Resistance is a structure not an event

By looking into the case of Palestine, this article has two goals: the

first is to provide philosophical scaffolding to the theme of

resistance in settler colonial theory, and in so doing to argue that

resistance need to be regarded as part of the structure in settler

social formations. Secondly, the article rereads ‘the logic of

elimination’ upon which settler colonialism is founded in order to

suggest that as a settler colonial project Zionism historically

evolved via a process of ‘double elimination’ – of indigenous life

and of shared life. The aim of this article is then to fold the

second conclusion into the first: alongside with indigenous

resistance, shared life need be conceived as part of the structural

struggle against settler colonialism. The article has three sections.

In the first section, the state of the art in the field of settler

colonial studies is presented in order to identify strengths and

weaknesses. The second section offers a conceptualisation of the

idea/practice of resistance by drawing from Gilles Deleuze and

Félix Guattari’s works. The last section reframes the logic of

elimination concluding with a political vision that expands on the

notion of resistance.