Alana Hadid answers questions about Palestinian liberation for SJP’s PLW

On Monday April 7, over 100 students gathered at the Scripps College Humanities Auditorium, to welcome Alana Hadid — Palestinian American activist and creative director of Watermelon Pictures — commencing night one of SJP’s Palestinian Liberation Week. Ambereen Dadabhoy, a professor of literature at Harvey Mudd, moderated the event and Alana Hadid answered select questions submitted by students ranging from art and production, to Hadid’s family and the repression of campus movements for divestment. 

Hadid’s film production company, Watermelon Pictures is committed to bringing Palestinian cinema and stories to a broader audience. Hadid said that it is “not just to show Palestinian and marginalized groups oppression, but to show our joy and to show our humor and to really have the broader conversation of these people are humans and they deserve representation just like any other group.”

“Joy is resistance and art is resistance.” 

Expanding on Watermelon Pictures’ ethos, Hadid answered a question asking about how joy functions as a form of resistance in Palestinian media and broader life. “Joy really pisses them off,” she said.

“They really hate that we are happy, that we are proud, and that we are hopeful and that we do see a future that has freedom and liberation involved in it. [Joy] is the one thing that they really, really cannot take,” she concluded. . 

“Nobody’s free until everyone is free.”

Another question asked Hadid to “expand on the role of intersectionality in regards to activism on Palestinian liberation and other freedom struggles.” Hadid responded “we are walking down the road towards collective and universal liberation.”

“I don’t believe in allyship.” Hadid said. “In the fight for liberation, you’re either in it because you understand that we’re all affected or you’re not. [Because] we are all oppressed if one of us is oppressed.” 

“Students are always on the right side of history.”

The final question asked Hadid about her thoughts on institutions, including Pomona College, who have said that they will comply “under the full extent of the law” with a congressional committee’s request to hand over students’ disciplinary records related to pro-Palestinian protests on campus. 

“Academic institutions, if they aren’t protecting their students, are just banks,” Hadid said. “They’re showing their cards by doing this, by going against their own student body.” Students are learning more about how little their universities will protect them. “I think Ivy Leagues are gonna take a real big head, and that’s just my prediction, but, or maybe it’s my hope,” said Hadid.

Hadid finished by sharing that “Encampments,” a Watermelon Pictures movie, is in theaters now. “It is a reflection of all the things that I’m assuming that a fair amount of you did,” Hadid said. “We see you on the ground, see you and are proud of everything that you’re doing, and understand the sacrifices that you guys are taking.” Encampments exhibits all that students are doing to aid in the fight for Palestinian liberation.