chapotraphouse

Mandela wore it in solidarity with the Palestinian people, so can you

It's not cultural appropriation in the sense that you are commodifying or personally benefitting/helping yourself to sacred cultural artefacts or symbols.

If you aren't wearing one to pass yourself off as if you are Arabic when you're not then that's one thing off the list.

If you aren't selling keffiyeh produced in China at a stall at some hippy market that's another thing off the list.

Keffiyeh aren't sacred, so that's another thing off the list.

Think of it like a sombrero. Not a tacky prop sombrero but an actual sombrero. If you lived in a desert climate or you were travelling through a desert area and you bought yourself a sombrero from a Mexican milliner to wear, that's not cultural appropriation it's just a wise choice and a Mexican is going to look at you wearing your sombrero and they're either going to think "That's a nice sombrero - I wonder where they bought that" or "Finally, a güero has enough sense to wear a wide-brimmed hat under this beating sun. Usually they only come wearing a baseball cap at the very most."

I wear a keffiyeh often, as a white person, and the only time I've ever had people notice it is when a person of Palestinian heritage in a professional capacity felt comfortable enough to open up to me about their political opinions about Zionism and the abuses that Israel is inflicting upon Palestinians (which was ballsy given the context and the fact that there could easily have been repercussions for their employment) and another person who was a migrant from an Arab country who was gushing over the colour of mine and who ended up being an instant friend because I was wearing it.

Think about how you feel when you see someone in the wild wearing a hamsick or antifascist symbol. That's probably a decent approximation of how a Palestinian would see an outsider who wears a keffiyeh.

I've worn mine to protests and Palestinian people like go out of their way to interact with me, waving, saying hello, etc.,

I bought mine probably in June and wore it to a socialist convention in August in solidarity with a pro-BDS group that was the center of a big struggle session in the org. Honestly at the time it seemed a little weird (I was joking "solidarity with BDS and yt pepo in Keffiyehs") but that was like 15000 deaths ago. When the enemies are out in the open its easier to tell who is on your side.

Also "cultural appropriation" is a form of erasure. Since you wear it to try and save the culture of the Palestinians, to protect it and defend it, you aren't appropriating. Like, technically. Appropriation is taking the cultural capital of another culture that can be monetized and commodifying it, while erasing other forms of social and cultural capital that can't be made into commodities. This severs the cultural symbol from its original (now eliminated) cultural and social context, leaving only the commodity. At least that's my formulation

i think the thing to understand about the keffiyah as it relates to palestine is that it is primarily a symbol of political solidarity. of course it has a long history in the levant and the middle east in general, but the specific black and white design which is associated with the struggle for palestinian liberation only came into wider use in the 20th century. if you are a friend of the movement in good faith (and if your purchasing power is going directly in the pockets of gazans under occupation), there is no "appropriation."

from this i would extrapolate further and say that the most basic definition of solidarity as a revolutionary principle requires us to see ourselves as fundamentally like the Other. i think the impulse to separate ourselves from each other in this way, to refuse to adopt another's struggle as our own, is a liberal one, and neutralizes our energies.

Appropriation has different meanings.

If you’re presenting yourself as some activist online or IRL but never actually participate anything or even know what the meaning and history behind the outfits/slogans, then yes it’s appropriation.

The other one is people benefitting from another’s culture without the consequences (e.g. white people with dreads having little consequences socioeconomically, luxury brands “elevating” a subgroup’s “inferior” garment). But the thing is, people are being targeted and harassed for wearing a kefiyah regardless of their culture, race, nationality, etc. You’re benefitting from solidarity and just having a cool garment, but you also won’t be hiding from the unfortunate reality of potentially being a target to fascists.

Your name, skin color, race, etc. may shield you in other situations, but when you wear one, you quite literally become the enemy of two states. I say this 100% sincerely that pro-Palestine people have a lot more to risk than any Zionist.