Professor TJ Demos examines technolibertarianism’s devastating impact in Gaza, linking advanced weaponry, Al surveillance, and settler-colonial policy. Addressing both Lowenstein’s Palestine Laboratory and Vivien Sansour’s art, Demos discusses ongoing resistance, ecological endurance, and warns of dystopian futures where profit overrides life and land. This fusion of libertarian ideology and Israeli policy constructs a deeply troubling vision: Gaza, as a site of appalling devastation, is not only a present-day tragedy but also a warning for potential dystopian futures.
The talk also engages with the artwork of Palestinian artist Vivien Sansour, whose political ecology refuses this destructive trajectory. Her botanical interventions cultivate space for Palestinian endurance and solidarity—among both humans and non-humans—challenging settler-colonial erasure and nurturing ties to land and collective survival.
Professor Demos, an esteemed scholar and founding Director of the Center for Creative Ecologies at UC Santa Cruz, brings a wealth of expertise on visual culture, ecology, and decolonial politics to this urgent conversation.
The full lecture is available for viewing here: