August/September 2005

http://alawda.newjerseysolidarity.org

Palestine Solidarity 101

Liberation movements must have steadfast allies to succeed. Most successful revolutionary and liberation struggles have cadres of allies who have facilitated the march to freedom and self-determination. The most noteworthy examples in the modern era have been South Africa, Cuba and Vietnam. Without committed allies who have a clear political vision, the possibility of success is greatly diminished. This is especially the case in the current political context where imperial processes are so dominant and the forms and methods of occupation are complex and diverse.

Becoming a genuine ally is a complex process. It involves a commitment to struggle— internally and externally. And in the case of solidarity work with Palestine, the struggle is even more intense and complicated because of the current political landscape. Unfortunately, solidarity work with Palestine has become fashionable for the left and for progressive groups. Many factors make this work complicated, including internalized racism and colonization, denial, self-deception and a conscious and unconscious attachment and fondness for zionsim. Palestine solidarity work is both the most important and most difficult work in which progressives can engage.

The question of Palestine solidarity work has come to be corrupted, co-opted and manipulated. It has been co-opted by many sectors of the left: pseudo-progressives, soft and not so soft Zionists, etc, all of whom are unable or unwilling to confront their internalized racism and biases which prevent them from "going all the way" with justice in Palestine. Examples of such sentiments include statements such as:

"Why don’t you engage in non-violent forms of resistance?"
"Only when you give up the Right of Return will you get anywhere."
"A two-state solution is really the only way to go."
"Why do you always bring up Palestine at anti-war rallies? Palestine has nothing to do with Iraq."

The structure of these and all equally reactionary statements are always the same. "Why don’t you Palestinians come to terms with reality and do things our way?” These forms of racism, control and co-optation are extensive and have had a devastating impact on our struggle for self-determination.

What we as Palestinians are witnessing is a deliberate attempt to manage, control, and co-opt our struggle, our narrative, our history and our right to define our struggle in whatever terms we want. We have the right to define our struggle in our words, within our own context, and to demand that we control our narrative. I would like to describe from our perspective as Palestinians, as a people struggle for self-determination, how to go about the process of becoming an ally with the struggle for a free Palestine. It’s not enough to go to protests and hold up signs that say "end the occupation" and it’s not enough to take reality tours to Palestine.

The first step in the process of being an ally of Palestine and doing thoughtful solidarity work is to become engaged in a sophisticated and critical political analysis of the current and historical context of the question of Palestine. This analysis should have a number of components, including, but not limited to, a distinct Palestinian voice and narrative and a global anti-imperialist perspective.

From an historical perspective, the question of Palestine does not begin, as many so-called progressives believe, in 1967 with the brutal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. For Palestinians, our modern day history begins before 1900 and is punctuated by many important historical moments like 1918, 1936-1939, 1948, 1956, 1967, 1982, 1987, 2000, etc. These are extraordinary moments in the shaping of modern Palestinian identity and consciousness and our allies must have a thorough understanding and appreciation of these moments, trends and events.

Additionally, it is essential to understand the links between Palestine and other Arab struggles like Iraq as well as other global struggles like Haiti, Afghanistan and Cuba. It is essential to understand how how the the Palestinian struggle relates the struggles of all oppressed people of color.

The struggle for a free Palestine is, in many ways, at the heart of the larger antiimperial struggle that is being carried out all over the world.

The inability to make linkages among these struggles will promote the isolation of the Palestinian struggle and thus serve the imperial project. Of course this is a common technique used by reactionary progressives and Zionists to create the illusion that the question of justice in Palestine is outside the discourse of contemporary anti-imperial analysis. We see graphic and racist examples of this all the time with groups like UFPJ, Global Exchange, Tikkkun and other so-called progressives who are willing to call for the ending of occupation in Iraq but remain silent on Palestine. This, in many ways, has weakened the anti-war movement in the US. That is, the inability of many progressive forces to go all the way with justice in Palestine has caused groups to split-up and caused confusion among many progressive groups.

This is related to the next step in the process of becoming a genuine ally of Palestine, namely engaging in a process of self-decolonization. One reason, among many, that progressives are unable to go all the way with justice in Palestine is because they are internally (and unconsciously) colonized by systemic structures like race, power, class, etc. Many progressives harbor deep-seated racist notions about Arabs, Muslims and the Middle East and continue to unwittingly embrace notions that are based on white supremacy. Progressives have said to us things like "I wish you would treat your women better," or "Isn’t it time that you Arabs came into the 20th century." These are real examples from people who consider themselves progressive. These deeply embedded internalized colonized notions must be confronted.

This inability to confront frequently leads to another sphere of control that we, as Palestinians, have had to confront with our so-called allies. This sphere of control shows itself in the form of having people tell us, people struggling for liberation from the yoke of occupation, how to struggle, how to resist and how to proceed on our path to self-determination and freedom.

In order to be a genuine ally, the most basic requirement is to respect our right to define our struggle, to define how we will struggle and to respect how we wish to engage in our own process of resistance. There are hundreds of examples of progressive groups and individuals who refuse to respect this and who refuse to listen. They will offer, in an unsolicited manner, instructions on how we should be and how we should act. In the first instance, this is disrespectful. Second, it is a reflection of racism and internal colonization mentioned above.

An ally’s first task is to listen and then to figure out through respectful dialogue and engagement with the owners of the struggle, the stakeholders in our own liberation, how can one best be an ally. Jewish and Israeli progressives who wish to be allies of the Palestinian struggle would have to take a stand against zionism and confront the specter of Zionism and all of its racist and destructive formations in Palestine. At a minimum, their mission should be to work within their own community of zionists, Jews and Israelis to develop consciousness about the question of Palestine and the destructive nature of Zionism.

This, rather than parading Palestinian 'victims' or dictating to us Palestinians - the scope and nature of our resistance is an indication that you have listened and respected our struggle. It is truly amazing and insulting to see and hear so many ‘allies’ on television and in the media telling Palestinians how to resist, how to live, how to think and what to hold sacred. We have a right to our own path and a right to make our own mistakes.