Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Social work in extremis – disaster capitalism, ‘social shocks’ and ‘popular social work’
- one ‘Popular social work’ in the Palestinian West Bank: dispatches from the front line
- two Samidoun: grassroots welfare and popular resistance in Beirut during the 33-Day War of 2006
- three Grassroots community organising in a post-disaster context: lessons for social work education from Ilias, Greece
- four Grassroots community social work with the ‘unwanted’: the case of Kinisi and the rights of refugees and migrants in Patras, Greece
- five In search of emancipatory social work practice in contemporary Colombia: working with the despalzados in Bogota
- six Addressing social conflicts in Sri Lanka: social development interventions by a people's organisation
- seven International organisations, social work and war: a ‘frog's perspective’ reflection on the bird's eye view
- eight Welfare under warfare: the Greek struggle for emancipatory social welfare (1940–44)
- nine Social welfare services to protect elderly victims of war in Cyprus
- ten Worker's eye view of neoliberalism and Hurricane Katrina
- eleven Social work, social development and practice legitimacy in Central Asia
- Conclusion: Social work in extremis – some general conclusions
- References
- Index
one - ‘Popular social work’ in the Palestinian West Bank: dispatches from the front line
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 September 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Social work in extremis – disaster capitalism, ‘social shocks’ and ‘popular social work’
- one ‘Popular social work’ in the Palestinian West Bank: dispatches from the front line
- two Samidoun: grassroots welfare and popular resistance in Beirut during the 33-Day War of 2006
- three Grassroots community organising in a post-disaster context: lessons for social work education from Ilias, Greece
- four Grassroots community social work with the ‘unwanted’: the case of Kinisi and the rights of refugees and migrants in Patras, Greece
- five In search of emancipatory social work practice in contemporary Colombia: working with the despalzados in Bogota
- six Addressing social conflicts in Sri Lanka: social development interventions by a people's organisation
- seven International organisations, social work and war: a ‘frog's perspective’ reflection on the bird's eye view
- eight Welfare under warfare: the Greek struggle for emancipatory social welfare (1940–44)
- nine Social welfare services to protect elderly victims of war in Cyprus
- ten Worker's eye view of neoliberalism and Hurricane Katrina
- eleven Social work, social development and practice legitimacy in Central Asia
- Conclusion: Social work in extremis – some general conclusions
- References
- Index
Summary
“The Israelis want the occupation to infiltrate every area of our life: our homes, our work, our businesses, our free time, our schools, our universities … they want to turn the camps into prisons and then into graveyards. But we have turned them into universities, to learn our history, to maintain our struggles, to survive, to live and to smile.” (Firas, Am’ari Refugee Camp, interview with authors, 16 September 2006)
Introduction
Over the last four years (2006–10) we have travelled back and forth to the Palestinian West Bank. Our purpose has been to interview Palestinian young people about their experiences of life under occupation. But in the process we have come across some magnificent welfare projects and have spent considerable time observing and talking to a range of workers in various projects, asking them how they understand their role and the importance of the work they do. The majority of those we spoke to had no formal qualifications in social work, yet the quality of the work they undertook, we believe, holds lessons for social workers everywhere.
This chapter is based on interview material with six workers at the Yaffa Centre, Balata, with three workers at the Jenin Disability Centre and with three workers at the Am’ari Children's Centre. We spoke with each group three times, each interview lasting for at least two hours. In what follows, whenever possible we quote directly from the workers at the project. We have changed all the names of our interviewees to protect the workers from the threat of arrest – or worse.
Setting the context
For the Palestinians of the West Bank life is extreme. Poverty, oppression and occupation provide the backdrop against which daily life becomes a battle to survive, to live, to hope and to dream. Yet amid this maelstrom the Palestinians have managed to organise a range of grassroots welfare projects that meet some of the complex needs of the communities they serve.
The three projects we focus on are all in refugee camps: the Yaffa Centre based in the Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus, the Children's Centre in the Am’ari Refugee Camp next to Ramallah and the Disability Project in the Jenin Refugee Camp. The impact of the Israeli occupation is felt by all Palestinians – army incursions; killings and injuries; arrests and imprisonment; acute poverty and restricted mobility, due to checkpoints and barriers (Lavalette, 2006).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Social Work in ExtremisLessons for Social Work Internationally, pp. 15 - 30Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2011