The Prepared Environment Under Siege: Palestine and Montessori's Call for Children's Liberation

Introducing Provocations Magazine V3

I’ll never forget in 2023 when the images and videos started coming out of Gaza.

Death and destruction, schools and universities flattened, children orphaned, left without limbs, suffering, buried under rubble.

And then came the silence.

The silence in the news media, the silence from education organizations, the silence of people for whom this issue was uncomfortable. While public discourse on this issue has increased, there is still significant censorship and a reluctance by Western media to talk about Palestine in clear and honest terms.

Our third edition of Provocations Magazine is proud to stand with other brave organizations who have amplified Palestinian voices and shared honestly about this genocide. We are working to break this silence.

The theme for our third edition is The Prepared Environment Under Siege: Palestine and Montessori’s Call for Children’s Liberation. The core of this edition is a belief that to truly call ourselves Montessorians, we must not only oppose the genocide in Gaza, but we must also call for the liberation and self-determination of the Palestinian people.

The genocide in Palestine has unearthed a range of inequities in the education status quo- many that already existed but went uncovered among the mainstream. Within a few months after October 2023, all Gazan universities were reduced to rubble by the Israeli military. Israel has systematically targeted schools designated as safe zones. Children have been systematically starved and traumatized, with many left as orphans.

The shadow of this genocide has also found its way into education systems around the world. The Harvard Education Review was prepared to publish an edition on this genocide as it related to education, but it was cancelled at the last minute. Universities across the United States sent violent police to break up student demonstrations for peace and an end to the genocide. Teachers in K-12 schools were doxed and harassed for teaching the true history of oppression in Palestine, often with little to no support from their administrators.

This edition of Provocations brings together diverse voices from around the world who not only want to stop the violence in Gaza, but who also want to bring us toward a better world. A world without occupiers taking over indigenous land. A world not based on extraction and material gain. A world where companies cannot profit off of death and destruction.

I want to take this moment to thank our incredible authors: Noor Ahmed Alhello, Charlotte Awdry, Dominique Mouthon, Hannah Richardson, Abeer Ramadan-Shinnawi, and Ayize Sabater. The work of each of these authors is critically important- whether working with Palestinian refugees in Egypt, uplifting liberation for children around the world, or decolonizing our Montessori curriculum, these authors are demonstrating what it means to truly follow in Montessori’s revolutionary footsteps.

I am also excited to share that for the first time, this Provocations edition includes original artwork and poetry. The cover art and select pieces within the magazine were created by Smita Mahmud and the two poems that bookend the magazine were written by Unayza Bussawon. Both of these additions convey the sadness, grief, hope and perseverance felt in Palestine and around the world as a result of this genocide.

In addition to our writers, I also want to recognize our small but mighty team who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to create this edition of Provocations. I would like to give a major thank you to Ilhaam Ladha, our Media and Content Specialist, who is responsible for the operations of our magazine and for curating the design and layout. Without her tireless efforts, Provocations would not exist.

I also want to extend my deepest gratitude to Developing Education Co-Founder Kelly Jonelis, for her editorial support and partnership in this work. Her insight is invaluable to everything we do at Developing Education and I am so grateful to work alongside her.

Maria Montessori envisioned a world based in equitable interdependence; one without the violence and horror she witnessed during World War II. And while it’s true that she called on us to prepare our children to lead us from the labyrinth, to be our guide out of our current social and political struggles, we also cannot wait for our children to fix these problems.

My hope is that this edition of Provocations invites you to sit with difficult questions, to consider your own role in fostering an interdependent world, and to provoke you to take on the small, daily, revolutionary tasks that will not only stop this genocide, but that will bring about a world where such a thing never happens.

To that end, I strongly encourage you to support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) movement, which helps people not purchase products from companies that are based in Israel or benefit from this genocide. You can learn more about them on their website:

https://bdsmovement.net/

Additionally, if you are in the US, I urge you to write to your representatives so that the US stops sending military aid to Israel. You can do so here:

https://www.blockthebombs.org/?source=email&

It takes courage to speak up for those who are marginalized, especially when there can be personal and professional consequences. The pieces in this edition continue to inspire me and give me courage to keep discussing this issue, and I hope you feel the same.

In Solidarity,

Andrew Faulstich

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