makāna

Throughout global and Arab history and to this day, public spaces are contested spaces in the city, where people across time have fought for their right in the city through them, as spaces for expression, gathering, solidarity, and civic engagement. In Arab cities, there are several types of public spaces, such as the street, the square, the alley, the neighborhood, the staircase, the market, the mosque, the church, the wall, and others.

In light of the events in Gaza, we are witnessing, around the world and in Jordan, a high activation of public spaces as a primary tool for advocating for the Palestinian cause and protesting American imperialism on our lands. At other times, public spaces and life are silenced and extinguished, based on popular will, such as the global strike day when shops were closed to disrupt economic activity. In addition, we see visible signs of solidarity and protest in public spaces, such as the Palestinian flag and signs expressing the boycott on murals.

Consequently, because public spaces are where people voice their protests and express their dismay, they are also the spaces where power dynamics are confronted, and the physical incarnation of authority becomes visible in our spaces in Amman. In the past months we witnessed this in different ways, mainly through street closures, disruption of our movement in the city both for pedestrians and cars, and through the high presence of control in many of our streets and squares.