t understand this.
Maybe I’m missing his point in this but by him bringing up this criticism of those calling out the Israel Lobby I feel he is making a misguided step that ultimately offered very little to his original thesis and hurt it in the long run. There is probably some nuance in this discussion that we share but if that is the case it isn’t found here.
After the main body of the essay he offers responses to criticism he received after its initial release both on his stances on Palestinian Resistance and his criticism of the Israel Lobby Theory. I found his response to criticism of supporting Palestinian armed resistance to be really good and a great takedown of those who condone violence in the face of oppression. This section itself is worth reading for those interested in this book.
His response to criticism of his take on the Israel Lobby Theory is less well done and is really just a response to a Jacobin article critiquing his point. I could care less about the takedowns of specific points that are being argued and wish he would just expand upon his reasoning for this view. He does to a limited capacity where he says his bringing up of the Israel Lobby Theory to show that it doesn’t hold that much weight in the century and a half history of zionism but overall it just feels like he’s skirting around the reality of present day discussion in which most people address this point. Overall, this whole point in the main essay and response just felt like leftist infighting that unfortunately I, as a goodreads nobody, have now contributed as well.
Outside of this one issue I found a lot to like about this essay, Malm as a writer and researcher, and this format of pamphlet being published. Even with my issues with Malm’s take on the back end of the essay, I still highly recommend this. While not an introductory work when it comes to Palestine, it is a great jumping off point for someone who already has a good understanding of the subject. The history is a great exploration into colonial violence on a grander scale and his defense of Palestinian resistance is well worth reading. The list of sources also lends to further learning and discussion on these subjects which should definitely be talked about.
December 12, 2025
“But there is one thing that should be emulated, and that is the spirit of resistance, the readiness to fight as though every part of one’s existential dignity hinges on it. If that spirit can be mobilized for a homeland, it should, one would think, also be possible to have something like it for the earth.”
February 17, 2025
perfect (& heartbreaking) balance of narrative and information I wish i could inject this in the minds of the masses
that sounds so ominous LOL but it is so eloquently written & such an important read
that sounds so ominous LOL but it is so eloquently written & such an important read
April 15, 2025
I found this book of three essays interesting. This is a transcript from a speech but reads well as an essay. Malm makes a case for the colonization of Palestine starting in 1840 correlating with the rise of the steam engine used in war by Britian and the rise of fossil fuel capitalism.
While short, at about 70 pages, there is a lot of information in here that is easy to digest and important to the understanding of the history of Palestine.
I also appreciated the essay on Palestinian resistance, which Malm explains he has had direct experience with when he was in Palestine during the second intifada. He also briefly touches on how Palestine got him into the climate movement.
Before reading the book, I took a look through the sources, then paid close attention to them throughout the book. One problem of books written about Palestine is that sources tend to be overwhelmingly western or israeli, the author addresses this flaw in the book, specifically with regards to the targeted timeline he is talking about which is 1840. He admits that his sources are largely from the english language and not arabic, and this is to be critiqued.
One thing that didn't work for me in this book or seem relevant to the subject matter was the israeli lobby. I didn't see how this tied into the subject of fossil capitalism and even though the book is short, these parts for me dragged, if only because it didn't feel relevant.
Overall, a book I would recommend for those who want to expand their understanding of the colonization of Palestine and how it ties to fossil capitalism.
While short, at about 70 pages, there is a lot of information in here that is easy to digest and important to the understanding of the history of Palestine.
I also appreciated the essay on Palestinian resistance, which Malm explains he has had direct experience with when he was in Palestine during the second intifada. He also briefly touches on how Palestine got him into the climate movement.
Before reading the book, I took a look through the sources, then paid close attention to them throughout the book. One problem of books written about Palestine is that sources tend to be overwhelmingly western or israeli, the author addresses this flaw in the book, specifically with regards to the targeted timeline he is talking about which is 1840. He admits that his sources are largely from the english language and not arabic, and this is to be critiqued.
One thing that didn't work for me in this book or seem relevant to the subject matter was the israeli lobby. I didn't see how this tied into the subject of fossil capitalism and even though the book is short, these parts for me dragged, if only because it didn't feel relevant.
Overall, a book I would recommend for those who want to expand their understanding of the colonization of Palestine and how it ties to fossil capitalism.
May 3, 2025
A love letter to the guy in The Incredibles who says “Coincidence? I think not!”
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Very strong arguments regarding the parallels and interplay between Palestine and the Climate, particularly the observations about the peace process and COP, as well as the 1840 case study. The Lobby Theory was also something I realise now that I had taken as truth for a long time, so I was glad to read a convincing counterargument.
I was also glad to see Malm engage with counterarguments on the left and idealism regarding resistance in a way that I don’t think I have seen in mainstream coverage - though I need to do more reading before I would be comfortable adopting Malm’s rhetoric entirely.
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This book radicalised me…into thinking all non-fiction should be 100 pages max
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Very strong arguments regarding the parallels and interplay between Palestine and the Climate, particularly the observations about the peace process and COP, as well as the 1840 case study. The Lobby Theory was also something I realise now that I had taken as truth for a long time, so I was glad to read a convincing counterargument.
I was also glad to see Malm engage with counterarguments on the left and idealism regarding resistance in a way that I don’t think I have seen in mainstream coverage - though I need to do more reading before I would be comfortable adopting Malm’s rhetoric entirely.
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This book radicalised me…into thinking all non-fiction should be 100 pages max
July 23, 2025
"Esse é o fim do mundo que nunca termina: novos escombros são sempre despejados nos palestinos. A destruição é a experiência constitutiva da vida palestina porque a essência do projeto sionista é a destruição da Palestina."
muuuuuito interessante e acessível. deixa muito claro que desde seus primórdios, a destruição da Palestina (e seu povo) é intencional e premeditada, com o objetivo de abrir espaço para um controle ocidental do Oriente Médio. além do interesse no petróleo, usado para carregar máquinas militares, que por sua vez precisam ser usadas para conseguir mais petróleo.
esse livro já me deu muito o que pensar e ainda mais vontade de estudar, recomendo.
muuuuuito interessante e acessível. deixa muito claro que desde seus primórdios, a destruição da Palestina (e seu povo) é intencional e premeditada, com o objetivo de abrir espaço para um controle ocidental do Oriente Médio. além do interesse no petróleo, usado para carregar máquinas militares, que por sua vez precisam ser usadas para conseguir mais petróleo.
esse livro já me deu muito o que pensar e ainda mais vontade de estudar, recomendo.
August 4, 2025
this book raised a new perspective on the genocide in Gaza, with Malm contextualizing the intersections between climate degradation and the occupation of Palestine all the way back to the 1840s. I wish the current environmental considerations of the genocide were discussed further, but overall, this book was accessible, informative, and certainly a call to action. Section on Palestinian resistance was also very well put.
September 23, 2025
«When we speak of resistance against murderous oppression and the fight for survival and freedom, do we only bother about the past? we are actually not that serious about the commitment to the struggle for freedom, or we do not consider Palestinian lives worthy of being fought for.»
Read
April 14, 2025cannot say so much about this manifesto [which took me more than twO (2) months to read] other than that it is very thought provoking. and that the lore surrounding it will stay with me longer than its actual content. also, that it is (so) much more marxist than I thought (comrade this! comrade that!)
should maybe read it a second time, with more determination and focus!
but then again,
"everything written about Palestine after 1970 is untrue" - S/O and nazdrovje my two Polish comrades.
should maybe read it a second time, with more determination and focus!
but then again,
"everything written about Palestine after 1970 is untrue" - S/O and nazdrovje my two Polish comrades.
Read
June 4, 2025Waar Braudel toch niet allemaal goed voor is.
Interessant en verhelderend essay
Interessant en verhelderend essay
August 16, 2025
rating this too highly on here makes me feel like I’m going to get put on a list 🤨
September 21, 2025
Un ejemplo más de la imposición de las leyes del mercado mediante el uso de la fuerza. Toma de posición sin ambajes. Free Palestine
June 3, 2025
queria que ele tivesse desenvolvido umas partes mais (e outras menos) mas atiçou minha curiosidade! vou ler +
November 6, 2025
Andreas Malm is openly pro-Hamas, and in favor of the massacre of October 7. He especially loved the Palestinian militant group the PFLP for being left-wing—despite the fact that the PFLP also targets its attacks on Jewish Israeli civilians (not military targets), and, at times, non-Israeli Jews as well (the PFLP would at times hold any Jewish passengers on a plane hostage, regardless of whether or not they were Israeli, as with the Entebbe incident).
Here is a collection of quotes from this book which are pro-Hamas, pro-Oct 7, or otherwise in favor of mass violence.
Here is a collection of quotes from this book which are pro-Hamas, pro-Oct 7, or otherwise in favor of mass violence.
“The first thing we said in these early hours [of October 7] consisted not so much of words but of cries of jubilation. Those of us who have lived our lives with and through the question of Palestine could not react in any other way to the scenes of the resistance storming the Erez checkpoint … all of a sudden in the hands of Palestinian fighters who had overpowered the occupation soldiers and torn down their flag. How could we not scream with astonishment and joy? It was the same with the scenes of Palestinians breaking through the fence and the wall and streaming into the lands from which they had been expelled; and with the reports of the resistance seizing the police station in Sderot….”
“From the first moments of Tufan al-Aqsa, it was clear that a continuation of the earth-shattering Palestinian victories of that day would have boosted the axis extending from the resistance in Gaza to that in Lebanon and Yemen and Iraq, and further to Iran, and further to Russia and China”
“But the Palestinian resistance still stands. After half a year, the resistance is still struggling. After half a year, six months, 184 days, the resistance is still fighting back on all fronts, from Beit Hanoun to Rafah and, of course, beyond Gaza. After all this time, Izz al-Din al-Qassam and Mohammed Deif and Abu Obeida and their comrades-in-arms from Jihad and the DFLP and the PFLP are still in the tunnels, still dispatching one operation after another – and this is what makes it possible to live another day.”
“But supporting the Palestinian resistance – the armed resistance, the only force opposing the genocide on the ground – is prohibited. I, for one, refuse to go along with this. I think the real disgrace in the West is that the left cannot clearly and without equivocation support the Palestinian struggle for self-emancipation. This is a topic for another lecture and many texts, but I think we should say it loud: we stand with the resistance and we are proud.”
”But a remarkable aspect of Tufan al-Aqsa has been the rise of the Omar al-Qassem Forces of the DFLP: we don’t have reliable statistics, but the stream of resistance operation reports suggests that they have vied for third place among the armed forces in Gaza.”
“Today it is Hamas and Jihad. The weakness of the left compared to its older peaks can hardly be a reason not to stand in solidarity with its struggle.”
“Well, readers are encouraged to go online and watch a video that gives a glimpse of the strength and beauty of the PFLP in Gaza one year before the Tufan Al Aqsa operation.”
“The least any honourable Marxist can do at home is to follow the steady stream of communiques and analyses from the two Fronts, through, for instance, the Resistance News Network, the invaluable Telegram channel”
“…the PFLP has always been my favourite faction. For me, solidarity with the Palestinian resistance in general and its left in particular began long before 7 October and will continue long after; it is among my three or four deepest political convictions.”
“… the life of a Jihad leader in Mukhayyam Jenin is worth more than 1,000 texts”
“In any case, I have come to think that the meaning of life is to never give up – no matter if it is too late to prevent catastrophe; no matter how many disasters pile up; no matter how overwhelmingly powerful the enemy. And there is no force in the world today that embodies this meaning like the Palestinian resistance.”
“If I lived in Gaza, I would, I imagine, be a long-standing member of the PFLP.”
“I know of comrades who have tried to make it into Gaza, in the best tradition of internationalism, to join the struggle. Suffice it to say that the way the Sisi regime collaborates in the destruction of Gaza makes it impossible for volunteers to enter. Had these comrades succeeded, they would, of course, have stood shoulder to shoulder with fighters from al-Qassam and al-Quds and accepted their tactical leadership on the battlefield. What could be the objections to that?”
“Should we, after 7 October, start condemning it on the principle that civilians must never be killed? Or should we remember the violence against the white civilians as an ugly aspect of a legitimate struggle for freedom, the victory of which marked an unusually genuine instance of progress in history?”
“One can familiarise oneself with actually existing Hamas by following, as I think everyone should, the speeches given by Abu Obeida. Since 7 October, they have usually opened with the Islamic salutations and a token quotation from the Qur’an – some sura about how the weak will ultimately defeat the strong or about freedom finally coming – before quickly veering into expositions on the challenges facing the resistance, the achievements, the sacrifices, the crimes of the occupation, the virtues of solidarity, the path ahead. Don’t be scared! It’s great stuff, listen in.”
“I have never, in all my decades in this movement in the Global North, seen such pronounced support for the resistance. The silhouette of Abu Obeida hovered over the CUNY encampment. The red triangle is ubiquitous. At the demonstration in Brooklyn violently attacked by the NYPD on 18 May, young women without hijabs marched with al-Qassam and PFLP pins. Signs and banners included pictures of Abu Obeida, Sinwar and Deif alongside Sa’adat; ‘resistance is justified when people are colonized’ – a common chant; ‘when injustice becomes normal, resistance becomes a duty’; ‘power to all our martyrs – long live the Palestinian resistance’. You don’t get as much of this in the streets of London and certainly not in Berlin. Should we deplore it? I, for one, consider it a splendid sign of radicalisation where it is needed most: in the heart of the empire.”
“We have the Black Panthers in photo books and Malcolm X on our walls – then why not also the PFLP and Abu Obeida?”
“…no Palestinian revolt has accomplished anything like the negation of US–Israeli military superiority that occurred on 7 October.”
”we might likewise have to wait five years after 7 October to know how it panned out in the end. It would be far too soon to say now that it achieved more for the Palestinian people than any previous revolutionary cycle. It also cannot be ruled out. The Zionist entity doesn’t exactly appear to be in vigorous health these days.”
July 14, 2025
Andreas does a great job showing the evil actions the Israeli genocidal forces IGF inflicting on the Palestinians. The book is a collection of essays writen about these actions, however it is important to look at the parallels between the climate catastrophe caused by colonialism and capitalism and the Palestenian destruction. It all started in the 1840s as the british colonialists started to suppress the Palestenians, it all started the "place without people nonsense".
Humanity at the end has to wake up before it gets too late.
Humanity at the end has to wake up before it gets too late.
November 14, 2024
Absolutely essential. Amazing scholarship, I am always excited to read anything Malm puts out, this is excellent with both of his responses to criticism of the original argument included. For me personally his response concerning standing with Palestinian resistance is particularly important and moving. Cannot recommend this enough.
Read the original posts back in May, got the ebook with a preorder.
Read the original posts back in May, got the ebook with a preorder.
January 6, 2025
An essential read. Delves into a side of history that a lot of more popular literature leaves out. His dialogue on Palestinian resistance is incredibly important and well put.
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