Palestinian resistance has entered its eighth decade since the Nakba of 1948. Despite successive wars, sieges, the ongoing expansion of settlements and now genocide, it continues to shape the political and moral landscape of the Middle East.
Resistance in Palestine is a broad, popular movement rooted in the daily lives of ordinary people. It is the rebuilding of destroyed homes in Gaza, the tending of olive groves under fire in the West Bank, and the preservation of culture and identity in exile.
Israel’s occupation is sustained through Western political and financial backing, yet Palestinians persist with strategies that range from grassroots organizing and international advocacy to cultural resistance and, at times, armed struggle. At the core of these efforts lies the principle of sumud – steadfastness – that has defined the Palestinian experience for generations. The international community remains divided. Some governments offer impunity and weapons to Israel; others, particularly in the Global South, increasingly invoke international law and push for accountability.
In this Big Story, we give space to voices that are too often sidelined, allowing Palestinians to define their own struggle. Their comrades in the cause also join in, working to define a future without racism, war, or genocide.
Elsewhere in this issue, Obiora Ikoku reports on Senegal’s fight against imperialism, and NI editors give their view on the political leaders cozying up to dictators.
Ramzy Baroud for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org
This year, on the first day of Ramadan in Rafah people gathered around a large table for iftar, the fast-breaking meal, as the sun set.
Photo: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo
Gaza-born journalist Ramzy Baroud traces how Palestinians have turned survival into a struggle for dignity, history and freedom, with Gaza at the heart of the resistance.
Ilan Pappé dissects the language of genocide used throughout the Zionist movement, from the hidden orders of early military leaders to the lips of Israeli ministers on live TV.
As Israel’s third-largest weapons supplier, Italy profits from the genocide in Gaza. Yet dockworkers and students are reviving traditions of international solidarity to challenge this complicity, writes Romana Rubeo.
Ramzy Baroud traces key events in the Palestinian struggle for liberation.
Veteran political prisoner Khalida Jarrar was released during January’s brief ceasefire agreement. Speaking to Louis Brehony, she reflects on life and resistance behind bars.
Palestinian resistance lives in the rifle, the pen, the olive tree and the memory of the land, writes Tahrir Hamdi.
From Sharpeville to Gaza, Ronnie Kasrils reflects on the shared struggle against apartheid, exposing Israel’s crimes as worse than South Africa’s – and urging the world to act with equal resolve.
As they navigate the stranglehold of global imperialism, can Senegal’s pan-Africanist leaders achieve real change without painful consequences for ordinary people, asks Obiora Ikoku?
Radical organizing was once backed up by a network of physical spaces. How can we rebuild them to support the movements we need now? By Rosie Hampton.
The shame of sexual violence belongs to the state, by Rosebell Kagumire.
Brazil’s economy teeters over Trump tariffs, by Leonardo Sakamoto.
Western leaders are happy to don the garb of liberty, democracy and human rights when it suits them – but the friends they keep tell a different story. New Internationalist calls for an end to fraternization with dictators.
Cut off from aid and buried beneath war and rain, the people of Jebel Marra – once Sudan’s last refuge – now face a new catastrophe as landslides turn their mountain sanctuary into a mass grave and the world looks away. By Eyad Hisham.
As fears of invasion simmer, a new ‘survival chic’ trend sweeps Taiwan, where go-bags and gas masks have become the latest accessories of anxious preparedness. By Eric R Stone.
As Brazil’s ‘Banditry Bill’ threatens to pardon Bolsonaro’s coup crimes, tens of thousands take to the streets to defend the fragile gains of their democracy. By Paula Lacey.
Home at last; Youth revolt; Sacred mountains sullied; Bali curbs tourism; Cops unmasked; Deadly hit in Haiti.
As climate chaos deepens, South Africa’s "water mafia" profits from disaster—sabotaging relief, selling thirst, and turning catastrophe into cash. By Tsitsi Bhobo.
Moroccan feminist Ibtissame "Betty" Lachgar’s arrest for a satirical T-shirt exposes the peril facing free expression in a country where faith is policed and dissent is punished. By Rahila Gupta.
Defying Milei’s austerity, Argentina’s paediatric hospital workers are leading a nationwide fight to save public healthcare from collapse. By Maia Pauro.
Led by a digitally savvy generation demanding integrity and equality, Nepal’s Gen Z protesters have toppled their prime minister and ignited a new fight to remake democracy from the ground up. By Maxine Betteridge-Moes.
Suspended for defying Labour’s rightward drift, Zarah Sultana is emerging as the uncompromising new face of Britain’s left — young, principled, and unafraid to take on the establishment.
Once the rebellious voice of Zimbabwe’s streets, ZimDancehall now risks losing its soul as the regime buys off its stars to silence the beat of dissent. By Winile Ximba.
In Modi’s India, Bengali-speaking migrants – and even citizens – are learning that identity papers mean little when language itself can mark you as an outsider. By Kasturi Chakraborty.
Dead In The Water; Solidarity In Scotland; Shell Shocked.
In a city where change is displacing homes and histories, Maya Misikir finds a sense of community growing in unexpected places.
Students protest outside the parliament building in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 9 September 2025. Photo by Tatan Syuflana.
Highlighting the work of artists and photographers from the Majority World.
Conservationist turned activist Charlie Gardner speaks to Amy Hall about why he risks arrest for the climate, and why we need to change how we talk about climate action.
Power to the planet - from court rooms to solar panels, a round-up of global climate action. Words by Danny Chivers.
Struggling with an ethical dilemma? New Internationalist’s Agony Uncle can help you find answers in our troubled political times.
All Hands on Deck; Fascist Yoga; The Evin Prison Bakers’ Club; Heart Lamp.
A collection of short stories and vignettes from a feminist pioneer pinpoints the absurd details of the normalizing state, writes Caitlín Doherty.