Rage against Settler-Colonialism
Image: Mathusha Senthil
Last week, countless protests in solidarity with Palestine shifted the world’s attention to the indiscriminate bombing of the Gaza strip by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). Protests in Palestine and globally resulted in the ceasefire that went into effect on May 21st. However, less than 24 hours later, Israel broke the terms of the ceasefire when its security forces stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and teargassed Palestinians after Friday prayers. Over an 11 day period of state violence, Israel murdered at least 243 Palestinians, 66 of which were children. A list of their names is accessible here. More protests are set to happen this weekend, continuing the call to end the occupation.
While there have been so many conversations and arguments about what has transpired in the region, one thing remains clear: the settler-colonial state legitimizes itself by committing mass murder and genocide against Indigenous populations. We are reminded time and time again that colonialism and all its technologies embolden this violence. We cannot talk about feminist issues without being anti-colonial in our approach; this includes joining the call to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Feminism that doesn’t look beyond, interrogate, and aim to dismantle the state and its institutions isn’t feminism at all. Feminists that don’t work within an anti-colonial, anti-capitalist and anti-racist framework are mere foot soldiers for the settler-colonial state, willing to gamble on the lives of marginalized people everywhere.
Activist, scholar and revolutionary, Dr. Angela Davis outlines what true resistance to state violence entails: “Just as we say “never again” with respect to the fascism that produced the Holocaust, we should also say “never again” with respect to apartheid in South Africa, and in the southern US. That means, first and foremost, that we will have to expand and deepen our solidarity with the people of Palestine. People of all genders and sexualities. People inside and outside prison walls, inside and outside the apartheid wall.” I am reminded every day that from Palestine to Tamileelam to Turtle Island, occupation is a crime and that the resistance to this occupation lies with the people.
Image: Mathusha Senthil
Speaking with the Democracy Now on May 20th, Palestinian-American lawyer, scholar and activist Noura Erakat mentioned, “We have to be careful when we’re calling for international law and to describe what Israel is doing as war crimes, because Israel’s work is also in the battle of changing what the law means. It is shrinking who counts as a Palestinian civilian. It regards Palestinians as already always being a threat until proven innocent. All Palestinians are deemed a threat for their mere existence in challenging the Zionist settler-colonial mythology of uninterrupted Jewish spatial and temporal presence.” Erakat reminds us of the colonial structures, including international human rights bodies, that all work in tandem to dehumanize oppressed people. As such, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, and anti-colonial movements must look past colonial structures that water down and ultimately squash people-powered resistance. This past week we witnessed significant strides towards global solidarity, including and beyond mass mobilization. Solidarity actions by Italian and South African dockworkers included the refusal to load arms heading to Israeland refusal to unload shipment from Israel, respectively.
At this moment, our commitment to political education is more important than ever. Writing on political education in The Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon states, “To educate the masses politically does not mean, cannot mean making a political speech. What it means is to try, relentlessly and passionately, to teach the masses that everything depends on them; that if we stagnate it is their responsibility, and that if that if we go forward it is due to them too, that there is no such thing as a hero that will save them with his magic hands, that there is no famous man who will take the responsibility for everything, but that the hero is the people themselves and the magic hands are finally only the hands of the people.” Standing in solidarity with Palestine and oppressed people everywhere requires an ongoing commitment to learning and unlearning what settler-colonial education systems have taught us.
Below is a non-exhaustive list of resources on Palestine and information on upcoming actions:
Books: Haymarket as a list of books on Palestine that are currently on sale. If purchasing elsewhere, a gentle reminder to purchase from independent stores if possible.
Websites/Campaigns:
Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Movement: https://bdsmovement.net
The Toronto BDS Network has a google document of products to boycott, accessible here.
The Toronto Palestine Film Festival has a resource list and actions to participate in, accessible here.
The Institute for Palestine Studies has published narratives from Nakba 1948, accessible here.
A video from Subhi Taha, outlining 5 facts about the evictions in Sheikh Jarrah earlier this month.
Documenting Palestine: an Instagram account archiving Palestinian identity.
Palestinian Youth Movement: a transnational grassroots collective of young Palestinians in the homeland and the diaspora currently organizing protests globally against the Zionist occupation of Palestine.
Visualizing Palestine: https://visualizingpalestine.org
Upcoming actions across Turtle Island:
TORONTO: May 22nd
VANCOUVER: May 22nd
MONTREAL: May 22nd
OTTAWA: May 23rd
CALGARY: May 23rd
EDMONTON: May 23rd
