Much has been written about peace as an event: a declaration, an agreement, a moment that signals closure. Yet peace is never only political. It is structural and material, but it is also psychological, cultural, and lived. For millions of Palestinians, the dominant condition of the present is not peace but precarity — a state of enforced uncertainty in which life is made provisional, futures are suspended, and survival itself becomes a daily labour.
Scholars of precarity have long argued that it is not merely an economic condition but a political technology; a way of governing populations through instability and exhaustion. In the context of Palestine, precarity is produced through occupation, siege, displacement, and the systematic erosion of social, civic, and material life. It shapes how time is experienced, how hope is deferred, and how violence extends far beyond moments of spectacular destruction into the rhythms of the everyday.
As another New Year arrives, declarations of progress and recovery ring hollow when the structures that generate disposability remain intact. Real peace cannot be proclaimed from above while lives on the ground remain unlivable. It must be built through justice, stability, dignity, and the long work of repair and healing. Without these, peace risks becoming yet another form of doublespeak — a language that obscures rather than confronts ongoing violence.
Alliances of Understanding (AoU) is committed to keeping these realities visible. Our work seeks to amplify the voices and experiences of those who have endured marginalisation and injustice, from the Palestinian people to others facing oppression across the world. Through public conversations, screenings, and collaborative initiatives, we create spaces where histories intersect, solidarities are forged, and dominant narratives are challenged. Past events have explored settler colonial violence against Aboriginal peoples in Australia, as well as resistance to oppressive ideologies including Zionism, Islamism, and Hindutva politics. Just before the winter break, we hosted a discussion on the Ethics of Journalism in Times of Crises. Recordings and details of our past events can be found here.
This February marks two years since AoU was founded, and two years of sustained work to keep critical conversations on Palestine alive. To mark this moment, we will be announcing a new series of events running across February. We are also organising a charity music event on Friday 6 March to raise funds for humanitarian support in Palestine, Sudan, and Ukraine. More on this to come.
As ever, we invite you to join us — not in the pursuit of easy resolutions, but in the harder, necessary work of understanding, solidarity, and collective responsibility.
Alliances of Understanding 