De-Colonizer is a research and art laboratory for experimenting and creating tools aimed at enabling those who live/who want to live in this land (Palestine/Israel) to share it. It is registered in Israel as a Public Benefit Company, number 515228112.

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De-Colonizer [proposes an alternative form of research which focuses on Palestine/Israel and which aims to bring to a wider audience possible new academic-level knowledge and tools by creatively putting them into the public space. This is a political stance that is dear to us: transcending the traditional circles of experts by doing and producing research for all. De-Colonizer is an invitation to discussion and to debate: we hope that everyone will embrace these opportunities; will discuss, use, and spread our research. To convince, to change the discourses, to struggle against History's acts of oblivion and its suppressed memories, and to finally envision a shared life of equality and a peaceful cohabitation. 

 

We envision a future beyond the colonialist and racist regime, in which everyone living here will be equal. Ground zero of the existing regime is the 1948 Nakba, the inevitable result of the effort to create a Jewish State in the Middle East.  Overcoming Zionism requires Israel to acknowledge the expulsion and destruction of Palestinians and their lives, and to redress that by granting refugees the right to return.  The principal victims of this regime are, of course, the Palestinians, but Israeli Jews have also paid the price of conquest since 1948 by living in constant fear, with no hope of peace.  In other words, we believe an essential key to our future here is deeply rooted in our past.

 

De-Colonizer is named for the eponymous blog created by Eitan Bronstein Aparicio, who founded the NGO Zochrot.  The blog describes his personal process of decolonizing his identity as an Israeli.  De-Colonizer was created in January 2015, together with Dr. Eleonore Merza, a political anthropologist focusing on contemporary Israeli society. Dr. Merza, is a research associate at the French CNRS (National Scientific Research Council, France). 

 

De-Colonizer is conceived as a laboratory, a locus of ongoing experimentation and activity; a junction between research, creativity, archiving/documentation and the body politic. De-Colonizer is a virtual laboratory which transcends political and symbolic borders to create a new extraterritoriality hosting various kinds of tools and projects.  In order to address a wide audience, the platform is tri-lingual: Hebrew, English and French.

 

De-Colonizer’s activities include alternative tours in Palestine/Israel and study and political seminars on alternative memory and narrative.  We are also pleased to announce the establishment of an art gallery, Illegallery 81, to host artists and performances dealing with issues of contested space, (il)legitimacy, (re)appropriation, and the sharing of public space.  

 

De-Colonizer’s two founders are the authors of the, "Nakba in Hebrew", based on Zochrot’s experiences from 2001 until 2015. Using real-life examples, the book demonstrates how it is possible to change social discourse, even in a setting of conflict.