Thread by @jvplive

Like many other settler-colonies, Israeli society has a long legacy of co-opting native culture and downplaying or disavowing foreign — in this case, diaspora Jewish — culture. This simultaneous cultural theft and disavowal is an attempt to “self-indigenize.”

(thread)

https://twitter.com/BeatriceLuigiG/status/1467193616967757824

Through cultural appropriation and "self-indigenization," settlers make themselves (and the rest of the world) believe they belong on the land that birthed the indigenous culture, even as they ethnically cleanse the actual indigenous people from it.

For example, through posts sponsored by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, Miss Universe contestants have showcased their engagement with Palestinian food, clothing, and dance traditions — but they've called this culture, and the land and people from which it originated, “Israeli.”

And, while they said they were living “the life of a Bedoiun,” they neglected to illustrate the actual conditions of Bedouin life, which include home demolitions, forced expulsions, and Israeli police violence.

As Palestinians online have pointed out, Miss Universe contestants' social media posts glamorize and participate in the erasure and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

https://twitter.com/tiredarabwoman/status/1468313659508199433

The Miss Universe posts demonstrate the importance of a cultural boycott of Israel. The Israeli government blatantly uses culture as a tool to glamorize or camouflage its oppression of Palestinians, so we must collectively resist participating in it or giving it our attention.

Thank you to Miss Malaysia and Miss Indonesia, both of whom have withdrawn from the pageant, and the grandson of former South African President Nelson Mandela, Inkosi Zwelivelile Mandla Mandela, who called on all former Miss South Africa winners to boycott the event as well.

As Mandela said, "There is nothing beautiful about occupation, brutality and institutionalized discrimination against the Palestinian people."