The re-emergence of Palestine vaincra , a legacy of ‘Palestinian France’

Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan’s Palestine vaincra/Palestine Will Win (1969), believed lost since the mid-1970s, recently resurfaced. The accessibility of the film now offers the opportunity to examine why it remained an essential resource relevant for 1970s French pro-Palestine and pro-migrant activism. This essay argues that the film’s reappearance is symbolic of the enduring spirit for justice in Palestine for the migrant workers in the metropole. Through the framework of ‘Palestinian France’, the essay centres the Palestinian struggle as a guiding principle for the social justice and solidarity projects. To think about a Palestinian France is to acknowledge the coalitions between activists, migrant workers, students and artists. Prominent groups of the 1970s such as Comité Palestine [Palestine Committee] helped mediate solidarity across geographies and communities with film screenings. This essay focuses on how the film contributed to the formation of a Palestinian France in reference to intersectional politics.