UKC

I didn't watch Resistance Climbing when it first came out, which is perhaps surprising, as it married what have been two of the biggest influences in my life over the past six or seven years, Palestine and climbing.

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Nice article. I really enjoyed the film, and had similar a priori's as you.

It's good to finally see something on UKC, however utterly belated, that acknowledges the genocide occuring before our eyes. It's just a shame that it is so tangential, framed as a strangely 5-year-belated film review... I wonder if in another 5 years, UKC's eds will feel it is safe enough to declare that this genocide is wrong... possibly in the form of a nostalgic essay about the music they were listening to in the summer of 2024.

If UKC had helped to publicise the recent "Climb the Wall" event (April 12 - May 5, 2024), which raised almost $90,000 for medical and aid charities and saw volunteers around the world climb over 366km, it might have had a much bigger profile in the UK. Sadly, despite Awesome Walls doing an awesome job of running an event, and some UK-based instructors donating prizes, the UK climbing community was under-represented. The only post I saw on UKC was my own, which a mod saw fit to consign to the dark oblivion of the Politics forum dungeon.

So it goes...

I feel perfectly safe declaring that the genocide occurring in Palestine is wrong - I spent four years of my life researching, writing, and speaking about it.

Whilst my own engagement with Palestine began in 2019 - five years ago - Resistance Climbing came out just over a year ago, and was made free to watch around six months ago. Prior to that, I hadn't watched it. For me, it seemed like a logical way to address the ongoing oppression of Palestinians whilst also keeping the editorial content relevant to this website.

Thanks for the response Xa. It seems I misunderstood when the film came out (and I agree it's a great film, btw). My other points stand: given how much UKC content appeared in relation to Ukraine, UKC has been conspicuously quiet about the genocide in Palestine. Thanks for finally breaking that silence - a contribution like this has been long overdue.

i, too, had the same fears before watching, and came out surprised that bisharat made something so heartfelt. i had been familiar with his writing and was definitely not optimistic about his brand of tone-deaf edgelordery applied to matters concerning palestine.

but i am very glad to have been wrong.

Great article Xa. It really does bring it even closer to home the horrible oppression, apartheid and now just plain genocidal extermination of the Palestinian spirit by the Israel state.

Sad to see politics on UKC.

Why? Genuinely, I don't see why it is? Virtually everything is politics anyway. You're not thinking that hard about most things if you don't see the politics in there somewhere. 

I don't expect UKC to hold an editorial position on all political issues worldwide - that would be ridiculous. I think Chris's point above, why write about Ukraine and not Gaza?, is interesting but in some ways unfair because UKC is only likely to address a political issue - particularly non-domestic political issues - when there is an obvious link to climbing. So when Ukrainian climbers wrote about their service in their military or whatever, that creates the link. I read the Economist and the FT and the Guardian for my daily updates on the actual war. Likewise, one of the UKC editors has a personal connection to this story through his academic studies (have you finished the PhD Xa? Or is it still ongoing?) and now a film about Palestinian climbers has been made available, so this story is now here. I've been trying to understand the civil war and atrocities against civilians in Sudan - terrible things that are happening now, today, and have been ongoing for over a year. But it would be silly for me to say "Why hasn't UKC addressed the war in Sudan?" there's no obvious link to climbing, so why would they? So it shouldn't be all politics, but there are significant issues within climbing that are political - why shouldn't they be addressed? Just go and read the climbing news if it doesn't interest you. There is space and a place for both.

I do think you've hit the nail on the head there. The Taka Mountains look awesome, but there isn't a significant climbing community in Sudan (AFAIK). Climbing is popular in Ukraine and competition speed climbing seems to be their niche, so the answer to Witter's question was always obvious.

Probably a bit off topic, but we visited Sudan to climb around 8 or so years ago and found some incredible bouldering near Kassala, and the people there to be wonderful and friendly - they even made me start to like coffee! Whats happening there now is incredibly incredibly sad - if you ever get the chance one day to go there and give them some tourist money then do it, although the chances of that any time soon unfortunately seem close to zero

You confusing this place with the United Kennel Club?
 

Thanks for your comment Toby, I finished in 2021, having started in the autumn of 2017. 

Agreed... the lack of courage and general silence around the ongoing occupation, apartheid and genocide in Palestine is astounding.  Almost as if  people loosing their jobs, being arrested, purged from political parties, being accused of terrorist sympathy/ antisemitism etc.. has created an atmosphere of fear.  

2 female Palestinian climbers (one of whom is in the film) have been 'arrested' and detained in the last couple weeks.  Yara Abu Hashesh and Baraa Odeh.  

If you haven't seen the film or feel you can't possibly have a view on this because it's all 'very complicated', please watch this film.

Check out Climbers for Palestine if you would like to show some solidarity with fellow climbers. Would be good if the article linked to the page. www.climbersforpalestine.org

I saw this a couple of weeks ago and thought about posting it on here but assumed it already had been, I should have checked. 

An indescribably powerful and moving film, and when I saw moving I mean both to tears and rage. 

So it's Dr Xa from now on! Well done. I started mine in October 1999 and actually graduated I think in 2012 (defended the year before), so you were incredibly fast by in my book! I did manage to have two kids, buy a house, get a job in a related but not exactly the same field and do that for a decade and so on, so I have my excuses.

Did you get the chance to study in or do research trips to Ramallah and the West Bank as part of your studies?

South Sudan is also falling to bits as a result of the civil war in Sudan, and it has some half decent climbing outside the capital Juba! Bit of an effort to get to and they don’t issue tourist visas so perhaps not ideal for the must-visit list…

Worth a read if your geopolitical interests extend further than Palestine:

https://open.substack.com/pub/adamtooze/p/chartbook-281-137-million-people?...

https://open.substack.com/pub/matthewyglesias/p/the-geopolitical-underpinni...

Finishing is the hardest part, and is a huge achievement no matter how long it takes! Unfortunately I wasn't able to make any trips. I had hoped to, but the last 18 months of my PhD were during the Covid lockdown. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to visit one day though.

Thanks for writing the article Xa. You convey well my own thoughts after watching the film for the first time.

After the first viewing at home, I was compelled to organise a public screening in Aberdeen with a few pals, bringing together local climbers and members of the Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign. With some help, we managed to arrange for Faris and Hiba who feature in the film to join us from Palestine via zoom.  They were very generous in sharing what had happened since the filming - no surprises it isn't good and are finding it even harder to access climbing areas, and at times struggling for the motivation to climb given the genocide in Gaza.

Even so they are still resisting and attempting to build a new wall as well as having fun, which in the face of the daily oppression is arguably the strongest form of resistance. 

Thanks for bring to the thread an excellent point, Granticus. UKC is being overtaken by other media, e.g. Insta, where the climbing community can see stories of Palestinian climbers being arrested and imprisoned in facilities with widespread violence, torture and sexual abuse. This completely undermines those who say UK climbing and Palestine have little connection. What is the point of "journalists" if not to go and find these stories and MAKE connections, rather than waiting for these to announce themselves... Unless they prefer not to do that, in this case.

Counter to Toby's reasonable but incorrect point, there was a climbing-specific event in solidarity with Palestine and UKC chose to ignore it. He raises the Ukrainian climbers writing of their military service... well, there are Palestinian climbers - why not try to interview them about their experiences?

It's a valid question, but people would rather tell me to shut up. So, I will go away now and leave you to your weekend.

I'd tend to agree with you. Climbing is my happy switch off place away from all the negative stuff, quite selfish I'll admit. This idea that UKC should be shouting a particular position on this conflict is a bit much.

I'm very interested in current affairs and lament the loss of all life but I choose a wide range of news websites to hopefully educate myself on what's going on. Whilst climbers in this region are affected by what's going on I'd tend to see them as humans rather than attaching climbing to their plight. Very sad what's going on at the moment.