Third World feminist perspectives on development, NGOs, the de-politicization of Palestinian women's movements and learning in struggle

This exploratory case study examines the proposition that development NGOs are playing an active part in the de-politicization of Palestinian women's movements fight for independence and liberation from occupation by advancing the "development project's" (McMicheal, 1996) push for Western conceptions and projects of democratisation and modernisation as being the key to economic and social development of Palestinian society, while disregarding the current state of occupation (Jad, 2003). The application of Third World feminist perspectives allows for the examination of structural and systemic forms of oppression that encourage women's struggles and names ways that women have taken action to make positive liberatory social change in the face of systems of domination such as capitalism and western-led international development. Theoretical perspectives specifically focused on NGO - social movement relations shed light on the relations between women-led movements and NGOs in Palestine. Education and knowledge production are implicated in this process of NGO-led de-politicization (or NGO-ization) of Palestinian women's movements for liberation. Therefore, the role of popular education and learning in struggle in regards to this process of de-politicization (NGO-ization) are also explored.