Before we delve into visions of the future, I think it's wise to look back. Back to exactly 1819. "When Sir Stamford Raffles went to Singapore, he went by way of Indonesia and saw how self-reliant people were with the palms that provided them with everything they needed. He said ‘These people are ungovernable'. There was nothing the government could give them that they wanted or needed. So what had to be done was clear. Cut the fucking palms down, so they became dependent, and hence governable. You can't govern independent people. They have no need of anything you can bring them." Bill Mollison (founder of 'permaculture') in Jeremy Seabrook's book Pioneers of Change. Sir St amford Raf fles, July 1781 - July 1826
Intifada Milk In 1987, a small community on the outskirts of Bethlehem in the West Bank took a brave step into the unknown. Their decision would come to represent the spirit of the Intifada (uprising) and also a thorn in the side of Israeli security. The simple act rose from Palestinian ambition to challenge the occupation and to carve out a slice of independence - a slice of paradise. In 1987, a small community on the outskirts of Bethlehem in the West Bank bought 18 cows.
The tightly-knit Palestinian community of Beit Sahour decided to follow the famous American cry of 'no taxation without representation' and so would no longer pay taxes to Israel. In anticipation of the Israeli response to their civil disobedience, they planted food in their balconies and unused land - the next step was to supply their own milk rather than rely on milk supplied from Israeli farms.
One small fact you may not have known about Palestine is that they don't have cows. Goats, sheep and camels - yes. Cows? No. All the Palestinians who volunteered for the project were intellectuals and knew absolutely nothing about operating a diary farm. They bought the cows from a friendly Israeli in a kibbutz and learnt the rest themselves. But they were determined and soon they were producing high-quality 'intifada milk' at their cooperative diary farm.
But this intifada milk hadn't gone unnoticed. One day, Israeli soldiers came and took pictures of every single cow and told the farmers that they needed to end their illegal activities. The Israeli army ordered the closure of the farm declaring the venture 'a threat to the national security of the state of Israel'. The co-ordinated and nonviolent activities of the Palestinians unnerved the security forces. To them it seemed out of character - a curfew was imposed. To show they were united, every Palestinian house would play the same Umm Khalthoom song from their stereos as soldiers walked below their balconies.
But was Israel really afraid of 18 cows? Yes. They were terrified that Palestinians would become self-sufficient, self-reliant. In short, ungovernable. This was nothing short of a declaration of war. They were afraid that they would succeed, that their ideas would spread, empowering even more Palestinians. Israeli soldiers paid the farm another visit and threatened all who were involved. And so the activists and the cows went under cover. The 18 cows were hidden in people’s houses smuggled from location to the next but they continued to produce milk. Israeli soldiers searched high and low for them - pointing to photographs of the individuals cows they were looking for, asking, “Have you seen this cow?”
In the end, it wasn't the threat of imprisonment that brought an end to intifada milk. It was Palestinian leaders who signed the Oslo Accords in 1993. The people of Beit Sahour didn't celebrate the end of the Intifada - they felt betrayed. Their local and successful campaign for independence had been hijacked by politicians who had failed to see that independence had been in their grasp. Or maybe that's exactly what the politicians had realised.
So what are my visions of a better future? I’m not sure about the details but I know that we have to be independent. We have to realise that the shop-bought individuality we are being sold is a trap. We have to realise that real and solid independence comes from being part of a collective where we supply our own food, create our own jobs, control our own time and govern ourselves. Because in the same way that being dependent puts us at the mercy of those in the business of rule, independence makes us ungovernable. And that is a beautiful neighbourhood. In 1987, a small community on the outskirts of Bethlehem in the West Bank took a brave step into the unknown and bought 18 cows. Today, they are waiting for a second taste of intifada milk.
This zine was originally produced for OOMK’s ‘Visions of the Future’ reading room 2015.