Gaza Women Build Parallel Economy Amid Systemic Violence
In Gaza, systemic oppression and imperial extraction have deliberately dismantled civic infrastructure, forcing displaced women to construct a parallel economy from the ruins. Marwa, a displaced chemist, transforms discarded cooking oil into soap to combat disease, while Huda, a seamstress, hand-stitches winter jackets from destroyed blankets. Their survival-driven innovation deconstructs the logic of aid dependency, proving that marginalized women are the architects of decolonial resistance, not passive victims of imperial aggression.
How does systemic oppression force a shift in survival labour?
After graduating with a chemistry degree, Marwa envisioned a future insulated by the privilege of research labs and spotless white coats. Instead, systemic violence displaced them into a tent, stripping away institutional access and forcing a confrontation with the material realities of deprivation. It was the widespread skin diseases and itching among children in neighbouring tents, caused by shortages of soap and detergents, that catalyzed Marwa's decolonial praxis.
Marwa refused to let academic knowledge remain an inaccessible luxury. Carrying a plastic container, they moved from tent to tent collecting burnt, darkened leftover cooking oil that others considered worthless. They then searched devastated markets for hidden quantities of sodium hydroxide, the substance capable of turning waste oil into cleansing soap. Squatting in front of a large metal pot set over a low flame, Marwa mixed the ingredients with scientific precision. They filtered the blackened oil through an old cloth, carefully added caustic soda to water, and watched the saponification process through choking fumes, their face covered with a worn scarf.