Keffiyeh and Media Propaganda
For young people in the Middle East, the keffiyeh is a symbol of resistance to injustice. Wearing a keffiyeh is a form of badaktoto solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people.
In the West the opposite is true. Wearing a keffiyeh is actually considered to support terrorism, or at least to be sympathetic towards terrorists. The emergence of such views cannot be separated from Western media propaganda in reporting political dynamics in the Middle East and the issue of theory.
We often see captured terrorists whose faces are covered with keffiyehs. “It’s a common sight in the US media today,” wrote Imaaan Ali on the MH Learning Solutions website. According to him, it is very unprofitable because it identifies anything about Arabs and Palestinians with terrorism. Keffiyeh became synonymous as a terrorist outfit.
The depiction of the keffiyeh as a terrorist outfit does not only appear on television. If you have the opportunity to play the game Counter Strike, you will find profiles of terrorists complete with keffiyehs and AK-47 rifles.
We can see the strength of such propaganda in the notes of a blogger when watching Kayne West wearing a keffiyeh in his video entitled Can’t Tell Me Nothing.
“In the video he is in the desert… When I saw the scarf he was wearing around his neck it looked like a big bandana. I thought, where have I seen that before? I remember! Terrorist!”
Not all people in the West have such views. Some say fashion is fashion, terrorists are terrorists. Two different things. Wearing a keffiyeh or anything originating from the Middle East has nothing to do with supporting certain politics and ideologies, let alone terrorism. Others actually feel proud to wear the keffiyeh for political reasons and solidarity with the Palestinian people, not against terrorism and violence.