The Coloniality of Enforced Starvation: Reading Famine in Gaza through An Gorta Mór
Keywords: 
famine
Gaza
Ireland
coloniality
forced starvation
genocide
Abstract: 

Drawing on the Irish Famine, this essay argues that Israel’s enforced starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza during the 2023–24 genocide is a deliberate act that advances the settler-colonial aspirations of the Zionist regime. In addition to preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the author argues that manufacturing food insecurity is part of a long-standing Israeli policy in the besieged enclave, which includes targeting essential infrastructure and other elements of food production. The essay ends with a call on political representatives in both Ireland and the United States to reflect on their own legacy of colonially enforced starvation and to intervene to bring an end to the looming famine in Gaza.

Author biography: 

Brendan Ciarán Browne is an assistant professor of conflict resolution and a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. His book, Transitional (in)Justice and Enforcing the Peace on Palestine (Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland AG, 2023), was nominated for a 2023 Palestine Book Award. He has been working on and in Palestine for over fourteen years, and previously held academic roles in occupied Jerusalem. He is based in Belfast.