Legitimate Resistance through the Aesthetic

Abstract

Within the pragmatics of our conflicting world, few can deny peoples' right of resistance. It is true that those few are often the most powerful and thus the most influential when it comes to the international community and what qualifies as legitimate or illegitimate resistance. Nevertheless, resistance, in all its forms continues to disturb and challenge monolithic discourses and one-dimensional perspectives. Among today's nations who directly suffer from such facts, Arabs and Muslims can simply top the list. Subjugated to almost daily international deformations and national manipulations, the "resistance" of these people heads the world's news, often as violent fighting of violent nations. If resistance defines a nation and its actions then defining resistance itself is a form of national consciousness and identity politics. That is how Arabs and Muslims should think of their resistance and its manifestations. We need to carry it on via shrewd strategies which maintain it civilized for the sake of our self-identification and keep it legitimate for the sake of our national cause. As we strive through our resistance, our unfortunate current image as terrorist and backwards should be an aim for reform rather than a justification for further dark connotations.